Following up on Tonsturm Whoosh and Traveller Plugins, Tonsturm has now released a frequency shifting plugin - FRQ Shift, which has been designed to offer frequency shifting rather than pitch-shifting effects.

Why Frequency Shifting?

There are plenty of pitch-shifting plugins that whilst changing the pitch of a sound maintain the harmonic structure of the sound being processed.

Whereas frequency shifting shifts all the component frequencies of a sound by an equal amount. If you set FRQ Shift to 10Hz then a low-end component with a frequency of 20Hz will be shifted up to 30Hz, whereas a high-frequency sound of 10KHz will be changed to 10.01Khz.

This means that if your input is harmonic, it will destroy the harmonic relationship of the components in the sound resulting in a more unnatural sound. Consequently, non-harmonic (especially percussive) sounds are less sensitive to extreme settings.

However, unlike pitch shifters, the whole process can be done with zero latency and without smearing the transients.

What Tonsturm Say About FRQ Shift?

Tonsturm describes FRQ Shift as “an ultra-clean sounding, artefact-free, dual-frequency shifter engine. It offers precise control over both shifter engines that can be linked and crossfaded into each other. Further, we included effects that can be introduced into the feedback path of the shifter engines. On top of the pristine sounding DSP, we added the intuitive to use and powerful TONSTURM modulation system that allows you to create tense and alive sounding patches to transform and mangle your incoming audio.

Capable of everything from subtle modulation and stereo enhancement to more extreme atonal effects perfect for building tension and creating atmospheric backdrops.

To get even more intense sound effects there are four feedback effects that can be introduced into the Frequency Shifters feedback path.

On top of the pristine sounding DSP this is the first plugin introducing our powerful and easy to use TONSTURM modulation system.  Modulating parameters is a breeze and allows you to create tense and alive sounding patches.”

What Others Think Of FRQ Shift From Tonsturm

What We Think Of FRQ Shift From Tonsturm

Until now, for Mike Thornton, the words ‘Frequency Shifter’ meant a blue diecast box made by a company called Surrey Electronics, which was designed to reduce PA feedback by shifting the frequency of the audio by a small amount so that the audio coming out of the speakers wasn’t the same, which meant that a positive feedback loop was harder to get going. I do remember the sound of the feedback you got when it did eventually tip over the edge, it was a whooping sound as the feedback now included the frequency shifter!

Roll forward 40 years and now Tonsturm has brought another meaning to frequency shifting for Mike. We have many pitching shifting plugins but this is something completely different and consequently provides a completely different pallet of sounds.

It is great that the design team at Tonsturm have spent their time developing an excellent innovative plugin rather than trying to copy another product.

I have only had access to FRQ Shift for 24 hours and so have only been able to scratch the surface, but it is already clear to me that design team at Tonsturm have spent a lot of time working on the design as well as the sound. They are rightly proud of the simplicity of the user interface even though it can be a very complex plugin, especially once you set up multiple modulation paths and then use those modulation modules to control a wide variety of different controls within FRQ Shift.

The Feedback Path control is another intuitive feature to help manage the feedback paths tipping into uncontrollable positive feedback.

If you work in any form of sound design then I would strongly recommend you check out FRQ Shift as it offers a very different pallet of sounds. But it is just a sound design tool? No, FRQ Shift can also be used both creatively and destructively in music mixing applications. Check out the tutorial made by Tonsturm to start getting some ideas on how you can use FRQ Shift in music production.

How To Use FRQ Shift From Tonsturm

In this free video tutorial, Mo Volans has produced an excellent starter tutorial for Tonsturm to help you get going with this clever and different plugin.

30% Introductory Offer

Until February 18th 2020 Tonstrum is offering a 30% off introductory offer. Instead of the normal price of $129 you will be able to get FRQ Shift for just $89.

Tonsturm FRQ Shift System Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.9, 4 GB Ram, Intel Core i5 64-bit

• Windows 7 (64-bit), 4 GB Ram, Intel Core i5

• ILOK Version 2 or higher

• Plugin Formats

  • AAX Native

  • Audio Unit

  • VST