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United Plugins

Voxessor – Excellent Voice-Over in Post

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Voxessor

United Plugins announces the availability of SounDevice Digital-developed Voxessor voiceover-perfecting plug-in par excellence. Voxessor is the latest plug-in from founding partner SounDevice Digital, dedicated to achieving a perfect voiceover in next to no time thanks to all voice treatment processes (such as compression, equalization, and saturation) being easily accessible alongside several shortcuts.

A voice that cuts through your videos and films like a hot knife through butter. A voice that is instantly recognized and always understood. Speech that is strong and well balanced. That is the kind of speech you need. That is the kind of voiceover Voxessor delivers. 

As a piece of narration in a film or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the person speaking, voiceover is a tried-and-tested production technique that has been used as a character device, creative device, education or descriptive device, and commercial device, as well as a translation tool, for many years. Yet it is not necessarily easy to create a great-sounding voiceover — arguably all the more so in an increasingly independent age of proliferating YouTube video and podcast presentation — with which to cast a message far and wide.

Which is exactly where SounDevice Digital’s dedicated Voxessor plug-in comes into play, perfectly positioned for anyone creating commercials, e-books, movies, podcasts, YouTube videos, and, indeed, any other need to cultivate recorded speech.

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Setting the controls for the heart of the human voice — starting with the self-explanatory input (db) knob (to control the input signal level, ranging from -24 to +24) and output (db) knob (to control the volume output of the plug-in itself, ranging from -24 to +24), Voxessor effectively begins by allowing its users to speedily sweep for ideal equalization.

By bypassing the tedious process of manually applying EQ, so there is no need to tweak specific frequency and Q — ratio of centre frequency to bandwidth — settings according to the person speaking’s voice characteristics, Voxessor users can skip searching for those specific sweet spots by simply sweeping through man to guy to woman to girl EQ settings — suitable for working with the deepest and most manly voices to gentle female speech, in other words — using its photorealistic graphical user interface-dominating dedicated control. Couldn’t be simpler, surely — all the more so since an associated intensity (%) knob acts as a dry/wet control for the EQ applied.

And as if that finely-tuned EQ sweep control is not enough to be getting on with, Voxessor helpfully has another ace up its virtual sleeve since the already helpful feature in question can be combined with its inbuilt intelligent matching expertise. Engaging the analyze your voice (learn) button for five seconds is all it takes for Voxessor to detect the voice characteristics of the person speaking, then the match (%) control — adjustable between 0 and 100 — can be used to apply EQ accordingly so that the result sounds as close to ideal as possible.

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Performance can sometimes prove problematic — human nature is what it is, after all, so engaging Voxessor’s autolevel automatically fixes any volume imperfections inherent in a speaking person’s performance to achieve a smooth and flawless flow for further perfecting voiceovers in next to no time. This can prove particularly useful during demanding performances involving longer-lasting stretches of sustained speech, such as documentary or e-book narration.

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Needless to say, every voice is different and every speaker’s sibilants — speech sounded with a hissing effect — occur on slightly different frequencies. Fortunately, Voxessor’s (switchable) de-esser features tuning (kHz) and depth (%) controls to allow users to choose the right frequency band — between 3,2 and 7,4 — to work with maximum efficiency while minimizing adversely affecting the original material.

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Voxessor - Excellent Voice-Over in Post 44

Moreover, Voxessor also features a smart dynamics section with one-knob compressor (%) and gate (%) controls. All are set internally, tuned to work with dialogue and voiceover applications, although they could conceivably be also applied to vocal tracks — albeit achieving occasional unexpected results!

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Rounding out that photorealistic yet flexible GUI — giving users an impression of working with physical hardware while easily adapting to their needs (by instantly resizing to suit when dragging the arrow at the bottom right corner as appropriate) — are a series of onscreen meters: in (indicates the input signal volume); comp gr (indicates the compressor gain reduction); gate gr (indicates the gate gain reduction); and out (indicates the overall output level).

Last but by no means least, Voxessor’s automatic gain compensation constantly adapts to the current settings to ensure that the plug-in’s output always sounds as loud as the input — no more thinking something sounds better simply because it is louder!

