Product Reviews by KVR Members

Another winner from Sascha.

Dominion's an esoteric plugin - well worth the d/l, even though you may not use it all the time. The sort of plugin that tends to be of specialist nature and you'd normally expect only a reputable "name" company to release (with the price tag to match). It's an envelope shaper that allows you to emphasize or reduce the attack and sustain characteristic of whatever you throw at it. So what use is that?
On drums (which is probably what most people use it for) you can emphasize the initial transients (the very quick "hit"). Only one other FX - Transient Designer - springs to mind - and that's a h/w expensive unit... and well-acclaimed too. So what it does is make the drum track sound alot more snappy and in-yer-face. It can give it more energy by emphasizing the first stick hit, which is very important if you've used compressors etc on the drum track - comps usually take away some of the energy and realism of drums even though they increase the overall volume - and most comps will also reduce the high frequencies and sizzle. Dominion lets you put that all back into the drums that have already been compressed - so you get snappy livelier drums that also sound louder after the compression.

Not an obvious effect, but once you play around with it, you'll notice your drum tracks just have that extra little "commercial" sheen to them. You can use all manner of Eq, compressors, limiters etc on drums, but they can often sound dull - Dominion puts some life back into them - especially useful for more accoustic type drums rather than electronic drums.

But the bonus is you can also increase the sustain portion - which in audible terms is similar to what you get with a compressor. Sometimes a comp can only be used so much before it ruins the feel of a drum track, or makes noise too noticeable - so try out Dominion instead of a comp - it may do the job, and you can still boost the attack to get the snap as well as the body.

It doesn't have to be drums - use Dominion to emphasize the attack of accoustic guitar without needing to use bucketloads of Eq to emphasize the picking! Or to bring up the body of a guitar track. Use it to tone down background reverb in a noisy loop or an audio clip that you got wrong but can't rerecord for whatever reason. Use it to take a drumloop further back in the mix, or bring it forward. Use it on kicks even to emphasize the initial click without using mid range Eq boost on a sensitive mix.

Features - the bonus is the added harmonic enhancer and saturation circuit - all of usual Sascha high standard - not overly obvious but just enough to give a little more sheen without being harsh. Will work in stereo or mono, and has his trademark top quality brick wall limiter to really beef up your sound if that's what you want.

Cons - apparently has some P4 denormal issues, but he has a d/l'able fix for that.

Like exciters etc - complicated but just adds the quality extras you can't get normally.

It's definitely a character compressor - it adds flavour to your channel. It can be made to be fairly clinical, but it's not crystal clear, nor is it meant to be.

Features - very simple on the front panel - two huge knobs for compression and speed - it really couldn't be any easier than that. You don't have to know what threshold attacks and releases etc do - if you want that level of control then use a different comp, basically. You simply twiddle those 2 knobs until your sound is what you want. There's a stereo button (works in mono if not lit), locut and air (go on...have a guess what they do!), VCA or opto (VCA being a little more severe than opto, and quicker), a "complex" button (more of which later) and a switch to get to the inside panel for more detailed controls.

Documentation - separate d/ls that are an excellent read - well recommended.

Presets - covers all the main bases - guitars, basses, vocals, drums etc - all good presets well programmed to work with the instruments.

Stability - rock solid.

VFM - free. And still competes with expensive commercial comps.

Sound. A character comp - not crystal clear (although can be made to be pretty subtle). It's one that you'd use if you like to impart a distinct flavour to your compressed channel - much closer to analogue comps than most VST dynamics FX out there. With the speed on quickest and on VCA it doesn't let any transients through at all - obviously not how you'd always set up a comp, but good to know it will tame those difficult signals - and with high compression and quick speed, you'll hear more obviously the character of the comp - warm and ever-so-slightly grainy.
The real bonuses are the locut and air buttons - with heavy compression you might get too much bass - locut chops it out nicely, and air adds a great sparkle to those lost high frequencies (which if you didn't know - good h/w comps often lose highs - so it's not a fault - it's the nature of compression) Air is great for bringing accoustic guitars back to life after compression, and using both locut and air definitely helps with drumtracks - it means you can compress more heavily than you naturally might without ruining the nature of the channel.
Inside the panel is the real detail - you can alter the frequencies of the locut and air filters, and many details of the compressor itself to quite drastically alter the nature of the compression - or you can just subtly tweak it to get into some fine perfectionist detail. Often you won't need it, but it makes it very well-spec'ed.

"Complex" - changes it into a dual compressor linked in series. Useful if you want to use it more for groups or even as a master comp - a more subtle compression for each module that lets you compress more heavily with less audible pumping you'd get with just one compressor at the same compression level.

