When shit was real and we didn’t even know it
Low fidelity, in short Lo-Fi or lofi, is a big, even if fragmented, movement in music production today. During decades of mainstream music aiming for a sound image as clear, wide and loud as possible, the end goal being High Fidelity, beatmakers have travelled a parallel path focusing on feeling and warmth, letting in imperfections and the crackle of life, as a silent protest against “machine clean”.
I have fond memories of VHS movie nights and radio beats recorded to 60, 90 and later 120 minute cassette tapes back in the early 1980s. These were golden years before the CD finally surpassed record sales towards the end of the 80s: Life was easier and more carefree. And with a tape recorder, you could record anything – radio, your voice, the inside of the living room piano (yep, I did that last one, so I wasn’t even that surprised when Aphex Twin released Druqks some 15 years later operating from inside a piano).
The typical frequency range in lofi music
The frequency spectrum of the lofi genre tends to span from around 80-200 hz for the lows, meaning no sub bass, and ending somewhere between 3500-8000 kHz for the highs. This leaves a lot of really problematic energy levels out of most sound sources. As a result it will generally be easier to work with and mix as well without clashes in sub bass and the jarring of the super high end.
The funny thing here is that normal cassette tapes were well capable of producing sub bass and high end with their frequency range of around 40Hz to 16kHz (chromium tape and HIFI VHS were way better, though). It was not the tapes, it was what the music was played on in our rooms back then. We didn’t necessarily have the biggest sound systems, rather having a great ghetto blaster / boombox or a mono tape deck for recording radio show mix tapes. Maybe your friend even had a small stereo system with 10 watt speakers with that sacred sadface EQ curve leaving out the very lows and highs. Of course, if you had the money back then, getting a proper HiFi stereo unit was not unheard of. It just wasn’t something a kid would have access to in the same way.
The exact opposite of the coveted smile EQ curve, which seeks to eliminate the often missing these outer frequencies in audio equipment , a good lofi curve makes more of a sadface curve, to exaggerate and embrace the emulation of low level audio equipment playing at these frequencies.
Video tech and video games from this period also have had an effect on what is widely viewed as lofi, LCD handhelds like Donkey Kong or Green House and pre windows/Mac computers like Commodore 64, 128 and the first proper music computer you could buy for a bunch of normal person money: The Commodore Amiga (The Fairlight and all the real musician stuff was not even in our sphere of knowledge at this time). Blips from early machines are heard in bass music released today, whether sampled directly from them or paying tribute from new sources. VHS tape recordings warping on screen, with accompanying sound bent out of shape.
Add some lofi dirt to your DAW
Ableton, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Reason or any analog gear for that matter, all have a “sound” to them. DAWs typically don’t add much if anything really audible, rather they are obedient shells playing what is served, but still there’s an age old debate of their respective “sound” (as an old Reason user, the Reason sound is a thing you either love or hate), whereas record players, tape machines and electronic instruments can shed hum or certain degrees of saturation on their own.
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But there are a range of tools available in most good DAWS that can add this grit of time and cheap electronic instability and that analog feeling of having an idle instrument hum in the amplifier, playing a vinyl record and pressing play on a tape recorder. You can recreate this in your DAW by stacking different things like phasers, amps, reverbs, saturators, compressors, bit crushers – more or less anything from the fx folder – all with the goal of breathing some life into your sample or instrument. This is basic sound design if you think about it: You work on a source sound with the tools at hand, adding time, place and believability.
Look further down in this article for using the effects built into your DAW, I’m using Ableton as the example for device / plugin selection.
VSTs and Ableton stock effect devices
But sometimes you want to skip the time spent rabbit holing, and just grab some tools to add lofi grit in an easy manner, fast and proven ways to apply different effects towards the goal of livening up or dulling down a sound. And this is something I find multi fx VST plugins great for. You load one instance up and now have access to a wide range of fx, and even the order of these, for shaping sound towards lofi.
A simple example: If you play the piano, from almost any stock instrument or VST, you likely end up getting something that sounds close to a real piano – as close as they could get, really. This is great, provided realistic piano is what you want. But with the lofi enabling plugin effects in this article, stock Ableton and third party collected over the years, you’ll be able to add that special Casio vibe to anything really. Of course building your own secret fx chains is always viable and encouraged for learning as well, the point with multi fx plugins like the ones I am covering in this article is ease of application and tweaking. Either thru presets flipping and editing, or swapping between the plugins at hand.
My top 5 lo-fi multi fx plugins
Please note: These aren’t the only lofi plugins out there, but they’re the ones I have at the time of writing and reach for the most and would recommend to anyone aiming for easy and great sounding lofi sound.
And remember there’s a difference between emulating the old lofi sound overall, and using lofi aesthetics to make your music bridge the gap between now and then. It can be hard not to want some deeper bass than 100 hz, once you get a good track going – there’s no shame in going lower than 100hz. Lofi can be your technical limitation, as well as a creative one. There are no hard rules in sound design.
