Rast Sound Juicer plug-in: juice up your tracks with 5 knobs
Rast Sound released Juicer, a plug-in that’s like Sausage Fattener but in a purple tuxedo. The sharper-dressed saturator is meant to give your audio tracks – especially transient-heavy ones like drums and vocals – a fatter and wider sound with more attitude. These are desirable properties for sure, and Juicer strives to achieve them by combining several types of effects at once. Only the essential controls are provided so you let your ears be the guide to dialing in how much of the stuff you want.
Rast Sound Juicer
Juicer’s central component is a parallel compressor working on two levels, so to say. Unlike typical parallel compressors, this one blends two separate compressed signals into the unprocessed sound. They both represent different compression styles. In addition to VCA compression, Juicer also emulates a tube compressor. Before things get rowdy, the plug-in automatically regulates make-up gain and applies EQ adjustments. I don’t know if it’s a fixed frequency response or a self-adjusting algorithm. But I figure Rast would be making more of a fuss if it was the latter case. Either way, the result is a sound that feels more analog (fat and warm).
If you take a closer look at the GUI, you will see the two “A” and “B” buttons on the lower left side. They switch the plug-in between two modes. While “A” is said to work especially well for drums, “B” dials things up a notch for larger stereo width and stronger parallel compression. This mode is said to be more suitable for vocals and instruments. Additionally, you can determine how much the stereo width is affected from the Widen button.
The compression is kind of a one-knob effect that’s adjusted from the single Juice control. There are two additional controls – Transient amplifiers or attenuates transients and Crunch adds clipping and distortion. At the end, you get to shape the final sound with a Tilt EQ. It lets you emphasize the lows or highs while keeping the mids relatively unaffected.
Rast Sound says they spent quite some time tuning the plug-in’s tonal character for a warm, but not obnoxious sound. Unfortunately, you can’t demo the plug-in. You’ll have to make your buying decision after watching the video.
Price and availability
Rast Sound Juicer works under macOS and Windows in 64-bit AU and VST3 formats. An AAX version is in the works for an indefinite point in time. Until the end of January 2022, the price is EUR 29 (down from EUR 39). The developer’s 14-day return policy is in place for any cases of buyer’s remorse.
Learn more about Rast Sound Juicer
Video
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