Category Archives: Mac

Apple MacIntosh Audioware

Accessible Peak Meter ~ Realtime Sonification

Posted by tom2tec on

Accessible Peak Meter uses real-time sonification to deliver information to the user about audio levels and peaks in audio signals, and so supports core activities in audio production. Accessible Peak Meter 3 is an extended development of Accessible Peak Meter. It adds more meter modes (RMS, EBU, VU/PPM, Truepeak, Dialnorm and Dynamic Range).

Accessible Peak Meter was developed in 2014/2015 at Queen Mary University of London as part of the Design Patterns for Inclusive Collaboration research project ( depic.eecs.qmul.ac.uk ).

More information about Accessible Peak Meter can be found at depic.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/apm

USAGE
The plug-in comes with the following tweakable parameters:

  1. Sonification Type: to switch between continuous mode , clipping mode and clip tone mode. “Clip tone” sonficates as soon level is above threshold .
  2. Dry: controls the level of the input audio, namely the audio content you want to analyze;
  3. Wet: controls the level of the sonification;
  4. Tone: controls height of the sonification tone in clip tone mode;
  5. Threshold: sets the threshold for the clipping mode, it has no effect on the continous mode
  6. Decay: this only affects the continuous mode sonification. The value ranges from 1 second down to 0.05 seconds. This is the time the meter would take to decay from 0 db to -inf after an impulse. These numbers don’t give a real feeling of how the sonification will sound – it is easier to think that when set to 0.05 the sonification will stop pretty immediately when you stop the audio; whereas if the value is set to 1, it will take longer to decay. In general, though, the latter sounds cleaner and normally the audio level doesn’t go all the way down to silence, as during the decay it encounters other peaks that bring it back up. So it’s up to you to find the right trade off.
  7. DAW sync: if set to “on”, meter reset is synced with DAW start playing. Only applicable for program loudness modes like RMS/EBU/DialNorm IL and PLR
  8. Meter Mode: sets the meter modes. Please to note that all meter modes are calibrated to 0 dBFS, 0 dBTP, 0 LUFS, 0LKFS, 0 VUFS and 0 PPMFS
    1. Peak: same as AccessiblePeakMeter, dBFS
    2. TruePeak: based on ITU BS1770.4, dBTP  
    3. VU: peak meter, 300ms integration time, VUFS
    4. PPM: peak meter, target, PPMFS
    5. RMS: 600ms integration time, AES-17, dBFS 
    6. EBU: EBU R128, target level -23 LUFS, LUFS
    7. DialNorm: gated, target level -24 LKFS, LKFS
    8. DR: PLR/PSR, dB

The AccessiblePeakMeter3 provides access to the parameters by exposing them to inspectors – such as ReaAccess plug-in or the Cakewalk Sonar inspector – in a clear and well formatted way.

www.tbproaudio.de/products/accessiblemeters

ALT-Synthdrum ~ Monophonic Drum Synthesizer

Posted by tom2tec on

Yet another simple monophonic drum synth. Yes, inspired by 1970’s drum synths.

Features:

  • Punchy pseudo attack sound. (“ATTACK” dial is for volume, not attack rate)
  • Dynamic LFO and SWEEP generator.
  • Rectangle wave is made of simulated RC circuits. Also has additional saw wave for VCO and LFO.

h1data.github.io/m4l
maxforlive.com/library/device/5278/alt-synthdrum
www.ableton.com/trial
maxforlive.com/library

GSatPlus ~ Freeware Saturation Plugin

Posted by tom2tec on

GSat+ is derived from the saturation module on the TBProAudio CS5501V2 channel strip plug-in, but adds extra features requested and suggested by the Gearspace.com team. It has several different saturation modes, high tweakability, oversampling, old-school VU meters and cross-platform software compatibility – as well as a button to take you directly to Gearspace.com in case you need any tips, tricks or inspiration or want to swap presets with other users.

Features:

  • Saturation with three different “tube-based” character modes
  • Clip protection
  • VU meters
  • Signal monitoring
  • Over sampling
  • Plug-in bypass
  • Preset management
  • Large and easy to use freely-scalable GUI
  • 64-bit internal processing
  • Very efficient CPU usage design

www.tbproaudio.de/products/gsatplus

ISOL8 ~ Mix Monitoring Tool

Posted by tom2tec on

ISOL8 divides the frequency range into 5 bands.

