United Plugins is offering you FireSonic’s multi-pronged squasher for nothing.
FirePresser packs emulations of 4 analogue compressors into one plugin, and it is currently being given away for free
United Plugins has announced that it’s currently giving away FireSonic’s FirePresser – which packs emulations of four compressors into one plugin – for free.
FirePresser was inspired by the studio trick of using multiple compressors in series, but rather than having to invest in a load of expensive hardware, you can do it with a single effect.
Although we are not told which compressors have been emulated here, we’re assured that each one has its own unique set of characteristics and that they’ll all complement each other nicely.
You can adjust the amount of presence for each compressor in the chain using FirePresser’s Rainbow Pad, and compressors can be re-ordered simply by dragging them. If you want to dive deeper, the Detector offers access to the more advanced features of each engaged compressor.
If you need more ‘squash’, give the Turbo knob a turn. This will also have the effect of dialling in some analogue-style saturation. There are plenty of presets, as well. In fact, United Plugins says that, in most cases, it should just be a case of calling one of these up and tweaking the wet/dry knob to taste.
Lexicon 224, released in 1978, remains one of the best-selling and most-loved digital reverb units of all time. In fact, it is still in use today.
This makes it ideal fodder for the eagle-eared emulators at Arturia, who are now recreating the 224 as a plugin known as LX-24.
This takes visual inspiration from the 224’s cream-coloured interface, right down to the skeuomorphic buttons and sliders. The sound, too, is said to be on the money; LX-24’s eight algorithms promise everything from huge reflections and crisp ambience to small-room bounce, all with that all-important musicality.
As with the hardware – which has previously been emulated by Universal Audio and Native Instruments – LX-24 promises to be extremely versatile, providing “the missing magic” on vocals, adding space to drums and delivering long decays on synths. Basically, it works on anything.
Arturia Rev LX-24 Overview
If the old-school GUI isn’t giving you the level of control that you want, you can switch to the advanced view, which looks altogether more modern and offers the likes of visual editing and the ability to create sidechain-like effects.
LX-24 is available now for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats, with introductory offers in play until 23 April. Log in to your Arturia account to view your discounted price for the plugin on its own or in a bundle with FX Collection 3. Find out more about the LX-24 on the Arturia website.
Ableton’s free Live 11.3 update includes Drift, a new MPE-compatible synth that can create sounds “from every era of modern music”.
The public beta is available now for all Live 11 users.
Ableton has announced that Live 11.3 is now in public beta, and it turns out that this update has a strong MPE flavour. There’s a new MPE-compatible synth, known as Drift, and other Live instruments now also support MIDI Polyphonic Expression.
Drift is said to be capable of generating sounds “from every era of modern music,” and has a minimalist design that Ableton believes makes it beginner-friendly. However, we’re assured that there’s also enough depth to keep experienced sound designers interested.
The new instrument is inspired by classic hardware, but also nods to more modern synths and Eurorack modules. The good news is that Drift is being included with all versions of Live 11 – even the lowly Live Lite, which is bundled with other software and hardware products. Read the rest of this entry »
