[STOCK]Upd +2 Combi ! 4 usefull combinators to help you achieve better mix

[A.sch3]

Hello !

Download through Google Drive v1.0.2
WORKS WITH STOCK RE, NO ADDITIONAL RE REQUIRED !

TL;DR : i've made a few combinators for the things i use the most when mixing. It compete with paid VST IMO but you tell me.

• Story :

I'm a reason user since version 4.
Since many year i've acknowledged the power of the combinator. I have done many revision of mainly 4 combinators : For vocals, for instruments BUS, for polish or pre-mastering, for mastering.
I've been working on these 4 version with a nice layout and background with the intent of sharing them to the community.

Hopefully you'll like them as much as i do !

• Combinator List :

NEW!
Binaural & 3D FX

Changelog :
v1.0.2 = Initial release

Only works if there's sides information, doesn't do anything with mono tracks.

- Binaural FX Button : Creates a phases shift on the side channels to make hard panned signals left or right to sit better on the stereo field when using headphones
- Phase Frequency : Position of this phase shift. Lower values (up to 100Hz) is the most transparent, but the ideal is to target the lowest frequency heard on the side channels
- Precision : Widen or narrow the phase shift. Precise will be the most transparent, Broad will be quite audible

- 3D Field Button : Creates a delay between the side channels and the center channel to give the illusion of depth without coloring the tone of the track too much
- Field Adjust : Value of this delay, best result i got is with 4 ms, but don't be affraid to try other values. the 4 ms mark is visible on the scale so you easily can find it.
- Inverse Field : Will delay the center channel from the side channel. Try it to hear if this improve the effect
- Parallel Mode : Run this effect in parallel of the original signal, so the effect is way more subtle

- Listen FX Only : Allow to hear only what's added (makes a Null DRY vs WET)
- Bypass : Bypass all effects


Stereorizer

Changelog :
v1.0.1 = Initial release

This is a tool to add to a mono source that you wish to make stereo, or at least add some depth and width.

- Width 1 : Create stereo image from 3 types of reverb.
- Width 2 : Create stereo image from spreading frequency bands to the left or right ear, apply small amount of short reverb (room knob) to smooth-out the odd effect it can create
- Width 3 : Create stereo image with Haas effect technique (delay one left or right channel from the other one), use the "recenter & blend" knob to correct flaws of this effect

Resonance Taming

Changelog :
v1.0.1 = Initial release

This is a tool to correct a resonance defect of a source. It is dynamic, so even if the taming is engaged, it is correcting only when the resonance you targeted is present.

- Listen : Listen the what you are doing
- Frequency Target : Sweep to find a problematic resonance after pressing the "Listen" button

- Dynamic Taming : Amount of taming of the frequency
- Broad/Precise : Narrow or enlarge the band to tame

Vocal Singer ToolBox

Changelog :
v1.0.1 = Adding Full Bypass button
v1.0 = Initial release

- Auto-Leveling : Level up the singing volume to 0db, a bit like what the Selig Leveler is doing but not exactly the same.
- Gain : Moar volume

- De-esser : Y'all know
- Clarity : x to 20kHz will be affected by the de-essing
- Target Frequency : Clic "Listen" then sweep the frequency range to find the "Ess" to remove, un-check Listen after that.

- Backing Vocal : Enable a Hass Effect of the vocal
- Width : "Size" of the effect
- Smooth Backing : Tame the high frequency of the Haas effect, and "recenter" the stereo image i bit

- Reverb : DRY/WET knob
- Ducking : Tame the reverb when vocal is being heard
- Length : Duration of the reverb
- Verb on : Enable reverb

- Room : Enable a separate room reverb
- Volume : Volume of the room reverb

- Limiter : Limiter to avoid clipping, but lowering the fader will also work

Bus Mixing and Improving

Changelog :
v1.0.1 = Adding Full Bypass button and 1:1 Gain Match for parallel compression
v1.0 = Initial release

- Dry Volume : Dry signal volume, can affect the balance between effects

- Harmonics : Amount of added harmonics
- Frequency : Frequency target to add harmonics
- Variation : Modify the timber of the harmonics
- Alternate : Switch between 2 harmonics algorithms

- Mud : Less, or MOAR MUD ! (200Hz/700Hz)

- Fat : Amount of added fat to the sound
- Fat Freq : Frequency to faten-up
- Fat with EQ : Generate fat with an EQ (not very subtle)
- Fat with Disto : Generate fat with a distortion effect (more clean)

- Widening : Widen the stereo field
- X-over-freq : Frequency split between unaffected stereo field and affected stereo field

- Para Comp : Parallel compression amount
- Only Comp : Click this button to only hear what's added

- Focus : Amount of focus (EQ)
- 1 - 4 kHz : Frequency target to amplify

- Smooth : Remove harshness
- 4 - 15 kHz : Frequency target to tame

Pre-Mastering Multi-Tool

Changelog :
v1.0.1 = Better gain matching during the 0-100% of effects knobs
v1.0 = Initial release

- Width Boost : Boost the volume of the side image (different from the Mclass stereo imager way of doing things !)
- More Width ! : Enable a stereo imager on top of it
- Center : Enable the center image
- Side : Enable the side image
- Restore Dynamics : If dynamics is lost by boosting the side image, enable this button to bring back the dynamics of the center image without loosing the benefits of the boosted side
- Volume : Volume of the restoration process (default value works well)

- Make it nice : Amount of "make it nice" effect
- EQ : Modify the sound by the mean of and EQ
- Harmonics : Modify the sound by the mean of an harmonics generator
- HighPass : Affect where the harmonics are generated in the spectrum

