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We take sample editing for granted these days; in one form or another, it’s integrated into pretty much every DAW on the market.

Back in the early ’90s, working with samples was a time-consuming task, and bringing loops of different tempos together in a single project was even tougher. Released in 1994, Propellerhead’s ReCycle was one of the first pieces of software to tackle this problem, making it possible to time-stretch samples without changing their pitch and paving the way for developers like Ableton to incorporate advanced sample manipulation tools into modern DAWs.

More than thirty years later, the company – now rebranded as Reason Studios – is re-releasing (recycling) ReCycle as a free download and launching a beat challenge competition hosted by Def Jam’s VP of A&R Don Cannon. ‘ReCycling the Beat’ invites competitors to flip a given sample in a new production – ideally using ReCycle – and submit the results before April 16 to be in with a chance of winning a year-long subscription to Reason+.

ReCycle works by automatically detecting the transients in a sample before chopping the loop into individual slices, the number of which is set using the Sensitivity slider. This allow the sample to be played back at different tempos without altering the pitch or introducing time-stretching artifacts.

An envelope, EQ and transient shaper can be applied to each slice, while gain and pitch can be adjusted for the overall sample. ReCycle operates using its own file format, REX2, which has since become a standard for storing audio loops with slicing data and is supported by a number of software samplers and DAWs.

ReCycle remains a piece of music tech history, and it’s a decent, if somewhat limited, piece of software with an excellent transient detection algorithm that holds up against some of its contemporary counterparts three decades on.

“We’re thrilled to make ReCycle accessible to everyone. It’s a piece of music software history, and we believe it still has a lot to offer today’s creative minds,” notes Reason Studios CEO Niklas Agevik.

Find out more and download ReCycle over at Reason Studios website.

Topos, a topographical effects plugin that puts saturation on the map – and there’s a free version.

Forever 89 is a creative studio and music tech company founded by Svante Stadler and Rikard Jönsson, two developers formerly of Ableton and Teenage Engineering.

Last year, the company released its first product, Visco, an innovative software drum machine with an endearingly unique interface based around a squishy 2D blob.

Now, Forever 89 has designed another imaginative product that boldly explores uncharted sonic terrain – in more ways than one. And the follow-up to that plugin has arrived.

A combined saturation and speaker simulation plugin, Topos is described as an “all-terrain tone explorer” that lets you “explore the personality of classic studio gear”, thanks to a topographically styled interface that can be used to blend between multiple amp and speaker models using waypoints on a map.

Topos is built around two main sections preceded by an input filter. The Amp section features 35 saturation models based on an array of hardware that covers vintage tube amps, distortion pedals, tape machines and classic preamps. Forever 89 says that the emulations here can be deployed for everything from subtle mixing tasks to expressive sound design.

Next in the signal chain is Topos’ Speaker section, which emulates a variety of speakers and their acoustic characteristics through physical modelling; among the 41 presets are models of a number of classic guitar and bass cabinets alongside recreations of studio monitors, car stereos and even vintage phone speakers. These can be fine-tuned using a number of settings that adjust cabinet size, fidelity, presence and internal reflections, and more.

As mentioned, Both Amp and Speaker sections have their own Map View, which enables you to blend between up to three speaker or amp simulations by dragging a node across the map; as you drag, the node will attach itself to the three presets closest to it, and the thickness of the connecting lines indicates each preset’s influence on the overall tone.

Following this is Topos’ Mix section which, along with the obligatory Wet/Dry mix dial, offers controls for Flux – which introduces subtle movement to Topos’ parameters – and Dynamics, a control that restores some of the natural dynamics dampened by the plugin’s saturation. A separate panel opens up further controls for mid/side processing and Flux modulation.

Available in VST3/AU formats for macOS and Windows, Topos is currently priced at an introductory price of $/€79, but if you are short of cash, Forever 89 has generously made a stripped-back version of the plugin available for free.

Though it lacks some of its sound-sculpting controls, Topos: Play features many of the same amp and speaker models as its paid-for counterpart and is well worth downloading.

Audio Demo:

Find out more on Forever 89 website.

Dear Reality is giving away 11 immersive audio plugins for free.

This week, Sennheiser has announced Dear Reality will be closing up shop as it consolidates its “immersive audio initiatives”, and it’s making 11 of the company’s plugins available as a free download until July 31.

German software developer Dear Reality launched in 2014 with a focus on immersive audio and virtual acoustics, and the company was acquired by Sennheiser in 2019.