Produce-RNB releases AMP LEQS, a freeware soft clipper effect with built-in limiting, EQ, and saturation. The software is available in VST and AU plugin formats for Windows and macOS.
Distortion is typically seen as harsh and aggressive. Saturation, on the other hand, is regarded as warm, gentle, colorful. It’s the “je ne sais quoi” of the music production world. Why is that?
See also: BPB Saturator Is A FREE Tube/Tape Saturation VST PluginIt’s all about the soft clipping.
Soft clipping isn’t unlike regular clipping – the one that turns your waveform into a brick – but it’s set to round out the edges, so it doesn’t sound as harsh.
That’s cool for emulating analog stuff, but it also serves another purpose. Soft clipping is great at making things sound louder and pop out more without turning up the volume or doing any additional post-processing. At the same time, it doesn’t sound harsh like digital clipping.
Quite a few cool free soft clippers are available out there, but most of them are a bit basic. You can typically add some gain, adjust the clipping curve, and that’s all.
This is exactly what makes AMP LEQS worth checking out.
AMP LEQS is more of a multi-effect than a clipper. It’s an EQ, a limiter with soft clipping capabilities, a saturator, and a stereo widener – all in one.
I’m a big fan of VST plugins that pack a lot of different stuff in one place (unlike our editor Tomislav who prefers simple plugins). But even by that metric, AMP LEQS packs surprisingly many useful features into a single audio tool. And it’s free!
Here’s what it looks and sounds like.
Its creator, Produce-RNB, specifically claims that the plugin is meant to be used for drums. Here’s a quote from their website:
“AMP is our new effect plugin designed specifically as a tool to quickly make drum sounds punchier, more present, and more demanding in a mix. AMP is also a great all-around tool for individual instrument sounds when it comes to making them sound louder and more interesting without over processing or clipping.”
On the other hand, AMP LEQS is what I would call a “channel strip.” And it’s seemingly a pretty good one. The controls are simple, everything is clear with a lot of visual feedback, and the GUI is super clean and compact.
Really, this seems to be a big score for the freeware community – hats off to Produce-RNB for offering something so cool and complete for free. We’re looking to reading your thoughts on AMP in the comments section below.
AMP LEQS is available for free download via Produce-RNB. You will need to complete a free checkout process before downloading (requires a valid email address).
UPDATE: The software is now marked as “free for a limited time” on the developer’s website with a $59.00 base price and free checkout enabled. Our readers are reporting that the free download was unavailable for a while, but that it’s now working again.
Download: AMP LEQS (8.75 MB download size, ZIP archive containing EXE installer, available as a VST and AU plugin for Windows and macOS)
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35 Comments
Fotis
onNice one! Thanks!
Tomislav Zlatic
onCheers! :)
Radek
onBeware! I haven’t received any zip archive after shoping. Probably they extort the e-mails and the addresses.
Radek
onFake! Just stealing e-mail and other data. They ain’t give download link. Beat It!
Brenny C
onNo! Not fake! I got my emails within seconds of checking out. You really should apologize here and admit you were wrong. And next time, try to take it easy instead of flipping out. Not a good look, chief, and it drags the dev when he/she doesn’t deserve it at all.
Tomislav Zlatic
onTake it easy. If something doesn’t work, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a hoax. Websites tend to break, servers tend to time out. In this case, it seems that the developer is changing the availability of the free download for some reason. I’ll update the post to reflect this.
Brenny C
onHey man, you should ease up on the accusations a bit. It seems others have gotten their emails so maybe try to be cool.
Michal Ochedowski
onBought, downloaded, installed and used within 20 minutes. Working fine.
Tomislav Zlatic
onGlad to hear it!
Jon
onFor me, only the stereo width control is working and nothing else (Win 10, Reaper 6.32). Same in Plugin Doctor.
Jon
onThe EQ is working as well, forgot to include that, but limiter/clipper and saturator is not working.
Jon
onSorry for spamming, dismiss what I said, everything works fine! Totally missed the small buttons to enable the limiter and saturator. Thought that they were only fake screws like the ones beneath the EQ. Doh!
Jordan O
onFYI, now says “Sold Out” ???
