Prism-Bit: Shape Sound with Images & GIFs (Free Copies)

[Niels461]

Hey folks,

I made a little plugin called Prism-Bit and I’d love for people to try it. It uses images and GIFs to shape sound in a spectral way bright pixels pass audio, dark ones block it, so you can make anything weird or interesting.



It’s just a fun effect, not a synth or sampler. You can load images or even grab the current spectrum and turn it into a mask. There are some built-in animated presets too.

It’s Windows VST3 for now, macOS/Linux is planned.(Linux and macOS support will be coming at the same time, both builds launch at full release).

If you want to play with it, Prism-Bit I’d be super grateful for any feedback, ideas, or just weird sounds you make with it.

Code: LOVESOUNDS

Thanks, and have fun!

[Alexander137]

A very interesting plugin for getting creative (it's probably time to learn how to make GIF animations). Its functionality is reminiscent of TugSpect. It has a pleasant interface and, most importantly, is fun to play with!
However, I encountered some issues with the interface and parameter automation.
The interface starts flashing white after minimizing and maximizing, but not always (Windows 11, Bitwig).
Regarding automation: I'm trying to automate "Frame End" and I hear the automation happening, but it's not visible—the slider stays in place. Or I switch the automation mode from loop to one-shot—but the interface still shows loop mode.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to try such a wonderful plugin for free.

Oh yeah, I forgot: is there any way to scale the interface?

[Niels461]

That is huge. Thanks Alexander for the great feedback!

I have to be honest, Prism-Bit hasn’t been opened in Bitwig yet. I’m downloading it right now to see if I can replicate the problems you described.

This plugin has honestly been a bit of a nightmare to build because of the Frankenstein-ish way it saves and loads things. I even had to build a custom GIF decoder and a pretty cursed system for saving and analyzing GIFs at runtime. Right now it works as a sort of master/slave setup where the master GIF runs invisibly in the background and handles the sound modulation, while the visual GIF tries to keep up and mimic the master.

Regarding the automation: that’s an update bug, and it will probably show up in most DAWs. Awesome findings! really helpful!

I’ll see if I can fix the Bitwig compatibility issues within this week. The license you got is permanent, so I’ll let you know once an update is ready.

As for interface scaling, it’s planned as a feature, but I can’t confirm when yet. First priority is getting it working flawlessly in most DAWs, then fixing visual bugs and adding improvements.

[Cuauhtli]

Great, now I have to waste drive space on pictures/images. Thanks a lot buster....grrr.

Seriously though, pretty cool. There's been a few predecessors that have faded into the ether along with my old computer.

[Niels461]

Haha sorry about the drive space
Glad you like the idea!

[muki]

2 rule TugSpect comes to mind

https://tugrulakyuz.gumroad.com/l/ssxrm?layout=profile

any similarities ?

.

[vurt]

interesting!

[Niels461]

Yeah, TugSpect comes to mind, both use images as spectral masks. The difference is that TugSpect focuses more on editing and creating the images, while Prism‑Bit is about how the audio responds and evolves, with animated GIFs, moving masks, and spectral transforms.