The Soundhack +Decimator is a free lo-fi plug-in that is available for most systems. It comes in formats for both Mac and PC, as well as in RTAS, AU, and VST, which is pretty rare for a free plug-in like this to be available across the board. It's easy enough to download and install the plug-in straight from Soundhack's website, which should only take a matter of minutes. It's also really easy to use the plug-in, as the only parameters it gives you is control over the bit and sample rates. It's designed for lowering each of these parameters to create an digital aliasing effect and for decimating the signal. You definitely shouldn't be needing a manual for this one...

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Right now I'm running the Soundhack +Decimator plug-in on my recording rig at home. I'm running an RTAS version of the plug-in in Pro Tools LE 8, which I run with a Digi 002R and on a Mac Book Pro computer with 4 GB of RAM and a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. It wouldn't be possible for this plug-in to take up any less amount of processing power, so everyone should be able to run this regardless of the type of system you're using.

OVERALL OPINION

The Soundhack +Decimator plug-in is the type of lo-fi effect that you might as well have around just in case you're feeling using something like this. I've only messed around with it after downloading it, as I've yet to use it for any serious musical endeavor. I work mostly with acoustic instruments, but I can see this being most useful for electronic music for downsampling and getting lower bit rates for sure. Either way, being that's it's a free one, you might as well go ahead and try it for yourself if you're still reading this...