Forever 89 Releases Topos, an ‘All-Terrain Tone Explorer’

31 Mar, 2025  No Comment


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 11 Immersive Audio Plugins Available Now As Free Download

26 Mar, 2025  No Comment


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.

Dear Reality’s catalogue covers a range of applications within immersive audio: among the titles up for grabs are dearVR Pro 2, a spatialization plugin equipped with 46 virtual acoustic presets, dearVR Mix, a monitoring tool that emulates a stereo mix room in headphones using spatial audio, and Exoverb,a reverb that promises to add “three-dimensional depth and width perception” to stereo productions.

Also available are dearVR Spatial Connect, a VR controller for spatial audio productions, Miya, an experimental re-synthesizer with adjustable harmonics, and a number of slimmed-down ‘Micro’ versions of Dear Reality plugins.

Here’s a full list:

Dear Reality plugins:

  • dearVR Pro 2: A state-of-the-art spatializer plugin whether mixing in stereo, multi-channel up to 9.1.6, binaural, or Ambisonics.
  • Exoverb: Stereo reverb plugin offering 50 true-to-life sounding acoustic scenes with unheard three-dimensional depth and width.
  • Exoverb Micro: Compact reverb plugin powered by the same proprietary reverb engine as its bigger brother, EXOVERB.
  • dearVR Ambi Micro: Mix, monitor, and render Ambisonics tracks up to 3rd order right out of the box.
  • dearVR Micro: Easy-to-use spatializer plugin. Fully immerse your listener with mind-blowing binaural tracks.
  • dearVR Mix: Monitoring plugin to turn any studio headphones into a world-class stereo mix room.
  • dearVR Mix-SE: Ultimate mixing environment for your HD 490 PRO reference studio headphones.
  • dearVR Spatial Connect: A revolutionary and intuitive VR controller for spatial audio productions.
  • Miya: Creative re-synthesizer plugin using adjustable harmonics.
  • dearVR Music: Turn your DAW into a 3D audio powerhouse. Start creating stunningly realistic 3D music productions and go beyond the limitations of stereo sound.
  • dearVR Unity: Create ultra-realistic acoustic environments in Unity with a true perception of direction, distance, reflections, and reverb.
If you’re someone that works in immersive audio, or you’re simply curious about experimenting with it, the Dear Reality catalogue is worth downloading: all you’ll need to do is subscribe to Sennheiser’s newsletter here.

Sennheiser has stated that Dear Reality products will no longer be developed or maintained, and their licenses will be deactivated on July 31.

 

Splice Mobile App Updated With Splice Mic

19 Mar, 2025  No Comment


Sample platform Splice has launched an update to its mobile app that lets songwriters and producers record vocal ideas over tracks sketched out using its AI-powered Stacks feature.

Stacks can be used to generate track ideas by layering samples from Splice’s library. Pick a genre, and the app will instantly create a Stack that layers multiple samples in that genre that share the same key and tempo; these can then be mixed, muted or swapped out for new samples from Splice’s library, while the global key and tempo can be adjusted across the whole Stack.

Splice Mic lets app users record over ideas generated using Stacks, and it’ll even analyse the vocal recording to find additional samples that match it harmonically. After recording a loop of up to one minute in length, users can then trim it using the app’s audio editor before snapping it to the beat grid.

If they are not happy with the results, they can pick a new genre and Splice will select new samples to work alongside the vocal take. Multiple takes can be layered together, with a maximum of eight layers in a Stack. Finished ideas can then be exported as mixes, stems or Ableton projects to be polished in a DAW later.

“The phone is already a huge part of music making,” says Splice’s SVP of Content Kenny Ochoa. “About 1 million users have made more than 28 million stacks so far, and now songwriters and producers can record vocal ideas over stacks of samples. They can experiment with vocal, lyric, and genre and have even more control over their creative vision. and now those stacks can be merged with vocals”.

To celebrate the launch of Splice Mic, the company invited two opposing teams of songwriters and producers to create tracks in 60 seconds using Splice’s mobile app.

“We got the team together to see who could start the best new Stacks,” said artist and producer Leland.

“These creative tools are fun to use, and the results take songwriters so much deeper into the finished process. Before we even get to the studio, we can sketch out melodies and even hooks. This is so valuable to our community”.

Watch the video embedded below:

Find out more on Splice website.

 

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