Not a do-everything comp - great for most situations though, full of character and alot more flexible than it first looks.

No reviews yet....strange!

I'll be the first, then.

GUI - straightforward and obvious what you're doing. I like it.

Features - lots of them. VCA or opto compression - I rarely use the opto compression, but it definitely has a different flavour to VCA - slower and less obvious but good. VCA compression can tame most severe peaks without noticeable artifacts etc. and it seems to be pretty quick when the attack is minimal. M/S mode - again I rarely use it but no doubt has its uses. A brick wall limiter tacked onto the end with -0.1 dB max output so you can use it either as a comp alone/ comp + limiter/ limiter alone. Saturation circuit that can be used alone or in conjunction with the 3 previous options. All the usual a,r,threshold and gain controls. An output AND input booster. Switching for the high/low sections. Pretty well every function you could want in a comp.

Documentation - Absolutley outstanding! Sascha has a separately downloadable tutorial that is over 1.5MB - well worth reading even if you don't use Endorphin. If you're new to compression etc this is an invaluable help.

Presets - not many (5?) but it gives you enough of an idea as to what it can do. Put it as a master insert then load up preset "Loud and Punchy". It may be heavy-handed but you can't fail to be impressed at what it does to your mix - instant gratification and a many-fold increase in quality of any of even your crappier mixes.

Support - Sascha is working commercially now, so there'll be no more updates, but he used to be very available and supportive. Doesn't really need updates as they're good as is.

VFM Absolutely free and several steps above the standard of the usual freebie. Compares well against expensive commercial offerings.

Stability - Never had a crash. Uses around 5-10% CPU on an Athlon 1.1G 512RAM system. Not a particularly small hit for a comp, but when you hear the quality it more than makes up for it.

Sound - the best bit last. A real stunner. The saturation circuit is very subtle (not one of those overdriven grungy affairs) which adds character but doesn't lose any perceived sound quality - it adds that sparkle and warmth that is felt rather than heard. The compression is what I'd call character rather than clinically clean - possibly you may not like its character, but it's difficult to hate. Not one for absolute crystal clarity if that's what you want. Probably the best single band limiter I've heard - you can push it ridiculously hard and it still sounds clean with no nasty clipping heard, and the bonus is you can switch it in or out. The two comp bands are well chosen - my only wish would be to have adjustable x-over - but it's preset. It's chosen to sit well over an entire mix, and it works very well - you can also boost or cut both bands individual output.

Ideal use - a stunning master comp/limiter, that can also work on channels.

My only essential plugin on EVERY track - competes with several 100s$ mastering suites!

I've still got this one, but almost deleted it several times - the only reason I haven't really is because you just never know when you might need a weird FX when your inspiration runs out for programming patches in synths and FX.

VFM - free, so no excuse for not at least giving it a whirl.

Patches - there is a small handful that give some kind of idea what Geometer can do, but not many, and considering it's a funny FX to figure out, I could certainly do with more.

Stability - It's never crashed on me, but it can take a reasonable amount of CPU depending on the settings etc. It's not necessarily the type of FX that you would have to run live though, so rendering to audio would solve that - it's more the type of FX that you'd just throw onto the odd vocal sample or for a break on some drums etc.

Documentation - there are help screens that show up, which at least give some idea about the functions and features - I wouldn't have a clue without these. (in fact I don't have much of a clue with them either)

Features - it's not quite a one-trick pony - it will make some varied sounds, but it tends towards the degrade-and-destroy type FX - you really have to tweak the settings an awful lot to get away from noise blasts, but patience can occasionally be rewarded.

Sounds - as above. It will make some robotic/vocoder-ish type FX and is distinctively different from your usual run-of-the-mill robotic FX. If you were into the Underworld-y vocal FX, you might be able to do it with Geometer, but have your own angle.
It can also (and regularly does) make a complete screaming distorted mush out of whatever you put into it. Probably right up your street if you're into industrial, I guess, but I wouldn't call Geometer musical most of the time, so it's not usually my cuppa tea. I can also see potential in it for ambient meandering type music though.
It does some esoteric shenannigins with splitting up your audio at whatever points you dictate, then stretches/bit-reduces/extrapolates in some manner I have no idea about (nor do I want to!)

It's free - if you like noise, give it a try. It's also worth taking some time with to get unique sounds that occasionally you'll get (usually by pure luck) that I've never had on any other s/w FX.... so I haven't deleted it. It'll never become a classic, but it's distinctively different.

