Review: Blue Cat’s All Plugins Pack
by Glen Heffner - 26 May 2008 -

If you’ve read my reviews over the last year or two, you know that I have a tendency to provide a complete run-down and description of each control on the plugin that I’m reviewing, not to mention what it does and how it functions.  While a “control by control” review is not forth-coming, you will still see me presenting lots of info about the product(s) anyway.  As a reviewer, I believe that you, the reader, wants to know as much about the product(s) as possible without leaving the review to read about it elsewhere.  You EXPECT the reviewer to have spent the time to thoroughly use the product extensively in many different scenarios before reporting about it.  That goes without saying!!!  However, to me, the real reason the largest part of you read reviews is to help determine if the designing manufacturer has put extensive efforts, cool features, and reliability into their new product(s).  All at a price that makes it something that you will buy for yourself.  If that is you, then this review is for you also.  Enjoy.

This review is covering a vast series of plugins that if “covered” in my usual fashion would encompass an article that would equal something akin to Homer’s Odyssey or be at least as long as ULYSSES by James Joyce!   For this reason, I’m going to approach this from a slighty different perspective.  However, please don’t think that I’m going to give less of a review on these great plugins!

The facts are that there are so many ways that they can be used, (for example, how many different ways do engineers use compressors or equalizers?)  The beautiful thing about the Blue Cat Audio plugins is that they ALL have an almost “twin brother” relationship to each other.  By this I mean, while they are all unique in many ways, they also function and operate in very analogous ways that allow the plugins to operate in perfect harmony with little to zero opposition.  A “cohesive” group of plugins is an even better way of putting it.

It is easier to combine multiple Blue Cat plugins together in less time than it would take to become skilled at getting two other companies plugins working together.  Blue Cat Audio really seems to have it all together!  How together?  That’s what I plan to tell you, coming up right now!

Who Is Blue Cat Audio? 

Blue Cat Audio is a French company located in the suburbs of Paris. Founded by a self-proclaimed “audio maniac”, audio engineer and musician by the name of Guillaume Jeulin, I can most certainly concur after multiple conversations and emails with Guillaume that he is indeed an “audio maniac”, but only of the highest caliber.  It was evident after speaking with him for only a few minutes that he is an audio engineer, developer, and musician with a passion that you rarely find that is so intense.  KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN YOU VISIT THE BLUE CAT AUDIO WEB SITE!  You will immediately notice “signs” of Blue Cat Audio’s enthusiasm and dedication all over the site. 

For Example:

1. They almost beg you to try out the products first
2. They are constantly improving/updating plugins at no charge to the customer
3. They have a “skinning” program so you can create your own “look” for the plugins. 
4. They offer many free “skinned” programs for those who don’t want to learn the skinning program and they encourage those that do to share them on the site.
5. They offer great tutorials on different ways to use the products with lots of different host software, (not just a few), and they include lots of photos.
6. They include fantastic manuals for each of the plugins…
7. They give you some very nice FREE plugins that other companies would charge you for.  It just seems to be part of their mind-set and another reason that I have really good “vibes” about Blue Cat Audio (to be call “Blue Cat” for the rest of the review)!
8. They price the plugins at some of the best prices I’ve ever seen for what you get.  (And I haven’t even told you what you get yet!)
Need I go on?  
Suffice me to say without delay that Blue Cat Audio is a Company That You Want To Get To Know!  I’ll Bet My Jupiter 8 On It!

Requirements:

System requirements are surprisingly modest.  While Blue Cat’s website state only a Windows PC running either XP or Vista is required, I contacted Blue Cat to find the absolute minimum requirements for a PC.  Blue Cat gave me the following:

1 GHz Pentium processor or greater with a minimum of 512 meg RAM.
That means that everybody can be using lots of these plugins without CPU problems.

I should point out that not once during my months of working with the multiple plugins did I ever experience problems in terms of any significant CPU usage.

Blue Cat Audio Standards:

As I mentioned earlier, all the Blue Cat plugins have a “twin brother relationship” in effect.  Of course, it is true that all companies strive to maintain a theme of consistency throughout their products. However, Blue Cat just seems to have it really close to 100% right.  This is quickly reinforced when you take note of the basic “standards” available on ALL of the plugins that come with the Pack.

