HOFA-Plugins releases 4U+ BlindTest for Mac & Win with Intro Offer

HOFA-Plugins has released 4U+ BlindTest, a plugin for Mac OS X and Windows that allows an objective comparison of equipment (e.g. plugins) inside your DAW. It enables you to perform unprejudiced comparisons so that you can achieve the best sound possible.

Here's what they say:

Very often a look or a name will draw your attention: You believe that you are hearing differences that do not exist, due to the correlation of visual and aural perceptions and associations. So you compare your ideas of products rather than their actual sound character. To avoid this problem, HOFA-Plugins have developed a reliable blind test that lets you concentrate on what is important: the sound.

To use it, simply insert 4U+ BlindTest as the last plugin on every track you'd like to compare. Now, only the track which is set on "SOLO" will play; all other tracks are muted.

Clicking on "Shuffle" will anonymise the tracks and put them into a random order. Now you can switch around between the different signals to judge them objectively: Assign a ranking and add your comments about your aural impressions. Later you can uncover the track names.

You can also run a sequence in which you shuffle and evaluate several times. This way you get average ratings, creating your personal sound study. The comments will be summarized, so that you can check if your aural impression was always the same.

To make for really objective results:

• There is a peak display and a gain control per track, so you can avoid influences caused only by loudness differences.
• The GUI is freely scalable, so that you can use it to hide anything on your screen that may influence your decisions like your DAW's mixer panel.

Price: 39.90 €. There is an introductory price of 29,90 €. HOFA 4U+ BlindTest is also available in a free version. In contrast to the full version, the number of tracks that can be compared is limited to three. You can upgrade any time to use it with an unlimited number of tracks.