Airwindows Dubly2: Free Mac/Windows/Linux/Pi CLAP/AU/VST3/VST2/LV2/Rack

www.airwindows... / airwindows
As we race towards ToTape7, more of the component parts emerge as their own plugins! As long as I'm reinventing all the things that go into ToTape7 (I've seen people get excited about the previous plugin, ToTape6, and felt I could do a heck of a lot better now) I like to let people have the new stuff immediately, and I like to let people use the component parts of things. So, first Flutter2 gets lifted to a new level, and now, Dubly2 is yours!
And where Flutter2 took the basic algorithm to a new level, Dubly2 hasn't changed the basic sound of the plugin very much (it DOES change, especially if you're slamming it with volume). Instead… it's the control you get… which goes from a 2022-Chris 'one knob simplification' design, to six knobs and a dry/wet. Normally, nearly all of those would be preset, or perhaps would be trimpots inside the noise reduction box. Dubly's sound dates back to the late (or even mid) 1960s, and of course the 1970s, and the noise reduction machines were sold to big studios.
So, unlike modern noise reductions where the system's very specific and detailed and is a black box you can't mess with… Dubly is kicking it old school! You can leave the encode and decode controls set to 0.5 for a 'normal' sound, or you can mess with them. The algorithms are very simple for better tone quality, but the end result is very Dubly!
Encode has an encode level, and a frequency control. This specifies the 'brightness band' you'll be using and compressing 2:1 to get the brightness boost that gets added to the audio. It's pretty straightforward.
Decode has a decode level, and a frequency control. This (and it's the same on the old units, believe it or not) does exactly the same encode, the same way… except you add it phase-inverted. That's it: that's Dubly. You can look up on old schematics, exactly where the output of the elaborate filtering and compression stuff is routed to one spot on the circuit board for 'encode' and another spot for 'decode'.
This does have some implications. The highs get squished twice. In real units, care is taken to not have the compression time constants 'breathe' weirdly: for Dubly, we just use uLaw encoding on a brightness-filtered sound and it works great. It produces a similar effect when you add small amounts to the source audio.
If you're going to mess with the trimpots (now ordinary sliders for anybody to play with), you can get controllable amounts of the 'two noise reduction units in encode, in series' simply by turning up the Encode amount. The existing processing becomes a special 'gloss and sparkle' control. You can tweak the Decode Amount similarly. The frequencies can be nudged up or down together, or you can make them be slightly different frequencies for unusual midrange effects that aren't normal: letting more mids through on Encode will cause them to be more compressed and intense, or you could go the other way and slim them down a little for an 'expanded' feel. It's all rather subtle but it's also tonal characteristics that really can't be had any other way… and if I'm not mistaken, these little adjustments can 'dial in' on the sound of many classic, beloved records.
I look forward to playing with all this in the full ToTape7, with flutter and tape bias modeling, but for now you can fully play with and get used to these qualities in advance! Have fun with Dubly2 :)

[@ORUMusic]

I don't think I've ever been as excited about a plugin coming out as I am about a new ToTape. Happy to be a patron, you've been releasing so much exciting stuff!

[@airwindows]

I feel like with all I've been discovering, I'm going to start using it in all my mixing alongside ConsoleX. It's just shaping up to bring things I cannot get to any other way. I want to not rely on it but I might end up just going full on 'fake tape, deal with it, gotta have it' even though I'd like to take a more 'modern' approach :)

[@CapriciousBlackBox]

You are, most certainly, *the man.* What dedication! You must love this stuff to death...and we appreciate you for it.

[@airwindows]

My 'Timeless' posts are both demonstrations of how to read Airwindows Meter… and showing people the music I love, in all aspects. By now I'm good enough to be able to make that translate even to KZbin: I can show you the sounds I literally grew up with, as they 'really sounded like', and it'll translate through KZbin and even a phone :) after all, it used to translate through FM and a transistor radio, a phone's more or less as good as that

[@Roland_Tr909_Swing]

Thanks for all your hard work Chris

[@Sevish]

Love a bit of ToTape6 on my drum bus, sometimes with the bass in that bus as well. Cool to see you're developing the tape stuff further

[@Tachy_Bunker]

Hello again mista :) We here usin' airwindows' magic plugins in the production world lol

[@EricJohnson-fh8zj]

Pure genuis

[@mundoinmundo5463]

You're a world treasure. Thanks for your contributions to music

[@wes_the_scifi_guy]

This industry needs you!!

[@ferhatcanozkan6943]

all you do has a deep value Chris. You are very valuable thank you for your efforts

[@SisterRose]

Comment if you were there for the stream! also if you're hype for ToTape7 :)

[@INeedsMoneys]

Ye yup, definitely. Whole stream. Incredibly interesting stuff

[@EricJohnson-fh8zj]

So hype for it. Some of the Air windows stuff is just 100% irreplaceable. There's nothing out there that you can get that will do the same job.

