TL:DW; Classic Airwindows subtle analog modeling.
Desk
Now that we're done for now with dithers (though the contest to name my best wordlength reducer ever is still going, and will run until February 1 when that one's made public) it's time to get into something more interesting.
Namely, the canonical version of Airwindows Desk, brought up to current standards and ported to Windows VST!
This has never been available in this form, or for free. But it's 2017 and time to include some of the plugins that gave Airwindows a decade of active business even when selling only generic, GUI-less Audio Unit plugs for Mac only. These were secret weapons most people couldn't get, and they were $50 each. Now Airwindows is supported by Patreon and growing month by month (it's about time to get some reporting on this story, attn. anyone who's looking for an amazing tale to recount) and while the for-pay plugins are still waiting to begin their release, I can start rolling out new versions of some of the greatest hits.
Desk is a little bit like a precursor to 'PurestDrive'. It's entirely an analog modeler, with a behavior that's far from a plugin stomp-box distortion. It glues and thickens the sound, with a headroom of about 30 dB, much like a true analog console (those don't turn into distorto-pedals the instant you hit 0 dB). Desk is the canonical version of this type of sound processing.
Note that it's not tricky to use like Console4. It's not calibrated to work as a ConsoleChannel replacement (that's the most recent Desk3, which is one of the Kagi plugins to be released later). It doesn't have elaborate tone colors added like BussColors3 (also a Kagi plugin). It's not obvious in normal use, not adjustable like some of these plugins. In normal operation you're miles from clipping it anyway, and get only a subtle glue and tone shaping.
But what it IS… is classic Airwindows tone coloring brought up to 2017 standards. You can stick Desk on any channel, any submix or buss, the 2-buss, or all of the above. The more places you put it, the more obvious the analogifying becomes. And since it's Airwindows tone and transparency, you can put it up against any 'analog modeler' by anybody, at any price or subscription fee, and it should beat everything and give a bigger, punchier sound. If it's 'analog warming' and tone you want, and you require the sound not to turn into digital sludge and glitter, this is the one.
Desk's kindred plugins TransDesk and TubeDesk are coming, and I'm working on some cool things besides that. And TransDesk and TubeDesk are cool in their own right, more obvious, with more distinctive tone colors. But this plugin, Desk in its canonical form, is more important, because it's a building block with the widest possible usefulness. And it's dead easy to use anywhere you like.
Please support my Patreon . I've got lots more to do, and the more resources I have, the more I CAN do, and will do.
