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Universal Audio is renowned for its top-tier software emulations of classic bits of gear like the Teletronix LA-2A and UA 1176, but the company has also developed some fantastic plugins that recreate the sound of vintage technology without imitating a specific piece of kit.

One such plugin is the Century Tube Channel Strip, a vintage-inspired recording channel that comprises a virtual tube preamp, three-band EQ, master output modules and an optical compressor.

Universal Audio have announced that they are currently offering their vintage-inspired Century Tube Channel Strip, though it’s priced at $199, the company is giving away Century Tube completely free for a limited time.

UA says Century Tube will help you get “warm, vintage sounds” from sterile-sounding digital tracks through its analogue-modelled tube mic preamp, which should gift your recordings with the characterful tone of tube saturation. The plugin’s preamp section offers low and high-gain settings for different microphone types and a 80kHz high-pass filter to remove any unwanted low-end.

Alongside this you will find a three-band EQ with two fixed bands at 10kHz and 110Hz – useful for quickly dialling highs and lows up or down by +/-12dB – and a third, sweepable band that covers the mid-range.

Modelled on an optical compressor, Century Tube’s Opto Leveller is a one-knob affair providing basic but effective control over dynamics; dial the compression amount up to 10 to imbue your signal with some analogue-style grit. Finally, a Master section gives you control over the levels of the output stage.

Watch the video below to hear the plug-in in action:

Century Tube runs on macOS and Windows and is available in VST/AU/AAX formats. It’s available free until September 15th. Find out more on Universal Audio website.

Novation has announced that they are making Comeback Kid from Baby Audio – described as an “Analogue-flavored Delay Plugin” – available as a free download for owners of the company’s hardware.

Make your delays come back stronger. It is available for MacOS + Windows.

Features:

• Delay setup:

Tempo-sync modes: Straight, dotted, triplet (syncs to your DAW’s BPM). Free mode: 0.01 ms – 2500 ms.

• Accuracy:

Double-click the numerical display and type-in your desired delay time – down to 0.01 millisecond precision.

• Ping-Pong:

Classic stereo delay trick.

• Ducker:

Ducks the delay signal when the dry signal is playing — for a cleaner sound.

• Lo-Cut + Hi-Cut:

A pair of analog-modeled filters to shape the tonal response of the wet signal.

• Attack + Sustain:

Flexible transient designers to shape the envelope of your delay signal.

• Cheap:

A custom 11-bit signal path inspired by vintage digital delays.

• Tape:

Analog-modeled saturation algorithm, which will give you a classic tape delay sound.

• Swirl:

Warm and organic-sounding phasing effect that adds movement to your delays.

• Sauce:

Algorithmic reverb for adding diffusion to the wet signal.

• Wider:

Changes the timing between the left and right signals to create a wider delay sound.

• Richer:

Changes the pitch between the left and right signals to create a lush and wide delay sound.

• Pan:

Pans the delay.

• Mono:

Turns the delay into a mono signal.

• Destiny:

Subtle randomization algorithm that creates a more human delay feel.

• Off mode:

Double click the “Comeback Kid” logo to disable the delay engine. This allows you to use the plugin’s flavoring tools on your dry signal — like a regular multi-FX / color box.

• Display options:

Switch between dark and light background colors.

Until 1st Sept ’24, all Novation hardware owners can download a free copy of Baby Audio’s award-winning delay plugin, Comeback Kid. To claim your free download, head to the ‘My Software’ page in your account, and follow the redemption instructions.

 

Discrete Laboratories has introduced Atlas, a free software synthesizer for macOS that they say is “inspired by the iconic synthesizers of the 1970s”.

Atlas features 8-voice polyphony, with each voice featuring 3 oscillators, noise generator, 2 ADSR envelopes, a 12dB/oct LPF and dedicated LFO.

Features:

• 3x Oscillators, featuring VCA-Controlled Waveform Modulation
• Noise Generator
• 12 dB/oct Resonant Lowpass Filter, with EG Depth and Keyboard Tracking
• 2x ADSR Envelope Generators
• Dedicated LFO
• Glide Rate
• 2x Modulation Busses
• Mixer
• 8 Voice Polyphony
• MPE Support
• Intuitive User Interface
• $ FREE

Atlas is available now as a free download, with the following requirements:

• MacOS 14.0 or higher (Intel / Apple Silicon).
• AudioUnit (AU) compatible DAW host software.