Spitfire Audio has packed some of Look Mum No Computer’s finest ‘Obsolete Machines’ into a free LABS plugin
Spitfire Audio has released another in their series of LABS free virtual instruments, Obsolete Machines.
Is it ironic that Look Mum No Computer (Sam Battle) has worked with Spitfire Audio to pack sounds from some of his finest hand-built and modified machines into a free plugin that runs in your computer.
LABS range is complete with presets based on the unique instruments derived from the GAMEBOY Megamachine, Sega MegaDrive Synth, and the monstrous 1000 oscillator Megadrone. Battle’s hand-restored vintage Univox also gets a look-in, as does his Formant Bass.
The instrument was recorded on location at Battle’s This Museum is (Not) Obsolete facility in Kent, a place where his collection of electronic craziness is allowed to live and breathe. “It was just inside me – the idea of being in a dark museum,” he says. “I haven’t got a hoarding problem, now I’m a curator.”
The presets in the LABS instrument can be tweaked with Expression, Unison/Warp/Dynamics, LP/HPF Filter and Reverb controls, so you can dive in and start tweaking these (not) obsolete machines to taste.
Obsolete Machines runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats.
Polyverse Music has introduced Wider 2.0, a free stereo widening plugin, created in collaboration with psytrance producers Infected Mushroom.
Wider gives users the ability to expand the stereo image of any signal to an awe-inspiring amount of width. What makes Wider unique is that it is completely “mono-compatible”, meaning that any signal that has been widened will always remain in phase with itself, even if summed to mono.
Wider 2.0 includes a low end bypass function, allowing users to exclude the low frequencies from the stereo widening effect, along with GUI scaling settings, mono and bypass buttons, improved stability and minor bug fixes.
Wider can be used to increase the stereo image of any signal up to 200% of full stereo for an extra wide, exaggerated effect.
“Wider has always been one of our most popular plugins, and we’re excited to release this new version with even more control and flexibility for our users,” said Assaf Dar Sagol, CEO and founder of Polyverse Music. “The bypass low end function is a game-changer for anyone looking to enhance the stereo image of their sound without losing control of the low end.”
GPU Audio has released a free collection of impulse responses, along with a free, GPU-powered convolution reverb for Mac and Windows, Fireverb.
Impulse Responses essentially ‘sample’ the acoustic qualities of an environment, so they can be used to realistically reproduce the way a particular space effects sounds.
The pack contains 50 IRs from a huge range of sources. The IR pack is available to use royalty-free. The free pack includes the sounds of large spaces such as Churches, Halls, and Rooms, as well as more off-the-wall sounds, like the sounds of someone’s pharynx, a rotary telephone speaker, underwater bubbles, ribbon microphones, digital modular effects and more.
The free IR pack is available now, and can be used in a multitude of DAWs which have convolution plugins – but GPU Audio encourages you to try their GPU-powered FiReverb, which is available as a free download.
FiReverb and the 50 Impulse Response pack are available as free downloads at the GPU Audio website.
