Ardour
Get an audio interface. Plug in a microphone and a keyboard. You can add a track and press record. Cut, move, stretch, copy, paste, delete, align, trim, crossfade, rename, snapshot, zoom, transpose, quantize, swing, drag, drop. Import audio and MIDI from your hard disk or the Freesound database. All with unlimited undo/redo. All of these functions can be done in one window. Mute, solo and fader. Floating point fidelity, the most flexible mix architecture in the industry, hundreds plugins, and multiple control surfaces. Ardour's core user base is people who want to record, edit and mix audio and MIDI projects. Ardour is the right tool for you if you need total control over your tools or when other designs limit you, or if you want to spend hours, if not days, on a session.
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Klanghelm DC1A
DC1A is the smaller brother to the compression monster DC8C. I have taken some of my favorite settings from DC8C, and tried to make them work in a two-control context. It sounds similar to DC8C's PUNCH mode, but has a few more features such as stereo unlink and negative ratio. I have always wanted to make a compressor that only had an input and output knob. A compressor that works well, is gentle, faithful, and can do everything from smooth leveling to heavy pumping, with a nice crunchy saturation, and punchy enough for treating drums. DC1A seems like a one-trick pony. Don't be fooled by the absence of additional controls. It may surprise you at how well this little device can handle different materials. DC1A comes with a few tricks: negative (over), parallel (New York style), compression, the option to compress left or right channels independently (via DUAL MONO switch), peak compression (RELATED switch on) and DEEP activates high pass filters.
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TDR Limiter 6 GE
TDR Limiter 6 GE - A modern dynamics compression and limiting toolkit that includes six specialized modules that can all be arranged in a variable order. They cover a wide range of applications, including delicate loudness control, as well as brutal brick-walling and creative mix bus crunching. Each module allows for the control of different types events from macro to micro and allows you to set the signal path. They can be combined to increase the perceived loudness of a mix, while maintaining superior musical fidelity, punch and excitement. The advanced true peak and EBU-R128 compliant loudness measuring section provides a clear insight into the signal's dynamics. Equal loudness bypass ensures that operators' auditory perception is not influenced by loudness differences. A selection of sensible starting points makes it possible to quickly and accurately maximize loudness.
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Klanghelm VUMT
This model recreates the ballistics of the classic VU meters. The integrated peak bargraph and K-12, K-14, and K-20 scales can all be set in the RMS mode. The Meter ballistics can be customized. The VU has a unique overshoot parameter. VUMT has dedicated trim controls for easy gain staging. GUI-resizing is available. There are several options to hide the controls and display the meters only or a single meter display. VUMT has eight skins available. A customizable instance label is also available. VUMT Deluxe offers many more features than the standard version. These include more metering types (BBC and DIN), as well as various channel tools such as Mute, Polarity reverse buttons and various signal processing tools. HighPass and lowPass filters, a single-band dynamic EQ with different filter types, are useful for removing resonances or de-essing, and a monomaker to narrow the stereo image below certain frequencies.
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