Paragon WorkshopThe free ones

CHEST

A rack of eight processors.

Eight processors in one plug-in, run in an order you set: a gate and expander, an equaliser, a compressor, a de-esser, a saturator, a delay, a reverb and a limiter. A strip of eight tiles runs across the panel: click one for its panel and display, drag one to change the order. Each has its own switch, and a module that is switched off is not run, so the rack costs what its working modules cost. IN TRIM, OUT LEVEL and BYPASS belong to the rack, and CHEST tells the host one delay, the sum of the modules' own.

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Formats
Audio Unit, VST3
Channels
Mono in and mono out, mono in and stereo out, or stereo in and stereo out; stereo in and mono out is refused
Latency
The sum of the eight modules' own delays, on or off: 241 samples (5.0 ms) at 48 kHz at the defaults, from 14 to 1589 samples at 48 kHz over every setting
CHEST at work
CHEST

What it does

CHEST in six parts.

  1. 01

    Eight modules

    LATCH is a gate and expander with a look-ahead, EQ an equaliser with five bands, CLAMP a compressor with six voicings, SCRAPER a de-esser, CHAR a saturator with three curves, TAP a delay, CASK a reverb and RIDGE a limiter with a ceiling. The gate, the de-esser and the saturator are LATHE's modules, the equaliser is built on the one in BEVEL, and the compressor, the delay, the reverb and the limiter are the engines of CLAMP, TAP, CASK and RIDGE, used without change. A test holds each module in the rack to its engine run alone, bit for bit. There are 123 host parameters.

  2. 02

    An order you set

    Drag a tile to another place and the order changes. The output dips for the change: it fades out over 3 ms, stays silent while twice the new delay plus 128 samples go through, and fades in over 3 ms, which is about 19 ms at 48 kHz with the default delay and up to 75 ms with the longest. Every module starts afresh, so a reverb or echo tail that was sounding is cut. The order is saved in the state and in every preset, and it is not a host parameter.

  3. 03

    A display for each

    Each module has its own display on the panel under the strip: the gate's curve with the gain taken off, the cut of the de-esser, the five bands' summed curve with nodes you drag, the compressor's, the saturator's curve and overtones, the echoes of the delay, the decay of the reverb at each frequency and the limiter's last four seconds with a ceiling you drag. Each tile has a small live meter: the gain taken off, the peak level out of the module, or the peak level of the wet.

  4. 04

    Off costs nothing

    A module that is off is not run, and the signal goes through it delayed by that module's own delay, so switching never moves anything in time. Going on, a module is run for its own delay's worth of samples and then crossfaded in over 5 ms. With every module off the rack alone takes 0.07 percent of one core; all eight on take 6.7 to 7.6 for the rack and 7.3 to 8.5 for the whole plug-in (stereo, 48 kHz, 512-sample blocks, thread CPU time, a shared machine).

  5. 05

    One delay told to the host

    The delay is the sum of the eight modules' own delays, whether they are on or not: 241 samples (5.0 ms) at 48 kHz at the defaults, and from 14 to 1589 samples over every setting. It changes only with a look-ahead, an oversampling choice or RIDGE's style, and the host is told within a tenth of a second. BYPASS keeps the delay.

  6. 06

    Nothing until you ask

    With all eight modules off, the default order and both levels at 0 dB, the output is the input delayed by the told delay, bit for bit, in every layout, at every block size and rate. Every module starts off. After everything is switched on and then all off, the output is the delayed input again, bit for bit, 0.3 s later. BYPASS crossfades to the input over 5 ms and the modules go on running inside it.

CHEST · The point of it

Eight processors, your order, one delay told to the host.

The strip shows the eight in chain order with a lamp and a live meter on each: the gain taken off for LATCH, SCRAPER, CLAMP and RIDGE, the peak level out of the module for EQ and CHAR, and the peak level of the wet for TAP and CASK. All 123 parameters come from one table, and a test holds that every control has exactly one place on the panel and that none is left over.