- Cut Peaks : Clipper amount
- Compressor : Compress before clipping (can reduce the amount of distortion
- Clipper : Enable the clipping to happen

Mastering

Changelog :
v1.0.2 = Correcting Output Volume malfunction
v1.0.1 = Cosmetics changes, typo corrections
v1.0 = Initial release

- Input Volume : Self explanatory
- Sub Dynamics : Mimic what the Izotope plugin "Low end Focus" does : Increase or decrease contrast between kick and bass in the low sub band
- Dirt : Add some harmonics to the low end band in order to beef-up the low frequency. Add the benefit to make the lows frenquency to be somewhat perceive by "bad" playing device like smartphone and such.
- Saturation : Add harmonics through a saturation process to the mid band, can be usefull
- Sparkles : Cheesy name for sure, does the same as the previous one but in the high band
Just below each knobs, you'll find an adjustment pot to change the volume on each band. the button next to it is a "solo" function.

- High NY-Comp : Add parallel compression the high frequency band
- Mid NY-Comp : Add parallel compression the mid frequency band
- Low NY-Comp : Add parallel compression the low frequency band
- Sub NY-Comp : Add parallel compression the sub frequency band
Usually you don't need it, but if your track lacks punch, it can be a nice addition.

The limiting part is made of 4 MClass maximizer. The compressor part is made of 3 SSL compressor. Each with a different purpose relative to each other.
My advice is to use it as follow :
* Step 1) Enable 1:1 Listen
* Step 2) Keep lookahead and clipping enable, Master Compress at 0%, output Volume at 0db, Extra boost and MultiStage Limit disabled
* Step 3) Turn up the Limiter Volume Knob
* Step 4) When you hear distortion, or if the volume you hear goes down, it mean that you went too far and the song exceed the capabilities of the limiting stage, dial-it back a few notch.
* Step 5) Disable 1:1 Listen. If you are happy with the volume, end-it there, if not, continue :
-> Re-enable 1:1 Listen
* Step 6) Push-up a bit the master compressor until the distortion disappears, or apparent volume goes down
* Step 7) Repeat from Step 3

As an option, you can try with enabling the button named "MultiStage Limit". This will drive each MClass Maximizer one at the time instead of everyone simultaneously.
Remember that achieving the maximum volume you can isn't necessary helping your song, it will greatly reduce the dynamics of your music.

- 1:1 Listen : Decrease the output volume by the same amount that the limiter is being driven up (works surprisingly well)
- Lookahead : Enable lookahead to the limiting process for quicker reaction, adds latency
- Clipping : Enable clipping at the output of the limiter, to prevent peaks going above 0db
- Master Compress : Amount of "glue" compression, can help achieve more loudness
- Attack : Modify the attack time of the master compressor (quicker attack translate to less impact but greater loudness, slower attack does the opposite)
- Limiter Volume : Limiter input volume master knob
- Output Volume : Reduce the final output by 1db at the most to avoid distortion due to the "true peaks" phenomena
- Extra Boost : Add about 7db of volume before the input of the first limiter
- Multistage Limit : Drive each MClass Maximizer one at the time instead of everyone simultaneously

I busted my ass over this one. It can go up to -9db LUFS without much degradation. It compare to Fabfilter Pro L2 in "Modern" mode (to a point, sure, hard to compete with FF with stock plugins !)

Cheers !

[challism]

Those look cool. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Ottostrom]

Not the biggest fan of the GUI but I suppose having some instructions printed on the device itself could be useful when you don't use it all the time. I am however very much a fan of the technical description and how much thought you've put into these Gonna download when I get home and play around with them

[A.sch3]

You're welcome !

I've updated the post with details for the Mastering Combi.

[Ottostrom]

Didn't have much time yesterday but I threw the Pre-Mastering combi on a mix that I'm currently working on.
I really appreciate how subtly the dials change the sound! Made it very easy to find a good balance. The improvements I got were excellent and the mix sounded dull when I removed the combi, so I think I will be using this before sending it to be mastered

Reminds me a bit of the FL Soundgoodizer. The only thing I might change is to replace the current clipper with the Forgotten Clank one.
Excited to try out the others

[A.sch3]

Update ! I've added 2 more "tool" combinator, and update very lightly the 4 previous one.
Changelog to be read on each Combi description in the first post.

[NMHindman]

Masterful. And generous of you to share, including all of the details in your posts. Thanks!

[zumBeispiel]

Many thanks, A.sch3!

[A.sch3]

Oops ! This is now corrected, the Resonance Taming one is added to the archive.

Expect at least 2 more Combi to be coming in the next few weeks :
- A 3D-ish effect to create a cool stereo field that almost seems 3 dimensional in nature, and can help fixing the loss of instruments that are panned hard left or right for improved mono compatibility, without (hopefully !) altering the general tone of the track.
- A tool to help with colliding frequency from 2 sources by using comb filter trickery, very cool stuff rarely use, but that can solve problems.

Always using stock plugins.

[Ottostrom]

The Stereorizer is very useful with multiple options you can blend together
Used it on HH loop that was a bit too centered in the mix with good results.
A bit CPU heavy since it includes so many devices but still only around 5% on my computer which is alright

[A.sch3]

Thanks for the feedback !
Now that i think about it, i probably could automate the bypass of even off state (is there a CPU usage difference between Bypass or Off on Reason module ? I will have to test that) when the effects knob are turn all the way down to zero, to lighten the load.

I just release a new combi ! Check out the first post