[@stepans2167]

ToTape7 hype is real

[@CE-ex2wg]

I cherish your inventions, thanks for making, and then making some more

[@Vospi]

I thought the tape slamming effect in the middle of the video sounded great, pleasing and pretty convincing.

[@airwindows]

And that's not even its final form :) it's just the part that is NOT in ToTape yet…

[@MrXikwriNeyrra]

UAD slayer!

[@PocketSunlight]

Very excited to hear this! Kudos Chris 🫡

[@LYSHEmusic]

So excited about ToTape7! And it's great that you give us all building blocks. I actually have a comment on Flutter2 and it's about things you talk about in this video. Short version: it would be great to have a Channels Link amount parameter for Flutter2. Or after watching this video, maybe there's also should be a dedicated Azimuth parameter too. The thing is, I tried to interchange ToTape6 flutter to Flutter2. And while it's a very cool-sounding effect, it makes the stereo image too independent. This can potentially be problematic, especialy when using it on mono sources. For example, a guitar recorded on one channel will always be stereo-fied if flutter is used. Same for bass, vocal... I think this is important, especially considering that stereo channels on tape are not that much independent in terms of artifacts, as I understand it.

[@MantasticHams]

you could always use a plugin to mute one side and pan the other to the middle, assuming it was mono prior to the effect, that should do what you'd want. I wouldn't mind a M/S switch, tho, seems like a good idea.

[@LYSHEmusic]

​@@MantasticHams If ToTape7 will contain Flutter2 as it is now, that's probably what I would do. Chris has two plugins for such tasks - Leftomono and Rightomono. But my concern is more about general flutter stereo behavior. I tried replacing ToTape6 flutter with Flutter2 and it didn't work out for me - ToTape6 flutter is less independent, more centered, so it keeps image better.

[@Ohms69]

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY ToTAPE

[@winterland3253]

Tried this on a mix and it adds this weird hypey sizzle? sparkle? not sure what the right word is. Makes it roar right out of the speakers at about 15% wet...amazing plugin. Thank you so much!

[@Vospi]

My main and maybe only gripe with ToTape6 is the long, all-encompassing frequency sweep that is really noticeable if you go for, like, upward compression afterwards. Would love ToTape7 to not have that, or even one better, have a version of ToTape6 that doesn't have that sweep no matter the settings. I figured out what exactly do I have to not use there to get rid of the sweep, but the sound just feels to be not the same. Not as good. Good luck with the new iteration!

[@mirkomarkovic3438]

It has too much low end also

[@chicagoblow]

Wow

[@HR2635]

the fu thing is that I actually like ToTape5 more than 6... Im SO exited to hear what 7 brings to the table :-) I mean totape5 has beaten all my other (paid) tape emulations!

[@yeshello2528]

*hits blunt once* so what Chris is saying is that boomers used to have something similar to ott on the master and during recording... Isn't this literally one of the crucial parts of the "tape compression"? I knew that u-he were onto something...

[@airwindows]

Absolutely. Turns out this has been around since the late SIXTIES. On the multitrack masters. It sort of became part of the tape machines, but it was the 'gray boxes' of the noise reduction system. Dolby :)

[@lucasturney4269]

Not a Steely Dan fan, but that bit about the multitrack DBX is interesting. 🤔

[@SamHocking]

Dubly Jubly!

[@musiqtee]

In a way, this plugin emulates (by tweaking) what a badly calibrated “Dubly” B or C unit sounds like. Professionally, only A or SR was used, though. The only useful tweak I used to do, would be to mess with the level from tape - never into tape. Could this model be tweaked to emulate the four bands of type A, or the more complex “moving bands” of type SR? Could we then calibrate the chain using reference tones and VU levels? That would really be emulating what once was - messing around didn’t create much opportunity, but understanding before tweaking often did. I can’t see that has changed much…? Another thought is that when tape & NR were all we had, we did stuff to make it sound _musically good_ - not “bad” because we could. Just like we want good converters, low s/n ratios, stable clocking or floating point mixing now… “Bad audio” isn’t retro, just a causality from available tech at a point in time. Trying hard, but sometimes failing for tech reasons, is quite timeless…😅 (I really love every effort and the “grand plan” forwards - just me ranting, as an old engineer sometimes will… 🙈👍)

[@djw457]

I'm trying it out, it seems quite noisy though. Is that the idea?

[@airwindows]

There is no added noise. You might be setting either or both of the 'amount' too high: they use a uLaw algo for compression and they are set so you can add WAY too much. For effect purposes :)

[@rosegold-beats]

elevator music here i come