If you didn't realise it by now, Christmas is not just about eating, drinking and Santa. It's also about free music software giveaways! And Baby Audio has just announced its regular seasonal freebie, and it's a Christmas cracker.
This year, Baby Audio isn't alone in its plugin generosity; in fact it's been a bumper year for Christmas plugin giveaways. We've had a free soundscaping instrument called Noctua from UVI, Native Instruments has given us its free Glaze plugin, Cherry Audio has its free SEM synth module, and Rhodes' has given away its V-Pan vibrato effect. Like we said, that's quite a line-up of software titles not to spend a dime on.
Baby Audio certainly has form in the plugin game. The developer has released some exceptional music production tools over the last few years, becoming one of the best out there, with titles that don't look traditional but more often than not, sound stunning.
The company's Taip plugin (above) uses machine learning to create incredible tape emulation sounds, while Crystalline is a fantastic algorithmic reverb. Baby Audio has even got into the synth game more recently with the wonderful BA-1, based on the cult Yamaha synth, the CS-01.
Baby Audio also has a lot of form in the free plugin sphere, regularly dropping free gifts at this time of year. Previous free releases include Magic Dice, Pitch Drift and Magic Switch, all of which you can still download from its website by signing up to its newsletter.
This year, Baby Audio has dropped another festive freebie, and if you fancy slamming some beats this Christmas, this is the plugin for you. Beat Slammer is a compression plugin geared towards applying heavy dynamic control to drums and mix buses, giving you a "pumping and bouncy compression sound that slaps you in the face".
We know Christmas can get a little rowdy, but we weren't exactly banking on a slap in the face this festive season. Nonetheless, Beat Slammer looks like a superb tool for lending a super-squashed, impactful style of compression to any signal.
Beat Slammer looks like a superb tool for lending a super-squashed, impactful style of compression to any signal
Based on the compression algorithm from Baby Audio's paid-for IHNY-2, a plugin Baby Audio describes as "the industry's hardest-hitting compressor", Beat Slammer delivers the same punchy compression without the majority of IHNY-2's controls.
Both plugins are parallel compressors, which means that you can take advantage of a technique where a heavily compressed 'wet' signal is blended with the original, uncompressed 'dry' signal to produce a hybrid sound that benefits from aspects of both.
While Beat Slammer lacks much of the tweakability of its bigger brother, it still features controls for the dry/wet mix and compression amount, which can be handily manipulated on a XY grid, alongside sliders for make-up gain and output level.
All you'll need to do to access Beat Slammer (and several other free plugins) is sign up to the newsletter on Baby Audio's website.