• Native DSP code written to get optimum performance from the plugins.
  
• Skinnable user interface.
  
• DirectX and VST plug-in formats support.
  
• Smooth Update: silent (zipper-free) parameters updating.
  
• Full automation support (all parameters can be automated, with smooth and continuous updating)
  
• Real time MIDI control with advanced settings (MIDI channel and CC numbers, with complete response curve control) and MIDI learn functions.
  
• Any sample rate supported. (Up to 192 kHz).
  
• No CPU Load on Idle: When the plugin is fed with silence, the processing smoothly shuts down, to optimize the CPU usage of your Digital Audio Workstation. 

Overview: 

The Blue Cat All Plugins Pack, offers exceptionally effective high quality audio plugins that basically fall under one of the five categories listed below.  These five categories are:

• Audio Analysis
  
• Dynamics Processing
  
• EQ’s and Filters
  
• Modulations/Effects
  
• Tools & Utilities

Audio Analysis Tools

Audio Analysis tools are used to examine audio signals and give the engineer/artist numerous ways of viewing audio signals.  In this way, he/she can be certain to avoid distortion, mono compatibility issues, etc. to escape correction before leaving the studio.  Blue Cat provides a variety of plugins with well-designed metering choices to lend a hand in determining and solving any number of problematic situations. 

Included in the Blue Cat Audio All Plugins Bundle are the following Audio Analysis plugins:

• Digital Peak Meter Pro
  
• FreqAnalyst Multi
  
• FreqAnalyst Pro
  
• StereoScope Multi
  
• StereoScope Pro (All are offered in Mono as well as Stereo Versions!)

Digital Peak Meter Pro

The Digital Peak Meter Pro, I quickly discovered, was a “must have” plugin for me.  Designed to provide visual feedback as a Digital Peak & RMS VU-meter; it can also provide instant, average and maximum audio levels and Stereo or mid-side analysis.  This is all because the user can customize almost every characteristic of the meters.  The meters consist of five different scales including the K-System scales, (developed by Bob Katz of Steely Dan fame).  Graphs provide a “picture perfect” view of the evolution of audio over time and mono compatibility and stereo compliance is easily verified with the program.

Because of the power of the metering system, you can control/monitor your audio signal just about any way you wish!  This means that if you want to combine a RMS envelope with a modified one; No Problem!

In addition, you can control ALL Blue Cat plugins in real-time via Midi or Automation.   This in turn presents ways to control external Midi hardware, video effects, or even lighting systems.  Can you imagine how powerful it would be to control your lights from an audio feed?

Other features include control of any midi-compatible or midi external device with the RMS or peak envelope of the signal, output parameters (i.e. peak, RMS value) that can be recorded as automation curves, and Undo/Redo.
ALL BLUE CAT AUDIO PRODUCTS OFFER “SKINNING”, A WAY OF HAVING A DIFFERENT GUI (pronounced “gooey”), or “Look” for various plugins.  BLUE CAT provide many FREE skins and encourage their customers to create, share and post their handiwork to their website.  (Here is an example of one of the user skins that is available.  Thanks to (input name here) They even provide software and a tutorial for those who want to give it a whirl.  More on skinning later.

FreqAnalyst Multi

The FreqAnalyst Multi is a multi-track Spectrum Analysis plugin.  Most of you already know what a Spectrum analyzer is, but in a nutshell; it is a device that displays the spectral content of audio, displaying the intensity of frequencies, usually in decibels (dB’s), over time, and covering the audio range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
 
What makes Spectrum Analyzers so important is that they can supply real-time feedback about audio signal(s) to let you know quickly which frequencies are too “hot” or to detect other problems.  Most recording studios have used Spectrum Analyzers to analyze or “tune” their control rooms.  Since recording studios want to get as “flat” a signal as possible, they use an Analyzer to “see” where the “overbearing” and “weak” signals are at the main listening position.  They can then make an effort to correct the abnormalities with equalization, room treatment or a combination of both.

A superb feature of FreqAnalyst Multi is being able to view multiple tracks of audio on the same screen with great precision.  This makes it the perfect device when mixing down your latest project.  Since spectral information of multiple channels is possible simultaneously, you can confirm that you don’t have frequencies overlapping into another instruments “space”, (i.e. the bass guitar eating up the kick drums space).  Each channel has three modes, (instant, peak & average response); all can be displayed on the screen at the same time.  As a matter of fact, you can view up to 16 curves at once!  Very nice Blue Cat!

