ToneBoosters BitJuggler: inexpensive and feature-rich bit-crusher
Developer ToneBoosters has its takes on pretty much all kinds of audio plug-ins, rest for a bit-crusher. Well, the time has come for the developer to showcase its ideas for one with BitJuggler. From the get-go, it looks like another solid ToneBoosters plug-in that shows creative audio degradation is yet to reach the end of the flagpole. And not only you can “juggle bits” under macOS and Windows, but on iOS devices as well!
ToneBoosters BitJuggler
As with all plug-ins of this type, the primary objective is to dynamically reduce your audio’s sample rate and resolution. This creates characterful “digital imperfections” to an effect reminiscent of the sound of early samplers, old computers, and vintage digital effects or synthesizers. Adding to the usual settings and a choice of various resampling algorithms, BitJuggler also presents a variety of options for quantization (linear, a-law, mu-law). An envelope follower can control the quantization on your behalf and an LFO is there to modulate parameters in sync with your project tempo.
BitJuggler also adds shaped noise, as generated by lossy compression codecs such as MP3 or AAC. There’s even a GSM Speech Codec to get you that hi-fy early cellphone voice sound. Dithering and noise shaping are other parameters that you can experiment with. I can picture knowledgeable mastering engineers using BitJuggler “off-label” to preview audio through the different codecs, or dial-in dithering and noise shaping to taste. Furthermore, the sound can be shaped before and after the bit reduction has happened. There are pre- and post-emphasis controls tied to drive, high-pass filter, emphasis and width control parameters.
Gaze at the pixels of audio obliteration!
The plug-in also offers a handy visualizer to show how the signal is being degraded in real-time. So you can not only hear the bit crushing, but also see it. How convenient!
A cutting-edge feature which I surely don’t remember seeing in another bit-crusher is multi-channel audio support (up to 16 channels). BitJuggler works with Dolby Atmos, Ambisonics, Facebook 360 and YouTube 360. This definitely sets this plug-in apart from most of its competitors and makes for a very feature-rich bit-crusher. It also helps that BitJuggler is being sold at ToneBoosters’ typically modest pricing.
Specifications and price
That’s right – pay EUR 29 and the whole thing is yours! BitJuggler runs in VST, VST3, AU and AAX formats under Windows and macOS. The iOS version offers the same functionality and is compatible with Apple devices running iOS 11.0 or later. It costs just EUR 8.
Further information
- Gaze at the pixels of audio obliteration!: ToneBoosters
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