Zplane TONIC is the latest in an increasingly long line of plugins that can detect the key of any audio you present it with. In fact, it will show you ‘compatible’ notes and chords in the relevant scale.
Tonic will actually display up to three potential keys, with a graph showing the probability of each one being accurate. A preview tool enables you to try out notes and chords to ensure you have got it right.
In addition, Offset in root tuning is also taken into account; recordings of acoustic instruments or those that were captured by analogue equipment may not be perfectly tuned to A=440Hz, so Tonic can detect and show the base tuning for the recording, and suggest keys based on that tuning offset.
“Many music-makers may have immense talents for creating unique and artistic music, while at the same time also struggle with some fundamental music theory such as determining the key of a piece of music”, reckons Chad Carrier, Product Manager at Zplane development.
“We created TONIC as a super easy-to-use tool that will help producers, remixers, beatmakers and performers by letting them know the keys for their music and audio, and show them the notes and chords that work within that key.”
Strymon has introduced StarLab Time-Warped Reverberator, a modular reverb effect in Eurorack format.
Strymon StarLab reverb promises to time-warp you to places that other Eurorack modules can’t.
Following up 2018’s Magneto tape delay, Strymon has stepped back into the modular world with StarLab, which is described as a “time-warped reverberator”. The company says that it set out to create “the highest quality reverb possible for modular systems,” and one that comes with plenty of control.
You can choose from three reverb textures – Sparse, Dense and Diffuse – with each offering a different flavour. There’s also a delay – an expanded reverb pre-delay, in fact – along with a range of modulation effects that can be used on their own or in addition to StarLab reverb.
In addition, there is an LFO, and if you switch to Karplus-Strong mode, StarLab becomes a delay-based, CV-tuneable monophonic string synthesis voice.
You can go even deeper with the Size/Pitch knob, which changes the reflection density and response of the reverb while retaining the integrity of the audio within the reverb. You can also add musical intervals to the reverb signal with Shimmer, and enhance the harmonic spectrum with Glimmer.
Add a filter section – which enables you to sculpt both the reverb signal and the Karplus-Strong string synthesis voice – and an Infinite button (this freezes the audio at the input to the reverb core, while allowing any new audio to be processed by the reverb on top of the frozen audio) and you have got a serious, if slightly bewildering proposition.
Features:
Three selectable reverb types for a wide variety of ambient textures
DELAY/KARPLUS section with feedback
Delay assignable to output for mod/verb and delay/verb effects
Four-octave Karplus-Strong string synthesis mode with damping control for string/verb full voice capability
LFO section with various waveforms to modulate delay time, reverb size, or tone filters
FILTER section to sculpt the high and low EQ of the reverb and DELAY/KARPLUS section
HARMONICS section to enhance the aural spectrum of the reverb
Adjustable SHIMMER for adding pitch shifting of up to +/- 1 octave to the reverb
GLIMMER for dynamic enhancement of harmonics
Adjustable reverb core size to increase or decrease the space for reflections, allowing for pitch control of the
Mastering The Mix’s Reso could be the plugin-based balm you are looking for, if your music is suffering from unpleasant resonances, though it is a common problem.
Excessive resonances can cause unpleasant harshness, but Reso can not only identify these, but also suggest the level of reduction required.
The Frequency Sweep and Calculate Targets features will analyse your audio, find the resonant frequencies and place ‘target nodes’ on the graphical display to indicate how much resonance reduction should be applied.
You can adjust these to taste, and create your own nodes simply by double-clicking. The Q is automatically optimized for the frequency of the node, but you can scroll to adjust this.
Reso uses what Mastering The Mix describes as “super-transparent mastering-grade filters,” which promise to resolve resonance issues without affecting your transients and phase.
Reso is available now in VST/AU/AAX formats for the introductory price of $59/£46.65/€50.95. The regular price, which will apply after 6 December, is $69/£49/€60.