Every one of the 22 presets is written as what it changes from the defaults, with the order of the modules, and is held to measurements, 86 in all: how far a level moves, the reduction, the level of the wet signal, a tail and the delay. The installed Audio Unit and the rack differed in 0 samples in each of 67 runs: each module on its own, rest, chains, six sample rates and seven tempi.

  • 241 samplesThe delay told to the host at the defaults at 48 kHz (229, 241, 362, 385, 626 and 673 at 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz): the told delay, the sum of the modules' own delays and the place of an impulse are one number in 72 structures and rates. The most is 1589 samples at 48 kHz and the least 14, found by trying all 10,080 combinations of the controls that change it.
  • Bit for bitAt rest, with all eight off, the default order and both levels at 0 dB, the output is the input delayed by the told delay at every block size from 1 to 4096 samples, at six sample rates and in three layouts. Each module alone equals its engine, bit for bit, in 8 modules, two settings and two orders, and all eight on in six orders equal the engines chained by hand.
About CHESTOwner’s manual
CHEST: CHEST with a chain preset at work: the strip of eight tiles, and the panel of the selected module.
CHEST with a chain preset at work: the strip of eight tiles, and the panel of the selected module.

In use

The real window, as it looks at work.

These are captures of the built plug-in, drawn by the plug-in itself at twice the size.

CHEST: Lead, Echo and Medium Room with the voice playing: the strip of eight tiles with their meters, and the panel of CLAMP
Lead, Echo and Medium Room with the voice playing: the strip of eight tiles with their meters, and the panel of CLAMP
CHEST: Flat Start with no sound: every module is off and the output is the input, delayed 241 samples
Flat Start with no sound: every module is off and the output is the input, delayed 241 samples
CHEST: LATCH selected: the gate's curve with its threshold, the level and the gain taken off
LATCH selected: the gate's curve with its threshold, the level and the gain taken off
CHEST: EQ selected: five bands with a node each, and the summed curve across the whole width
EQ selected: five bands with a node each, and the summed curve across the whole width
CHEST: CLAMP selected: the PUNCH voicing at 8 to 1, with 40 percent compressed
CLAMP selected: the PUNCH voicing at 8 to 1, with 40 percent compressed
CHEST: SCRAPER selected: the cut's curve, the level of the band and the cut
SCRAPER selected: the cut's curve, the level of the band and the cut
CHEST: CHAR selected: the curve, the overtones and the tilt
CHAR selected: the curve, the overtones and the tilt
CHEST: TAP selected: the echoes of an impulse and the filters of the loop
TAP selected: the echoes of an impulse and the filters of the loop
CHEST: CASK selected: the decay at each frequency and the level of each of the sixteen delay lines
CASK selected: the decay at each frequency and the level of each of the sixteen delay lines
CHEST: RIDGE selected: the last four seconds with a ceiling you can drag
RIDGE selected: the last four seconds with a ceiling you can drag
CHEST: CLAMP lifted in a drag: the other tiles slide aside to show where it will land
CLAMP lifted in a drag: the other tiles slide aside to show where it will land

Specifications

Formats
Audio Unit, VST3
Listed in your host as
Chest Effects Rack
Channels
Mono in and mono out, mono in and stereo out, or stereo in and stereo out; stereo in and mono out is refused
Sidechain
None
Latency
The sum of the eight modules' own delays, on or off: 241 samples (5.0 ms) at 48 kHz at the defaults, from 14 to 1589 samples at 48 kHz over every setting
Tail told to the host
The delay alone with TAP and CASK off or at MIX 0; otherwise the longer of CASK's (1.4 times DECAY plus 1 s, at most 30 s, 30 s with FREEZE) and TAP's (at most 20 s, 20 s with FREEZE), plus the delay
Modules
LATCH, EQ, CLAMP, SCRAPER, CHAR, TAP, CASK and RIDGE, each with its own ON switch, in an order you set
Rack controls
IN TRIM and OUT LEVEL, each from -24 to +24 dB, and BYPASS
Editor
1440 x 960 pixels at 100 percent, resizable from 70 to 170 percent
Parameters
123
Presets
22 in 8 categories
CPU
The rack alone at Flat Start 0.07 percent of one core and the whole plug-in 0.17; each module alone 0.20 (LATCH) to 2.24 (CASK); all eight on 6.72 to 7.60 for the rack and 7.28 to 8.51 for the whole plug-in (stereo, 48 kHz, 512-sample blocks, thread CPU time, the least of three runs; Intel Core i9, a shared machine, so the readings move by about a fifth). The budget of 12 percent for all eight on holds

