Elogoxa's Baxxpander is a saturation and bass expander plug-in that is available as free ware. It is a VST plug-in that I was running in Cubase SX until I switched from Cubase to Pro Tools a few years ago. The process of installation is simple and only takes a minute or two to get the whole thing up and running. The interface is even simpler, as it consists of parameters for dry/wet, mixer, shape, limit, and a switch for saturation. It is very simple to use even though it doesn't have the most traditional make up. I don't believe that a manual is necessary for users, but I haven't had a look at it if there is one.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

For the few years that I was running the Elogoxa Baxxpander plug-in, it was in Cubase SX on a Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv8000 PC lap top with 2 GB of RAM and a 3.0 Ghz processor. The plug-in isn't one to take up much processing power, and although I didn't use it all the time, I can remember running a bunch of these within a single session without an issue. As with all free plug-ins, it's best to just try it out for yourself, as every system runs differently.

OVERALL OPINION

The Elogoxa Baxxpander is actually a cool little plug-in for a free one. I don't think that it would be something I'd buy, but as a free plug-in it's definitely something worth having around for those who can support it. It actually does a good amount of thickness and warmth when applied to bass guitar and kick drum, but with the way plug-ins have advanced in the past few years, this doesn't match up. I really wouldn't expect it to anyway since it's a freebies. If you're looking to expand your plug-in palette without spending any money, there's definitely no reason not to download this one.