Lofi Oddity for macOS and Windows features a unique set of sonic degradation filters – and makes an excellent tour of the work plugin maker aberrant dsp is doing on modeling nonlinearities and destruction.

This is effectively a sampler plugin, but it already has a great array of sounds. I’ll be honest, I think I filtered this out when it dropped last month – there are a lot of similar tools, and even a lot of freebies at this point. But kudos to Reaper Blog for noting how good this one is. And while this looks like familiar territory on the surface, the actual sound is something special.

Details:

  • Corruption module for digital artifacting and stutter effects, inspired by Digitalis
  • ?????? full of uncharted spaces
  • Tape effect featuring a greatest hits of SketchCassette’s warm, degraded tones
  • Comp section for extra glue and punch, inspired by ShapeShifter
  • Master Mix control allows any combination of settings to reach from tasteful to abominable
  • Custom preset system with 18 factory presets illuminating Lofi Oddity’s broken soundscapes

Go get it – AAX, VST3, AU, macOS Sierra+/Windows 10+, Apple Silicon + Intel. (Note that you do have to fill out their order form, which involves entering in your mailing address and email.)

https://aberrantdsp.com/plugins/lofi-oddity/

Digitalis alone is interesting, as it’s got an array of stuff well beyond the usual “let’s do a bitcrusher” terrain. And then there’s that wonderful Hypercard-style UI – I don’t get nostalgic about much, but vintage Susan Kare/Bill Atkinson-era Apple gets me every time. (It’s just great design.) SketchCassette, too, pushes the envelope of what a tape model can be by letting you be “unrealistically” lofi – so you can embrace the weirdness and control of having a digital effect.

Now, again, I think I tuned this out as it does so much. So the sampler concept is great, because it distills the developer’s catalog down to the point where you can dip your toes in and decide if the other plug-ins are for you. Money aside, our mental space is often at a premium.

Via reaper.blog, who also have some freebies of their own – go digging, Reaper users!

https://reaper.blog/