There are four memory slots to store “captured” curves for comparison, slope and offset correction for control over analysis parameters, zooming features, opacity control, (so you can see what is going on behind the plugin if you desire) and custom absolute and relative threshold control!

If you are serious about mixing, (and who isn’t!), then this piece is a must have!

FreqAnalyst Pro

The FreqAnalyst Pro is a real-time spectrum analyzer.  But this is not just any spectrum analyzer.  There are a slew of advanced functions and features available inside this plugin.

With this device, you can analyze a stereo signal in great detail.  That’s because of the precision controls provided within the plugin.

Some of the features include the ability to apply an offset or slope to a spectrum, a choice of three different modes (instant, peak, and average response), all while being displayed on the same graph.  Two threshold systems are available which adds extra flexibility and Zoom capability along with plenty of indicators confirm your measurements of the characteristics of the spectrum.  Like usual, there are four memory slots for storing curves.

A spectrogram view is included and like the plugins listed above; midi CC control and automation is “part and parcel” of the plugin.

My favorite part of this plugin is the fact that it provides output parameters that you can use to control other effects in real time!  This is accomplished via Midi CC, (continuous controller) messages or generated automation envelopes determined by the minimum and maximum frequencies and the energy center of the spectrum.  (The spectrum will be articulated as either Midi note values or Hz depending on your choice of CC messages or automation envelopes).  Three other factors, offset, amount and reverse, provide the basis for allowing complete customization.  This allows you to accurately control almost any effect from the pitch of an audio signal!!!  Examples would be: controlling a compressor based on the pitch of the signal, or opening a filter on a specific instrument based on the pitch of the frequency, etc.  I know that it sounds fairly confusing but it really isn’t!  Once you’re made your way through these great “tricks” one time, you’ll usually be hooked!  Blue Cat furnishes great tutorials on these types of operations so it really isn’t as hard as it sounds.

StereoScope Multi & StereoScope Pro

The StereoScope Multi & StereoScope Pro are virtually identical with the exception that the “Multi” is most useful for mixing because it allows you to compare multiple tracks of stereo signals at once in real-time.  This means that you can visually “see” several instruments on the screen at the same time and determine how they are interacting with each other.  Being able to analyze multiple tracks simultaneously using instant, peak or average curves, zooming in, and having control of absolute and relative threshold settings is extremely powerful.  Remember, the object of these devices are to make your music sound even more professional.

The StereoScope Pro in contrast is a real time stereo analyzer.  It is very powerful in the 2 track mix down stage since you can easily detect potential phase or mono compatibility issues, (as you can with the StereoScope Multi).  Like the FreqAnalyst Pro, output parameters are provided to control other plugins via Midi CC or generated automation envelopes.  In addition, it offers a “Stereogram view” and a correlation meter. 

Both have detailed views, midi and automation support, opacity control etc. 

Blue Cat doesn’t just make plugins without a reason.  While these two are very similar, they work for very specific recording work segments.  My opinion is that you want to use the StereoScope Multi when tracking or mixing your tracks and the StereoScope Pro when you are ready to “Master” your audio down to a two-track master!

Dynamics Processing

Dynamics Processing refers to a group of the most commonly used signal processing devices in all forms of music.  Dynamic processors are utilized during initial recording procedures, instrument and vocal overdubs and during the mix down of multiple tracks of music. Later it is used again in the critical mastering procedure.  I’m talking about Compression, Limiting, Gating, Expansion and even Distortion (It’s a bit of a stretch to put Distortion in as a true Dynamics Processor but today’s music does make it work sometimes)! 

BLUE CAT’s Dynamics Processor is an entire dynamics effects processor including a Compressor, Limiter, Gate, Expander and a Distortion Unit.

The Dynamics plugin can control misbehaving signals with Compression or Limiting, [Ed. Note: Limiting is really just compression usually once it exceeds a ratio of about 10 to 1 or higher!], by “pushing” back on the audio if it exceeds a set Threshold.  How hard it gets pushed back is determined by the “Ratio” control.  You can also set up a “Brick-Wall” Compressor that basically stops a signal from exceeding a specific level (Threshold) that you designate. 

