Somewhat unusual in concept, still a bit rough around its version 1 edges, but very much worth giving it a try, in my opinion: MosaicDSP’s Channel Strip 1 (the maiden release from a new one-man ‘solo indie’ company).
Channel Strip 1 is a graphically minimalistic channel strip plug-in that includes 2 EQ’s, a compressor, a gate, a saturator as well as many other functions commonly needed on channel strips, and which, best of all, allows you to control every single instance of the plug-in from within one single instance. Meaning that you can have any number of instances in various slots of your DAW’s mixer and then control any and/or all of them from within one open window of the plug-in. Certain parameters can even be changed simultaneously in multiple instances of the plug-in. (All instances appear at the bottom of the plug-in window where you can select whichever ones you like and then perform changes — or even something as basic as a bypass — that will be applied to the selected ones.)
Channel Strip 1 is not the first and thus not the only plug-in that offers multi-instance control, but being able to fully exploit this capability in a good channel strip, plus the fact that all its processing components are more than up to their jobs, is, I find, quite something. So much so that it didn’t take me 20 minutes of demoing to know that purchasing it was a most excellent idea. (Channel Strip’s regular price will be $60, until May 10th it is introduced at $19.99).
Even if you’re of the opinion that you have better quality or more characterful processors for certain tasks from other developers, Channel Strip 1 can still be enormously useful: you can use it — and it’s probably how I will use it most of the time — to do all the initial mixing work and then bring in, wherever you feel you need to, your favourite processors to add the finishing touches. The MasterOut will require additional plug-ins (or hardware) as well since Channel Strip 1 lacks some functions (a.o. a limiter) which most people tend to use at, or near, the end of the processing chain.
Still a bit problematic in this first version is the UI. That it requires some getting used to is only to be expected and, in my experience, not a problem at all — it took me all of 15 minutes to get the hang of the thing and feel quite comfortable operating it — but in his desire to stay away from the typical (often skeuomorphic) look of channel strip plug-ins, the developer may have gone a bit too far in certain places. (It sometimes feels as if he was so determined to reinvent the wheel that he was prepared to replace it with a square-shaped object.)
And things aren’t helped by the fact that several UI-choices are clearly not those of a gifted and skilled graphic designer. Put differently: Channel Strip 1 doesn’t just look minimalistic, it also looks a bit amateurish and clumsily designed (as you can no doubt tell from the image above). Some of the choices actually have the opposite effect of what the developer intended (“A minimal, responsive UI designed for fast and efficient decision-making”), I feel. Definitely room for improvement here.
These UI imperfections aren’t dramatic though. Far from it. (And it’s nice to learn that the developer is very receptive to critical comments and clearly plans on updating and improving and adding to the channel strip according to its userbase’s wishes.)
So, you may raise the eye-brows a few times at first, and grumble or curse a little during the initial stages of trying it out, but once past that hurdle, I think you’ll find that Channel Strip’s positives far outweigh its negatives.
_
