AberrantDSP releases Lofi Oddity, a free lo-fi sound mangler VST plugin.
This one is a fun one, for sure. I love the stuff AberrantDSP puts out.
Their SketchCassette plugin is one of my absolute favorites for hitting the vibe and grunge of an old cassette deck (another recommendation is our new free BPB Dirty VHS plugin). ShapeShifter is also an excellent plugin and one of the most characterful compressors on the market.
Digitalis was my favorite release of theirs and is an endless inspiration when it comes to adding a layer of digital filth to anything you’re making.
So, with those out of the way, let’s talk about the new AberrantDSP freebie called Lofi Oddity.
What is Lofi Oddity?
On the surface, it is a simplistic plugin with four knobs. However, that is betraying how useful and immediate the results are with the plugin itself.
The first knob is Corruption, and it borrows its functionality directly from Digitalis. You’re missing out on the awesome Digitalis glitch sequencer, but this has a layer of digital filth that sounds like a converted MP3 that has been stuck at 64kbps since 2001.
The knob festooned with undecipherable symbols really sounds like it is throwing a reverb or diffusion network of some sort on there. I don’t know fully what it is doing in my ham-fisted exploration of this plugin, but I like what it is doing.
The Tape knob imparts tapey qualities to things. This sounds straight out of SketchCassette, and for good reason. It lacks the NR compressor and the more out-there flanging and chorusing you can get when really abusing SketchCassette, but for instance, wow and flutter with a bit of grit, it is fantastic.
This is rounded out with the comp knob, which sounds like ShapeShifter. I don’t have many compressors that do the same thing ShapeShifter does to a sound.
I have yet to hear a compressor that can suck the room tone forward on a drum machine sample and make it sound absolutely cavernous. It is far more sedate here, adding some much-needed squash to a sound.
In practice, Lofi Oddity is a delight and an instant inspiration for making sounds less than perfect.
Lofi Oddity is free, so you’re in no rush to grab it. You’ll find it in My Account over at the AberrantDSP website. The plugin is compatible with VST3, AU, and AAX plugin hosts on Windows and macOS.
Download: Lofi Oddity (FREE)
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4 Comments
AB
onVery interesting tool actually and quite a delight to use on individual drum tracks with parallel processing..
Al
onI really like this one- the weird smeary lo-fi reverb(?) is particularly cool
SATYABRATA
oncymatics lofi guitar bundle with other sample pack is free for limited time along with their VORTEX 808 plugin with code DUNGEON15.
SynthieSara
onThe demo video is short and sweet and really makes me excited about these lofi/tape effects!
I love the possibilities this plugin could bring to any lofi music I might produce in the future.
It seems we’ll need to create an account at the Aberrant DSP website if we haven’t already (in order to access its My Account page), but that is understandable. When I am ready, I’d really like to try out Lofi Oddity for myself!