These 5 bands can be soloed or muted individually. This will help you to concentrate on certain frequency ranges during the mixing and mastering process.

On top you can use ISLO8 as a flexible multi-band splitter with following complex plugin chains. The split signal can finally be mixed together.

Isol8 is originally designed to be used on the master track, but it can also be used on individual audio track busses.

Features:

  • 5 adjustable frequency bands
  • solo/mute function for each band individually
  • Linkwitz-Riley crossover filter design
  • 24/48dB/Oct filter slope
  • multiple filter channel modes (Stereo/Left/Right/Mid/Side)
  • multiple monitor modes (Stereo/Left/Right/Mid/Side)
  • in-place or centered monitoring
  • swap left/right channel
  • adjustable output level
  • loudness dim function
  • keyboard control
  • multi channel split
  • large and easy to use GUI
  • free GUI scaling
  • 64-bit internal processing

www.tbproaudio.de/products/isol8

sTiltV2 ~ Freeware Linear Phase Equalizer

Posted by tom2tec on

sTilt is a linear / natural phase and IIR filter which tilts the audio spectrum around a given center frequency.

Features:

  • distortion free processing engine
  • adjustable slope from -6dB/Oct to +6dB/Oct
  • adjustable center frequency
  • 5 quality modes: low, eco, medium, high, max
  • 3 filter modes: linear phase, natural phase and zero delay
  • unit auto-gain
  • switchable clip protection
  • sample exact A/B comparison
  • stereo / left / right / mid / side channel selection
  • flexible channel monitoring
  • output gain
  • signal mixing
  • free GUI scaling

Note: This plugin adds significant latency to the audio path, which is usually compensated by DAW (PDC).

www.tbproaudio.de/products/stilt

dpMeter ~ Freeware Multichannel Audio Meter

Posted by tom2tec on

dpMeter is a precise digital audio multi channel meter including RMS, EBU R 128, Dialog gated and TruePeak (intersample) measurement. It is the successor of the very popular dpMeter4 and adds GUI resizing and preset management.

www.tbproaudio.de/products/dpmeter

Stargate ~ Open Source Digital Audio Workstation

Posted by tom2tec on

Stargate is an all-in-one DAW and plugin suite, designed to be a comprehensive solution for music production, with a focus on providing unique and innovative features, especially for EDM production.

Features:

  • A digital audio workstation (DAW) with a powerful pattern-based workflow
  • A comprehensive suite of built-in instrument and effect plugins
  • A basic wave editor
  • Powerful track routing matrix with easy sidechaining
  • Modular mixer architecture. Mixer channels are a type of plugin that can be chosen per track send, mix and match plugins, or skip them when not needed
  • Runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, x86 and ARM. Can be ported to other platforms if there is sufficient demand
  • Everything you need to create music in a single package, no need to install additional software
  • Revolutionary CPU efficiency for DAW and plugins, minimum recommended hardware: Raspberry Pi 4, or a 15 year old laptop with a dual core CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 720p display.
  • Support for display resolution from 720p to 4k and above.
  • Optional portable flash drive install on Windows and MacOS
  • Broad audio and MIDI hardware support using Portaudio and Portmidi

github.com/stargateaudio/stargate
github.com/stargatedaw

Free Clip ~ Transparently Boost Volume

Posted by tom2tec on

Free Clip is an intuitive multi algorithm soft clipper / wave shaper plugin, available as a Windows VST or Mac Audio Unit. The plugin allows you to choose between a range of wave shapes or ‘sigmoid functions’, from the most transparent but harshest hard clip, to the ‘softest’ but most saturated arctangent shape. You can then intuitively set the ceiling level using the slider that perfectly matches the level meter next to it. Oversampling is also available to remove high frequency aliasing; when oversampling is on this does introduce peaks slightly over the ceiling level however, so if you intend to use this plugin with oversampling as the final plugin on the master chain, ensure the ceiling level is set appropriately and/or the post-oversampling clip setting is set.

This plugin is a great way to conveniently transparently boost volume without clipping your DAW, whether it be an individual stem or sound effect, or an entire track that you made. It is recommended that the hardclip, quantic or cubic shape be used for mastering, as these introduce no or minimal saturation.