It is clearly as sophisticated in action as it is simple in operation, yet Voxessor certainly succeeds in its aim of achieving a perfect voiceover in next to no time! Thankfully, it is also perfectly priced to suit, so anyone creating commercials, e-books, movies, podcasts, YouTube videos, and, indeed, any other need to cultivate recorded speech should seriously consider adding it to their DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) toolkit.

About United Plugins

As implied in the carefully chosen wording for an apt appellation that really represents how the Prague-registered Limited Company came about and what it collectively creates, United Plugins is a federation of small, independent development teams comprised of individuals involved in the music industry. Indeed, the founding triad of FireSonic, JMG Sound, and SounDevice Digital can count engineers, producers, and artists amongst their ‘united’ names.

Needless to say, all were seeking the freedom to create the tools that they would like to use in their studios and on their projects. And all agreed that this could be better achieved when working together. Though United Plugins’ proliferating product portfolio may not always be for the musical masses, surely someone, somewhere will always find those tools to be a perfect fit for their own music productions... just like those inventive individuals behind United Plugins’ partner brands, the ranks of which have since swelled to include Muramasa Audio and MeldaProduction. Thanks to the latter letting United Plugins utilize its super-easy licensing system, which is why selected MeldaProduction products are also available from the United Plugins website, a thriving future for the federation is assured. 

Pricing and Availability

SounDevice Digital’s Voxessor is available to purchase for a time-limited introductory promo price of €29.00 EUR until January 31, 2021 — rising thereafter to its regular price of €129.00 EUR — as an AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible audio plug-in directly from United Plugins here

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A 15-day, fully-functional trial version for macOS and Windows can be downloaded for free from here.

Note that all United Plugins partner plug-ins — SounDevice Digital’s Voxessor included — now feature a more CPU-friendly core with extra efficiency — for instance, intelligent sleep on silence certainly helps — and are also compatible with macOS 11 (Big Sur) and Apple’s new M1 processor-based computers. 

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The United Plugins Guitar Bundle: Electric, Acoustic and Bass Guitar Mixing

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Are you looking for a guitar mixing solution? Look no further, because the United Plugins Guitar Bundle has got you covered! This bundle includes Electrum – an all-in-one electric guitar plugin, QuickAG – an acoustic guitar mixing plugin, and QuickBass – a bass guitar mixing plugin. DIFIX is also included, which is a plugin that allows you to record guitars without a DI box. So whether you’re an experienced musician or just starting out, the United Plugins Guitar Bundle has everything you need to get the perfect sound!

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The United Plugins Guitar Bundle: Electric, Acoustic and Bass Guitar Mixing

Electrum by Muramasa

The all-in-one single-screen guitar solution is Electrum. The last amplifier and pedalboard you’ll ever need for your guitar. It’s suitable for every style and technique of playing. Rhythm or lead, it doesn’t matter. With all options available in a single window, you can get perfect sound for any electric guitar quickly and simply.

Over 300 models are available with the unique guitar cab imitation from Electrum. With 16 distinct cabinet simulations and 21 modifications, it has over 300 variations. Then you may apply resonances and ambiance to your sound. And, unlike many IR cabinets we’ve seen on the market, our cabinet produces a fantastic natural sound that no infrareds can offer.

Everything at your finger-tips

Efficacy is the name of the game. The majority (even exceptionally good-sounding) of guitar software programs available are deficient in one or more of the characteristics described above. Don’t go deep into menus, look for hidden options, and so on. Electrum offers you all possible settings on a single screen to help you get from your instrument to the sound in your headphones as quickly and effectively as possible.

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Difix – Fix Your Recording Hardware Imperfection

A Hi-Z instrument input is one that is advertised by many sound cards. However, the input impedance isn’t high enough to enable your pick-ups to function correctly. Your instrument’s signal is negatively affected as a result. If you have a soundcard that functions on one of these three modes (stereo, mono, or duophonic), DIFIX is required to make your directly recorded guitars or bass sound correct.

The output of a soundcard’s instrument input is different from that of a genuine DI-box. If you connect your guitar or bass directly into it, the sound may lose power and become flat. DIFIX uses several sophisticated procedures to balance the sound before adding a little bit of analogue distortion, as though you were using a real DI-box.