The Dynamics Gate is one of the best Gates that I have ever used.  A Gate is really nothing more a device to control the opening and closing of signals by setting a threshold point before signal can pass through to the output.  

For example, you might have recorded vocals with loud headphones and when you solo the background vocalists, you hear all the headphones “bleeding”.  That “bleeding” sound is emulating from the phones.  No problem, just use a gate.  Dial up the Gate, start turning the threshold control until the headphone noise is completely gone, (while the singer’s aren’t singing) and you’re finished.  The same thing can be done for just about any instrument.  What I like about BLUE CAT’s Gate is that it seems to have a very “smart” and sensitive group of controls, (i.e. attack, decay, etc.) that make it work with just about anything.  Vocals, guitars, (don’t you hate that fidgety Acoustic guitarist in the chair who just can’t sit still)?

Of particular interest is the inclusion of Expansion and Distortion.  While Expansion isn’t anything new within the Dynamics “world”, I have found it to be vastly underused.  BLUE CAT makes it easy.
 
Expansion is essentially the OPPOSITE of compression.  For example, you might wish to compress a lead vocal track that exceeds certain levels during the course of a recording.  Visa-Versa, Expansion can be used to “bring up” a particular sound when it FALLS BELOW a certain level.  A perfect example could be explained through the use of a beautifully recorded acoustic guitar part that sounds great, but occasionally gets “lost” in the mix.  Sure, you could compress it and then push the level of it up, but you would lose a lot of the rich open sound.  Instead, you could opt to set the Dynamics processor to Expand the acoustic signal (or raise the gain of the Acoustic Guitar) up when it falls below a certain level!  Simple!

Because of the unique, and what I’ve found to be, ultra-smooth “circuitry” within BLUE CAT Dynamics plugin; you can increase the input stage of an incoming signal to the point of saturation, thus inducing distortion.  This too however is completely controllable by the output/brick wall compression/controllers to create excellent results.

ALL BLUE CAT products offer Midi CC & Automation Output and the Dynamics is no exception.  I will cover this fully in a different section.  I will point out that this means that you can control almost anything via Midi CC (continuous controller numbers) or you can have the Automation output to your favorite host program (like Sonar, Logic, etc.)

Big Deal:  Blue Cat Audio Plugins SUPPORT SIDE CHAINING!  If you don’t know what this is, then you’re not alone.  I have many friends that have side chaining on their audio gear and they have never ever used it…  Still, it is an extremely powerful tool and now, BLUE CAT gives it to you within their plugins.

Side chaining takes one sound and uses it to manipulate another sound. For example if you used a lead vocal track in a “side chain”, and a stereo mix as the other signal, you could control how much you would compress the stereo signal when the lead singer was singing.

This was very popular with DJ’s years ago who simply wanted to have the music level “drop” when they started talking at the end of a song.  This was commonly known as “ducking”.  Within this scenario, other instruments that work beautifully with this type of thing are kick drum and bass guitar for example.  The kick drum is compressed so it can function in such a way as to allow the bass guitar to “come through” clearly and precisely on the beat with the kick drum.  BLUE CAT’s Dynamics Processor not only works with software but can be configured to work with external hardware too!

Filters and EQs

Liny EQ
Stereo Liny EQ
Widening Liny EQ

You might have noticed that I have put three plugins together above.  That is because they all share a wide variety of similar functions.  However, there is definitely at least one major difference between each one of them.  I have become quite fond of how these EQs work.

First some facts:  Most all digital EQs produce some kind of phase distortion.  Phase distortion is purely distortion that occurs when the phase-frequency relationships are not linear over a specified group of frequencies.  It is just “the nature of the beast” because most equalizers have phase distortion of some kind period!

However, when using linear phase equalizers, you avoid the usual phase issues, thus the end result is pristine non-distorted sound.   All three of the “Liny’s” have a +/-40 dB per band wide range of gain making them perfect for subtle equalization tasks.  Zipper-free noise means that you can “up-date” your movements via your computer or midi in real-time without any glitches’ all while enjoying a latency of less than 3 milliseconds!.  This is really quite spectacular and while you don’t have many bands to work with, the real beauty is the simplicity of use and quality of their sound.

So what are the differences? 

