Earlier this year, Mannix Squared launched the AB Reference Tool as a free macOS and Windows release.
The plugin is designed to make your mixing workflow more precise and efficient.
The AB Reference Tool allows you to compare your mix with a reference track and provides insights to enable you to finetune your mix and produce a professional track.
The plugin allows users to load up an audio file, define custom loop points and toggle between the reference track and your mix with a single click.
This setup is designed to give you instant feedback on your track and help you hone in on the mix balance, clarity and tone.
The AB Reference Tool also includes a filtering function for soloing specific frequencies while making a comparison.
You can therefore really dial in specific areas to get the desired results, like a punchy low end or a smooth, sparkling high end.
You can download the plugin from the Mannix Squared website or the developer’s GitHub, mannixsquared.
When I went to access the AB Reference Tool product page, I was presented with a prompt to subscribe to the developer’s newsletter before I could read anything on the page or access the download links.
Getting past this step was not the easiest feat, as even once I subscribed and confirmed, the page did not recognize that I had confirmed the email.
After I tried a second time on Chrome with a different email, then I was able to access the page. From there the downloads can be accessed with a single click, with both the macOS installer and Windows VST files linked on the product page.
The GitHub version, meanwhile, hosts a repository, which you’d need to put together yourself.
The user interface for AB Reference Tool is quite straightforward, with the reference track and your mix stacked on the main graphical interface to show both simultaneously.
Below the display, there are the following controls: A/B Test, Enable Filter, Frequency, and Width.
There don’t seem to be any demos showing off the AB Reference Tool on YouTube, either from the dev or from users.
Admittedly, a demo for a referencing tool wouldn’t be terribly exciting, but it might be handy to see how the control scheme works in practice.
Download: AB Reference Tool (FREE – email required)
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9 Comments
alex
onWell, it doesn’t work here. It says it misses AudioRecourses.dat file. BTW, you can dl the plugin from GitHub:
github.com/mannixsquared/ab-reference/releases/tag/v1.1.0
DJ JD
onsame over here…
Rex
onClick
“Switch to Generic Editor”
Change back to
“Switch to Plug-in Editor”
It works perfect 🙌 🍻
alex
onWell, that work:) Thx. Still, they should fix it.
AVILLA
onThanks. i just sent to them a ticket issue.
PascalHP
onThank You , cool.
Russell Cardwell
onThey are not responding, now. Been waiting for a long time for the 4-digit security code to be mailed. No response, yet.
alex
onYou can get it directly from GitHub:
github.com/mannixsquared/ab-reference/releases/tag/v1.1.0
DJ JD
onit is now fixed
github.com/mannixsquared/ab-reference/releases/tag/v1.1.1