Master Tones offers the British Kolorizer ($149 value) AI-powered analog saturation and EQ plugin as a FREE download until June 17th, 2021.
British Kolorizer is an analog-style coloration and saturation effect. The plugin is based on a customized British tube amplifier and uses the “Ariosa” analog modeling technology by Master Tones.
See also: Free Saturation VST PluginsMaster Tones is a startup company based in Taiwan, and British Kolorizer is their first release. The company developed an analog modeling engine that combines digital signal processing (DSP), machine learning (ML), and deep neural networks (DL).
Instead of simulating the individual components of an analog circuit (such as the Tube Preamp plugin we covered recently), the Ariosa engine (and similar technologies) analyze the sound output of analog hardware to emulate its characteristics in the digital domain.
British Kolorizer uses internal oversampling (96 kHz) with minimal latency and fairly low CPU consumption.
The plugin sports a simple user interface with three control knobs and a volume output slider. The user can adjust the low-frequency boost (Fat knob), high-frequency boost (Bright knob), and the dry/wet level (Mix knob). Although the plugin is easy to operate, Master Tones provided ten presets to help new users get started.
I tested British Kolorizer on a set of electronic drum samples and a couple of virtual synthesizers (Vital and Charlatan). It performed quite well. The Bright control adds clarity, and the Fat knob works well on synth bass, adding weight and a bit of growl. On the other hand, I noticed that the Fat knob is not the best choice for processing kick drums (it tends to add mud instead of a desirable bass boost).
The plugin also saturates the signal in a pleasing way, and overloading the input will result in more audible saturation.
One caveat I noticed is that turning the knobs results in low-frequency noise artifacts, at least in Studio One. However, this only happens while turning a knob.
It seems that British Kolorizer is a “proof of concept” type of release, and we should expect to see more plugins from Master Tones in the future. Either way, getting a $149 plugin for free is an amazing deal so hurry up and snag your free copy of British Kolorizer while it’s still available.
British Kolorizer is available in VST3 and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstations on Windows and macOS. According to the info available on the developer’s website, a Linux version of the software is coming soon.
More info: British Kolorizer (3.7 MB download size, ZIP archive containing EXE installer, VST3/AU plugin format for Windows & macOS, free until June 17th, 2021)
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Last Updated on May 13, 2021 by Tomislav Zlatic.