Measured

  1. 241 samplesThe delay told to the host at the defaults at 48 kHz (229, 241, 362, 385, 626 and 673 at 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz): the told delay, the sum of the modules' own delays and the place of an impulse are one number in 72 structures and rates. The most is 1589 samples at 48 kHz and the least 14, found by trying all 10,080 combinations of the controls that change it.
  2. Bit for bitAt rest, with all eight off, the default order and both levels at 0 dB, the output is the input delayed by the told delay at every block size from 1 to 4096 samples, at six sample rates and in three layouts. Each module alone equals its engine, bit for bit, in 8 modules, two settings and two orders, and all eight on in six orders equal the engines chained by hand.
  3. 0 of 67Runs in which the installed Audio Unit differed from the rack's own output: 32 with each module on its own, 6 at rest, 10 with chains, 12 at six sample rates and 7 with host tempi. The test exists because Apple's compiler once made another plug-in's installed build play only part of its sound while every other test passed.
  4. 86 measurementsTwo for Flat Start and four for each of the other 21 presets, all inside their bounds on five named programmes: how far a level moves, the reduction, the level of a wet signal, a tail and the delay.
  5. 0.02386The largest step between samples across a change of order in a held sine, against 0.02386 before the dip and 0.02327 after it, and 0.03263 for the sine's own step: no step across the dip is larger than the sine's own.

On synthetic test signals, by this plug-in’s own tests. Not a listening test.

Presets

22 presets, named for the job.

Starting points chosen from measurements, not tuned by ear. Each one sets every control, so the result does not depend on what was dialled in before it.

Start

  • Flat Start

Vocal

  • Lead, Level and Presence Lift
  • Lead, Parallel at 8 to 1
  • Lead, Echo and Medium Room
  • Backing, Level and Wide
  • Rap, Gated and Driven

Spoken Word

  • Voice-over, Gated and Level
  • Podcast, Even Level

Drums

  • Kit, Compressed and Low Lift
  • Kit, Room and Ceiling
  • Snare, Gated Tail
  • Kit, Parallel at 10 to 1

Bass

  • Bass, Even and Level
  • Bass, Edge and Limit

Guitar

  • Guitar, Echo and Room, Wide
  • Guitar, Driven and Short Room

Mix Bus

  • Bus, GLUE Voicing and Ceiling
  • Bus, Loud and Limited
  • Bus, Ceiling Only

Special

  • Space, Long and Damped
  • Slapback and Tiny Room
  • Room Into the Compressor

The first minutes

From empty to useful.

  1. 1

    Choose a preset

    Pick Lead, Echo and Medium Room. EQ, CLAMP, SCRAPER, TAP, CASK and RIDGE come on and their lamps light; LATCH and CHAR stay off, and the line under the preset name shows the tail the host is told. Flat Start puts everything back.

  2. 2

    Click a tile

    Click CLAMP's tile: the panel under the strip shows its display, THRESHOLD as the large control and the other controls in rows. The lamp on a tile switches its module on and off.

  3. 3

    Drag a tile

    Drag CLAMP's tile to the first place. The others slide aside, and when you let go the sound dips for about 19 ms while the order changes.

Read the manualAll specifications

Also from the bench

The other plug-ins.

BEVELFree · An equaliser you drag.CLAMPFree · A compressor with six voicings.PLANEFree · A resonance reducer.LATCH$29 · A gate and expander.SCRAPER$39 · A de-esser with one band.

All 17 plug-ins