Unplugred has released Diet Audio, a free spectral gate plugin for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Unplugred (AKA Melody) is an audio engineer and plugin developer offering a range of plugins with free and paid tiers.
Many engineers and producers find themselves uninspired and frustrated by the current audio plugin market, whether quality, variation, price, accessibility, or a combination of everything.
It’s something that we can all relate to, and for those like myself who don’t build plugins, we’re fortunate to have others who take the time to create tools to help us do what we love for free.
Under the name Unplugred, Melody is one of those people who turned that frustration into a creative outlet that benefits everyone.
If you’re looking for new sounds on a tight budget, don’t forget IK Multimedia’s Brandenburg Piano (usually $49.99) is free for a few more days (the offer ends on October 3, 2024).
Diet Audio is the latest addition to the Unplugred range, a spectral gate plugin with a unique sound.
A spectral gate plugin is one of those tools you’ll probably never think you need, but once you find one, it might become a regular fixture in your sound design arsenal.
Spectral processing is potent for things like audio repair/restoration because we can more easily identify and remove otherwise hard-to-reach pops and crackles by dividing an incoming audio signal into discrete frequency units (FFT bins).
Spectral processing is also commonly used to produce natural-sounding audio that closely fits how our ears perceive and interpret sound.
But it’s not all about making things sound as they should or as expected; spectral processing and the ability to target areas at such a small level is a unique creative sound design tool.
Diet Audio makes it easy to separate the transient information from the rest of the audio. Doing so allows us to process the transients differently, creating almost limitless sound-shaping and design options.
Moreover, Diet Audio has a unique character that comes out with faster release speeds; fast release speeds will cause the plugin to produce artefacts similar to those left behind by MP3 compression.
As mentioned above, Unplugred offers free and paid tiers. At the same time, it’s awesome that developers give their time and effort to make audio tools accessible to everyone for free; it’s worth checking out both tiers to see if you can offer any support.
The free version comes with full functionality and a non-intrusive banner. A Patreon subscription will support the developer and remove the banner.
Diet Audio is available in 64-bit AU, VST3, and CLAP formats for macOS (11.0 and higher), Windows (Vista and higher), and Linux.
Download: Diet Audio (FREE version / Paid version)
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12 Comments
alex
onGreat! Thx! CRMBL is one of my favorite delay plugs (highly underrated, if you ask me), SunBurnt is great, too and Red Bass also gets used a lot. The rest of the plugins are also really good.
CoopMusic247
onSounds pretty good. I hadn’t heard of this dev before so I’ll see those other plugs that buddy above suggested. Thanks!
animus
onDiet Audio slays at the graphic design game. Skeumorphic is so passé.
animus
oni mean Unplugred. You know what I mean. Diet Audio sounds like it should be the name of a plugin company, though.
Elektro Pirates
onYou’re not alone. I thought Diet Audio was the dev. This plug-in’s GUI looks like it’s on a diet too, lol.
Bob
onThe free versions of this and prismon on my linux system have messed up graphics. Wonder if it’s a wayland issue or if other linux users have the same problem. The other unplugred plugins display fine. The mac versions display fine on my mac system.
Ron ronron
onrise n shine
mrg
onWhen you’re nostalgic of the Xing encoder… :D
Brenny C
onThis dev’s logo is amateur hour and their plugins have some godawful GUIs but they sound great. The free versions have a permanent home in my VST arsenal.
mx
oni can understand why some people say that the GUIs dont look good, but i really like them.
personally i would say they are functional enough, very creative and interesting, with good choice of colors and shapes and good decisions about composition, and just show good taste in general.
mx
on…the same for the website.
alex
onI hear you. “Ugly” GUIs are my kink :)