Verdict - Hats off to the folks at Excite Audio! With Lifeline Expanse, they have managed an extremely impressive debut: This plug-in really shines as a versatile tool for breathing more life into static sounds, creating lo-fi sounds or giving sounds more character and three-dimensionality. It‘s great fun unleashing Lifeline Expanse on different audio material. It gets really exciting when you experiment with different effect combinations and control their parameters using automation. This intuitive tool can also be used subtly for Mastering
Expanse is the first product from the software forge Excite Audio and, at the same time, is the first plug-in in the Lifeline series. This multi-effect promises to help the input signal to more life. It features up to five effect modules that can be arranged in any order. Each module offers a main page with three controls and an Advanced page with advanced settings. For each module, you can choose between four algorithms and adjust the input gain and effect amounts.
The Re-Amp module allows you to route the audio through various phone or laptop speakers, guitar cabinets, studio monitors, a tape recorder, or a vintage microphone. The Dirt module is even more spirited, letting you choose between Tube, Tape, Rectify, and Fuzz algorithms. All types can be finely regulated and adjusted.
The multi-band functionality is a rather inconspicuous feature at first glance, but it helps enormously in measuring the distortion and amping effects. For each of the five modules in Lifeline Expanse, you can individually adjust the gain and the effect amount of the three frequency bands. A smoothing function reduces harsh frequencies at the push of a button, which can be especially useful for distortion & such.
Drums can be very strikingly stewed with distortion or destroyed completely with just a few flicks of the wrist. Guitars and bass, as well as dry synth sounds, benefit enormously from saturation or distortion and speaker emulations. Vocals
sound livelier and more spacious with a combination of the Width and Space effects. But here, too, it‘s worth trying out the other three effect modules, for instance for a subtle Exciting or charming Lo-Fi or Vintage sound. It‘s just a pity that the modules are always connected in series.
Want a lo-fi touch? The Format module specializes in effects for reduplicating the resolution of the input signal. As you‘d expect, you‘ll find bitcrusher and resampling here, of course, but also an algorithm that simulates the sound of poor-quality MP3 files. Finally, Flatten is a combination of gate and bitcrusher that affects only the transients. The Width effect module is dedicated - well, of course - to the stereo width of the signal. The Haas type duplicates the audio signal for a stereo effect, while Mid/Side lets you adjust the balance of the mid and side signals. This is very handy if, for example, you want to apply a reverb effect only to the side signal of a group of instruments.
Detune lets you achieve wide, chorus-like sounds, while Mono mode lets you reduce the stereo width of the audio. Space simulation lets you choose between Reverb, Plate, Spring, and Slap types. It‘s great that a ducking function is also on
board, which lowers the level of the reverb signal as soon as the input signal sounds.
Original Source: Beat Magazine
