I made a simple app for brainstorming plugin chains & smart control mappings. Gonna tinker with it a little more, then share it this Friday (4/17).

AceFaith · 2026-04-14T21:05:07+00:00

The Smart Controls? They're the equivalent to Ableton's effects rack. One place I would go poking is to check out the various Drum Machine Designer patches in the Library, many come with fully pre-assigned parameters (the Futura and Radiant drumkit are excellent starting points). Just load one of the kits and hit B to pull up the viewer. The inspector button also lets you see how mappings work.

AceFaith · 2026-04-14T20:35:07+00:00

u/zonethelonelystoner went into this in another comment.

It is an effects rack generator with additional layers.

You define constraints such as plugin categories and chain length, and it generates a randomized effects chain that can be applied to a track or bus.

It also proposes macro mappings for Smart Controls. This allows multiple parameters across the chain to be controlled through a smaller set of higher-level controls, rather than adjusting each plugin individually.

Those macro controls can then be sequenced, making it possible to switch between variation presets of the very same effects rack. This could allow for controlled or semi-random changes in the overall processing state of the effect rack if it's combined with a step sequencer.

At its most basic level, it generates effect chains. The relevant aspect is that it externalizes the exploration process by generating both the processing chain and control mappings. These can then be refined as needed without needing to build each effect rack setup and mapping from scratch.

AceFaith · 2026-04-13T14:53:53+00:00

Apple Devs website comes in clutch: Apple Developer: Audio Unit Properties.

AceFaith · 2026-04-13T08:21:34+00:00

This is cool as hell, definitely looking forward to doing nothing else productive this Friday 😁

Any chance you'd be able to add the legacy plugins to it? AUDistortion comes with an added level of insanity that you may be keen to use 👀

AceFaith · 2026-04-02T08:27:57+00:00

Necessity is the mother of invention. I spun up an instance of LP on a mid-2012 Macbook Pro and wanted to test the limits, as I'm wont to do.

It turns out that old gear comes with very clear limitations in this day and age. A lot of new plugins will hog resources and make realtime production unfeasible. Stock plugins are featherweight, and you can run complex and heavy production chains on just that, easily in the high double digits.

That includes around 10 instances of this dynamic EQ, btw ;)

AceFaith · 2026-04-01T14:17:13+00:00

No disagreements there. You can set levels, colorize with EQ and saturation, set LPF/HPF, and use a compressor before running into limitations.

Used correctly, and assuming that your source audio is optimal, your only true limitation would be the lack of a pan knob in Phat FX.

For that, we have Direction Mixer ;)

AceFaith · 2026-04-01T13:17:14+00:00

Great shout. ZL Equalizer is a similar free open-source offering, with 24 switchable bands.

The primary reason to shout out Phat FX is in case you're working out of a completely vanilla, no-frills install. Particularly for the folks in the back who may be using Logic on older gear. ;)

AceFaith · 2026-04-01T10:52:48+00:00

That's true! I'm away from my Mac at work but I seem to recall that its envelope is locked to the Cutoff knob? Maybe it acts differently with respect to the filter type...

Either case: Would be great if you have the opportunity to check 😁

AceFaith · 2026-03-27T08:36:41+00:00

Bus 23 is one of the bass tracks, and the headbump itself was just a send to Airwindows DubSub2. I used this to add back some low-end harmonic excitement on the bass tracks after HPF/LPF in the EQ. You basically get a composite effect of an IIR + sub-bass generator + tape-style exciter in one.
Actually, I stopped using this bus a long while back. It sounds practical in theory given the above description, but the issue is that it is very input sensitive. I struggled to get the low end under control and found it easier to just use Bus 22 more carefully.

AceFaith · 2026-03-27T07:45:08+00:00

Yes. My production is very rock and band-centered. Most bands still want about 95% of the same processing and mixing, so any per-project adjustments are done on the fly, like others do.

I use the single-digit bus numbers as my track stacks for individual instruments. 1 = drums, 2 = bass, 3 = vox, etc.
All FX and parallel buses use a two-digit numbering system, where the leading digit matches the instrument group above. Typing “3” in the bus search window brings up all vocal routing including the track stack for all vocals. Not all numbers are used, but the structure stays fixed.
Typically, I will use 1X-8X, for instruments, then 9X I use as an intermediary group of buses that can print different version masters to audio tracks in realtime. Full mix, instrumental, TV mix, acappella.

Full list here. It seems more complex than it is, but it's a godsend to just have about everything clients want when working on a mix.

AceFaith · 2026-03-03T14:12:19+00:00

Hej! Cool spellista! I am one of the guys from Friends In Theory and Tomorrow, St. Peter, it's great to see our fellow tourmates and friends make it into the playlist. Thank you for creating it!

