I’d like to share a few thoughts regarding what to expect from audioD3CK.
First a few words about my motivation. There is of course the fact that I love to sit down and listen to minute details in audio for hours, and since this is a huge part of creating audio plugins, a lot of work does not really feel like it.
But then, there is certainly no lack of already existing plugins out there in the web, so why bother adding to this gigantic pool? Although there is an objective science behind programming audio software, and especially DSP, a lot of it still boils down to choices and trade offs. So, to some extend DSP is about taste, and everyone’s taste is different right?
I for example like the sound of older recordings. Less high frequency content, lots of saturation and noise, etc. I’m also more inspired by limitations, rather then having a swiss army knife that can do it all, I prefer having dedicated tools for a specific task at hand.
I’m not aiming at reinventing the wheel or building the next ultra clean loudness weapon, rather I’d like to put traditional ideas into well rounded packages.
What do you think? Do you still want the noise of the old days?
Now to something more concrete:
Currently I’m working on a channel strip. The idea is to have the sound and limitations of an analog console. This is certainly no new idea, but i’m not 100% satisfied with what is out there so I’ll add my own variation. The channel strip should have a compressor and an equalizer, possibly a gate. It should have inherent saturation and noise. There will be an input stage which can be driven. the idea is that you calibrate the levels into channels like with certain exciting console emulation plugins. this will ensure consistent reaction to the saturation and a realistic signal to noise ratio. the controls of the compressor are planned as follows:
attack
release
ratio
threshold
makeup
dry/wet mix
sidechain highpass
sidechain saturation / compression range
left and right channel linking amount
variable knee settings
possibly
side chain color
M/S switch
the current design i’m working on is a mixture of feed forward and feedback and has a very wide range of attack and release times.
the equalizer will have :
high pass with frequency
low shelf with frequency and gain
3 peak bands with frequency, gain and q
high shelf with frequency and gain
low pass with frequency
the will be either 2 analog style peak meters (Left/Right) switchable between input metering for calibration and gain reduction metering, or simply 4 of them showing all at once.
the noise gate is not planned yet, as i rarely have a need for one. it would probably would need some metering too.
I’d like to have your input
Cheers!
JM
