Airwindows Hull2: Free Mac/Windows/Linux/Pi AU/VST/Rack

[jinxtigr]

TL;DW: Hull2 is a very clear three-band EQ.

Hull2.zip(499k)

We ended up using the Hull algorithm in something! It's what makes the high band of ConsoleLA work. Hull2 is taking the guts of that code and giving it to you as a pristine, no-saturation, no analog mojo, pure EQ.

Note that I didn't say 'normal'

The idea here is that it's very, very simple algorithms that combine to produce complicated results. When I describe what happens here, keep that in mind: the code that produces it is incredibly pure and simple, and the tone of these odd and complicated effects is very transparent and hangs onto expressiveness instead of degrading the tone.

You've got a treble, mid, and bass control. If you move them all together, you get a simple gain control that's roughly as good as PurestGain. It's very close to PurestGain, if you've moved all three controls exactly together, and that's how transparent Hull2 can be.

If you boost treble relative to mid (at any position), you get the 10k-centered boost from ConsoleLA, but without any harmonics or other alterations. It's an even clearer effect. It centers on 10k and falls off slightly above that (remembering that, flat, it's a perfect bypass).

If you cut treble relative to mid, you get at first a soft notch, then increasingly steep. And then, the notch gets shallower again, and then it becomes a very steep roll-off slightly higher than that.

If you boost lows relative to mid (at any position) you begin to lift the lows, while subtly cutting around 700 hz causing the sensation that the bass region is shifting lower while boosting.

If you cut lows relative to mid, it'll subtly lift those same lower-mids, so again it's like shifting the voicing of the track rather than just 'adding and removing exact frequencies'. It's very broad-stroke EQ, like two tilt-EQs with a hinge in the middle, if that makes any sense.

All this is designed in, but it's not done by banks of EQs doing elaborate (and unaccountable) things. It comes out of how very simple algorithms interact with each other, so the behaviors are somewhat designable but it's kind of unavoidable. It's the cost of using these crossovers at these steepnesses, and the trick is to design it so the weirdnesses do musically useful things. And then, the other trick is to construct the three-band EQ by deconstructing the input in such a way that you can just add it together again and get the input back.

You could have the craziest, wildest crossover behavior, with all sorts of pre-ring or whatever (Hull2 doesn't, but you could have this) and subtract it from the highs to get a mid band. If you do that, both the bands will have exactly matching pre-ripple, if there's pre-ring (same with phase issues, etc).

And then if you put 'em back together you have the original back: no more ripple, phase or anything.

And of course if you apply only a tiny amount, you get only a tiny amount of whatever character is part of the crossover. And that's the principle in ConsoleLA, and in ConsoleMC (and MD), and now it's in Hull2, where ConsoleLA's treble crossover was developed.

Hope you find some use for it

download 64 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Signed M1/Intel Mac AUs.dmg
download Signed M1/Intel Mac VSTs.dmg
download LinuxVSTs.zip
download LinuxARMVSTs.zip for the Pi
download Retro 32 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac AUs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac VSTs.zip
Mediafire Backup of all downloads
All this is free and open source under the MIT license, brought to you by my Patreon.
VCV Rack module

[jamcat]

Cubase will begin supporting VST3 only on both Windows and Mac around June with Cubase 13.
Will Airwindows start supporting VST3 for Cubase users, the way AU is supported for Logic users?

[Freaqpeak]

Cubase will begin supporting VST3 only on both Windows and Mac around June with Cubase 13.
Will Airwindows start supporting VST3 for Cubase users, the way AU is supported for Logic users?

Where can I read the official Steinberg statement? I can only find info that they may remove VST2 support in later versions in a post made in 2022. No exact month or year?

I forsee a someone making a stable VST2 to VST3 wrapper for endusers and selling it for a few bucks. That someone will get a nice income. Just like when Steinberg removed 32bit support, jBridge helped us.

[jinxtigr]

Cubase will begin supporting VST3 only on both Windows and Mac around June with Cubase 13.
Will Airwindows start supporting VST3 for Cubase users, the way AU is supported for Logic users?

Erm… Airwindows started out selling only AU plugins, for $50 a pop, not open source, for years and years. And it's for a lot of different Mac programs as it's the base CoreAudio format, with various neat qualities (for instance, the simplest form of mono AU also supports N to N so can be used on 5.1 tracks)

I think it's safe to say this: if Cubase supports the new CLAP format I'll learn how to add that for every single plugin and port it, and then every single plugin (including legacy: everything that has a VST2) will also have crossplatform CLAP, meaning that instead of manually building eight distinct builds for each plugin I'll be building 12.

That's if Cubase adds CLAP support.

