FREE iZotope Ozone Imager VST

In both VST2 and VST3 format.

Just tried it. Very good!

Thanks for the heads-up!

Thanks Larry :sunglasses:

New product on the way then.

Seems like a combination of Neutron and Ozone perhaps?

Very useful plugin, however if you already have Ozone 6 or 7 it’s identical to the imager part of those products. So essentially they’re giving a bit of Ozone away free. Handy to have as a standalone I guess for individual tracks.

Promotional tactic number 1. Give something away free just before a big release.

Downloaded and rant time… Bottom of pluggin.

“Bass content can cause mono compatibility problems if too wide. Try narrowing.”

Come on Izotope! While we can all agree on the first part of this, i see/hear the second part a lot… And, it needs to stop! Narrowing is not a quick fix for phase issues or is there something I’ve missed (edit: No, I just tested it and it did exactly as i expected).

If we have phase/mono compatibility issues in our audio, narrowing it will only carry those issues into the stereo field, not remove it. The Stereo and Mono mix will be more similar but any cancellations will now be in both speakers, in stereo, rather than both, in mono. One has to go in to the mix and fix these issues.

Collapsing the mix with a plugin is the same as collapsing the mix, mono, all your doing is combining the signal.

Thoughts?

Are you sure that’s what they were talking about though? I mean, what’s the context in which that was said?

I would have thought they were saying that the plugin can cause mono incompatibility and that the solution to that is to back off from the width in the plugin. Not that you would use the plugin to fix a problem already in the signal.

Yes I’d agree. The intention is likely more in advice not to go crazy widening the low frequencies, back off a bit! But… they need to be clearer, a more careful choice of words. How you put it would be better. Many jump to the wrong conclusion. A lot of youtubers see similar to this and include it incorrectly in their tutorial videos, perpetrating the misconception.

Simply not using it on bass would be better advice. I don’t think they want to say that though, they like that people have the misconception, a go to tool for fixing issues in the sub. If memory serves me right, the first place I learned of it was Pensado, he too committed the crime, a passing comment, narrow the bass to remove phase issues, while puling down the fader. I see it a lot and believed it too. It’s not til later on, a bit more experience and the ‘Erm… NO! That wont work!!!’ clicks in place.

We’re not fixing anything, in actuality we’re doing more damage. Ruining the mix in stereo too.

“Widening Bass content can cause mono compatibility problems.” Would be a better.

I’ll take a look and be mindful of possible mono compatibility issues as discussed above. Thanks to the OP for mentioning it. it seems to be the season of interesting, free plug-ins.

May I hijack this to remind people that the stock plugin “stereo enhancer” is a much-overlooked gem. People often ignore stock plugins without even giving them a chance.

Bump.
This is really a great freebie. For anyone who is skeptical of the typical free plug-in, I think this one is worth signing up for.