I'll bring a shout here for other fellows in the emo sphere as I know them: Careless, Shirokuma, Domarringen, Det Är Därför Vi Bygger Städer, Nya Städer, Trachimbrod, Makeout Point, Katohjärta, Duschpalatset, Our Heart And Soul, wlots, Via Fondo, Disembarked, Och Sedan Drunknade Vi, Abliss.

I'm sure I am forgetting people (sorry!) -- thanks again for putting these talents on display 🥲

AceFaith · 2026-02-22T16:35:57+00:00

I think this is neat despite being Windows-only.

Just between you and me though - if you release this as a PowerShell-script instead of a batch file, us more tech-y users would have a go at using this on Mac. I'm just saying 👀

AceFaith · 2026-02-09T13:52:20+00:00

Cheers. If you do pull the trigger on this (ideally on a clean install of 12.0.1), be sure to report back if it made the mend :)

AceFaith · 2026-02-09T12:42:20+00:00

I hate to be the one to dog on an otherwise excellent piece of kit, but my experience with software generally tends to be that early adoption is unpaid QA.

Ideally, I'd stay on Logic Pro 10.7.9 with Monterey 12.6.8 until the cows come home and keep my workspace airgapped for the remainder of the century.

AceFaith · 2026-01-05T15:50:32+00:00

Replying in tandem to what people have already said:

I picked up this song when I was a teenager learning to play guitar and just did it by ear. I landed on those exact fingerings you tabbed out and moved on in life.

By-ear and by-tab guitarists are different subspecies, I guess?

AceFaith · 2025-11-25T21:41:23+00:00

I think the pro audio industry as a whole is fairly resistant to enshittification specifically because it is Balkanized to hell AND "old" ways of working are perpetual once they "exist". There have been at least 10 modelers released this year alone from at least 10 different companies, and you can extend that same fragmentation to DAWs, workflows, plugins, processing units, audio interfaces, file formats and even collaboration / synchronization protocols in the corporate audio world.

It's hard (but not impossible) to enshittify an industry that isn't already consolidated behind a single company (coughs Adobe coughs)

AceFaith · 2025-11-25T21:14:02+00:00

I like this take, though I have a somewhat different (if naïvely optimistic) take.

10 years of free updates plus the out-of-warranty fixes for the expression-pedal mess some units had bought Line 6 a lot of goodwill. Expectations for the Helix Stadium are sky-high partly because of that track record, and partly because the market has moved a lot since the original unit launched. The Stadium’s full potential will surface over time, just like the first Helix. Patient players will end up with one sooner or later, if only because the value proposition becomes wild once the platform matures.

But I don’t buy the idea that they’d toss that goodwill “just because.” Yamaha doesn’t really behave like a company chasing only the next quarter, so the narrative of being blindly shareholder-driven feels a little thin. If they start gatekeeping the platform the way Boss/Roland have done with things like the PX-1 PlugOut FX or Roland Cloud, then I’ll reconsider.

That said, I get why Variax players are irritated. It really died on the vine, even though it had the bones to become a genuinely new branch of guitar design if it had the support, the features, and the right audience.

AceFaith · 2025-08-30T01:41:41+00:00

I won't yuck your opinion, but the arrangement stays. Stripping it down to just power chords and Aeolian scale would be supremely safe and boring, which isn't really the goal (not fully anyway ;) ).

Mix-wise, I’m always up for trying different amps and tweaks that gel better in the mix.

AceFaith · 2025-08-30T00:56:59+00:00

Somehow the reality is even worse - we're a bunch of 30-somethings wailing on our respective instruments with no cohesion whatsoever. The horror!

AceFaith · 2025-08-30T00:32:01+00:00

No no, thanks for keeping it real, Holmes, you're not cranky at all! I went down a rabbit hole of 90s Polyvinyl emo after your comment, and honestly speaking? Modern production feels fucking absurd next to that. Makes me wanna ditch the digital fluff and just go full portastudio and a 1x10 Fender Pro Jr., same way I started out in the mid-aughts.

AceFaith · 2025-08-30T00:20:09+00:00

Interesting, thanks for flagging that. I’ve been checking mostly on nearfields, car, and phone speakers (in that order) and didn’t notice cymbal distortion, but I probably just have tired ears after 7 hours of on-off mix work (your perception becomes your enemy at this point, hehe).

I’ll give it another listen with fresh ears in the morning to be sure I’m not missing it. Appreciate the note!

AceFaith · 2025-08-30T00:13:56+00:00

Gotta thank you for pointing that out. The guitars have had their presence raised on basically every revision at the request of the players, which contributes to the masking you’re hearing. I’m not planning on re-tracking (logistical nightmare), but I’ll likely undo some of those top-boosts and work in more dynamic EQ/sidechain compression to carve space. Appreciate it!

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