MStereoSpread

MStereoSpread by MeldaProduction helps make audio tracks more personal, but bringing sound "closer to the listener." At first I couldn't understand how a psychoacoustic delay-based pseudo stereo illusion could widen and tighten at the same time. It was a little hard for me to wrap my brain around. What helped me is this — I stopped thinking, listened to my newly spread tracks, and smiled at the results! When this effect is combined with the on-board saturator, the results rich and very natural sounding. When I bypass the effect, it feels like something is missing. In my opinion, MStereoSpread is like salt — a little pinch goes a long way to season a track. *I later came to understand that when the plugin is inserted on a track, the artificial stereo generators create an inequality between the L and R via a combination of frequency response, time, and volume.

PROS:

• Intuitive interface/clean GUI (not the prettiest, however).
• Easy to use. i.e., Spread controls amount of effect, Frequency controls what is modulated; etc.
• Good basic presets categories (drums, bass, piano, solo instruments, orchestra, voice).
• Goniometer enables excellent visual control.
• MIDI learn.
• Limiter to protect against volume spikes.
• Up-sampling (1x-16x).
• Lifetime free updates.

CONS:

• Requires a little patience to achieve the optimal widening and panorama balance.
• The more frequency bands that are split by the Spectral Generator = more CPU, of course. This needs to be kept in mind. Power needs energy.

CONCLUSION

According to Melda,"Modern listeners crave extremely tight and punchy sound." I'd say they are correct, but MSS does something else — it helps to create livelier tracks. I highly recommend MStereoSpread to any e-musician, producer, etc., who wants his/her track to feel more alive. Good price if purchased as an individual plugin; great price if purchased as part of a bundle. My ears and wallet are happy! I give MStereoSpread two hard-panned thumbs up.