SUPER VHS LoFi Plugin

If you’ve been following us for a while, you know we are big fans of LoFi Plugins, that turn vanilla presets into slightly out-of-tune synths and add some warm tape saturation & grit into samples! The newly released SUPER VHS LoFi plugin from Baby Audio promises to add that lofi magic with six unique effects in one plugin. As kids from the 80s, they set out on a mission to capture the lofi spirit of their favorite decade and give you easy access to it with six simple knobs.

VHS LoFi Plugin Controls

Let’s look at what each of the knobs do, shall we?

• STATIC is a synthesized hum, generated by a pink noise oscillator mixed with a digital saw wave.
• HEAT offers a warm sounding saturation algorithm inspired by ‘consumer-grade’ tape machines from the early 1980s.
• SHAPE is a straight forward sample rate reducer (with some extras) inspired by 1980s 8-bit samplers.
• MAGIC adds a lush “Juno style” chorus — but modeled with a slightly darker and more detuned tone.
• DRIFT is basically an internal LFO creating unpredictable pitch and time fluctuations.
• WASH gives you a grainy, unnatural sounding, hall reverb, inspired by digital rack effects from the VHS-era.

In addition to these, you get a MIX control for the over-all wet/dry balance, you can control the global OUTPUT and there’s some hidden processing in form of an EQ, bit-crusher and limiter.

Mo Presets vs No Presets.

Contrary to most plugins there days, the Super VHS Lofi plugin doesn’t come with any presets. The company behind the plugin says they want to encourage people to dial in the right sound quickly by offering a simplified interface instead. While I love presets as starting points, I can confirm that getting the sound you are looking for is actually quite quick with Super VHS, so I don’t miss presets as much as I thought.

Final Verdict

SUPER VHS LoFi Plugin combines six unique effects coming into a versatile channel strip. The plugin will add some 1980s lofi authenticity to whatever clean sound you run through it. Each effect has just a single control, but multiple parameters under the hood, allowing you to find endless combinations to transform your synths, samples, guitars, drums and beyond.

Just be aware that Super VHS can be temperamental. The individual effects can sound amazing on some things and totally destroy others. As it’s often the case, less is more here usually!

The plugin comes in VST, VST3, AU and AAX format for Mac OS 10.7 and up*, PC Windows 7 and up. It’s also 64-bit and 32-bit compatible, so you can run it any of the popular DAWs: Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic Pro, Nuendo, Pro Tools, FL Studio, Reaper, Reason + more. Mac Catalina support is scheduled for the next free update in late 2019.

Curious about SUPER VHS? Find out more here!