PitchTech LADSPA and VST Plugins

This is a collection of free LADSPA and VST plugins related to the PitchTech research project. The plugins can be downloaded for free. You can also listen to audio samples transformed by these plugins.

Download: PitchTechPlugins.zip (version 0.9.6)

Requirements:

• Windows, Mac OS 10.4 or greater, or Linux
• A Java Runtime Environment (JRE), version 5 or greater. The latest JRE can be downloaded here (it's free!)
• A host application (typically an audio editor) that supports either LADSPA or VST plugins. Preferably an audio editor that supports off-line (or destructive) editing. Examples are Audacity (LADSPA), Adobe Audition (VST), Amadeus (VST), Cubase (VST), Rezound (LADSPA), WaveLab (VST).

Implemented audio effects:

• Beat Filter: Extract or filter all the transients (attacks, drums) from the audio
• Center Extract: Decompose a stereo audio signal into center and sides (left + right), and allow the level of each part to be adjusted
• Frequency Shift: Dilate the pitch by shifting the frequencies. Results in detuning and in a bell-like timbre
• Harmonizing: Mix with up to 7 pitch shifted (transposed) versions
• Helicopter: Transform into a helicopter-like sound
• Lift Echo: Recursive echoes where each echo is pitch shifted with respect to the previous one
• Melody Extract: Decompose the audio into dominant melody and background, and allow the level of each part to be adjusted
• Metallization: Transform the audio into a metallic version by removing regularly and closely spaced frequencies
• Miserablize: Transform the audio into a miserable version
• Octave Shifter: Pitch shift (transpose) by one octave and mix with the original, resulting in an organ-like sound
• Phasiness: Make the sound diffuse, resulting in reverberation or a loss of "presence"
• Pitch Shift: Shift (transpose) the pitch by scaling the frequencies
• Robotize: Transform a voice into a robotic one
• Rumple: Add mirrored frequencies, resulting in a rumpled sound or a sort of counterpoint (sorry, difficult to explain...)
• Sin + Noise: Decompose the sound into pitched (Sinuses) and unpitched (Noise) components, and allow the level of each part to be adjusted
• Sledgehammer: Simulate very low quality speakers by replacing low frequencies by vibrations (amplitude modulations of the middle frequencies)
• Smooth + Rough: Reduce or accentuate amplitude variations, resulting in a smoothed or roughened version of the audio
• Spectral Compander: Enhance or reduce the level of the details (softest parts along the frequency axis) of the sound
• Stable + Unstable: Decompose the sound into stable and unstable components, and allow the level of each part to be adjusted
• STN Equalizer: Decompose the sound into Sinuses, Transients and Noise, and allow the level of each part to be adjusted
• Thunderization: Transform into a thunder-like sound
• Waterize: Transform the sound as if it was played under water
• Whisperization: Transform a normal voice into a whisperized one

Notes:

• The plugins only provide audio effects. No instruments or MIDI stuff.
• The plugins only work at 44.1kHz or 48kHz.
• The plugins can be used both as LADSPA or VST plugins.
• The plugins require JRE version 5 or greater. They will not work with older versions (and may crash the host).
• While all the plugins can be used in realtime, they are primarily targeted to off-line processing. The "hard" realtime mode of LADSPA is not supported.
• Most of the effects have a "quality" setting. Leave it to the lowest value for realtime use or quick tests. Higher quality values can be up to 100 times slower (!), and usually do not run at realtime speed (there are only useful for off-line processing).

This plugin collection makes use of a modified version of jVSTwRapper 0.9f (a wrapper to write LADPSA/VST plugins in Java). Here you can download the sources of the modified version. The audio effects themselves are written 100% in Java. Source code is not available for the moment.

Audio examples

PitchTech home page