The plugin adds harmonic detail to a chosen centre frequency and width, so you can excite vocals, drums or a full mix without over-brightening.
Parish Audio has released X1 Exciter, a harmonic enhancement plugin that adds detail to a chosen slice of the frequency range rather than the whole signal to bring clarity and presence to tracks and full mixes.
An exciter generates new harmonic content from part of the source and blends it back in, so a part reads as brighter or more defined without simply turning up frequencies that are already there. Kept light, it adds a bit of openness and polish, and on the other end of the spectrum, it becomes a more obvious part of the sound.
Catch up on all the latest news here.
Two controls decide which part of the sound gets treated. Frequency picks the area to target and Width sets how wide or narrow that area is – so instead of working on the whole track, you can aim the effect at a vocal, the snap of a snare, a guitar or the top end of a dark mix. From there, Drive sets how hard the plugin works on those frequencies and how strong the added harmonics are, while Amount controls how much of that comes back into the track. Character changes the flavour, moving from a smooth, warm sound to a sharper, more aggressive one. A live display will show you exactly what’s going on, with the target area in blue and the new detail it creates in red. That detail usually reaches higher than the part you’ve selected, which is where a lot of the extra clarity comes from. You can drag the target and its width straight from the display. Mix, Output, oversampling, presets and a resizable window round out the controls.
X1 Exciter runs on Windows and Mac, and comes from Parish Audio, a one-person outfit run by a multi-instrumentalist who moved from playing and recording into building the tools he wanted for his own sessions.
X1 Exciter is out now, with an introductory discount for a limited time. Head here to learn more.
