Venn Audio has introduced Quick-Haas, a freeware VST/AU plugin designed for applying the precedence effect (also known as the Haas effect) to the audio signal on the input.
Quick-Haas is a simple “Haas Effect” utility for PC and Mac-based digital audio workstations. The plugin features a single knob for adjusting the Haas delay amount and four buttons for applying the desired input signal routing. The input signal can be treated as mono, stereo, dual left, and dual right. The developer recommends using the mono routing mode or one of the dual modes if the original signal is true stereo.
Being that the plugin features such a simple control scheme, the workflow could hardly be any more straightforward. Simply load Quick-Haas on a channel and adjust the Haas delay knob until you’re happy with the results. Be careful when using the effect on important mix elements, though, and always check the mix in mono for any phasing issues. Stereo effects such as this one can often cause masking and similar artifacts when played on a mono speaker system.
The Haas effect is sometimes used on lead guitars and backing vocal tracks to add a sense of depth and spaciousness in cases where it isn’t possible to record double tracked performances. The effect is based on a simple binaural psychoacoustic phenomenon defined as the human ear’s ability to detect slightly delayed copies of a sound (shorter than 50 ms) as a single sound.
If you like this plugin, you should also check out the Free Clip distortion effect by the same developer. It is a simple but rather well-made saturation effect for PC and Mac.
Quick-Haas is available for free download via Venn Audio (4.28 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/AU plug-in formats for Windows & Mac OS).
