chipcrusher is an advanced bitcrusher, a speaker simulator and a noise machine. It has taken us a lot of effort. But we are finaly proud to announce the release of this long awaited effect plugin! We hope you’ll like it.
There is a wide spectrum of results achievable with chipcrusher. For example:
- Uniquely destroy/mangle a beat, a guitar or any other audio track.
- Play single hits and emulate the sound of old samplers.
- Add ‘accurate dirt’ to chipsounds’s output.
- Etc.
The three main components in chipcrusher are: DAC Encoding, Background Noise and Post-Processing. The audio inputs first go through a simulation of early lofi digital audio codecs (DAC Encoding). Then it get mixed with the Background Noise to add some grit. Finally, the sound is sent through a selection of speakers and filter impulse responses. We call this last stage the Post-Processing stage. Of course, each component can be bypassed on demand without muting the audio.
1. Multiple DAC Encodings when you tought you only needed a mere bitcrusher…
The DAC Encoding resamples the input audio and re-encodes it using your choice of LPCM, FPCM, DPCM, A-Law, μ-Law, DIALOGIC, BRR, YADPCM, LPC-10, PWM or PDM.
2. Background Noise to add some grit!
Noises were carefully recorded and looped from our collection of gear. These consoles and arcade boards were also used for the research behind chipsounds. Just select the preset and adjust volume to taste. Note: default volumes should be used if you want to keep it subtle.
Some units generate different noises depending on external factors. For instance, it is well known that the Commodore 64 and Vectrex background noises were directly related to what was displayed at a particular time on the screen. In this case various noises are available.
3. Post Processing
A very efficient convolution engine allows chipcrusher’s sound (which can be very harsh at times) to go through a few of the most well loved vintage gaming devices, computers or monitors. Each impulse gives a totally different tonal quality to the sound.
The available impulses are split into 5 categories: Computers, Filters, Monitors, Game Devices and Musical Instruments.
It can work as a VST/AU/RTAS plug-in for most major sequencing audio programs and supported tracker programs. All this on both Windows and OS X operating systems.
Plogue is proud to announce the release of its new and free sample player that is highly SFZ 2.0 compliant. Advanced musicians and hobbyists now have a free and powerful tool to experiment and share instruments without relying on a proprietary format.
sforzando has only one slot, no fancy UI, effects or mixers. So everything needs to be done at the SFZ text file level, no cheating. sforzando is also a name given for a sudden change in music dynamics which is represented by the “sfz” symbol.
Free As In Free Me From Proprietary Formats
The SFZ Format is widely accepted as THE open standard to define musical instrument from a bare set of sound recordings. Being a royalty-free format, any developer can create, use and distribute SFZ files and players for either free or commercial purposes.
So when looking for flexibility and portability, SFZ is the obvious option. That’s why its the default instrument file format used in the ARIA Engine.
Powered by the ARIA Engine ™
sforzando relies on the same ARIA Engine that powers the ARIA Player and other products from Garritan and also Plogue chipsounds. This engine has been built from the “ground up” on the SFZ spec, and not as an afterthought.
Like the other ARIA products, this player is available as a standalone and VSTi/AU/RTAS plugin on Windows or OS X and can run either in 32bit or 64bit.
Dedicated To Its Community
Its our hope that by releasing this free player, this open standard gets a even more widespread adoption.
Plogue has deployed a forum dedicated to the SFZ format to help users support each other. Now, we will add a section specific to sforzando and the ARIA Engine. All technical support for this product will solely provided by its community at ARIAEngine.com.
chipsounds ( Twitter – Facebook – Google+ ), the software synth that faithfully emulates the 8-bit sound chips from classic video game consoles, home computers and arcade games has just been updated to 1.6! This update brings many new sounds, effects and features to this already feature-packed VST/AU/RTAS plug-in.
In this release, Plogue gives a wink to the legendary Amiga computer by making possible to import sounds from .MOD, .MED, and .IFF (8SVX) files! As a bonus, the famous ST-01 sound pack is preloaded, tuned and categorized.
Also new in this release:
Added analog sounds and effects from 6 of the most iconic arcade games
Added PC Speaker beep and casing resonance effect (i825x PIT + Speaker Impulse)
Added Custom Waveforms/Music Formulas (Viznut/co’s Experimental music from very short C programs)
Added 4-bit and DMC Mellotron Strings
New graphical design
Performance and Stability Improvements
Download
If you want to try out chipsounds for free OR if you are a registered chipsounds user, download chipsounds 1.6 here
