Deal: United Plugins Front DAW turns digital into analogue – for free
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United Plugins has introduced Front DAW by Soundevice. The plug-in is meant to take the first slot in all channels of your DAW mixer, thereby bringing the sound of analogue consoles to your recording software. And here’s a treat: For a limited time, Front DAW is completely free.
United Plugins Front DAW
According to United Plugins, which was recently formed by several independent plug-in developers, the idea came from British producer Greg Brimson. Front DAW adds gain and slight saturation to the signal using a technology called VARM (Variable Analogue Random Modeling). United Plugins says that the process imparts slight differences to each track, even with identical settings. This emulates the slight variations of analogue consoles, which supposedly results in a more organic, lively sound.
Three console input models
Front DAW offers three types of saturation circuits, modeled after famous analogue consoles. There’s BR, which emulates “fat” British mixing desks, US for “punchy” American consoles, and GE for a “velvet-sounding colourful” German tube console. The controls are simple. Besides the selector switches for the three modes, there’s an input gain control and a highpass filter. Front DAW also features a “Mojo” knob, which apparently controls the colouration of the signal. What it doesn’t have is an output trim. That’s a bit of a bummer in a plug-in that adds gain to your signal. Perhaps we’ll see that in version 2.0.
Price and compatibility
Front DAW by United Plugins is available for macOS and Windows in VST, VST3, AU and AAX formats (32 / 64 bit). And here’s an introductory offer that’s hard to ignore: Until September 15, the plug-in is completely free. All you need to do is create a user account at the United Plugins website (if you don’t have one yet), and Front DAW is yours. This freeware offer won’t last long, though: After September 15, the price will increase to EUR 49.
More information
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