Fiore Martin (aka MartinFM) has introduced Otto, a completely free 8-bit bitcrusher VST/AU plugin for Windows and Mac OS (source code also available), based on the OTO Machines Biscuit hardware device.
Otto was created as MartinFM’s entry for the MidiHack#2 in Berlin and is now being offered to the public as a free audio plugin. It is fully cross-platform and you can also download the plugin source code from GitHub in case you’d like to use it or even just take a peek.
See also: Best Freeware Bitcrusher VST/AU Plugins!
The interface looks quite similar to the OTO Machines Biscuit and the functionality of the plugin version is more or less the same. You can invert or mute each of the eight bits (white button = OFF, red button = INVERT), resulting in different styles of digital distortion. A down-sampling knob is also included, as well as a handy pair of dry/wet knobs for quick and easy parallel processing.
During the test on a single core processor, the plugin performed rather well and the CPU hit didn’t go over 1% (for the 64-bit VST plugin version on Windows). The kind of distortion produced by Otto is pretty much what you’d normally expect to get from a bitcrusher, however being able to control the bits individually can lead to some really nice and subtle variations of that standard audio degrading effect. The down-sampling algorithm does a really good job too. Introducing around 2-3% of sample rate reduction can sound very nice on drums, especially if you’re looking to add some of that classic 12-bit sampler kind of flavor to your drum machine samples.
This seems to be the first plugin released by Fiore Martin and it’s definitely a very promising first release. Otto is a simple but still very useful bitcrusher effect that works on both Windows and Mac OS and is also optimized for a low CPU hit. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more plugins from this developer in the future. For now, you can download Otto as a DLL/DMG file from the developer’s GitHub page linked below.
Video Demo
Check out the Otto demo video:
Download
Otto is available for free download via GitHub. The plugin is not available any longer, more info here (431 KB download size, DLL/DMG file, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/AU plugin format for Windows & Mac OS).