Radek
onFake! BPBlog sucks! It’s not the first time.
Tomislav Zlatic
onI don’t think BPB sucks. We’re putting a lot of work into it. :)
Brandon Wyse
onHmmm…chicken or the egg? They saw a rapid amount of free downloads kicking off– greed reminds them of the $ they could have made if priced–forgetting the sudden spike in dl’s is because it’s free.
Tomislav Zlatic
onCould be. From my past experience, it could be that they hit a bandwidth limit so they had to disable the downloads for a while. I’m only guessing, but it happened to me before. Seems like it’s free to download again.
Philip
onSad that people are having a hard time, or mistrusting this dev with this free offering. Had no issues getting this plugin, perhaps just lucky before the “sold out”? I feel that giving an email address, and or needing to create an account is completely in the realm of legitimate. If it’s filled with spyware, then no thanks. Although, doesn’t just about everything qualify as such these days? Just sayin’.
This plug is really nice! Did have a few crashes when making parameter changes, yet I’m in a beta copy of Tracktion Waveform, and I think it was another buggy plugin that was causing the crashes.
Hope others can successfully obtain and enjoy this cool offering by Produce-RNB!
Tomislav Zlatic
onGlad to hear that you liked it! I think that the developer could have communicated a bit more (instead of just marking it as “sold out”) to avoid any confusion, though. But it seems that the free download is working again.
Aaron
onIt says the product is “sold out” now. Hmmm
Tomislav Zlatic
onI’m only guessing, but it sounds to me that they hit a bandwidth limit (it’s the most logical explanation if you ask me).
MRG
onAh yes, the Big Bytes Shortage of July 2021. I remember it well, back then we didn’t know… We used bytes like they were made out of thin air, and suddenly… We couldn’t find any more bytes, for days, weeks, months, even years. That’s when the scientists came up with the Blurgs, and we could transfer data once again. But take heed, young children, one day we might find ourselves out of Blurgs too. Save them, use them only for what’s important. — Me, in 2057, probably.
Tomislav Zlatic
on:D
schematicdnb
onWas looking forward to trying this out, but now it says sold out… not sure how a free download can be sold out
Tomislav Zlatic
onI’m only guessing, but it could be a download bandwidth limit.
Patrick W
onSold out :(
Bernie
onWas “sold out” earlier but I checked back later and it was available again. They probably had a limit on downloads or their inventory with their store/download vendors and needed to bump it higher.
You have to bypass Mac security to install: ““AMP LEQS – VST.pkg” can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.”
Tomislav Zlatic
onGlad to hear that it’s working again!
Scherbenfabrik
onTook only a few minutes from clicking the link above to complete installation (Windows installer). Checkout requires email, last name street, city and country, no extra account has to be created (it can tho).. Simple installer (9,352KB) puts the single x64 dll (29,234KB) in the selected folder after asking for a user name and serial (included in the billing email). Looks like 32Bit systems are not supported.
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks for the info!
Authentic77
onYep, now it works again. BUT.
So it’s not freeware anymore, or was it?
BPB point it as freeware, and KVR does – but after this “sold out” incident it looks just like sale, $59 original price, $0 – for now. Hey, who had got it before “sold out” – how it was labeled, as freeware or this $59 – $0 SALE ?
(More strange: their YT video about it – “Amp Limiting EQ with Saturation Overview” – dated 26.11.2020, with no comments until now. Hmm :) )
Tomislav Zlatic
onYeah, it seems that it’s “limited for a limited time” right now. I think it was marked as freeware before, but I’m not completely sure.
PureFire
onThanks Emanuil, BPB & Produce-RNB.
This sounds great from what i hear of it so far when i used it on my drums 😉
Michal Ochedowski
onI’ve just tried the whole combination on a kick drum and was really surprised with results. So far I haven’t even touched the saturation portion. It has a lot of character and very little nasty overtones when driven too far. This of course can be corrected with an eq on-board. It’s still free to grab. Highly recommended. I find it refreshing that I need to trust what I’m hearing, when it comes to this plugin.
Kevin R
onDownloaded easily. Good plugin. Thanks.