Blue Cat Audio has released version 1.1 of PatchWork, the “universal plug-ins patchbay” plug-in that can host up to 64 VST plug-ins into any Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).
With Blue Cat’s PatchWork it is possible to chain effects in series or create up to 8 parallel chains that can be activated independently.
This new version mainly brings sub plug-in automation support thanks to new parameter mapping features, phase flip and gain compensation for parallel chains, a few compatibility improvements and many more enhancements (details below): It is now possible to map hosted plug-ins’ parameters to external parameters that can be controlled by host automation or external control surfaces.
Changes in Blue Cat’s PatchWork v1.1
- New Features:
- New parameters mapping feature for sub plug-ins automation (includes a “learn” mode for easy mapping): Up to 40 parameters can be mapped to external controls. Usual Blue Cat Audio plug-ins’ advanced automation and MIDI control features can also be used to map controllers to sub-plug-ins parameters.
- New layout to display mapped automation controls in the main user interface.
- Added phase flip buttons for each parallel chain, so that you can easily compute differences between signals or correct phase problems introduced by some plug-ins.
- Link all pre and post gain knobs so that pre gain changes are automatically compensated by the post gain knobs. This can be used to easily push dynamics or distortion plug-ins without increasing the volume.
- Fixes and compatibility improvements:
- In some hosts, when no plug-in is inserted, level meters remained frozen when stopping transport.
- Fixing crashes with GRM Tools plug-ins that changed their audio I/O count dynamically (“Reson” for example).
- Fixing sample rate initialization issue with Nebula when using copy/paste.
- The plug-in can now be used as a virtual instrument in Cubase and Studio One (it used to be silent).
- Some plug-ins that required the deprecated “effIdle” VST message should now work properly (Steinberg’s Virtual Guitarist for example).
Blue Cat’s PatchWork for Windows and Mac is available to purchase for 47 EUR / $63 USD until December 31st, 2013 (regular 59 EUR / $79 USD).
More information: Blue Cat Audio / PatchWork