Quick Bass – It’s All About that Bass (and Some Treble)

The bass is generally regarded as the coolest of all instruments. The majority of bassists would agree with this statement. A solid-state amplifier with a good DI and a great bass may sound excellent as soon as it’s recorded, and all you need to do is nudge it here and there. That is why Instant Audio & United Plugins developed QuickBass. To provide you with a fast EQ, fast compression, quick saturation, and fatness in record time. QuickBass is the most powerful bass polisher and finalizer on the market.

Quick AG – Bigger, better, brighter, smoother

Mixing acoustic guitar, ukulele, or mandolin is a difficult task. There are so many pitfalls that it’s surprising anything works out all right. That is why Instant Audio developed Quick AG, the shortcut to the ideal and natural acoustic instruments sound.

Quick AG is a handy tool for quickly setting the tone of your acoustic instrument. This plugin has everything you’ll need to generate fantastic-sounding mixes with a great vibe from raw recordings.

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The United Plugins Guitar Bundle Electric, Acoustic and Bass Guitar Mixing

Conclusion

The United Plugins Guitar Bundle is an all-in-one bundle that contains the electric guitar mixing plugin Electrum, acoustic guitar mixing plugin QuickAG, and bass guitar mixing plugin QuickBass. These plugins are designed to help you quickly and easily get the perfect sound for your electric, acoustic, and bass guitars.

For only $129 (normally $481), get the United Plugins Guitar Bundle featuring 4 of their most premium guitar plugins! The Electrum bundle includes all-in-one electric guitar software and the ultimate and fast acoustic guitar mixing plugin QuickAG.

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Virtual Instrument Library

Urban Puncher Adds Easily ‘Punch’ to Drum Loops

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Urban Puncher a effectively as a one-knob tool to add percussive ‘punch’

United Plugins is proud to announce the availability of Urban Puncher — provided as the latest plug-in from founding partner SounDevice Digital, effectively acting as a one-knob tool to easily add ‘punch’ to drum loops (as intended) or, indeed, anything that can conceivably be called a drum hit, resulting in percussive material musically manifesting itself with a more solid, stronger feel in next to no time.

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As an established brand that is central to United Plugins, the independent development teams federation founded by people previously involved in the music industry, SounDevice Digital is named after Boris Carloff’s Prague-based SounDevice Studio, which is where the two experienced developers concerned cook up the tools they feel are missing from modern music production, putting them in the hands of the plug-in-buying public. Put it this way: with Urban Puncher, SounDevice Digital has again succeeded in doing just that, this time as a definitive drum improvement tool fit for any urban music producer. 

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Putting Urban Puncher to work on drum loops as is its intended use — albeit it instantly works equally well on anything that can conceivably be called a drum hit — could not be simpler. Start by loading the plug-in into a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) drum channel (before or after an EQ or compressor), then dial up its punch (%) setting to taste (up to 100) — the more the onscreen fist glows, the bigger the punch that is applied to the drum loop — and mix the resulting sound with that of the original track using the dry / wet (%) control (up to 100) to let the magic begin as percussive material musically manifests itself with a more solid, stronger feel in next to no time. The loop being processed may well start to shine through a mix within a few seconds by basically tweaking only one knob, in other words. While that punch (%) setting simultaneously controls several processes, it can best be described as an esoteric dynamic process with transients treatment and spectral shaping.

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Such simple-to-apply yet far-from-simple processing may already be enough to satisfy some urban music producers, yet Urban Puncher provides more adventurous users with a saturation (%) control (up to 100) with which they can quickly apply an analog-like transformer/tube blended emulation of saturation to give the ‘punch’ effect a completely different feel — from easily blending the drum track into the overall track more musically via subtle usage to achieving a real-deal street sound by dialing it up all the way. When hitting the destroy button, however, all hell breaks loose as this triples the amount of saturation defined by the saturation (%) control setting, resulting in a heavier form of distortion! 

Other than an obvious OFF / ON onscreen POWER switch — albeit one that acts as an intelligent bypass, so no need to worry about any clicks or unwanted noise when bypassing the effect, elsewhere an output (dB) control defines the overall output volume of the Urban Puncher plug-in by +/-24dB while colorful IN (input) and OUT (output) ‘LED ladders’ also aid judging the processing proceedings from a visual viewpoint.

