It's been a long time...

Sorry that it’s been a few days since I posted, but I’ve been rather on the busy side of late. We’re putting the finishing touches on not one but TWO new plug-ins for Audio Damage. On top of that (and I believe I mentioned this before) I’m recording two albums at the same time, among the many other things that make up my daily Quest For Income.

About the two new plug-ins: as I mentioned in a post early last week, we’re starting the Digitalis series of plug-ins modelled after vintage digital effects. I already spoke about DeVerb, which is a fairly accurate representation of mid-ranged digital reverbs of the 80s. It also has MIDI control over various parameters, so it can be “played” in with a track. This enables some unique effects. Since I’ve got some questions about it already (e.g. “why the fuck should I buy your reverb when my DAW comes with at least two?”) I’ll mention that this device doesn’t lend itself to accurately representing Studio B at Electric Ladyland. Rather, it is most definitely of the “dark” persuasion, and is well suited to dance and industrial, two forms of music that need reverb with flavor.

The other plug-in that will be released at the same time is DisCord, which is loosely based on the Eventide H910. As you may be aware, I recently aquired one of these units, and was just amazed by its ability to make almost any track sound better. I begged and pleaded ’til Adam gave in and made a chunk ’o DSP that has a lot of character while still running true to the original. It can pretty accurately simulate an H910, if that’s your wish (and you don’t run a TDM system, or can’t afford Eventide’s remake) but we gave the concept a little goose in the right direction. This plug-in will floor you, and it costs a fuck of a lot less than the Eventide package. In fact, you could buy the pair of Digitalis plugs 10 times over, and still save money.

So, those are on the immediate horizon. I imagine we’ll drop them some time during or after AES; DeVerb is in beta testing right now, and DisCord is to follow shortly.

And since you put up with what was in effect a blatant commercial announcement, here’s something completely ludicrous: an ARP 2500 on the ’bay for $10K. Now, I fully understand the 2500’s place in the Synth Pantheon, but I can’t see spending that much for what is, in effect, 2 OSCs, a filter, an LFO, an envelope and two sequencers. No, thanks. For the same money, you could get a MemoryMoog, a Prophet 5 and a PPG Wave 2.3, all in pristine condition, and have enough left over to buy a car. That’s just plain silly.