Enso Looper vs Needlepoint

Enso is a looper. Not a phrase sampler, not a beat slicer: a real looper, built in the image of the pedal loopers and reel-to-reel tape systems that defined the form, then extended well past what hardware can do. Press one button and it records; press it again and you are looping. Up to five minutes of stereo audio, host-synced or free-running. The play and record heads are completely decoupled, each with its own through-zero speed control from -4x to +4x. Play backwards at half speed while overdubbing forwards at double, and things get strange in the best way. Four sectors give you separate loop regions to crossfade between and overdub within, and a built-in effects section (tape-style saturation and hiss, filters, and chorus) can sit in the feedback path so your loop ages like tape with every pass. Enso runs as an AUv3 plugin in your favorite host, and includes a standalone mode for sketching. FEATURES - Full automatic looping engine: simple to learn, exceedingly powerful, with one-button looping control, both host-synced and free time. - Independent play and record heads: through-zero speed from -4x to +4x on each, with selectable increment and decrement values. - Dub In Place: work like a traditional digital looper, or like a tape looper with the effects and speed changes in the feedback path. - Sector crossfading: define four start and end points, crossfade between them, and overdub or re-record within them. - Effects section: tape-style saturation and hiss, high- and low-pass filters, and a stereo chorus. - MIDI Slice mode: play your loop from a MIDI controller, automatically sliced into 4 to 16 equal pieces. - Full MIDI CC implementation: an assignable MIDI CC page covers most of the looping engine, tuned for foot control. - Auto RTZ: automatically return to zero at a chosen interval to keep loose material in sync. - Cross-platform preset format: XML presets that can store the buffer, compatible with the desktop version of Enso. No subscriptions and no nonsense. Buy it once and it is yours, with free updates. Enso is also available for Mac, Windows, and Linux at audiodamage.com.

Unfiltered Audio's Needlepoint is now available on iOS as a Standalone app or AUv3 plugin! Unfiltered Audio raises the bar (and lowers the tonearm) with Needlepoint: a revolution in vinyl simulation. Continuing the retro themes of their smashed-up hit lo-fi-af, Needlepoint presents a full platter of advanced physical modeling to dive deep into the warm, fuzzy sound of turntable noises and artifacts beloved by many. Of course, since this is an Unfiltered Audio plugin, you can push the needle far past realism and dive into some seriously warped sounds. While many vinyl plugins are content to use looping samples of noise, Needlepoint uses physical modeling to achieve its incredible sound. Needlepoint synthesizes all sorts and sizes of detritus and distress on a record: hair, dust mites, scratches, warping, etc. These are not randomly modeled, but rather accurately distributed onto a rotating, algorithmic platter. Changing the speed of the record can greatly change the nature of Needlepoint's impact on your sound. While you may be used to vinyl RPMs like 33 1/3, 45, and 78, have you ever wondered what it would sound like to tempo sync a turntable to your DAW? Now you can! Beyond noise, ambience, and tone, Needlepoint includes other effects to fully etch out your vibe. A single knob compressor (inspired by lo-fi-af's PRESS knob with six additional algorithms) can be added before or after the signal chain. This compressor can emulate algorithms from famous hardware samplers associated with vinyl, or even mimic the sound of analog distortion introduced by the vinyl pressing process. A BROKEN mode emulates a broken record a broken record a broken record a broken... Where were we? Oh right, a BROKEN mode acts as an unpredictable looper by jumping the grooves on your recent audio. You can automate the mode's toggle to create all sorts of cut-up and glitchy phrases. No vinyl plugin would be complete without a SPINDOWN button that creates that classic vinyl stop (and start!) sound. Here you can control the rate of the spindown to better fit the effect into your mixes. Finally, at the end of the processing chain, Needlepoint features a granular pitch shifter to help you achieve that chopped up vibe without needing to manually change the speed of your tracks. Despite all of these features, Needlepoint is incredibly easy to use. With a beautiful interface and an extensive set of presets, Needlepoint will help you itch that nostalgic scratch that your tracks need. As an AUv3 plugin, Needlepoint has been tested to work perfectly with Garageband, Drambo, AUM, Cubasis, Beatmaker, Nanostudio, apeMatrix, Loopy Pro, and more! Additionally, with its clear layout and smart resizing, Needlepoint can be used on tablets and phones with ease. (Note for Drambo users: Drambo does not yet have automatic Plugin Delay Compensation for managing plugins with latency. As a result, tracks with Needlepoint will not line up properly with other tracks. An upcoming patch for Drambo will add this feature in.)