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Dawesome, the Seattle-based developer has unveiled a sequel to Love, a granular multi-effects plugin released in 2023, that expands the capabilities of the original with 15 new effects modules and a drag-and-drop signal flow.

Designed to create “instant beauty for any sound”, Love 2 promises to create “epic drones and soundscapes, lush walls of sound and evolving organic textures” from incoming audio. (Dawesome also makes a plugin called Hate, a “twisted counterpart” to Love that pulverizes audio with wavetable distortion.)

At the heart of the plugin is a granular engine with three modes: Swarm produces smooth clouds of soft grains, Chop slices audio into rhythmic chops, and Robot creates a rhythmic sequence of harmonic tones from the input signal. Granular soundscapes can be spiced up with pitch-shifting, reversing and randomization before passing through a chain of up to six effects modules.

Here’s what’s new in LOVE 2:

• Drag-and-drop signal flow
• FX can be freely arranged
• 15+ new FX modules
• 100+ new presets

Love 2 features a healthy selection of effects that includes multiple styles of reverb, delay, filtering, distortion, chorus, phaser, compression, and more. Each module is equipped with a wet/dry slider and its own preset bank, but deeper sound-shaping can be accessed via a sub-menu – Dawesome says each effect has been optimized to allow for a broad range of creative possibilities with only a few intuitive controls.

While Love 2’s arsenal of 20+ effects covers most of the conventional bases, there are also a few wildcards in the midst, such as the Loophole module, a module equipped with six parallel micro-loopers that can create glitchy and unpredictable textures. You can also dial in an ’80s-style reverb and a Juno-inspired chorus if you’re feeling nostalgic.

All of Love 2’s parameters can be randomized to instantly generate new sounds, and you’re able to lock in chosen modules while randomizing others for targeted unpredictability. Love 2 arrives with 250+ presets to get you started.

Here’s LOVE 2 Walkthrough Video:

Dawesome Love 2 is currently priced at $49, and owners of the original Love plugin can upgrade for only $19.

Find out more on Dawesome website

Audio Damage has introduced Descent, a granular delay and reverb effect for Linux, Mac and Windows.

Descent is designed to transform your audio into evolving, otherworldly textures. Descent captures incoming audio and breaks it into tiny grains—anywhere from a handful to dozens at once—then scatters them across time and pitch to create everything from subtle thickening and rhythmic delays to vast, frozen soundscapes and shimmering pitch-shifted clouds.

Features:

• Granular engine with adjustable grain count (1–50 simultaneous grains), duration, overlap, and envelope shape for precise texture control.
• Pitch shifting from -24 to +24 semitones with pitch quantization—lock transpositions to specific intervals for harmonically-correct shimmer, fifths, octaves, or any chromatic combination.
• Six-axis randomization: independently randomize pitch, pan, position, amplitude, duration, and grain count for everything from subtle movement to complete chaos.
• Direction control plays grains forward, reverse, or randomly mixed—perfect for tape-style effects, reverse swells, and glitchy textures.
• High-feedback mode with diffusion control transforms delays into lush, reverb-like washes that never get harsh or out of control.
• Tempo-sync or free-running modes let you lock grain timing to your session or let textures evolve organically.
• Real-time FFT visualization shows your granular cloud evolving, making sound design intuitive and immediate.
• 35 factory presets covering shimmers, delays, reverbs, pitch effects, and experimental sound design to get you started instantly.
• Cross-platform preset manager with XML-based presets compatible across all plugin formats and operating systems.

Descent is available now, with an intro price of $29 USD (normally $39).

Abbey Road has partnered with British fashion house Charles Jeffrey Loverboy to release a free Kontakt instrument, The Big Nessie.

The instrument was created to coincide with the launch of Loverboy’s Spring/Summer 2026 collection, Prepared Piano, which is inspired by composer John Cage’s experimental techniques of the same name.

The Big Nessie draws on a library of sounds that includes field recordings from the Loverboy workshop in London’s Somerset House, and recordings made in Abbey Road’s Studio Two by Charles Jeffrey, his musical director Tom Furse, and the Abbey Road team.

According to a press release, the instrument features an assortment of “beautifully strange and raw sounds”, spanning “warped percussive textures, tonal fragments and experimental rhythms”. These are divided across the keyboard into five groups – Loops, Drums, Bass, Melodic and Sound effects – and can be shaped and manipulated via eight effects, spanning reverb, bitcrusher, filter, tremolo, distortion and more.

While Abbey Road has previously collaborated on products with companies such as Spitfire Audio and Waves, The Big Nessie is the studio’s first virtual instrument to be built entirely in-house.

According to a press release, The Big Nessie has been inspired by Abbey Road’s “Curve Bender” philosophy, named after the EMI TG12345 Curve Bender EQ, which “allows the studio to capture sounds, process them via their range of unique vintage equipment and acoustic spaces, and present these as playable digital software instruments for creators of all levels to experiment and play”.

“There are many beautiful examples of how music and fashion have seamlessly fused together over the years, but this feels like the first time these creative worlds have come together to present a music production creative tool,” said Abbey Road’s Head of Audio Products Mirek Stiles.

“Working with Charles Jeffrey was a truly inspiring experience that took both Loverboy and Abbey Road out of their comfort zones to make a fun and quirky sampled instrument for the creative community across the globe.”

Watch The Walkthrough Video:

The Big Nessie is a free download, but you’ll need Native Instruments Kontakt or the free Kontakt Player to run it.

The Big Nessie Audio Examples:

Download The Big Nessie at Abbey Road website.