Airwindows DubSub2: Free Mac/Windows/Linux/Pi CLAP/AU/VST3/VST2/LV2/Rack

www.airwindows... / airwindows
The final element for reinventing ToTape is in place, with DubSub2!
I've always used this one particular algorithm, both for ToTape and for various bass-emphasis plugins. It acts like a combination between an IIR filter and a saturation. And it's got fantastic sound, but with a catch: it has to be controlled in the higher frequencies or it'll sound growly and distorted if you push it, and it's unstable.
That's literal. I have to do stuff to control it or it will throw bass so hard that it sits around pushing DC. The algorithm has to be filtered because it's unstable, it'll constantly bring up deep bass no matter what. The sound of it is intrinsically tied to this behavior.
So, what if I tried the technique I use in Parametric, and set up some biquad filters as bandpasses, and then stack them (slightly staggered, for tone purposes) to get better rejection of unwanted DC energy? What could go wrong? Well… it's tricky. If you do that, phase shifts will cause there to be a cancellation around the bandpass frequency. You'll get notches, the placement depending on what your filter bandwidth is.
But hang on. Jack Endino's got a webpage where he's measured lots of real analog tape machines, showing the head bumps. And the thing is, on his measurements there's consistently a notch there, too. It's exactly an octave above the head bump, and that's part of the sound.
So what's the bandpass resonance, when you're using two of them stacked, and then you want the notch produced by the phase shifting (already an unusual choice) to line up exactly an octave over the head bump resonance, so that your DubSub2 head bump will consistently behave like the real thing? You can set the head bump frequency to whatever you like (Jack finds that doubling the track width halves the head bump frequency, and of course going from 15 ips to 30 ips doubles the head bump frequency, and the notch stays exactly an octave higher). But the Q is what positions that notch. Since there is clearly no correct value for such a bizarre experiment, since super-shallow Q won't work, since using Butterworth (0.7071) is slightly too tight… what's the resonance number for the two stacked bandpasses?
The golden ratio.
…hope you enjoy DubSub2, and this is what will become the head bump for ToTape7 :)

[@marksaxon]

Well done!! It was fun to watch the creation of this plugin. I can't wait to add it to my projects.

[@eren3390]

as always, amazing work chris!

[@yeshello2528]

Oh. So you are telling me is that I was right regarding kilohearts phase distortion's frequency response doing similar things as tape. It adds the notch and headbump at the low end as well as low end roll-off... Oh btw, wasn't TapeBias supposed to be a seperate plugin? Like, magnetic hysteresis plugin? Or is it gonna be built-in with ToTape?

[@airwindows]

You'll get that next, while I finish up the full-on ToTape7 :)

[@yeshello2528]

@@airwindows oh, perfect! Waiting for it!

[@eren3390]

as always, amazing work chris!

[@electromaniac1237]

i can't wait to experiment with this! looks amazing

[@foodwatermusic]

Prestigious 💎

[@bscross32]

Sounds good dude, love all that you do! 💯

[@Gedagnors]

Thank you so much!!!! Wish you all the best!!! Your plugins are amazing!!!!

[@giraffeesports9466]

Just cant stop beeing amazed over your stuff, just recently discovered the whole suite. Also one little question, does the vst update somehow or do I just re-install from your site for updates like this?

[@lucasturney4269]

The VST doesn't have any update system, you have to re-download Consolidated every update, just as if you were updating the VST2 package.

[@giraffeesports9466]

@@lucasturney4269 aight thanks a lot

[@eento06]

Sounds good but having a look at what it does to the Frequency Response while you demo it would be really appreciated

[@beyshore_]

a visual will not change what you are hearing, and if it does, it is counterproductive.

[@eento06]

@@beyshore_ that’s not what I said but to understand the potential phasing issues this plug could bring. In context it matters. You perhaps have never really dealt with mixing it sounds like..

[@before.23]

​@@eento06 There's a plugin called StereoFX that can turn a stereo bass into mono, which might help you correct any possible phase issues. You can use the Mono and Sides option on the Airwindows Monitoring3 plugin to check for phase issues. Turning things into mono temporally is a common trick. You can toggle DubSub2 on and off to check if it's causing any phase issues.

[@AndersHansgaard]

This is wonderful! Thank you 👌🎶

[@PocketSunlight]

Coooool...;0)!

[@nickmessitte1721]

I like the tonality of this a lot, but is there a bit of pre-ringing happening here?

[@nickmessitte1721]

6:10

[@bonolesso]

​@@nickmessitte1721I very much doubt it, this is latency-free.