Frohmage

It gets a 9 out of 10 only because of the seriously ugly UI with controls that are not labeled.

This free little plugin blows my mind. I am basically using a single preset, "The Raf smooth", with minor tweaking per use. It takes any flat, boring, 2D sound and makes it 3D. It is great on a lead guitar. It takes the flat sounds of Padshop Pro and transforms them into worlds only found in dreams and movies. I can get lost in Padshop Pro with this plugin. It's almost too good because I don't want to make anything, but instead just zone out in the landscapes arising out of the pads. Haha. I love it.

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Frohmage is definitely one of the "must have" free VST effects. i have used it countless times to brighten, colorize, dirty or whatever sounds that were too clean, too dull or whatever. Frohmage kicks ass. The funky GUI may take you a bit to figure out, but after i did, i decided that the funky UI is part of my love of Frohmage.

Frohmage has enabled me to maintain cheesy tracker module instrumentation ported to Sonar by giving them a sparkle (or a grunge) that they lack (module trackers never give the sample back to you as you put it in, i don't know why).

My only negative comment is that it is a mono-effect and therefore you will lose any stereo imaging passed through it. This doesn't matter most of the time (like when i Frohmaged the cheesy guitar licks in an old module), but if you want to maintain the stereo image... i guess you have to go buy QuadFrohmage (which i am seriously considering at this moment, myself).

Frohmage has been FUN and i plan to have more fun with it in future.Read Review

i mostly use frohmage for drum tracks, and it works well, simultaneously beefing up the bass drum and cooling off the cymbals. it's great for when something sounds a little too harsh or digital. pop in frohmage to trim off the offending high frequencies and give the sound some analog feel. you can also program the filter to change your sounds into quirky, synth-like things.

i like the gui. it does take some getting used to. but it's fun experimenting with mysterious knobs, and it looks cool. the presets are pretty useful to show what it can do. i can get good warm filtering out of it, not just distorted sounds. just spend some time with it, as it is a deceptive plugin. it seems simple and might not seem like it can make it into your tracks at first, but it is actually capable of many interesting things.Read Review

I'm surprised there are no other reviews of Frohmage, so here goes...

I gave some conflicting marks to this one - it's free, therefore it's excellent value for money.

Documentation - as always Ohmforce provide manuals as a separate d/l and they are always good.

However - interface... Frohmage comes in only a "funky" skin, which I generally find to be utterly unfathomable; it's a shame they didn't release it in one of their sensible skins. If you haven't d/led the manual you'll likely have no idea what any of the knobs do.

Sound - the important bit for any filter - personally I don't like the character much. The blurb says you can get slow subtle filter sweeps - well I've never got one out of it. It will certainly scream in a distortion/overdrive kind of way and maybe that's why it's so poular - you seem to either love Frohmage or hate it. I'll catagorically state that I love every Ohmforce plugin I've got...they are geniuses, but I don't like Frohmage, so consequently I don't like QuadF either. They definitely have character, but I can't get what I call warm pleasant filtering out of them - I expected a filter that would do your standard synth filtering but also have the quirkiness that Ohmforce generally put into their plugins. I find only the quirkiness with no usefulness.
I'll amend that by saying that if you like distortion, you would probably find Frohmage right up your street - I can see uses for guitar treatment, in Industrial styles etc, but as with any filter it's almost 100% down to style and personal taste, and it's not mine.

It's certainly not a one trick pony, as you can vary the number of bands that it filters, but I find a lack of env following a big hindrance to any filter - makes it very difficult to use a filter as you would with a synth, which is what I want out of a filter.

Stability - rock solid.

Support - Ohmforce excel in this area.

I don't like to knock freebies nor Ohmforce (I love both!) but this one simply doesn't perform to what I expect of a filter. I just don't like the harshness it gives and I find it almost impossible to use it without destroying sonic quality of the source material. I would probably have given it great marks if it was labelled as a distortion/overdrive type of effect in fact.

But you should try it for yourself though - many users love this filter, and I can see why, if their tastes tend towards it's defined type of sound. But if you are expecting a synth-type filter then look elsewhere. I dabbled with using it as a guitar treatment, but I have other FX that are specialised in doing that, and I prefer their sound to Frohmage.

To defer some of my negativity though, Frohmage certainly has its own distinctive character (which is a mix of airy and nasty?) and should be praised for that. You like it or you don't and full marks to Ohmforce for providing that kind of plugin.

(Now I feel guilty for knocking it, but you can't like everything, eh?)Read Review