Spectral Plugins make their plugins free to download and use following the company’s closing.
It is always a sad day when a developer closes their doors. No matter the occasion, something is lost when someone has to hang it all up and move on to other ventures.
Unfortunately, the folks behind Spectral Plugins are going away, but there’s some good news in all of this.
For a little while, you can get all Spectral Plugins software for free. There are three main releases, with at least a few you may have heard of.
OCS-45
First up is OCS-45, a release for lovers of Tycho, Boards of Canada, and those lo-fi beats to study along. This is a fairly comprehensive cassette simulation with some creative distortion modes to play with.
In addition to tape saturation, you’ve also got wow and flutter. It might not be a complete replacement for something like Wow Control, but it’s pretty close.
You can also try using OSC-45 in combination with our free BPB Dirty VHS plugin.
Pancz
Pancz is the one Spectral Plugins product that really caught my attention.
Now, I typically don’t use many transient shapers in my own work. Drums are already processed with breakbeats and samples, so it is more a matter of controlling the other elements.
If you want to make your mark on a drum bus, Pancz might be it. It combines a transient shaper and a clipper, meaning you get all the loudness on a kick and snare that you can stomach.
Spacer
Spectral Plugins’ final release will probably be near and dear to most producers, in my opinion.
Spacer combines a delay and reverb into a handy little package that sounds good while being surprisingly versatile. You’ve got an algorithmic, convolution, and granular reverb alongside a basic and granular delay.
If you want to make a wash of ambient noise with some Berlin School plucks and pads, this might take you there in short order. I love the grain reverb, in particular. It really reminds me of Mutable Instruments’ Clouds without quite as many parameters to control.
Free Download
I don’t know how long things are going to stay up for Spectral Plugins’ newly free plugins, so grab them while you can. While at it, you might want to back them up somewhere else for safekeeping in case you need to reinstall your OS in the future.
All of the releases are available for Mac and Windows. Hopefully, someone with more know-how can chime in as to whether they’re Silicon-compatible.
Download: Spectral Plugins (FREE)
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