Madbee Audio Releases The Control Spot (Speaker Emulation VST)

madBee Audio has introduced The Control Spot, a freeware stereo speaker emulation utility in 32-bit VST plugin format for Windows based host programs.

The Control Spot is the second freeware stereo speaker emulator we’re seeing in 2016, following this month’s release of DeeSpeaker by DOTEC-AUDIO. Compared to DOTEC-AUDIO’s freebie plugin, The Control Spot provides a bit more control over the emulation process, allowing the user to manually adjust the position of the simulated pair of stereo speakers.

In actual use, I found that The Control Spot does indeed help with reducing the extreme stereo separation caused by headphones, however you need to make sure not to use an extremely wide setting when adjusting the angle of the simulated speakers. The plugin emulates the frequency shifting caused by the phasing between speakers in the real world, thus altering the frequency content of the processed audio signal. Because of this, things can get very unnatural sounding very quickly and your best bet is to keep the simulated speakers set somewhere close to a 45 degree angle. Anything significantly wider than that will result in extreme comb filtering which really won’t help your mixing process.

The Control Spot can also be used to check the mono compatibility of your mix, which is always a handy feature to have at your disposal. To convert the processed stereo signal to mono, simply click the speaker icon in the top-center of the user interface. The plugin also features a soft clipper circuit on the output, used to prevent hard clipping when The Control Spot is used as the last insert in the FX chain.

Overall, The Control Spot is an interesting freeware VST plugin that is worth checking out if you’re often mixing your music using headphones. Nothing can substitute a good pair of stereo monitors placed in a well treated listening environment, but freeware tools like madBee’s latest offering can indeed help you achieve better results if all you have is a pair of headphones. Unfortunately, the plugin will only work in 32-bit digital audio workstations on Windows, due to the fact that it was made with FlowStone.

Download

The Control Spot is available for free download via madBee Audio (2.24 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit VST plugin format for Windows, made with FlowStone).