I generally don't like any of the freeware reverbs apart from SIR (which is pro quality, depending on what .wavs you throw into it) Reverb can make or break a track, and bad reverb is just bad with no redeeming features on the whole IMO.

However, I'll make an exception to Pianoverb. It is in no way designed to be a general purpose room or hall reverb, pretends to emulate no real spaces and for what it is designed to do, does it very well.
It's designed to emulate a metallic string based reverb - or more of a string resonance, should I say. It does this very well, and although I don't often use it, it usually surprises me at how effective this can be. If you use it to make a drumkit sound like it's played in a drumbooth or studio, then you'll fail miserably - but as should be obvious from the name and design, if you use it on piano, clav or harpsichord patterns, then it stands out. Because it doesn't have the usual reverb controls, and it can be specifically tuned to a metallic resonance it won't swamp your mix with nasty artificial reverbs aka Freeverb, Ambience etc. But it will give a sense of space and almost realism to dry keyboard sounds.
I've also found it useful for guitars as a kind of spring reverb when used in a chain of effects - it very much suits the cheap and nasty kind of cabinet reverb you might often want to use with guitar tracks (or on synth tracks that you want to sound guitar-ish).

It has a definite flavour and will do what the blurb suggests it'll do - use it outside of this scope and it's your own fault, not PSP's.

The GUI is pretty, distinctive, easy to use and obvious. It's also fairly small compared to some so it doesn't take up too much screen space, but the design of large knobs means it's also in no way fiddly to use. One of the best GUIs IMO - alongside things like the Classic series from Kjaerhuis (or however it's spelt).

Features - various tuning parameters, dry/wet mix, decay etc and a useful bypass button (I wish all plugins had a bypass button - top marks PSP!)

One-trick pony? - sort of, but it's meant to be, so nobody can complain about it not sounding like a Lexicon - it was never meant to!

It's free, it's of the usual high standard set by PSP and of the usual distinctive character from them. Not a must have if you're purely electronic or synth based - but if you ever use piano, harps, clavis, and even guitars then you should do yourself a favour and try this one out as an alternative to the usual crappy freebie reverbs that almost never deliver (apart from SIR).

And it's bright yellow - how many other plugins are that pretty?

This one is definitely worth having in your plugin folder, although, personally I rarely use it much. I should qualify that by stating that it is purely designed as a harmonic enhancer with no other gimmicks up its sleeve. It's not one of those mysterious enhancers that use a mixture of band-split delays, harmonics, compression, Eq and phase correction. So you can't compare this to a BBE or Aphex etc. You could use it as one of several insert FX in a chain to achieve that overall enhancement effect though.

GUI - it's obvious and simple - nothing flashy, but for what it does it would be a waste to have CPU taken up by flashy graphics.

Features - minimal but useful - a frequency scale which allows you to control which frequencies and above it enhances, and a dry/wet mix basically. Doesn't need anything else. I would rather it come in a choice of VST and DX - but that's only personal preference - it works very well as DX only.

Stability - very stable, very little CPU and I've never had a crash or conflict with it.

Manual/Presets - doesn't really need any.

Sound - It has definite uses. I find it good for drum tracks/groups, to add a little sparkle, but with the proviso that you should be careful about using it on hats and cymbals - it tends to make them a little too harsh and grating. That is no problem with HFS though - all harmonic enhancers do that to hats if you don't use it very subtly. It works well on snares, toms and other drums though.
I find it works slightly less well on instrumentation unless used very very sparingly, but again that is down to the nature of the process rather than the plugin itself. If you use it 100% wet and then solo it you hear what it does to the sound, and it seems to add the harmonics in a true manner, with no Eqing tricks or deceptions going on.

I would say it's safer to use this kind of technique on group tracks rather than over a whole mix, although you could do that also. It's especially useful if you use alot of drum samples (or any kind of sample) say, off sample CDs - many of which are often taken off vinyl, so they tend to be a bit lacking in top end. It's generally a safer bet than using too much Eq which can be dodgy unless you get it spot on, and use a very good Eq.

Really this is almost a one-off. The only other competition I'm aware of is the DSPFX harmonic enhancer, which is not free, but offers the choice of odd or even harmonics (personally I find no use for even harmonics though). So it stands out as filling in its own niche. If you had good comps, Eq and band splitters, then you can certainly use this in your mastering chain, so it can be versatile.

RGC do tend to make different and unique s/w and this is no exception - it's good to have it for free, but you probably won't use it an awful lot. But a thumbs up for a useful plugin not covered by other companies. I'd rather have this than some of the plethora of same-old plugins in other areas provided by other companies.

