GSi (formerly SoundFonts.it) has announced the release of Mac versions of the tonewheel organ plug-in, VB3 (VST & AU), and the free reverb plug-in, TimeVerb (VST only), plus the release of a new free VST plug-in for Mac and Windows: WatKat - a tribute to Charlie Watkins!
WatKat - a tribute to Charlie Watkins
WatKat is a digital "clone" of a Wem Watkins "Custom" Copicat. It sounds very lo-fi, noisy, irregular. When you turn it off and leave the tape loaded, the tape bends in proximity of the capstan, and this turns into a periodic pitch fall during echo playback; plus, it gets hot and the background hum gets worse over time... you should turn it off every now and then; the tape is never completely erased, and the capstan motor flutters... and it gets worse if you touch it while it's spinning; heads tend to get dirty very soon, in fact you should clean them often. This is true for the actual hardware unit, and for the digital simulation as well!
VB3
As well as being released for Mac OS X Universal Binary in VST and AU plug-in formats, VB3 has also been updated to v1.2.2. Here is the list of changes:
- Now available for Mac OS X in VST and AU formats.
- New Spring Reverb algorithm derived from GSi Type4.
- The code has been enormously optimized and the CPU load is almost halved.
- Fixed bugs with some hosts (Sonar, Tracktion3, Receptor) that caused a crash when loading VB3.
- Added option "Output Level" with 5 different levels. Use this to prevent VB3 from generating audio clips at high dynamics.
- Rotary speaker simulator: improved control over rotors speeds; improved algorithm "Jazz 122".
- Keyclick: improved and optimized.
- Percussion: added the missing high-pass filter that gives it more punch and enforces the attack.
- Organ sound: the leakage factor, the whole balance between lows and highs and the background noise have been noticeably improved.
- Functionality: no more need to recompute the internal wavetables when the plugin is set in standby by the host; improved the stereo widening algorithm.
- Many other things have changed internally that can't be explained in few words, but your fine ears will be able to notice the difference with previous versions.
Notes for the Mac version:
- VB3 is known to function properly in Apple Logic, Ableton Live, Cubase 4, EnergyXT2, RAX, GarageBand and in many other VST and/or AU hosts.
- There is a known and unresolved (yet) incompatibility with MOTU Digital Performer.
- There's no guarantee for it to function in ProTools (via its VST-to-RTAS wrapper).