RC-20 Retro Color by XLN Audio
One of my favorites for instant and accessible lofi transformation. With almost 10 years since initial release, XLN Audio have created – and thru many iterations fine tuned – an excellent tool box for sound design towards lofi sound and vibe in general. There are so many great presets available in RC-20, that you’ll easily find something for most cases needing only minor tweaking to come to life.
Noise, Wobble, Distort, Digital, Space and Magnetic, as well as an EQ and width knob is all you need to add time and place to even the simplest, dry piano loop or beat. There’s no ordinary wet knob for the output, rather it’s called Magnitude, and it pulls each of the knobs relative to the amount set – low knob setting will turn it up only a little, and vice versa. Lots of fun.
What is also great about RC-20 is really that you don’t need much more control than provided with the plugin in terms of creating a lofi effect whether heavy or subtle. It does carry that telltale “RC-20” sound to it, though. It’s a good thing mostly, but I also sometimes add other effects just to dirty up things a bit further.
Lo-Fi AF by Unfiltered Audio
Unfiltered Audio are by far the most innovative and slept on plugin developers in the Plugin Alliance family. I say this because both their fx plugins and instruments are true to the very soul of sound design. They are also one of the few developers with synths in their catalog, but that’s another discussion (shout out to Lion!).
Lo-Fi AF is a gateway to mean degeneration. Add hiss, artifacts, wobble, skips and anything in between. It’s a full suite of ways to mashup a sound signal and take it years back in time, and it does it from a different angle than the other plugins mentioned here. One of the many cool things about Lo-Fi AF is using press on the Analog section, making it work almost like an Over The Top compressor setting, and using the MP3 filter of the Spectral section, even though lofi purists will probably shudder at the thought of emulating anything but tape and records. The artifacts and extra harmonics you can generate as added extras with this thing are really something, and I’m getting some of that powerful oomph using the Press section, reminds me of some of the sounds you can get out of Zip, their quite fun and weird compressor. Or Shift in the Spectral Section can be used to subtly sit around the root note of your track as an extra layer.
I recently reviewed Battallion, the totally ballistic drum/synth by Unfiltered Audio, and I just want to bluntly say that the Unfiltered guys really know what we want in sound design: Creative freedom.
Vinyl Strip by Audiothing
Audiothing was one of the first developers whose plugins I installed outside of Ableton. I like their simplicity and the fact that Carlo basically runs the operation single handedly. He also has that crazy guy Hainbach close at hand, and some of their collaborations have put Audiothing on the map for unique sounding plugins in terms of sound design usability. Plus the fact that their effects and instruments are more or less replicas of the hardware emulated.
Vinyl Strip is a multi fx plugin that came out in 2015, shortly before RC-20, and still works great for certain material, especially lofi. The plugin combines what Audiothing are all about. Configurable in any order you have Distortion, EQ, Vinyl, Sampler, Reverb and Comp, as well as a wet control. I almost always get a cohesive sound when using Vinyl Strip, it’s is so easy to work with. The Vinyl and Sampler sections will be the ones to adjust first to get the lofi vibe down, but turning up the comp and setting the release to long can give that OTT effect, lengthening a sound with a built in pump and dip. The only thing I’mreally missing is a way to gate the noise from the Vinyl module, as this tends to run even when nothing is playing through it.
Lifeline Expanse by Excite Audio
A more recent take on what RC-20 does, but it does things its own way and I can easily use them both together. Don’t let anyone tell you there’s only one magical plugin for anything (just ask any producer of almost any level how many EQs and compressors they have?). If you’re into lofi aesthetics, you’ll have to start collecting tools for getting that lofi sound as well. Lifeline Expanse has 5 chained effects, freely configurable in any order, all with individual wet and volume controls. The modules are Re-Amp, Dirt, Format, Width and Space, each with even more goods under the advanced tab. I’m getting good results placing the format device at the end of the chain, since the reverb is a little to clean for lofi otherwise. Actually I would call this the smoother lofi plugin of the ones here, as subtle application works very well, but brute knobbing with the Re-Amp and Dirt modules especially gets out of hand quickly and will sound detached and reveal to the listener what you’re up to.
One great thing about Lifeline Expanse, though, is the three band split for each module, letting you choose how much to affect lows, mids and highs per module. And there’s the recent update to let you load each module as a single, lighter load VST onto a channel. If you only really need the Dirt module, or want to add some Width, pop one of these tiny VSTs on there. Also check out Excite Audio’s other plugins, there are some playful instruments and effects in their catalog.
Tupe Wow by Goodhertz
Secret weapon guys Goodhertz have combined two of their great plugins, Tupe and Wow, into a real hard hitting multi fx plugin great for lofi emulation. The plugin handles the tube and tape types on the left hand side, covering compression and saturation, while EQ and wow/flutter is handled on the right hand side. Very intuitive and based on real tape and tubes, Goodhertz are not fooling around with Tupe Wow. The EQ is pretty awesome on this thing, going from subtle and precise, to really steep curves with a smooth result. You can also choose whether the filter works before or after the comp/sat section. The drive knob here can help push a tame signal into something fuzzier you can flatten later on. It just sounds warm with that instability that the wow flutter adds as well.