The plugin can be also used as a more traditional saturation / distortion plugin by setting a ‘softer’ wave shape, such as algebraic or arctangent – simply lower the ceiling level to provide more saturation to the signal – just remember to boost the output afterwards. Alternatively you can boost the input gain into the clipper for the same effect. In this case, increasing the oversampling value is helpful if you’re hearing high frequency aliasing! Be warned that high oversampling values such as 16 or 32 times can be very heavy on the CPU.

gitlab.com/JHVenn/Free-Clip

MediaHuman ~ Cross-platform Lyrics Finder

Posted by tom2tec on

MediaHuman Lyrics Finder is a free software application, which can help you find and add missing lyrics (song text) to all songs in your music library. It’s a safe operation because the app doesn’t overwrite lyrics you’ve already had.

Very easy to use: simply drag & drop some tracks from your favorite music player (e.g. iTunes) and MediaHuman Lyrics Finder will do the rest.

MediaHuman Lyrics Finder will give you access to over a million different lyrics collected from various sources on the Internet.

www.mediahuman.com/lyrics-finder

Tenacity ~ Cross-platform Multi-track Editor & Recorder

Posted by tom2tec on

Tenacity is an easy-to-use, cross-platform multi-track audio editor / recorder for Windows, macOS, Linux and other operating systems and is developed by a group of volunteers as open-source software.

tenacityaudio.org
github.com/tenacityteam/tenacity

Pine Player ~ MacOS HQ Up Sampling Max 32bit 768kHz

Posted by tom2tec on

Pine Player is an exclusive listening digital music player for music lovers who use the OSX operating system. It can play almost all existing digital audio forms such as MP3, FLAC, APE, AAC, M4A, WAV, AIFF, OGG, WMA, DSD, SACD ISO etc. and it also has a strong playing capability for listening to CUE files in the most convenient way.

1.     Maximum 32Bit 768kHz Up Sampling Function

Pine Player supports various kinds of PCM formats, so it can play sound sources from 16 to 32 bit; it can also reproduce clear and abundant sound quality by supporting a maximum of 768kHz.

Pine Player’s unique Over Sampling Filter is a technique that upconverts an ordinary MP3 file into a 32bit, maximum of 768kHz, and high sound quality sound source and sends it to the DAC for it to be played in best performance. Ordinary MP3 files’ sound quality can actually be heard more clearly and plentifully. Obviously, HD audio files such as MQS and DSD can be upconverted to a maximum of 768kHz as well.

2.     Convenient and Strong Playlist & Prevention of Text Cracking

Pine Player has a very convenient playlist because users can save and manage the music they wish to listen to, change the order of the music being played by simply dragging, and express any kind of language or text encoding perfectly because of its flawless decoding function. There is no Korean code cracking.

3.     Cross Fade and Gapless set-up

Cross Fade function, which is a technique that decreases the gap between songs when listening to files on the playlist or overlaps the songs for no gaps at all, can be set into seconds.

4.     Mass Storage of Audio Queue for Real Time Converting

Pine Player prevents damage of sound quality by having a high-powered Audio Queue for processing excessive amount of digital data. Therefore, it takes a considerable amount of memory compared to other music players.

5.     Automatic Isolation of Damaged Sound Sources

Pine Player has an automatic isolation function for damaged sound sources called Vault. If a damaged sound source is detected while playing the music, the music is stopped and taken to the Vault file for isolation. Through this convenient function, users can easily figure out which sound source is damaged and restore it.

Even with all these functions, Pine Player is a free app. Moreover, there are not any marketing or advertising material. Especially, no information including personal ones are sent to the outside or the Internet.

www.digipine.com/index.php?mid=pineplayer

midisport-macos ~ M-Audio MIDISPORT USB 64-bit MIDI Device Driver For MacOS

Posted by tom2tec on

This project provides an open source MacOS v10.14, v10.15, v11.6 (Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur) compatible CoreMIDI 64 bit device driver for M-Audio’s MIDISPORT range of USB MIDI interfaces. This driver supports the following devices:

  • MIDISPORT 1×1
  • MIDISPORT 2×2
  • MIDISPORT 4×4
  • MIDISPORT 8×8/S
  • Oxygen 8 Keyboard

Other devices which are compatible may also work, although presently, these are the only ones which have been tested.

github.com/leighsmith/midisport-macos
sourceforge.net/projects/midisport-macos