It lost some points on things like documentation, but really you shouldn't need any manual with this - it's designed as an easy to use, but good quality studio essential chorus and it delivers in spades. It is meant to be straight-forward and it is - I particularly like the GUI - no bells and whistles and gimmicks to get in the way - it's obvious what each knob does.

Sound - the main focus. It can be used on pretty well anything and sits very nicely in a mix - it's not too artificial sounding, although if used in extreme it can give your desired effect. There is no glitching - used to be some problems with CPU spikes and noise bursts etc. but it's been regularly updated and is now rock solid. Excellent support there, then.

As a studio basic essential it has squarely achieved its aim (like most of the other Classic series plugins). It will thicken up pads nicely, swirls around to the right amount and is good enough to be used as a 100% wet effect as an insert if you want. Try it on any instrument and you won't be disappointed.

I have only one minor complaint, which is that the delay seems to be set into discrete steps rather than continuously adjustable, but that is a minor irritation indeed - the step are set at useable increments.

It's not a mega modulation do-it-all mod FX but it isn't designed to be - it's easy to use, does what it says on the box and can be used in several instances as sends or inserts as it uses so little CPU, so you don't have to worry about rendering to audio. I applaud the developer for his idea of straight-forward studio basics with no frills, but all the real things that you need on a day to day basis. It happily sits next to more expensive s/w and h/w choruses which few plugins, especially freebies, can achieve.

A shortish review, but it's not a huge plugin that needs in depth reviewing. Simply put, you'd be stupid not to have this one in your plugin folder - I've had many s/w choruses and the Classic chorus is now one of only 2 that I regularly use. In fact I never use any of my h/w choruses nowadays, because apart from some very fine detail and the ability to program in more channels of chorus, they don't improve on the thickening effect this one gives for everyday use.

This one's a real advert for free VST FX IMO. I'd happily pay for it.

GUI - a very nice-looking interface. It's obvious what everything does, and it's nicely set out in appropriate sections.

Stability - rock solid and most importantly it doesn't use much CPU so it's no hassle to use it as a send and maybe a few instances of inserts if you use alot of reverb. Probably one of the best in terms of CPU in its quality range.

Features - all the usual parameters. An added bonus that not too many reverbs give is the gating - IMO this is one of the strengths of Ambience - basically because although I don't much like it as a general purpose reverb, it is good for metallic based reverbs such as plates and springs - if you're going to use it as a plate reverb, then the gate is essential for some treatments with drums. Many better sounding reverbs don't give you the option of the gate, so this is a big plus.

Sound - I don't like knocking freebies but I really can't say this is a general purpose reverb or anything approaching release quality reverb. As mentioned, I think it has good value as a plate or spring reverb - it's character is definitely metallic and a little reminiscent of, say, some 80's Yamaha reverb. Reverb is very much down to personal taste, so many will disagree with me, but it is far to metallic to be used as a room, hall or other real-space reverb. I'm also reluctant to knock it too much because it really shouldn't be compared with pro quality reverbs - as long as you bear in mind that this is a free reverb and use it as such then you won't be disappointed, but if you've had any experience of the good reverb units, then basically, you wouldn't touch Ambience for general treatments.

I would say it has value for specialist treatments - artificial reverbs, special FX used sparingly, and plates. But the lesser reverbs really show up when you use it as a send on several channels - the metallic edge begins to get very noticeable, and make it unusable for a serious mix..especially if you want realistic room space reverb. I've heard it compared to good reverbs - and trying not to sound too condescending (as said - it's down to taste often) - those comparisons are from people who probably haven't had much experience with the better ones - it has a type of in-yer-face appeal, but for serious useage that is not at all what you want or need. Good reverb should be almost un-noticed in a mix - Ambience cannot do that. Not that you can't get pro quality freebies - things like Endorphin, Fish Fillets, Freealpha disprove that (they are superb quality for free) but Ambience is not one of them - I am a bit picky with reverbs, but a lesser quality one can ruin a track - I don't mind artificial in-yer-face mod FX or specialFX but room & hall reverbs are meant to be realistic - this isn't.

Compare to something like SIR that is free, but pro quality but uses alot of CPU and has latency - you have to balance those considerations. Ambience won't gobble CPU and is great for sketching rough mixes, but it's not mix quality.

Another invaluable studio tool

As mentioned - try out the Equium/Firium demos... you'll most likely want them after hearing them.

