Bad Contact Is A FREE LoFi Plugin By Rawoltage

Rawoltage releases Bad Contact, a freeware VST plugin that emulates bad cable connections and malfunctioning knobs.

Bad Contact is a simple, compact noise-based effects unit. If you always wanted your virtual instruments to sound more analog and vintage, this plugin might make you reconsider your priorities.

Most engineers and producers have felt their skin crawl when hearing some kind of electrical crackle, pop, or buzz coming out of faulty equipment. Well, with Bad Contact – this noise is yours to harness and control.

The noise on this plugin is generated by moving a large black dial at the center of the GUI – essentially this acts as a rack component with a ‘’faulty’’ circuit.

If you can get past the slight initial anxiety caused by these emulations, then Bad Contact can be extremely useful to you. It could be a fun way to add more “character” to a recording or even a handy sound design tool for video projects.

Bad Contact comes in a very straightforward interface that features a handful of basic dials and switches that allow you to set the following parameters:

• 50 / 60 Hz – This dial lets you blend in an analog-style hum at either 50 or 60 Hz. The noise is marvelously close to the electrical hum you hear from large amps and speakers.
• Dirt – Dirt sets the amount of erosion that is in the circuit. The higher you set the dial, the wider and more broken up your noise becomes.
• Voltage – This dial controls the overall amplitude of your generated noise. You can use this dial in conjunction with the dirt knob to set your overall tone appropriately.

There is also a quick and easy bypass switch for fluid mix control. This switch also creates a deep signature pop every time you toggle it. Don’t freak out, your gear is just fine.

Possibly the most intriguing thing about this plugin is that all the noises are oscillator-generated. This means you’ll never run into the same sound twice when affecting your audio.

Bad Contact is harsh, abrasive, and intentionally so. The sounds you get from this plugin could work well with some tasteful lo-fi productions, as well as more intense aggressive styles of EDM. The noises pair really well with vocal resampling, as well as some synths and percussion.

Alternatively, you could just use it to scare the living daylights out of your producer-engineer buddies.

Bad Contact is available in 64-bit VST3 plugin formats and supports WIndows 7, 10, or higher.

More info: Bad Contact (64-bit VST3 plugin format for Windows)

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