Antresol

I'm a big fan of D16 Group and was thrilled to add this effects plugin to my collection. After several hours of noodling, I was inspired to write a little user review. My writing style reads a bit like an ad, but hopefully you find my findings useful. — Tommy Zai

INTRO
Antresol by D16 Group is an accurate digital audio effects plugin re-incarnation of the legendary Electric Mistress flanger stomp box. I never personally owned or used the original analogue pedal, but my guitarist abused that thing back in the early 80s. Every time his foot clicked that button I knew that some cool filtering sweeps were on the way, and the tone was not lost in the mix, whether live or recorded. Antresol delivers everything the original offered. The only thing missing is having a button to physically step on. Otherwise, it's all there, plus some useful added features, including: Access to the on-PCB trimpots, a fully controllable LFO, stereo channel delinking, etc. For vintage purists, D16 has included a "Mistress Mode," which scales back the parameters to the original specs of the hardware model.

Although flangers of this nature have traditionally been used by guitarists, many eMusicians, producers, etc. (including myself) have found them to be extremely useful for synth lines and even drum loops. I dig the psychedelic sound, and a flanger is often one of my key ingredients. Actually, when used tastefully, I think a flanger can bring almost any kind of track to life by creating a subtle sweeping wave of movement. It can also be used in its extreme to create cool effects for a sustained hit or for breaks. One of the problems with hardware stomp boxes is the inherent noise. They usually have an unwanted cycling hum and are easily affected by the surrounding electromagnetic field. With Antresol, the tone is all there, but it's delivered with clarity regardless of how close your computer is to a fluorescent tube or lamp.

FAVORITE FEATURES
• Easy to install and authorize.
• User friendly interface.
• Shallow, if any, learning curve.
• Great preset collection.
• Sounds great — lush and smooth and has all the "luxuriously harmonious interacting resonances" of the original.
• CPU efficient.
• Stable and Reliable.
• Innovative developer.
• Good price.

OTHER THOUGHTS
• D16 always gives their software the most original names, which leads to my questions — What does "Antresol" mean?
• Bucket Brigade Device circuitry — Ah ha! After some research, I figured out what this is and how it helps.**
• Presets are excellent, and at the risk of being greedy — I hope future updates include even more.
• The blue/red version the Electric Mistress featured a "Filter Matrix mode" that allowed users to freeze it at any point in the flange, offering distinctive chime-like tones. Does Antresol have this feature? If not, I hope it's considered for future releases.
• I don't' know much about the engineering behind audio gear circuitry, but the "quasi-analog signal representation throughout" successfully emulates the original, physical circuit.

SUMMARY
D16 Group has a long history of successfully bringing classic analog gear back-to-life, and like their other offerings, Antresol is right-on and stands on its own — emulation or not! It is warm and powerful like the hardware model, but with the added benefits of the modern musical production era and some bonus features. I highly recommend this classic flanger to any modern musician, producer, sound designer, film and game scorer, DJ, etc., who is looking for that vintage filtering swirl. Tommy Zai gives Antresol two sweeping thumbs up. Thank you, D16, for reviving this timeless effect and adding it to your SilverLine Collection.

BOTTOM LINE/CUTTING OUT THE FAT
Antresol is a really cool digital re-creation of a famous flanger stomp box, delivering everything the original offered and much more for just over $40. If you dig a timeless flanger that has been flawlessly re-animated, I think it's worth checking out the demo.

*Our guitarist was a huge fan of David Gilmour, Todd Rundgren, and Andy Summers of the Police, who each used the iconic flanger stomp box extensively.

**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket-brigade_device