ST-1 by Blessed Audio
This is a stereo imager plug-in that encodes the signal as mid-side and offers control for the stereo width of the input signal. It uses 2 different methods to modify the stereo image. The first one boosts the sides channel while lowering the mid with a subtle ratio and the second algorithm uses a technique in which the sides channel are delayed by a few milliseconds. This creates a sort of "space" impression, more of a reverb type of effect in the audio.
The plug-in also features a mono-maker function that uses an additional frequency cutoff knob that cuts the side information bellow the set frequency, leaving only the mono signal. There is an additional option for the mono-maker to add the sides frequency information that is filtered to the mono channel instead of cutting it.
The filter used is a lowpass IIR filter that offers -12 db or -24 db of attenuation per octave and uses a TPT structure designed for fast modulation. See Vadim Zavalishin's documentation about virtual analog filter design for more information.
Controls
The first section of the plug-in is the mono-maker. This section has a drop down menu that allows the user to select the type of mono-maker algorithm and a cutoff knob that dictates the frequency bellow which the signal is affected. The first option in the drop down menu, cuts the sides information bellow the cutoff frequency, while the second one adds the sides information to the mono signal, thus preserving that information.
This section also features on/off button for the mono-maker effect and a -24db/octave knob to activate a higher order filter instead of the default -12db/octave.
The second section of the plug-in is the stereoizer effect, which contains a drop down menu for the type of stereoizer effect to use and a stereo width knob which controls the stereo image of the audio input. For the first type of stereo imaging, when the knobs for the width control is set at 100%, there is no change in the audio signal, what comes in, goes out. By increasing the width knob > 100%, the stereo image is expanding. In contrast while the knob is < 100% the stereo image is narrowing with 0% becoming mono. For the second type of stereoizer effect, when the knob is at 0% the stereo image is close to original but still modified. The greater the knob value from 0, more space kind of effect is felt. The third stereo effect choice uses a combination of both types mentioned above with 0% being close to the original and 200% having the "largest" stereo image.
Credits
The plugin together with the DSP algorithms and the internal processing was developed by Daniel Brojboiu using the JUCE framework.
Future improvements: - add linear phase filter, -add spectrum analyser with stereo image meter
After the album download from bandcamp, you will recieve a .txt file that contains download links for the installers of the plug-in. It is available for both Mac (Silicon and Intel processors) and Windows.
