reFuse Software has released Lowender, a subharmonic synthesizer, reminiscent of classic analog dual-band bass enhancer circuits. More than a simple EQ, the Lowender creates new bass content from your existing audio material.

While taking the classic "Boom Box" sound as its core, the Lowender expands on the concept in several ways:

1. First, it offers switchable frequency ranges, so that the low end frequencies generated can be selected to fit the program material.
2. Second, the generated subharmonics pass through a gate tailored for low frequencies, which is useful for cleaning up unwanted bass rumble (e.g. from between kick drum hits in a drum loop).
3. Third, the Lowender passes the bass material through an output section comprised of an overdrive circuit and a lowpass filter. Driving or compressing the newly generated low frequencies is essential for evening out their dynamics, and will allow them to sit well in a mix. The variable lowpass filter is provided to shave off the higher harmonics of the overdrive and create a smooth low end - or you can leave some of them in, for raspier bass sounds.

Lowender is packaged as a Pluggo plug-in, using Cycling '74's Pluggo standard which allows a single plug-in to interface with VST, RTAS, and AU frameworks. It is available exclusively from the reFuse Software website at an introductory price of $39 (valid until March 1st).