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Modalics, the developer behind the pizza-inspired beatmaking plugin Beat Scholar, has announced the launch of a new free plugin and app: Plugin Buddy.

Use Plugin Buddy to create complex chains of MIDI effects, audio effects and instruments that can be run inside a single plugin or standalone app.

Plugin Buddy is a plugin host and utility that does a lot of useful things. As a standalone app, it can host VST3 plugins, so you can use it to open up and play with instrument, effects and MIDI plugins outside of your DAW. But, as Plugin Buddy is also available in AU and AAX formats – and hosts VST3 plugins – you can also use it to circumvent compatibility issues by opening up VST3 plugins in DAWs that don’t support them, such as Pro Tools.

Open up Plugin Buddy and you’re able to load up an instrument plugin via the central panel, located below a display that visualizes incoming MIDI notes and the frequency spectrum. Below this, you can host up to four audio effects and tweak their individual wet/dry mixes.

Nearer the top of the interface you’ll find Quick Controls that can be assigned to quickly tweak specific parameters in any hosted plugin, and space to host up to four MIDI effects. With all of this functionality combined, you can use Plugin Buddy to create complex chains of MIDI effects, audio effects and instruments, that can be hosted in your DAW in a single VST3 plugin.

Plugin Buddy is equipped with a few MIDI utilities that may also prove useful. Velocity Curve applies custom velocity curves to incoming MIDI notes, Transpose will transpose notes by a chosen number of octaves or semitones, and MIDI Monitor displays incoming MIDI data in real-time.

In addition, there is a built-in synth installed in Plugin Buddy, a basic two-oscillator affair named The Bud, along with two effects plugins: a clipper and a low-pass filter. Another fun feature is Plugin Buddy’s randomizer, which lets you randomize all of a plugin’s parameters to create unpredictable and chaotic sounds.

Visit Modalics website to download Plugin Buddy for free.

dBdone 1.1 enables you to view, tag and search your DAW projects from one place, and you don’t even have to load them to hear what they sound like. The new app is currently in beta and free to download.

The company said ‘We redesigned and developed our tool from scratch. Based on our users feedback that we’ve collected during the first Beta 1.0, we included lots of requested features and solved major bug fixes’.

Most DAW users tend to have a lot of projects on the go at once. Or, more accurately, most DAW users tend to start a lot of projects but never get around to finishing them.

The upshot of this is that the typical musician’s hard drive is filled with obscurely-named projects that can get forgotten about, but dBdone is on a mission to get you more organised.

Its new software enables you not only to view all of your on-the-go and (accidentally) archived projects, but also name them, tag them and listen to previews without loading them up.

dBone is compatible with the majority of major DAWs, and all of your projects can be viewed from your dashboard and opened in the relevant software with a single click. Once they’re all tagged up, they can be searched and filtered, and the audio previewing is possible once you’ve recorded a section of your track into the app. Both names and artwork can be generated automatically.

You can create tasks, deadlines and current status labels for each project, and gather all important related files in one place. Tasks and deadline labels can be added, too, and it’s also possible to chat with collaborators and exchange files and links.

New features:

– New branding and user interface design

– Ability to create your own account which opens lots of possibilities and

features

– Improved user experience

– Updated Prelisten Plugin (VST, AU) with new Auto Record function and

design

– New appearance settings (like dark mode)

– Collaboration: create teams, share files and chat

– Create Stacks to combine projects visually into groups

– Collect versions of a project into one

– my.dBdone: Create your own webpage in minutes with important links and

songs managed in dBdone. It’s like magic!

– From now on: Automated Updates

dBdone is in beta right now and can be downloaded for free (for now). Whether you’ll have to start paying a subscription once the software is fully up and running remains to be seen.

You can download the app now from the dBdone website.

At Knobcon 2024, being held in the Chicago area Sept 6-8, developer Andrew Belt has announced VCV+, a new subscription option for VCV Rack users that gives you instant access to VCV Rack Pro and a massive library of premium modules.

VCV Rack is a free and open source modular synthesis platform that’s essentially a virtual Eurorack synth that can scale to any size. The base offering is a free download, and commercial modules are available to purchase from a wide variety of developers.

The new VCV+ option doesn’t replace existing purchase options, but it gives you an all-you-can-eat buffet of modular synthesis for $29/month or $19/month if billed annually. It lets also lets you try out a huge range of modules, risk-free, and creates a platform for simple patch sharing with other VCV+ subscribers.VCV+ includes:

• VCV Rack Pro: DAW plugin and standalone application.
• All VCV-branded modules: VCV Pluck, VCV Drums, VCV Pro, and more.
• Official virtual Eurorack modules: Synthesis Technology, ALM Busy Circuits, and more.
• Hundreds of premium third-party modules by participating developers.

VCV+ is available now for $29/month, or $19/month billed annually.

*Note: All products and modules remain available for individual sale of lifetime licenses. VCV also now offers a 7-day refund guarantee on purchases.