Sure thing! I try to keep things simple, so the AUM project is very straightforward:
- Toneboosters ReelBus
- Toneboosters Equalizer
- VirSyn Bark Filter
- Toneboosters Barricade
ReelBus is a lovely tape sim. It’s set to “Master bus” mode which is a kind of “macro” mode that just shows a limited set of controls. I use it to add a bit of tape-like compression (is that a thing? I’m not sure). I sometimes prefer this to the ST FX block for glueing the signal. There are other great, cheap or even free tape sims you could use instead (see ChowTapeModel)
TB Equalizer is a cheaper and just as capable EQ that is comparable to FabFilter Pro-Q. Highly recommend it. Again, you could use any other EQ to your taste. I really like AudioThing’s Blindfold EQ which is free but it’s not very transparent, and I find it easier to just have ReelBus or the ST FX block adding colour to the signal.
Bark Filter: this is some kind multi-band compressor / filter / EQ I got recently. I’m still learning what this does, but it has a preset called “Tripleband” and this is the secret sauce. It just wakes the signal up like nothing I’ve ever heard, and just needs a little tweaking to taste. I don’t have much experience with MB compressors and I know there are lot of conflicting opinions on using them on a master buss but this plugin is truly amazing. I cannot understate how transformative and how good this sounds.
Lastly Barricade, a great limiter. Just bring the loudness up to 0dB. Bark Filter has a limiter built in but I understand how to use Barricade more at this point.
And that’s it. You could run this on an iPhone easily and that’s about the same size as a hardware pedal, and more configurable. But maybe not everyone’s cuppa.
