Pataki Audio Unveils Four Free VST3 Utility Plugins

Pataki Audio, a specialized one-person workshop based in Budapest, has recently announced the release of four new VST3 plugins for both Windows and macOS. This collection comprises Janus, MetaHost, Voicing, and Bitscope, offering a diverse set of tools for various audio production and analysis tasks. Notably, all four plugins are available as donationware, allowing users to pay what they wish, including nothing at all, without any ads, telemetry, or nag screens.

Janus: Precision Crossover

Janus is a linear-phase Linkwitz-Riley crossover VST3 plugin. It uniquely combines a high-pass and a low-pass filter within a single instance, utilizing a symmetric FIR design. Consequently, two instances tuned to the same cutoff frequency sum mathematically flat, making it an ideal solution for multi-way active loudspeakers where phase coherence between frequency bands and minimized audible pre-ringing are crucial. Furthermore, Janus provides Linkwitz-Riley slopes ranging from 1 to 48 dB/oct in decimal steps, offering precise tuning options beyond conventional fixed orders. Users can also choose between three latency modes (Eco, Normal, High-Res) to balance pre-ringing against processing latency, depending on their specific source material.

Features

• Linear-phase Linkwitz-Riley crossover
• Symmetric FIR design
• Slopes from 1 to 48 dB/oct in decimal steps
• Three latency modes (Eco / Normal / High-Res)

MetaHost: Flexible Plugin Hosting

MetaHost introduces a novel concept: a VST3 plugin host that operates within another VST3 host. This innovative plugin offers 8 stereo channel-pair columns, each with 3 plugin slot rows. This architecture allows users to deploy a different plugin chain on each stereo pair of a multichannel bus. It is particularly beneficial for active speaker setups requiring per-driver DSP, surround or Atmos mixers needing per-channel processing, or stereo workflows involving parallel effect chains. Essentially, it addresses situations where the host DAW’s routing capabilities are insufficient. Each hosted plugin’s UI opens in its own floating, resizable editor window, ensuring an uncluttered workspace. Moreover, full host state, including each hosted plugin’s preset, can be saved to disk or inlined into the parent project for exact-recall sessions. Per-slot bypass is also implemented with atomic flags for click-free, thread-safe switching during playback.

Features

• VST3 plugin host within a VST3 host
• 8 stereo channel-pair columns with 3 plugin slots each
• Floating, resizable editor windows for hosted plugins
• Full host state saving and inlining
• Click-free, thread-safe per-slot bypass

Voicing: Musical Tone Control

Voicing is a three-band tone control VST3 plugin, designed around Baxandall-style musical curves. Unlike surgical measurement EQs, Voicing focuses on tonal tilting rather than precise carving. Its shelves are gentle, broad, and intentionally reciprocal, ensuring that cuts and boosts behave as mirrored adjustments. The shelves taper towards an asymptote at the extremes, maintaining musicality even with bold settings. In addition, the parametric bell spans from wide tonal leans to focused presence shaping. Voicing features a low shelf and high shelf with adjustable slopes, starting from a gentle first-order 6 dB/oct, along with a parametric bell with adjustable Q. Per-band enable allows for instant A/B comparison, making it a versatile tool for shaping the overall character of audio. It is positioned as a listener-end companion to Pataki Audio’s Janus crossover.

Features

• Three-band tone control with Baxandall-style curves
• Gentle, broad, and reciprocal shelves
• Adjustable low and high shelf slopes (from 6 dB/oct)
• Parametric bell with adjustable Q
• Per-band enable for A/B comparison

Bitscope: Advanced Audio Analysis

Bitscope is a bit-depth and true-peak analyzer VST3 plugin. This tool measures the effective bit-depth of audio in real-time, displaying the bits actually performing useful work as a per-channel histogram up to 64-bit. Furthermore, it accurately tracks true-peak level in dBTP and maintains separate counters for sample clips and intersample peaks, effectively catching the inter-sample overs that standard sample-peak meters often miss. The plugin is multichannel-aware, allowing its L/R source selectors to pick any two channels from the host bus for monitoring, with a readout showing the host-bus channel count and layout. Importantly, Bitscope is analysis-only, meaning it measures the signal without altering it, providing clean and accurate feedback for critical mixing and mastering tasks.

Features

• Real-time effective bit-depth measurement (up to 64-bit)
• True-peak level tracking in dBTP
• Separate counters for sample clips and intersample peaks
• Multichannel-aware with flexible source selection
• Analysis-only operation, no signal alteration

These four plugins represent a significant offering from Pataki Audio, especially considering their donationware model. They provide professional-grade tools for specific, often complex, audio challenges, making them valuable additions to any producer’s toolkit.

Price
Donationware (Pay what you want, including nothing)

More info: Pataki Audio | Pataki Audio VST3 Utility Suite