TL;DW: Just the quantization from StudioTan, specifically the Dither Me Timbers non-dither.

RawTimbers.zip(340k)

This maintenance release (re-issue of Dither Me Timbers as a stand-alone) has some distinct uses :)

RawTimbers (Redux) is, like RawGlitters, a standalone ‘non-dither’ plugin with its own sound. Non-dithers do this: they truncate to a fixed point output, just like a dither would, but rather than dither the output with noise they use other means to pick whether the value gets truncated up, or down, to the nearest result.

NJAD (Not Just Another Dither) does this and assigns the values with a Benford Realness algorithm, producing a natural sound. Dark always selects what will make the overall output the least trebly over a broad range of samples, and is very good for high res and for quiet CD backgrounds. Beam tries to make the output zero in on specific waveform angles and is more experimental, possibly giving greater sonority to tones. StudioTan (also known as RawGlitters) heightens brightness in the quiet subtleties. These are all non-dithers: they use truncation to accomplish a result other than ‘a noise floor’, and they all do it through only selecting which direction to truncate (no added energy at all). They produce a pervasive tonal quality but it’s VERY quiet, and if you can hear the difference in tone on the 16 bit version, you’re hearing -96db details through the texture of the music. You’d be hearing this because the details, all that quiet, are constantly happening, so much that it becomes obvious, but they’re still always -96db down for the CD version.

RawTimbers is one of the first things I did after NJAD. It’s a precursor to the more effective Dark. You can use it for a dither if you like, but it has a special trick up its sleeve. If you use the DeRez of RawTimbers, and this time DON’T crank it down to super low bit… instead keep it somewhat under 16 bit but not so low-bit that you bring up too much of the noise floor… you get a ‘hardware sampler’ effect. It’s subtle, but extremely effective. Dither Me Timbers turns out to be perfectly suited to this type of textural work: the best thing is, it’s completely clean and uncolored, apart from the strong feeling of ‘old sampler tone’ caused by the obvious darkening. The audio sort of stands up a bit, while also getting a little crunchier and noticeably darker. You get the darkness before you start hearing the noise floor, and it’s like a very specific kind of time warp. If you wanted your ‘virtual old sampler’ to also make stuff brighter, you can throw Energy or Air in front of RawTimbers and dial in the flavor of retro you like. And again, this is all done with truncation alone, with the plugin functioning as a bitcrusher: no actual EQ is present.

All this is supported by my Patreon, and I’ve got many more plugins to come and a bunch of other projects that I’m basically working on all at once. Ask me on Monday at the 11:00 EST Q&A livestream if you’d like to know more. See ya next week!