I'm a proud DSP nerd. I often go to sleep thinking about algorithms or new ways to modify sounds. Most of the work we do at Newfangled Audio involves new types of signal processing, or new UI elements that make it easier to control that signal processing. However, some of the most common requests we've had over the years aren't about new DSP algorithms or innovative UI elements, they're about things that would improve the way you all use our plug-ins in your DAW. Something I like to call werkfleaux (a.k.a. workflow).
To that end we're proud to announce that Invigorate 1.2 is the first of our plug-ins to incorporate our new navigation bar which has a number of very useful workflow improvements. Invigorate is the first plug-in to incorporate all this stuff, but we're planning to roll it into all of our plug-ins in the next couple months.
Make Good Decisions
The first thing you'll notice on the top left is an UNDO and REDO button. These are multi level undo and redo, so as you make changes to the state of the plug-in you can step back to an earlier state, or step forward again. Pretty simple, but quite useful.
After UNDO and REDO you'll see a funny set of buttons called A/B and A>B. This replaces our old COMPARE functionality. The A/B button toggles the plug-in between an internal stored A state and a B state. Toggling the A/B button will allow you to jump between these states and hear the difference. At any point you can copy either that A state to the B state [A>B] or the B state to the A state [A<B]. This simple setup allows you to easily compare two sets of states so you can make sure the change you just make is actually making the audio better, rather than just different. And fundamentally, this helps you make better decisions and better mixes.
Go to the Library
One of my favorite things about our plug-ins are the presets that some amazing artists have shared and that we've all been able to learn from. Unfortunately, the artist presets have always been categorized differently from the others because I had to choose one folder or another. This made browsing the presets a little difficult.
The new Nav Bar contains a Preset Librarian that adds a lot of functionality to our preset system and should make the plug-ins faster and easier to use for everyone.
Just as it's always been, you can use the left and right arrow to toggle through presets, or you can click the preset name to get a dropdown. However, the dropdown looks a little different. First of all it has a robotic heart icon which you can use to mark the current preset as a favorite. This makes your favorite presets easier to find.
Once you click on the preset name you'll find a dropdown with all the presets listed by "All", "Favorites", and "Filtered", then below that all the presets by each Category. This is because all the presets, Factory, Artist, and User, are given categories which allow you to find all presets of a particular type. But it gets better.
When you press the LIBRARY button you'll be taken to a page with selections for the CATEGORY, AUTHOR, and TAGS. Selecting these will set the current preset filter, and the list below will be filled with presets which match your selection. So if you're looking for Gluey Mix Bus presets from Justin Hergett you're in luck. By default the presets are sorted alphabetically with the Favorites first, however, you can sort by any field and toggle the Favorites preference by clicking on the robotic heart.
Once you've selected a preset the FILTERS button will turn off and the top section will show a miniature version of the UI as well as information about the preset, including a description, the tags, and a link to the authors website. Scrolling through the presets like this is makes it easy to see both how it effect the settings, and what the author was thinking when they created it.
The SAVE button launches a SAVE screen which mimics the LIBRARY screen. As you're saving the preset you can see how it will look in the load screen, and you can add your own CATEGORY, AUTHOR, TAGS and DESCRIPTION. If you need to add categories or tags which don't yet exist you can do so using the [+] buttons, and on this page you can also press the SET AS DEFAULT button to set the current settings as the plug-in's default. This way a fresh instance will load with any settings you like.
Get Set
The final button on the Nav Bar opens the new SETTINGS page. This page will be a bit different for each plug-in, but generally it allows you to do things like see the preset version, open the User Guide, change plug-in wide settings (like Color Scheme), or set the default settings. Changes on this page will also be set with your default, allow you to change the METERS setting for all new instances, for example.
Go!
So, those are our werkfleaux improvements to Invigorate. We're busily porting them to all the other plug-ins and making sure all sessions and presets load correctly. As I said, we do hope to have them out in the next couple months.
However, Invigorate 1.2 is a free upgrade to all Invigorate owners, so go download the installer here, get a demo license here, or just learn more about this great bus compressor here.
Also we're having a little Invigorate sale to celebrate, so if you act fast you can get 50% off!
Take care, Dan
The library Functions are just what i was wanting! Love all the tools you have developed!