Hornet releases wah plugin

Basically, the effect is created using a resonant band pass filter – the pedal changes the frequency of the resonance and creates the typical “wah” sound. Due to the simple design of the circuit, the Q of the filter and its gain are not constant and both get gentler when the pedal is completely pressed down. Also, the filter resonance is obtained through a feedback in the simple transistor amplifier and creates different levels of distortion at different filter frequencies, providing the effect with a distinct sound that are said to be hard to achieve with modern designs.

Hornet Plugins claims to have faithfully recreated the sound of the original 1970s vintage pedal it was modeled after, starting from the analysis of the circuit diagram, then simulated it and measured the response. After creating the wah effect by itself, an envelope follower was added to let the user modulate the “wah” sound with attack and release set independently, providing a sort of “auto wah”. The modulation happens relatively to the current pedal position so you can get many different kind of sound, from the mid low “woh” to the screaming high “wah” – and of course, the modulation level can be set anywhere from “none” to “full”. The analog saturation given by the internal transistor amplifier can also be turned off if you want a cleaner (but also less typical) sound.

Features include:

• Classic wah-wah effect emulation with analog saturation
• Auto-wah with attack and release controls
  
• Mac OS X (>=10.5 Intel only) and Windows support.
• 64-bit compatibility both on Mac and Windows.
• Formats included: Audio Units, VST2.4, VST3, RTAS and AAX.

MSRP is €5.99, and a free demo version is also available. More details at www.hornetplugins.com.