Musical Entropy has released a free preview version of The Great Escape, a dynamic tremolo effect in VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats for digital audio workstations on PC and Mac. Support for AAX plugin hosts and Linux-based host applications is coming in a future update.
The Great Escape emulates a hardware guitar pedal of the same name. The hardware version of the pedal is an all-analog guitar effect manufactured by Thrilltone. Its signature feature is the envelope detection circuit which dynamically adjusts the tremolo speed and depth parameters according to the signal on the input.
See also: 30+ Music Production Freebies To Help You #StayAtHomeThanks to its envelope detection capabilities, The Great Escape can be used to achieve expressive tremolo effects that respond to the guitar playing style. The user can adjust the envelope detection threshold, as well as the polarity and intensity of the modulation. The remaining knobs are used to control the standard tremolo effect parameters like depth and speed, as well as the modulation waveform’s shape.
The “Waveforms” button in the upper-right corner of the interface shows the real-time audio waveforms of the input signal and the modulated signal. Clicking the “Settings” button will display the drop-down menu with the options to show the user manual, change the GUI size, show the control tooltips, and more.
Keep in mind that The Great Escape plugin is still under development. It is released as a preview of a forthcoming commercial plugin. When loading the current version of the plugin in your DAW, the following message is displayed:
This is a preview version of an upcoming commercial plug-in. The sound signature of the plug-in is not representative (yet) of the original pedal behavior. All the final features are not available, either. The current features will be subject to change.
The final version of the plugin will be commercial (the price is yet to be determined) but the current preview edition will remain freeware. It will be removed from the developer’s website but you will be able to keep it and use it forever if you download it now.
The Great Escape can be downloaded completely free of charge from Musical Entropy’s website. You won’t need to register nor activate your free copy of the software. At the moment, all 64-bit digital audio workstations capable of hosting VST, VST3, and AU plugins are supported.
More info: The Great Escape (7.84 MB download size, ZIP archive, 64-bit VST/VST3/AU plugin format on Windows & macOS)
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2 Comments
Ambedo Bass
onSeems kinda interesting but not something id personally use in ableton production. Looks like a dream for guitar players or other very dynamic/expressive instruments, that preview vid of the actual pedal was quite impressive.
Ivan
onThe plug-in is now compatible with Linux (Ubuntu 16.04 64 bits) and has been exported in the AAX format too ;)