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Ultimately, Urban Puncher’s powerful processing need not necessarily be applied to drum loops only — or, indeed, anything that can conceivably be called a drum hit, even — since the plug-in can also be pressed into playing away, adding punch to other percussive-sounding instruments, such as acoustic guitar or piano. No need to be afraid to experiment beyond the boundaries of urban music production as percussive material can musically manifest itself in other ways in next to no time, too, thanks to the SounDevice Digital-developed Urban Puncher plug-in effectively acting as a one-knob tool to add a persuasive percussive ‘punch’ to almost anything. 

About United Plugins

As implied in the carefully chosen wording for an apt appellation that really represents how the Prague-registered Limited Company came about and what it collectively creates, United Plugins is a federation of small, independent development teams comprised of individuals involved in the music industry. Indeed, the founding triad of FireSonic, JMG Sound, and SounDevice Digital can count engineers, producers, and artists amongst their ‘united’ names. Needless to say, all were seeking the freedom to create the tools that they would like to use in their studios and on their projects. And all agreed that this could be better achieved when working together. Though United Plugins’ proliferating product portfolio may not always be for the musical masses, surely someone, somewhere will always find those tools to be a perfect fit for their own music productions... just like those inventive individuals behind United Plugins’ partner brands, the ranks of which have since swelled to include Muramasa Audio and MeldaProduction. Thanks to the latter letting United Plugins utilize its super-easy licensing system, which is why selected MeldaProduction products are also available from the United Plugins website, a thriving future for the federation is assured. 

Urban Puncher Adds Easily ‘Punch
Urban Puncher Adds Easily ‘Punch’ to Drum Loops 79

Pricing and Availability

SounDevice Digital’s Urban Puncher is available to purchase for a time-limited introductory promo price of only €19.00 EUR until September 20, 2021 — rising thereafter to its regular price of €59.00 EUR — as an AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible plug-in (using internal 64-bit audio processing capable of handling any sample rate) directly from United Plugins.

A 15-day, fully-functional trial version for macOS 10.10 and newer and Windows 8/10 can be downloaded for free from here.

Note that no iLok, dongle, or internet access is required for Urban Puncher activation. (All United Plugins software uses license files for activation and owners can freely use purchased software on all their computers as long as they are the user.) 

Urban Puncher Activation
Urban Puncher Adds Easily ‘Punch’ to Drum Loops 80

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United Plugins’ New JMG Sound Expanse 3D Psychoacoustic Processing Tool

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Psychoacoustic Processing Tool Expanse 3D

Expanse 3D — the latest plug-in from founding partner JMG Sound, this time taking advantage of the latest developments in psychoacoustic processing, promoting super-massive-sounding music-making by effectively exploding tracks in three different dimensions to make them sound deeper, wider, and bigger.

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It is widely accepted, flat-earthers notwithstanding, that the world is not flat — after all, the idea of a spherical Earth was first floated around by ancient Ionian Greek philosopher Pythagoras around 500 BC and validated by ancient Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle a couple of centuries later, so why settle for flat-sounding music-making when fast-forwarding millennia to today’s DAW-driven production world? Which was exactly the thinking behind Expanse 3Dthe latest plug-in from United Plugins founding partner JMG Sound, specialising in making use of complex audio processing techniques but balancing them with easy-to-use controls, as established in its previous products, HyperspaceTransmutator, and Orbitron

Or, quite literally putting it into words, WIDTHDEPTH, and HEIGHT (with two, three, and four associated algorithmic modes to respectively choose from), as well as the self-explanatory IN (controls the input gain with a range of -24dB to +24dB) and OUT (controls the output gain with a range of -24dB to +24dB), in the case of Expanse 3D, which applies a liberal dusting of psychoacoustic magic to achieve the three-dimensional feel focused in its appropriate appellation using a combination of analogue-type saturation, spectral phase offsetting, re-synthesis, intricate delay networks, and more, making it a perfect candidate for mixing, mastering, and sound design — duly helping to glue sounds together while creating contrast and definition between sounds in a mix.

