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UpStereo From QuikQuak Audio - Friday Free Plug-in

This week's featured free plug-in from our free plug-ins database is UpStereo from QuikQuak Audio. A stereo widener. A simple, useful tool - it makes your mixes bigger, in both stereo width and loudness, and best of all, it’s free.

What Is UpStereo?

UpStereo is a simple, useful tool - it makes your mixes bigger, in stereo width and loudness. Using three basic systems…

  1. A fixed frequency EQ designed to lift the highest audio frequencies, and boost the bass.

  2. A stereo width unit, for expanding stereo sounds, so they appear wider and fatter. At extreme levels, other characteristics are also brought out of the sound, so this can also be used as a tonal control for individual instruments. This also has a stereo to mono setting, useful for squashing up those aggressive samples that take over the mix.

  3. A Wave shaper, which saturates the mix upwards gives the mix a more perceived loudness, without clipping.

These stages create an overall loudness effect on the final output, so a gain control is included to keep the limits in check.

The main 'bubble' display on the plug-in is really a basic meter, when it goes red then the output is being clipped. Try and keep the levels so it's just below the red flash, this enables the loudness shaping to work at its maximum.

How To Get UpStereo

Go to the Quikquak website and download. No signups.

UpStereo is available in AAX, VST and AU for Windows and macOS.

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