Steinberg Grungelizer

Steinberg's Grungelizer is a free lo-fi/vinyl plug-in that I used to run in Steinberg Cubase SX 2.0 and Cubase SX 3. I don't know what type of plug-in format this comes in, or really even where to get it now, but a few years ago I used to run it. I don't know if it is compatible outside of Steinberg based products, but I would assume not. I don't remember if this plug-in was already installed with Cubase, or if I had to install it separately. The interface of Grungelizer is pretty simple, as it consists of knobs for crackle, noise, distort, EQ, AC, and timeline. The crackle has a switch for you to choose what type of record you want it to sound like - either a 33, 45, or 78. The AC has as switch to go along with it as well, and the timeline ranges from 'today' to '1900.' A manual isn't necessary at all here...

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I'm no longer running Steinberg's Grungelizer plug-in since I now run Pro Tools instead of Cubase SX. However, when I did run it I ran it on a Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv8000 lap top with a 3.0 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. I don't remember ever having an issue running this plug-in within this rig, but I definitely never used more than one or two of them at a time as this isn't the type of plug-in where that would be necessary. Usually I would just put it on the master channel to give a whole song a vintage feel, and this never taxed my system much at all.

OVERALL OPINION

Steinberg's Grungelizer plug-in is overall a very interesting one, that will undoubtedly draw comparisons to iZotope's Vinyl plug-in since it is basically used for the same thing and has a lot of the same parameters. While I prefer iZotope's version of the plug-in (both are free) since it is fully compatible with most DAWs, both plug-ins will pretty much do the same thing. Really the bottom line is whether you're running a Steinberg DAW or another one, because if you're not running Steinberg's Cubase or Nuendo I don't believe you'll be able to run this plug-in anyway, in which case I'd recommend going with Vinyl...