Micro-review Fabfilter Micro

Just yesterday, my beloved FabFilter company released a new plugin - FabFilter Micro, the lucky owner of which I today became. You can download (30 days of the “trial”) and read about it on this page , you can also get it there (670 rubles). It does not make sense to list its capabilities and system requirements, because all of this is on the above page, but I’ll tell you about personal impressions.

So. Considering the cost and size of the plugin, you don’t need to expect miracles from it, so if you suddenly start doubting about its usefulness, remember that you are holding not Audio Damage Ronin, but FabFilter Micro .

Immediately about the bad - the only thing I didn’t like (although I expected this) is that if you “hang” Micro on a tool without any processing and start twisting the knobs, you will not hear any outstanding results. A similar effect can be obtained using the equalizer, albeit not so smoothly, but the essence is the same. The exception is the hidden Input and Output Gain handles, which will be discussed below.

Now for the pleasant :) Firstly, the interface - although it looks a bit “cartoony” (in my opinion), but it’s very convenient. Almost all controls are placed in one area, only with the Input / Output Gain knobs “poked” a little, could not hide them and leave them next to the Response buttons. Separately, I want to note the tooltips that appear when you hover over any control - it will be useful for beginners.

Secondly, the MIDI Learn function pleased - we select the plug-in parameter, turn the knob (or press the button) of the controller and we can “steer” Micro “live”. It is also possible to save the settings so as not to “bind” again the next time.

As I said, Micro “hanged” on a tool without treatments does not give much effect. But, if you put it in the High Pass rehim, say in front of a long-tail reverb and register automation at the beginning of the tail, you can get a very interesting ambient sound. Or for example, an example with Low Pass is to put Micro on bass in front of distortion or overdrive and set the cutoff frequency to about 200 Hz. Or try to play with the Input Gain knob (you can even without additional processing) - you can unscrew a nice warm tube sound“Analog” distortion or just make the sound a little brighter.

In general, FabFiler Micro needs to be listened to as a minimum (there is a demo on the site), and it is even better to download and try it yourself, since it is suitable for everyone because it is available for Mac and Windows in all formats (except DX).

PS I tried on Logic Pro 9, it works like a clock :)