One complaint - I would really like the ability to enlarge the screen and zoom in on parts of the frequency spectrum. I use highish screen resolution, which can make Inspector difficult to see detail - it's very good for seeing the overall picture of your spectrum but if you really want the fine detail then there are a couple of other analysers that enable you to get in much closer (and full screen too) so check them out (also free).

Having said that, the GUI on Inspector is one of the best around - it's pretty obvious what and where everything is. The real icing on the cake is the gubbins at the bottom that tells you how much headroom you've got, the peaks (with a choice of modes!), and even more importantly - how long your clips are and for how many samples. It is incredibly easy to get completely unnoticed clips in your songs which you don't find out about until you burn to CD, by which time it's too late, and there goes that CD into the bin. Some limiters have attack settings - if you do have an attack, that's where the clips can slip through: You'd think you could hear them, but if it's quick enough, you don't. Especially so with non-read-ahead dynamics plugins. So this is where Inspector is invaluable - it can tell you what your ears don't - no problem if you record to analogue, but potentially a fatal error with digital media.

I've also used Inspector to test out other plugins such as brickwall limiters - fortunately most do what they say, but every now and then you come across one that lets clips through - and Inspector is a great way of telling you which ones to keep and which ones to put in the dustbin.

Another minor grizzle - on several occasions I've noticed appreciable dBs of bass content showing on Inspector (I'm talking sub30 Hz here). This still shows even after supposedly filtering out the bass - and that's with a variety of Eq plugins/filters some of which are expensive and which I trust. I've checked for ground loops etc (and anyway, it's the wrong frequency for that) and it seems to be non existent, but shows up repeatedly in Inspector. Initially this gave me some concern that maybe it wasn't too accurate in other frequencies, but having checked it out it seems to be accurate over the rest of the spectrum - it stubbornly wavers around the 20-30Hz even when all music is stopped and all connections cut! - some kind of bug, but fortunately not of any real importance (could be for analysing your basslines and kicks - but for that kind of detail I use a more zoomable analyser anyway - one that I can get 20-120Hz filling the whole screen).

But really they are minor problems - it's invaluable for clipping, a good overall analyser and most importantly it barely uses any CPU at all! Compared to one that uses 30% on my system! So you can have multiple instances easily and just forget them.

PSP do everything with character and quality. Mixsat is no exception - the bundle is good enough to be used on mastering, although Mixsat was intended more for mixing than mastering - Vintage Warmer is their big brother for mastering. Mixsat is single band as opposed to the 3 on offer in VW, but if your final mix is a good one, I find Mixsat good enough for mastering.

It imparts a very ear-pleasing warmth to a mix or to any group. The compression on the highs is intended to add top end sparkle, but personally I find it a little artificial-sounding and steer clear of it. But with a good mix, you don't need it anyway. The valve sim however makes any mix fuller and "warmer" (which is a pretty subjective term I suppose). Because of the way it emulates valves, you get limiting with harmonics - and you can choose 3 types of valve - which basically adds in higher order harmonics for the 3 types. I like the PSP sound of their valve sim - even on high settings it still sounds musical, and on type 3 it may hurt a full mix, but it is invaluable for crunching up a drum group or individual loop. You don't have to worry about compressor settings, attacks, releases, thresholds etc - you just turn up the valve% until you like what you hear. It's the equivalent of having Eq, compressors, a limiter and an enhancer all in one easy interface.

If you want big bass, then Mixsat will deliver - can make weedy basslines sound full and thick or just add that extra little sub - to my ears better used in the mixing stage rather than clamped over a full mix, but some people will like that effect too.

It really is a studio essential - useable in channel recording or mixing stage, group mixing or mastering. It doesn't hog too much CPU (I get around 10% or under with all features turned on - Athlon1.1GHz, 512Meg RAM) Which considering the great effect it gives is very good.

Presets - comes with a useful set. From preamps to drumloops, to digitalising to valving to mastering, and bassifying or sparklifying. Not too overdone mostly as some plugin presets tend to do. You could actually make do with presets only and never have to tweak it?

Interface - it's very obvious what's going on - no rocket science needed at all. No manual needed.

VFM - alot depends on the kind of sound you personally like. I feel it's one of the best valve sims out there and I consider it much better value than enhancers. To get an equivalent sound you would need a good Eq, an enhancer and a good comp or limiter (not that you shouldn't have those anyway!). Some people may not like its sound - it certainly adds its own character and plenty of it, so in some ears it actually ruin their sound.

One small reservation - it does tape saturation sim also. If you like this effect, you might need to check out the competition - Personally I find T-Racks does a better Tapesat, as does Endorphin, but that's not why I have Mixsat - it's the valve sim that shines. But its tapesat is still very useable.