Kalide Systems’ unique effects playground and custom effects toolkit Collage got a nice update recently, full of user-requested features—some from comments here on CDM. Here’s a look, plus a couple of quick effects to download and play with.
Collage 2.01 is a free update with oft-requested improvements like undo/redo and an easier-to-read font (see screenshot and video). Here’s what they added this month (emphasis mine):
- Added Undo / Redo system to Maker mode (ctrl/cmd + z, and ctrl/cmd + shift + z) – undoable actions are create, remove, move, resize, recolour control and recolour backdrop.
- In addition to right-clicking a control in maker mode to delete it, you can now also ctrl-click.
- Performance improvements in maker mode
- Switched Editor typeface, and fixed text resizing issues when changing sizes
- Rethought high contrast mode to adhere more to WCAG.
- Slightly changed non-high-contrast mode Equator colour, for slightly better legibility
- Size changes are now persistent to all running instances of Collage
- Redesigned Preset Bar – Save and Save As icons, new typeface, slightly changed layout
- Tooltip boxes are now slightly padded, to allow for longer tooltips
- Fixed Cloak convolution dropdown font being entirely unrelated to other typefaces
- Palette icons for rotary sliders are now more-perfect circles
- Changed Save As Dialog typeface
You can see those improvements in my screenshots.
The update (note that AAX support is Mac-only for now, but they say AAX for Windows is coming; AU on Mac and VST3 on both, of course):
https://www.kalidemusic.com/collage
There are no new effects or widgets in this update, but it is a lot easier to see and those workflow updates make a difference. To celebrate, I made a couple of quick effects, which for the heck of it I’m sharing as a download below:
(Sound source: some messed-about sounds from Klevgrand Tomofon.)
User presets are stored in your OS’ respective settings folder:
macOS: ~/Library/Collage/UserPresets
Shortcut: Since that’s a hidden folder, from the Finder, choose Go | Go to folder… and paste the path. (See these instructions if you need more help.
Windows: C:/Users/<yourusername>/AppData/Roaming/Collage/UserPreset
Shortcut: Type %APPDATA%/Collage into the address bar of Explorer (or the directory path above).
A couple of effects for Collage
Check the original article, which will also help get you started making your own effects: