A brand new freebie plug-in for you today: Clocker.

Enjoy!

(Though I'm afraid it's Windows-only right now, sorry. Rest assured this is not the beginning of the end of Mac support from Expert Sleepers. It's just a quirky little thing someone asked me for and they wanted it on Windows. If I get enough (any at all!) requests for a Mac version, it'll follow eventually.)

Tags: clocker

I just wanted to follow up on the post below, in which I said I'd be moving to Leopard once 10.5.2 came out.

Basically, I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't. It seems a lot of people are having severe problems with audio performance in 10.5.2. There are also problems with 10.4.11 (which I'm using) if you have the latest airport software installed (which I do), but fortunately turning off airport seems to fix it (well, perhaps 'fix' is being a bit generous - 'stop the audio problems at the expense of any wireless network connection' would be more accurate).

So, I'm waiting for 10.5.3. At least.

Meanwhile, I'm not getting any more reports of compatibility problems between Expert Sleepers plug-ins and Leopard, so it's looking pretty good on that front. Do let me know if your experience is less favourable.

Tags: leopard

The first beta Windows version of Crossfade Loop Synth is now available - v3.0.5 beta.

You can download it here, and the manual is here.

Tags: crossfade loop synth

v1.7.3 now works on systems which do not have SSE2, notably certain Athlon processors (SSE is still required). Systems with SSE2 continue to use an optimised version.

Tags: augustus loop

v1.7.2 fixes an issue which would cause the VST version to crash if the AU version were not also installed. It also further improves the plug-in's resilience to font installation issues.

Tags: augustus loop

v1.7.1 is a minor bugfix update, addressing an issue on certain systems which have had the system fonts moved or uninstalled.

See also this page.

Tags: augustus loop

We are proud to announce the release of Augustus Loop v1.7.0. Changes for this release:

• First Windows version.
• First Mac OS X VST version.
• New GUI.
• Fixed various filter problems. In particular, the filter cutoff was being limited to about 2kHz - now the full range up to 8kHz is usable. Therefore, this version may sound different to previous versions at the same settings. A preferences setting is provided to revert to the previous behaviour, which may be useful if you have to re-visit an old mix after upgrading.
• Added ‘Tape Stop’ feature.

This is a free update for owners of the previous version. Download from the downloads page.

Tags: augustus loop

The first ever Mac VST version of Augustus Loop is now available for beta testing. Features are the same as the earlier 1.7.0b1 (AU).

You can download it here.

Tags: augustus loop

I've just posted the first beta of the new Augustus Loop. The main new thing is the new GUI, which has been re-implemented using the same technology as the other plug-ins. This is what's going to enable a Mac VST and Windows VST version of Augustus not too far in the future.

Other changes:
- The filter has been fixed. Previously the cutoff frequency was limited to about 2kHz, even though the knob goes up to 8kHz. Also it was possible to get nasty artefacts when using extreme filter LFO settings. Note: this does change the sound of the plug-in, if you were using cutoff frequencies above 2kHz. A global preferences setting to retain the old behaviour has been provided for people who need to use the new version to go back and revisit an old mix.
- A 'Tape Stop' button has been added. This is great for 'finger on the turntable' type effects.

Right now I'm very keen to hear from people who are experienced with previous versions of the plug-in, to find out if the new GUI has introduced any major issues.

You can download it here.

Tags: augustus loop

I thought it was high time I put up some sort of statement about Leopard compatibility.

The current situation is this: all Expert Sleepers plug-ins are currently officially untested in Leopard. I have no reason to suppose that they won't work, but you never know. I've had a couple of reports of problems, but I get that all the time on all OSs (and the problems are almost always resolvable, and due to local installation issues). I've had more reports of the plug-ins working fine in Leopard.

So why officially untested? I've been waiting for Leopard to be a bit more stable before moving to it. It's a small operation here and I don't have the luxury of multiple Macs to test different configurations, and I need to keep my development machine stable at all costs. Based on the vibe on the web so far, I'm glad to have avoided 10.5.0 and 10.5.1.

Therefore, the current plan is to wait for 10.5.2 and then move over development (and therefore testing) to Leopard at that time.

If anyone is using Expert Sleepers stuff on Leopard, I'd love to hear of your experiences, positive or otherwise.

Tags: leopard

I've enabled comments in the blog, so if anyone's actually reading this and feels like leaving a comment on these posts they can do so. Fortunately RapidWeaver makes this very simple, taking advantage of the free service offered by Haloscan.

Tags: blog, rapidweaver, haloscan

The VST version of Crossfade Loop Synth has been updated to v3.0.4. The older v2 Crossfade Loop Synth has been updated to v2.1.6.

This version fixes a crash that could occur when loading a preset file in the host app with the Crossfade Loop Synth GUI hidden, as reported in this thread.

Tags: crossfade loop synth

Welcome to the new-look Expert Sleepers website (built with RapidWeaver, if anyone's interested).

As well as looking nicer, this one has an important new feature - a blog (with RSS feed) for news and product updates. If you use any Expert Sleepers plug-ins, I recommend subscribing.

Tags: rapidweaver

Merger has been updated for stricter requirements of recent Logic auval versions.

Tags: merger