OK, suppose that you have a drum set with the cymbals panned hard left and right.  You could use this EQ to emphasize the hi-end only on the sides to bring out the cymbals while at the same time you could use the “MID” EQ to bring out specific frequencies that you desire (and remember you can pan the center frequencies also!).  This is really a potent plugin and one of my favorites of the entire collection. 

Parametr‘EQ
Stereo Parametr‘EQ
Widening Parametr’EQ

The Parametr’EQ is a seven band parametric equalizer that offers both digital and analog style emulations.  The Stereo Parametr’EQ  and the Widening Parametr’EQ are also 7 band parametric EQs and offer the same low shelf/low cut filters, high shelf/high cut filters and five boost/cut band filters.  I particularly like the addition of a brickwall limiter should you desire to engage it.  All offer a true WYSEWYG (what you see is what you get) Graph, +/-40 dB of gain per band and a bandwidth of .01 to 5 Octaves.

Another nice attribute is the Automatic gain compensation that is applied to the signal whenever it is necessary along with zero latency and real-time display of frequency response.  Like all of the BLUE CAT products, full automation, zipper-free parameter updates, Skinnable updates, and the fact that the plugins support any sample rate complete these powerful EQ’s.

The difference in the three is very much the same as what I was describing in the “Liny EQs”…

The Parametr’EQ is strictly a MONO PARAMETRIC EQ which means that you will receive exactly the same EQ effect on the left and right side of your speakers.

The Parametr’EQ is a STEREO PARAMETRIC EQ which allows you to EQ each side separately.  The left side will appear on the Graph in blue while the right will appear in red.

The Widening Parametr’EQ is a MID-SIDE PARAMETRIC EQ which lets you determine the position of the “virtual center” for the Mid/Side matrix.  From there you can control exactly where you want equalization to be placed with the stereo field.  There are many possibilities including basic equalization to multi-band stereo widening or narrowing.  A brickwall limiter is provided to allow for modifications of the dynamics responses that are possible.

Triple EQ
Stereo Triple EQ
Widening Triple EQ

The Triple EQ is a 3 band semi-parametric equalizer featuring a low shelf, high shelf filter and a boost/cut peak filter.  With over +/- 40 dB per band and a bandwidth of .01 to 5 Octaves, the three filters are connected in such a way that when you change the center frequency; all three filters are changed simultaneously, thus keeping the relationship between the frequencies intact!

Perhaps the coolest of all is that there is ZERO LATENCY which would make these plug-ins not only perfect for the studio but INCREDIBLE for live work. (Easy monitor control anyone).
As mentioned multiple times already…  NO ZIPPER NOISE, full-blown Midi capabilities and my favorite; these filters have been modeled after analog circuits.  Yes, I know that it is digital but I think that it is great that BLUE CAT when to the “nth degree”, using full-blown 64 bit digital processing to achieve the precision that they wanted.

I can’t leave this section without commenting about the displays (and this goes for all of the BLUE CAT displays, graph screens, etc.)  Blue Cat has really went overboard to assure an accuracy with their displays that ABSOLUTELY give a picture perfect view of EXACTLY what your controls are doing.  Kudos to Blue Cat for the extra work and for not “skimping” on something that many manufacturers have “glossed over” in the past…

All three of the Triple EQs are WYSIWYG, have filters designed around analog circuits, offer non linear modeling by adding either warmth or analog distortion to each EQ stage and +/- 40 dB range for each band. 

The Triple EQ is a MONO EQ and will output the same signal to the left & right side of a stereo signal

The Stereo Triple EQ is a STEREO EQ and in addition to featuring two Graph Screens, easily allows you to EQ the left and right channels of your signal as you deem necessary.

The Widening Triple EQ is a MID/SIDE EQ.  This means you can adjust the low, mid and high gain setting of the Mid (Mono) and Side (Stereo) components of your audio signal.  Remember, (as you can do with any of the “Widening” plugins), you can place the center of the stereo field anywhere you wish.

