This is the fourth plugin I created for my final year portfolio project. While primarily being created to perform Mid/Side decomposition (hence the name) it has been bulked out to perform other functions as a utility plugin.
This is a plugin that allows weird effects to be created in conjunction with other plugins.
Mid/Side Decomposition
Example Ableton group to encode, effect then decode the signal – available on GitHub for download
Encoding
The main purpose of this plugin is to separate the Mid and Side parts of a signal so that they can be mixed separately. It offers two ways to do this.
First, by outputting the Mid and Side signals on the left and right channels respectively so that the signal could be passed through other effects units.
Secondly, the plugin allows for the signal to be ‘remixed’ thus allowing the user to change the gain of the mid and side components for quick edits to the signal without having the use other plugins.
The actual computation for this effect is simple with the formula for encoding being:
MID = LEFT + RIGHT (SUM)
SIDE = LEFT - RIGHT (DIFFERENCE)Decoding
This plugin also allows the signal to be decoded back into a left/right signal by changing the mode select dropdown to decode. This would be used as the final step at the end of an effects chain where the signal has been split into mid/side as seen above.
Predictably the decoding uses the same formula as encoding just with different inputs.
LEFT = MID + SIDE (SUM)
RIGHT = MID - SIDE (DIFFERENCE)Other Functions
The other functions performed are polarity flipping and changing how the plugin outputs the signal. i.e. left only, right only, mono, flipped outputs. The left and right only outputs come in useful when separating the signal out into mid / side groups.
A byproduct of separating the signal out into Mid and Side is that the stereo width of the signal can be changed by modulating the Side / Main Gain parameters.
Example Use Case
An example I wanted to highlight here was Test 3 – Big Panning. This is because I found it to be quite an interesting production effect and because it’s not an intended use case of the plugin.
Instead of using a Mid/Side input for the decode function I panned guitars hard right (Side) and the bass hard left (Mid). This gives an extreme panning effect.
By pushing the guitars out to the very sides using this effect it produces a much wider stereo field than just panning the guitars to the sides.
The only issue is that it is very much NOT mono compatible but it does definitely make for an interesting production effect.
Block Diagram
Examples
Example 1 – Extract Mid and Side
MID
SIDE
Example 2 – Stereo Width
In this example the Side Gain starts and 0 and the Mid Gain Starts at 1. Throughout the course of the clip Side Gain is automated to reach 1 and Mid Gain the opposite.
Example 3 – Big Panning
Wet – Routing Above
Dry – No Panning – Both Tracks panned centrally
DOWNLOADS
VST3: GitHub Link
AUv2: GitHub Link
ABLETON RACK v1.0.1: GitHub Link
SOURCE: GitHub Link
Due to macOS’s security policy, the VST3 version of the plugin is blocked. This means on macOS only the AU Version of the plugin is allowed to run.
However when both Logic and Ableton are scanning the plugins you need to manually allow the plugin to run through “System Settings” -> “Privacy & Security” and then allow.
Logic also requires the track to be in stereo mode for the plugin to appear in the effects list.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Supported Formats: VST3, AUv2
Supported Operating Systems: macOS, Windows, Linux