Vexx Audio

Character, noise and space.

Retroexx is a character, noise and space processor for macOS in AU and VST3. Six modules in series, a master strip, and an interface that reports itself.

Download 0.1.0 for macOS Source on GitHub

12 MB. Universal, Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 12 or newer. AU, VST3 and a standalone app. Unzip, double click Install.command, done.

The Retroexx editor: six module columns with their screens and large Amount knobs, a preset window in the header and a master strip with cut filters, tone, width and gain. — The editor with all six modules active. The screens show live visualisers built from each module's own audio.

What it does

Six modules in series across a mix or an instrument, then a master strip: cut filters, tone, stereo width and gain. Each module has its own Amount and Enable, and the MAGNITUDE control in the header scales all six macros at once.

Host parameters: 58
Latency: 64 samples
Formats: AU and VST3
Factory presets: 10

Six modules

The noise is synthesised here, with our own random generators and filters. The textures are drawn in code and the presets are original: the plugin ships no third-party assets.

Modules and their controls
Module	What it does	Controls
NOISE	16 synthesised noise types: vinyl, tape, cassette, hum, surface	Type, Amount, Tone, Follow, Duck, routing
WOBBLE	Wow and flutter on a fractional delay line, with two LFOs	Amount, WOW⇄FLUTTER, Rate, Mix
MAGNETIC	Tape wear: amplitude modulation and dropouts	Amount, WEAR⇄FLUTTER, Rate, Dropouts, Stereo
DIST	Six saturation stages: tubes, transformer, transistor, clipping	Type, Amount, Mix, filters
DIGITAL	Bit crush and sample-rate reduction with antialiasing	Amount, RATE⇄BITS, Smooth, Mix, filters
SPACE	A 12-resonator bank, four allpass stages and a pre-delay	Amount, Decay, Dampen/Soften, Pre-delay
MASTER	Soft and hard cut filters, tone, stereo width and gain	CUT, TONE, WIDTH, IN/OUT

The interface reports itself

Hovering a module column turns its screen into a trip computer: the name of the control under the mouse and its value in italic seven-segment digits, with the unit.

With no hover it goes back to the module name and a live visualiser. NOISE shows a min/max oscilloscope, SPACE two rings of L/R energy, MAGNETIC the output/input gain of each channel. Every visualiser is driven by the audio the module is producing.

The same editor in trip computer mode: each column screen shows a seven-segment readout of one parameter, for example FOCUS 0 to 100 percent, DECAY 80 percent and RATE 50 percent. — Trip computer: the values of each column, in seven-segment digits.

Current release

Version 0.1 is the first release: six modules, the master strip and the full host surface of 58 parameters, with ten factory presets and a state format of its own. It ships as AU, VST3 and a standalone app, universal for Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 12 or newer.

It just works. Load it and play.

The build is signed ad hoc, not notarized, because notarization needs a paid Apple Developer account. macOS says "unidentified developer" once: right click, Open. The README has the details.

Retroexx is free to use and its source is open. If something does not behave as documented, open an issue.

Build it

macOS on Apple Silicon, CMake 3.22 or newer and the Xcode toolchain. The core downloads nothing; the plugin fetches JUCE 8.0.13 the first time.

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build -j8
ctest --test-dir build          # 17 tests, no JUCE

cmake -S . -B build-juce -DRTXX_WITH_JUCE=ON
cmake --build build-juce -j8
ctest --test-dir build-juce     # 19 tests, with JUCE

If your cmake is the Homebrew one (x86_64), the AU is built for the wrong architecture and a native auval will not load it. Use a native arm64 cmake, or pass -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64.