Modulation Effects

Chorus
Stereo Chorus
Flanger
Stereo Flanger
Phaser
Stereo Phaser

The Stereo Phaser is the ONLY one of the listed effects above that are included in the Blue Cat Audio All Plugin Bundle.  Do you know why?  The answer is because the rest of them are all free!  Can you believe these guys!  Not only is BLUE CAT turning out intricate, product that WILL make your music better, but also give you cool things for free.  Listen, BLUE CAT is “going way out of the way” just to demonstrate what they’re made of.  I honestly hope that you will buy some of their software and support a company that is thinking about YOU, the musician/studio pro, semi-pro, and well, everybody that is working in music.  Again, these are FREE!  No, they don’t stand up to the power of the plugins that you pay a few bucks for, but you will be shocked at just how good they are.  

With that said, I’m going to address the Phaser/Stereo Phaser. 

This plugin produces a beautiful version of the original analog Phaser effect.  Features include the ability to go from mono to wide stereo phasing effect.  The Stereo version is a multi-stage analog-style phaser with up to 32 phasing stages.  Full automation support and midi control is supported.

Tools & Utilities

Remote Control 16-32 & 64

The Remote Control plugins are Virtual MIDI control surfaces and monitoring tools that are extremely powerful.  Consisting of 16, 32 or 64 parameters, the user can assign a MIDI channel and CC number to each controller.  You can also customize a response curve per parameter.  This makes the Remote Control plugins fantastic for DAW workstation control. 

However, there are many creative ways to utilize the Remote Control plugins.  For example, use the plugins for MIDI control remapping and transforming.  In other words, assign an input parameter a specific MIDI CC and then give the associated output parameter to a completely different MIDI CC.  You can also set up the Remote Control as a very large Meter Bridge with your host software. The possibilities are really almost endless and this makes it another one of my favorite plugins of the bundle.

Midi Learn is also supported along with full automation support, undo/redo, etc.

Blue Cat Audio Final Thoughts…

The Blue Cat Audio All Plugins Pack is an INCREDIBLE VALUE!  For the money, you are receiving over 35 plugins that function together better than almost any group of plugins that I’ve ever worked with before.  They look great, sound fantastic, or don’t induce any sound coloration when they’re not supposed to.  There are many compelling reasons for buying these plugins, especially since very few people really have attempted to understand most of the type of information that Blue Cat Audio is so intent on delivering with their plugins.  This is all good news for the electronic musician, studio pro, semi-pro, and just casual DAW user because these plugins will improve the sound of your music vastly!

Looking at some of the obvious “cool” features, I can only point to things that I think are key such as:

• Great support and free updates 
• Wonderful info on their site with complete manuals on all products
  
• Plugin window transparency management
  
• Full Automation support
  
• Real Time Midi Control and Midi Learn
  
• Opacity Control on the plugin so you can “see” behind the plugin if needed.
  
• Presets on each plugin to get you started.
  
• All Sample rates supported *up to 192 k
  
• Smooth Updates Supported – No Zipper Noise when parameters update!
  
• Undo/Redo capabilities always available
  
• Import/Export presets and share them  between the Direct-X and VST versions
  
• The PRICE! 

Don’t forget that Blue Cat Audio also offers a Free Skinning Program for those that would like to try to design their own “look” to their plugins.  If that isn’t your thing, there is already a growing number of people who have their “skinned” versions available at www.bluecataudio.com  for you to download for free.  That’s in addition to skins that Blue Cat Audio already provide.

I want to mention again that the “All Plugins Pack” includes Stereo as well as Mono versions where applicable and updates are very easy to install.  Blue Cat Audio doesn’t require you to uninstall a version unless they specifically say so.  This means that you just need to run the update and the update will upgrade your software automatically.  That should be most welcome to you guys and girls who have had to wonder what to do to make an update work.

Blue Cat Audio is going to be going places.  Mark my word on this.  Their products are as high-quality as some that I have that cost thousands of dollars and I actually prefer them in almost every case.  Blue Cat Audio…  A rather unusual name for a tremendously dynamic company making extraordinary plugins… 

If you can’t buy the whole pack, buy the ones you need most.  Blue Cat Audio makes it easy for everyone to own some of their products.  I give these guys my Highest Rating of FIVE STARS!  Two Thumbs Up Gentlemen!

 Glen Heffner is a midi specialist, keyboardist/composer and engineer located in North Carolina, USA. He has a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano and operates an all digital studio. Currently he is working on an instrumental CD and completing a film score. You can check him out at www.majormidi.com or contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .