Cosmos - Harmonic Exciter and Sub Generator

On a few rare occasions a product comes along that you say to yourself, "that is just right". This is one of those occasions. And Cosmos is definitely the product! So let's qualify that beyond a few words.

The GUI is nothing over the top and serves it purpose. You get a sense of feedback instantly as you change the knobs or sliders on the two decibel displays. There is input and output gain like you might expect on any plug of this nature. There is also a limiter ON/OFF switch along with input gain. Slightly associated with that is the Bottom Drive gain. It acts as an independent low end boost that almost feels like it is emulating a bit of tube drive.

But this is where it gets really magical...

Starting with the Sub Bass Drive and Sub Bass Tuning: clean, rich, warm, and unlike any plugin I can remember. It has a feel and approach that the BBE plugins do, but this has character that is hard to describe without hearing it in action. Will it color your sound? Yes! I word it with emphasis because the coloring enhances your hard work and efforts to keep your bass ranges clean and boosts what is there without making mud out of your sand castle. This works well on the main mix for mastering as well as playing around as an effect your bass or pad sounds.

Then there is the Exciter and Stereo Imaging controls. Many exciters tend to sound like a boost to the upper end of the EQ in a mix. Not here. This Exciter really draws aspect of your mix out. I say "mix" because this plug sits well on the main output bus for mastering. That being said, this would also be the perfect sound shaper to bring a texture to your favorite synth sound that will breathe new life into it.

Whether you use this on your main mix, in mastering, or in conjunction with color synths, pads, pianos, or even guitars, there is a natural sound to Cosmos that is hard to find in plugins. It is warm and rich. It gels your mix in a fantastic way. It is one of my best purchases to date...and I recommend it to anyone serious about their sound.

This thing is actually super-nice. The same company puts out the BBE sweeteners, but Cosmos has a more organic feel, a more subtle feel - which makes it more effective. The gain stages make it very easy to tune the output levels, and the three drive levels are impressively useful.