Specimen 23 · the channel strip · Out now · $15
Odd Duck Audio
Email hello@oddduckaudio.com for a free licence key covering every plugin.
One key unlocks everything we make, the plugins out now and the ones that come later. No obligation.
Out now: Torn, Sizzler, Trendelenburg, Nakatone TEQ-600, Girn, Doup, Stoor, Welt, Dunt, 9Volt, Busker, Specimen 23, and the Compressor Bundle.
Blown Speaker Distortion
A free blown-speaker distortion. It leaves the quiet parts alone and only rattles when the signal gets loud, and the rattle hangs on after the note that caused it, the way a torn cone keeps moving. The rattle is made out of the signal itself, so it follows the music's own pitch and rhythm. Two controls: Tear and Hang.
Free. Nothing to pay and nothing to activate.
Preamp Saturator
Three old preamp circuits on one Drive knob, for mixers and producers who want a track to sound like it's been through something. You turn it up for grit, and the level stays put. Rare is a germanium module with a transformer, Medium a pentode valve stage, and Well a low-voltage stage with no input pad, which hits a wall early. Each one breaks up in its own way, not just by a different amount.
$9. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Tilt EQ
One knob to make a mix, bus or stem darker or brighter, for beatmakers and lo-fi producers. It tilts around the track's own centre rather than a fixed frequency, so you hear darker or brighter, not louder or quieter.
$6. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Master Bus EQ
A gentle six-fader EQ for the master bus, for home mastering and mix-bus work. It nudges broad regions of the mix by up to 3 dB each, and it can't be made to sound spiky.
$10. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Guitar Compressor
A one-knob compressor for guitarists recording at home. It goes from a clean studio squeeze to a wrecked, snarling grind, with the level held all the way. The first 60% is a clean 1980s rack compressor with the make-up done for you. Past that it squeezes beyond what the hardware could, until a picked note comes out quieter than its tail, and drives the output stage into its rails.
$6. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Bass Compressor
A one-knob bass compressor for bassists recording at home. It evens out the notes and adds a little weight, without pumping and without getting louder as you turn it up. Its release follows the note being played: a low E gets a long release, a higher note a shorter one, so held notes don't buzz and fast runs don't pile up.
$6. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Drum Bus Compressor
A one-knob drum-bus compressor for anyone recording drums, and for lo-fi and indie producers. It pumps like a cheap nineties rack box, and it hisses in the gaps. The old box's sound was two faults working together: a release that breathes back at a steady rate after every hit, and make-up gain that lifts the noise floor with the drums. Stoor keeps both, and fixes the slow attack that swallowed the hits.
$6. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Snare Limiter
One knob for the snare top mic, for anyone recording or mixing drums. Turn it up and the stick flattens, the wires and the room come up under it, and the loudness stays where it was. It's an early-eighties peak limiter, set up the way engineers set it up on a snare. Its attack is instant, and the kick in the snare mic can't pull it down.
$6. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Drum Room Compressor
One knob for room mics and overheads, for anyone mixing drums. It goes from the room held down to walls of room breathing back up after every hit. It's a 1970s British FET compressor, modded. Its release is crushed and let go fast after a single hit, but a crash or a loud passage holds the room down and lets it swell back over seconds.
$6. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Dying Battery Fuzz
A free fuzz with a dying battery, on one knob, Charge. Run the battery down and the gain sags, the pitch droops under load and the breakup goes furry and wrong. The harder you play, the worse it gets, and it recovers between phrases.
Free. Nothing to pay and nothing to activate.
Distance Effect
A free distance effect that makes your track sound like it's playing from across the street. One control, Distance, from 8 to 80 metres. Turn it and the source moves away up the far pavement: the air takes the top off, the source narrows to a point inside the street's echo, and the slap between the two buildings takes over. It is loudness-matched across the range, so what changes is the distance, not the volume.
Free. Nothing to pay and nothing to activate.
Channel Strip
A whole channel strip off a broken old console, for anyone mixing a full session: drive, filters, gate, EQ and compressor, in any order you drag them, at zero latency and light enough for every track. Drive has three stages. One is a soft input transformer, two a line amp run hot, and three is the console breaking: it splutters, sags and smokes. Every section has its own IN button, and a fresh instance starts with them all out, so it changes nothing until you press one.
$15. Full plugin, 7 days, then it passes audio through untouched.
Five one-knob compressors
All five one-knob compressors, one for each part of a band recorded at home: guitar, bass, drum bus, snare and room mics. One key unlocks all five.
$25, against $30 separately. Each one runs in full, free, for 7 days, then passes audio through untouched.
Keep it on its badge, please: no recolouring, and no words on it.
