Spectralsand, Firefly Synth, Fat Cat: Free Plugins of the Week
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Spectralsand, Firefly Synth, Fat Cat: Free Plugins of the Week · Source: (un)familiar, Sjoerd van Kreel
Spectralsand by (un)familiar is a modulated spectral delay that mangles and bends your audio in all sorts of interesting ways. This week’s collection of free plugins also features the powerful Firefly Synth and Fat Cat, a saturation and distortion plugin for vocals. Enjoy!
(Un)familiar Spectralsand Mud Edition: Spectral Delay
Spectralsand by (un)familiar is a spectral delay plugin that’s great for turning dull or boring tracks into something more exciting. It works by breaking up the input signal into hundreds of tiny bits (called bins) and delaying each one by a specific amount of time, thereby altering the spectral content and timbre of the track. You can select the bin size and adjust the delay time and offset. A feedback parameter feeds the output back into the delay, which creates all sorts of interesting effects and buildups.
But that’s not all: When spectralsand puts the bins back together, it does so according to a graph defined by a built-in modulation source. The free version lets you choose from six different modulation shapes, including basic waveforms and noise. The frequency is of course also adjustable, and you can invert the waveshapes for even more modulation options.
The so-called “Mud Edition” of spectralsands is free. There’s also a paid version (on sale until February 7 for $15.19, regular price $19.99) that adds drawable modulation shapes, a sidechain input for external modulation, and a randomizer.
Spectralsand is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux as a VST3 plugin. It should be noted that it only works on Apple Silicon Macs if your DAW runs under Rosetta 2.
Sjoerd van Kreel Firefly Synth: Semi-modular Software Synth
Firefly Synth by Sjoerd van Kreel is the sequel to InfernalSynth, which was already pretty awesome. The plugin is still under development and some features aren’t yet implemented, but it’s already clear that Firefly Synth will be a powerful software synth when it’s done.
Like InfernalSynth, Firefly Synth is a semi-modular software synth that offers various synthesis techniques. Its four oscillators can deliver anything from basic waveforms to Karplus-Strong to AM and FM synthesis. You can then run the oscillators through a wide variety of per-voice and global effects modules, including various filters, distortion, reverb, and delay. In addition to this, Firefly Synth also offers an array of modulation sources like DAHDSR envelopes and per-voice and global LFOs.
Everything comes together in the audio and CV matrices, both of which are available on the per-voice and global levels. This gives you lots of flexibility for routing audio and modulation signals.
Firefly Synth is currently available for Windows in VST3 and CLAP formats. There’s also an experimental Linux build, but it’s still under construction.
Vox Samples Fat Cat: Vocal Saturation and Distortion
Fat Cat by Vox Samples is a simple but effective saturation plugin for vocals. But of course, nothing is stopping you from using it on other source material, as well! According to the developer, Fat Cat is modeled after a “modern analog tube preamp”.
The big saturation knob lets you dial in the desired amount of drive from subtle saturation to more aggressive distortion. If you turn it all the way up, Fat Cat turns into a soft clipper.
In addition to this, the plugin offers a mix knob for blending the dry and wet signals, as well as an output level control.
Fat Cat is a VST3 plugin for Windows.
Looking for more free plugins like spectralsand, Firefly Synth, and Fat Cat? Check out our archive!
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