TBProAudio has released ISOL8, a freeware mix monitoring tool in VST, VST3, AU, AAX, and RTAS plugin formats for digital audio workstations on PC and Mac.
ISOL8 is a tool designed for monitoring different frequency regions within a mix or a single track. It splits the incoming signal into five frequency bands which can be soloed or muted individually. The crossover frequency can be adjusted manually for each pair of bands.
Apart from the mute/solo switches for its five frequency bands, ISOL8 also features a filter bypass switch, monitoring channel adjustments (solo buttons for the Left, Right, Mid, and Side channels), an output volume control, and an attenuation switch. The channel mode selector on the left is a very useful feature, as it enables the filter mute/solo buttons to target a specific channel. For example, you can mute only the MF signal in the left stereo channel while listening to everything else. Finally, the slope menu is used to set the filter cutoff slope to either 12 dB/oct or 24 dB/oct.
So, essentially, ISOL8 is sort of similar to a multi-band compressor capable of muting or soloing individual frequency bands. However, it is far more streamlined than a multi-band compressor and uses filters that are more suitable for this particular purpose (Linkwitz-Riley crossover filter design). The ability to target specific parts of the signal allows for some very precise monitoring of the mix and can make detecting problematic areas that much easier. It can also be useful for monitoring single tracks containing complex stereo signals. During our test, the plugin used around 2% CPU on our 4th gen i7 processor (on a single CPU core), which is reasonably low for a utility of this type.
The plugin is available for direct free download from the developer’s website, no signup required. It comes as an EXE installer which is a tiny bit cumbersome to use if you’re installing your plugins outside of the default VST plugin directory. Other than that, the download and installation process went very smoothly. The interface was designed by Crimson Merry who also developed our free BPB Cassette Drums plugin bundle.
ISOL8 is available for free download via TBProAudio (2.57 MB download size, ZIP archive containing EXE installer, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/VST3/AU/AAX/RTAS plugin format for Windows & macOS).
7 Comments
frozenjazz
on“It comes as an EXE installer which is a tiny bit cumbersome to use if you’re installing your plugins outside of the default VST plugin directory.”
=> in fact, it asks you where you want to your VST, just specify the ones you are interested in, leave the other ones with the default path values, and on next page, only check the ones you really want to install, and voilà, done :)
Tomislav Zlatic
onGood point, I filled out all the paths first and only then found out that I don’t have to install them all.
Erik
onI still find a bit irritating to be forced to use an installer just to copy a .vst3 and a .pdf; a zip file would be better.
I usually install in the default paths, copy the files where I want them, and uninstall.
Michael
onGood timing, thanks – I am literally busy tackling a mono gremlim lol
Eric Hall
onThis is a great tool for quick and focused referencing too. The pretty ui is a nice bonus.
Paulo Clayton
onSo let me get this straight: the plugin is available in AU format, yet it doesn’t work with Logic Pro or in Ableton as an AU?? How might I fix this? Might reach out to TBPro directly, but curious if anyone else has encountered this.
joe
onThe best use of this plug is for mix referencing – specifically for comparing the low end of your mix vs a commercial mix of a similar genre. Just volume match the reference track to your mix and let the enlightenment begin. Works just as well for mid and treble ranges but the bass is where most mixers struggle, myself included. Its an absolutely essential free plugin that lives on my master channel.