ice clip

ice clip is a soft clipper plugin for Windows (VST3).

It applies a smooth clipping curve to tame peaks and add warmth and density, with three controls: Input (pre-clip gain), Threshold (clip onset, 0 to -51.8 dB), and Output (post-clip gain). Input and Output range from -15 to +15 dB.

Designed to be simple and CPU-light, it can be used on individual tracks, drum bus, or master bus.

ice clip — that clip sound, in any DAW.

THE STORY.

In one DAW that's become a standard in the beatmaking world, there's a built-in soft clipper that nearly every beatmaker treats as essential. And it sounds incredible. But it only lives inside that one DAW. The moment you move to another, you have to leave that sound behind.

There are pricey plugins that promise to bring "that sound" everywhere else. But the price, the bloated feature sets, and the nagging question — "so which setting actually gives me that sound?" — left me with more friction than payoff.

So I built this. That classic sound, in any DAW, with none of the hassle. The goal wasn't "close enough" — it was a faithful recreation.

The result: null tests land around −80 dB across the entire threshold range. And it's not just the sound — the feel of the threshold knob, the way its taper responds under your fingers, is matched too. This was work aimed at "the same effect and the same feel," not merely "similar."

Features:
- Three controls: Input, Threshold, Output
- Smooth, musical soft-clipping curve
- Low CPU usage; supports multiple instances
- VST3 for any compatible host (Ableton Live, Cubase, Studio One, and more)
- Windows 10/11 (64-bit).

A macOS version is in development.