Polarity releases Polarity-MD, a FREE multiband dynamics processor

Polarity has released Polarity-MD, a free multiband dynamics processor for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Bitwig fans will be very familiar with the name Polarity and its impact on that community.

As well as being a Bitwig wizard and educator, Polarity is a forward-thinking developer, sound designer, and producer.

The Polarity Music YouTube channel is packed with excellent tutorials, and there’s a separate “Music Only” channel, where you’ll find lots of Vangelis-inspired tracks and some unexpected cover versions.

Polarity-MD is a free multiband dynamics processor, described by the developer as “essentially a four-band OTT.”

Polarity-MD is available in AU, VST3, and CLAP formats for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Downloading the plugin is quick and easy with no sign-up required.

The plugin features four bands, each offering upward and downward compression with per-band clipping.

If you’re familiar with OTT (or its spinoffs like Cramit and Dynastia), you’ll know that Polarity-MD offers a slight, but significant departure from the standard three-band architecture.

You can set custom crossover frequencies with the 24 dB/octave Linkwitz-Riley design.

Although there are various ways to use OTT, the plugin’s reputation is built on being something of a blunt-force tool. While Polarity-MD is every bit as capable of creating hypnotic, punchy drums and pushing loudness to the limit, it does so with a little more finesse.

In addition to the per-band controls, you have global controls for ratio (Amount), threshold, and attack/release.

You’ve also got pre/post-stages, with up/down compression, showing loudness, and compression before and after the four-band splitter.

The pre-stage offers ±24 dB trim and clipping. The post-stage features up/down compression and a brickwall clipper.

If you click on any clipper, you’ll hear the delta signal for that stage or band. You’ll hear what’s being clipped without it passing through the multi-band splitter (it goes directly to the output).

Visual feedback is color-coded across all bands and stages; downward compression is yellow, upward compression is blue, and clipping is red.

Visual feedback continues with built-in LUFS metering, showing your loudness before and after processing.

Polarity has a great overview video that explains everything about Polarity-MD. In addition, Polarity speaks about his unique approach to the plugin’s HTML/CSS GUI.

It’s very early days, but the reaction to Polarity-MD has already been epic, and it’s well-deserved.

In other news, don’t forget you can grab the SSL Native X-Saturator for $7.99 (the offer ends on February 15). It’s a great time to do so, because you’ll get Minimal Audio’s Cluster Delay or Thenatan’s TAWUS free with your purchase.