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United Plugins' New JMG Sound Expanse 3D Psychoacoustic Processing Tool 100

WIDTH is an advanced spectral phase processor for creating extended width while remaining natural and transparent. Tight bass is achieved by reducing stereo from the sub while widening progressively up to higher frequencies. Furthermore, it is fully mono compatible while preserving position focus, and can generate stereo from mono. This time there are two modes to choose from — Normal and Alternate, albeit both work in much the same way but with different frequency points, and each mode has a normal and an inverted implementation. In essence, grouping elements in a mix might be better served by sharing the same mode. More commonly, different modes can be used when wishing to separate elements — such as guitar and piano, for example — so that they will not share the same frequency offsets.

DEPTH — a complex algorithm of delay networks with channel and phase processing — enhances the perception of depth and adds space. Speaking of which, this can be used to add dynamic contrast between separate sounds and glue multiple elements together for a more cohesive mix. Modes available here have different delay times in the algorithm — namely, Normal, which will work best on the majority of sounds as a default; Tight, which uses shorter delays, so will work better for percussive sounds, such as drums; and Deep, which uses larger delays resulting in a deep effect better suited to sounds with a soft attack, such as pads.

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United Plugins' New JMG Sound Expanse 3D Psychoacoustic Processing Tool 101

HEIGHT helps make sounds larger than life by extending out the highs and low end. Expanse 3D generates additional harmonics to deliver deeper bass and brighter treble — unlike traditional EQ that boosts existing frequencies. Furthermore, it greatly improves the perception of low frequencies on speakers less able to produce them while adding controlled power and punch to larger systems. Any audio exhibiting little low- or high-frequency content may be relatively unaffected by HEIGHT; however, this can be compensated for by extending the range of the processor with the associated Ext. Lo+Hi algorithmic mode; it stands to reason, therefore, that Ext. Lo assists audio with little bass and Ext. Hi assists audio with little treble, while — for the most part — Normal will be the best choice, especially for full mixes.

Those three dimension enhancers each implement finely-tuned saturation in their processing. By being modelled on analogue distortion, all nuances such as harmonic distribution, dynamic consistency, and non-linear randomness are captured to add beautifully rich and warm colour, assisted by anti-aliasing algorithms. All Expanse 3D processes are applied to the appropriate frequency ranges using high-quality filters causing zero phase shift with no latency, making them suitable for mastering.

Indeed, impact and energy can be greatly improved when mastering using Expanse 3D, with up to 8x oversampling providing the highest quality saturation to add analogue colour, while the additional harmonics help add clarity. As a result, the whole mix gently becomes more cohesive as the parts share a common space, all of which can be perfectly balanced while retaining the original loudness using the right-click-menu-accessed Auto gain function that measures the loudness of the input and adjusts the output to match — useful for avoiding the ‘louder sounds better’ dilemma.

Defining tracks is at Expanse 3D’s core, of course, creating contrast between musical elements by positioning them in the three-dimensional space, whether widening two sounds with one inverted to separate them, creating dynamic depth between deep and shallow sounds, or brightening sounds to make them stand out from the crowd — all helping to further define the individuality of each part that makes up a complete-, dynamic-, and full-sounding mix.

Thanks to the intelligent way all JMG Sound plug-ins manage bypassing while also compensating for latency to ensure that bypass states are perfectly in sync with each other, there is no need to worry about clicks or harmful noises when Expanse 3D’s bypass parameters are automated. And just like its HyperspaceTransmutator, and Orbitron siblings, Expanse 3D also intelligently detects whether it makes sense to perform processing at all by temporarily turning on sleep mode if no processing is required, reducing CPU (Central Processing Unit) usage to almost nothing, so saving valuable computing resources for other processes.

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Promoting massive-sounding music-making with easy-to-use controls through to CPU saving… Expanse 3D does it all (and more) — with a little help from the latest developments in psychoacoustic processing. Put it this way: working with Expanse 3D on any DAW-driven production is an intelligent musical move in itself! 

Pricing and Availability

JMG Sound’s Expanse 3D is available to purchase for a time-limited introductory promo price of only €29.00 EUR until May 31, 2021 — rising thereafter to its regular price of €99.00 EUR — as an AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible plug-in (using internal 64-bit audio processing capable of handling any sample rate) directly from United Plugins here. (A 15-day, fully-functional trial version for macOS 10.10 and newer and Windows 8/10 can be downloaded for free from here: https://unitedplugins.com/download/)

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United Plugins' New JMG Sound Expanse 3D Psychoacoustic Processing Tool 103

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