(part of this is that, by now, I have over 3000 individual builds of plugins in the library, all of the AU and Windows VST2 are built by hand rather than some automated system, packaged into zip files etc. manually and posted to the website individually as well as in collections. This is a big reason why the 'plugin page' direct downloads remain as they were when they were released: the other reason is so you can still get it as it was when it came out, in case anything goes wrong with updated versions in collections. You must understand that any new format MUST include retroactively going back and redoing ALL the previous library and every plugin, no matter how small, for free, which has been done for 32 to 64 bit Mac migration, a Linux random noise function update, and the Apple Silicon and signed-code migrations, and to some extent the Linux Raspberry Pi support. There's not been that kind of motion on the Windows side, but I cannot risk being sued by Steinberg to stop me from releasing retro-compatible VST2 plugins for legacy machines and the installed base. I still support PPC Macs on the Retro AU/VST side and am not going to risk abandoning legacy PC users: I still make 32 bit plugins for them, and the 64 bit Windows downloads are not even twice the numbers of the 32 bit Windows downloads (at least on the Mediafire backup site)

[Wrong Eq]

TL;DW: Hull2 is a very clear three-band EQ.

NOVST3;DR

Also, I dont like how you dodge critical questions, like in your Console LA thread.

Also, who really cares about your little 3000 plugins ? Sorry, if this may sound rude, but that's the reality. And people ask for vst3 regarding your new releases. But you have an agenda here, that's clear. Very unprofessional.

[Agreed]

I'm not sure what standard of professionalism you're looking for compared to releasing hundreds of free plugins that are totally open source. If someone else has the expertise to do so, Chris isn't standing in the way of porting them, or skinning them, or whatever. He has them in a lot of formats, but has not yet ported to VST3. I understand this is a problem for Cubase users, and I understand wanting him to do that for Cubase users, but getting rude with him and accusing him of having an agenda, being unprofessional because his massive library of free software isn't to your tastes is lame.

I'm a Reaper user, so I don't have a dog in the Cubase/Steinberg fight. I'm grateful my DAW supports CLAP, it's a cool format and getting plugins to a place where people aren't reliant on Steinberg seems like a good thing to me. I would be sad if my DAW suddenly decided to enforce the removal of backwards compatibility as a sort of planned obsolescence. Backwards compatibility is a great thing, and I feel that must be done primarily for profit-motivated reasons.

I know they've given the instruction to contact developers and seek VST3 support, I mean, you're doing what you can I guess rude or not, but it seems a shame to be put in that position - couldn't they as effectively move forward without shunning VST2 so completely, cutoff style, given they already deprecated the SDK and all that it'd just be fully licensed holdouts who aren't in position to redo everything. I don't see the harm in still letting them have their niche, even if it is intended to be dwindling. And Steinberg didn't say "go be an ass to developers over this," that's a personal choice, IMO not the one most likely to result in a positive outcome.

[Vortifex]

..

[k2006]

some people have this sickness,they boost themselves up by putting down others.

[gaggle of hermits]

some people have this sickness,they boost themselves up by putting down others.

the dude's in another thread moaning about "faceless corporations".

wrong eq, pick a lane, buddy.

[diroxe7660]

built by hand rather than some automated system, packaged into zip files [...] manually [...] retroactively going back and redoing ALL the previous library and every plugin [...] manually

But I mean... All of your plugins were automatically translated to CLAP with 117 lines of code. You can save yourself a decade of work, build on bpaul's work and be done tomorrow.

[audiojunkie]

TL;DW: Hull2 is a very clear three-band EQ.

NOVST3;DR

Also, I dont like how you dodge critical questions, like in your Console LA thread.

Also, who really cares about your little 3000 plugins ? Sorry, if this may sound rude, but that's the reality. And people ask for vst3 regarding your new releases. But you have an agenda here, that's clear. Very unprofessional.

Have you ever considered switching to decaf? There are some really good brands that taste as good as the real thing.

Another thing to consider: Try eating a snickers before posting. It can really help with the hangry.

Chin up

[gaggle of hermits]

built by hand rather than some automated system, packaged into zip files [...] manually [...] retroactively going back and redoing ALL the previous library and every plugin [...] manually

But I mean... All of your plugins were automatically translated to CLAP with 117 lines of code. You can save yourself a decade of work, build on bpaul's work and be done tomorrow.

if it's that simple, they're open source, right? won't take you a minute.

(hint: from what I recall, CLAP was designed to be reasonably easy to port over from vst2, but provide a better structure. with vst3, Steinberg wasn't bothered about compatibility.)

[diroxe7660]

But it's been done twice at least. Why should I do this.. again?

https://github.com/baconpaul/airwin2clap
https://github.com/stevefolta/airwindows-clap-build

[gaggle of hermits]

But it's been done twice at least. Why should I do this.. again?

https://github.com/baconpaul/airwin2clap
https://github.com/stevefolta/airwindows-clap-build

ok, I thought you were suggesting an automated approach for building vst3 as though it was going to be a cakewalk not just folding the existing third-party CLAP work into the source tree.

[diroxe7660]

Yeah, I meant for CLAP. With regards to VST3 - one route might be to translate to CLAP and use the CLAP-as-VST3 and CLAP-as-AU wrappers. Or use one of the metaloaders like Blue Cat, DDMF or Ildaeil.