Let me just mention some of the other plugins from Goodhertz that did not fit the multi fx part of this list, as they’re all very awesome tone shapers: Vulf Compressor, Faraday Limiter and one you must not miss: Megaverb (“Incredibly Good Bad Reverb” lol). In writing this, I already know that I’m going to have to do a follow up to this article with my favorite single effect plugins for lofi.
Chipcrusher by Plogue
Chipcrusher is the definition of a purebred lofi effect. It does nothing but lofi with its many emulations of real sound hardware (range of old computers, video game systems and old phone models), machine hum and cabinet noises. It’s a rather old plugin initially released in 2013, a real classic by now, and one you shouldn’t sleep on if you’re working even remotely with either lofi, chiptune, bass music or anything in between. They also have a range of other retrophile VSTs, bit this one fit this list perfectly.
Plogue are the real deal, their tech is based on real hardware of old – Apple. Commodore, IBM etc. The plugin consists of four main parts preceded by a gate and a compressor: DAC encoding, Delay, Background noise and Cabinet. There are advanced pop-out setup pages for each of these, and what may seem partly underwhelming at first opens up to be the ultimate plugin for sound quality degradation. You can even set up the gate to chop off the noise floor when no source sound runs through.
But the beauty of this thing is the way it can also just serve as a background noise generator in so many flavors. Being able to pitch the noise sources is pretty generous and quite useful. I find that nesting Chipcrusher in a dry/wet rack in Ableton makes it easier to control the application of sheer crush coming from this little beast. What may seem to be just another bitcrusher in this brief description, Chipcrusher does it all, and it just sounds so familiar from back in the day, that I get the chills fooling around with it.
VIDEO: Lofi multi fx VST plugins
In the video below, I’’m working on a track using the VST plugins mentioned above. They helped me shape the vibe for the track and probably inspired the different sections more than I know.
I’m using samples and stock devices from Ableton, but I’m also using the new JUNE synth from Audiothing, a really great emulation of the JUNO-60 hardware synth, originally released in 1982 and the foundation for decades of electronic music across genres, lofi music without doubt one of them.
I think it’s pretty evident what each plugin adds to the sound image, fragility, dust, dirt, oomph.
No plugins? No problem! Add lofi vibe with stock effects
There’s also a purist movement out there amidst the DAW wars that focus on learning, using and sticking to their chosen DAW. And most DAWs have the same tools as Ableton, which I use, for the lofi department. Below you’ll find a list of devices you can experiment daisy chaining together – experiment with the order of them, and the number of instances as well. Check out the device list after this video:
VIDEO: Lofi effects in Ableton (download for free!)
In the video above I have a few drum beat and piano/keys samples on two tracks. For the purpose of demonstration I’ve created a group of Ableton stock effects in each rack, one suitable for lofi drums and one for lofi melodic stuff. This is by no means any definitive effect racks, but they did work well for me in the video, so grab them here for FREE if you want.
Ableton stock effects for lofi (similar in other DAWs)
With a little work and experimentation, you can set up a chain of effects to add crackle and wear to your sound using only the stock plugins found in most DAWs – or you could simply grab a premade rack. I use Ableton Live Suite as my overall DAW and it has a wealth of stock plugins, the most immediately coming to mind in this alphabetical list of devices (and not order of importance or placement in a chain, mind you):
| Ableton stock effects for lofi |
|---|
| Amp / Cabinet / DynamicTube / Overdrive / Saturator – (Some of these are only in the Suite edition) Adds texture and can emulate bad speakers and that radio type sound. You can also add the new Live 12 device Roar (Suite only). Roar has some presets out of the box, search for the “lofi sampler” preset in Live’s browser. |
| Chorus / Phaser-Flanger / Autofilter / Auto Pan – Decouples audio, destabilizing it, and gives the sound a fragility, or wobble, as heard on old cassette tapes or record players. These are quite obvious effects and should be dialed in with moderation to play well with other devices. |
| Compressor / Limiter – Can help tame or turbo charge a signal before or after applying saturation, for instance. Set to a high ratio with short attack and long release, you can flatten a source sound real good, so the other added effects from the chain have room to breathe and become dirt, dust, fur, spikes, splinters of the past. Try the OTT setting for that elongated, tapey sound, or the Drum Buss for glue and punch – or a bit of added low end. Or use them both! |
| EQ – In Ableton I almost always choose EQ Eight whenever I grab an EQ, it’s the best surgical on of them. Filters for low pass, notch, high pass and resonance are your power quartet when singling out stuff. Everything needs a place in the mix, controlling who gets what in the sound design stage can be an advantage rather than having to dim down some great sounds later on in the mixing stage. Plus you want to roll off some of the low and high ends to get a narrower lofi image. |
| Erosion / Redux – Immediately turns a piano into a worn down sounding keyboard. With this in mind, age and crystallization can be added to any sound, adding crazy overtones and disharmonics, perfectly in line with the often found fragility of lower bit depth instruments. The dry/wet knob is essential here, full wet erosion sounds too obvious. |
| Pitch Drop – Set the drop duration to simulate holding your hand and manually stopping a tape deck or record player. The beauty of this device is that the track still runs in tempo in the background, so you can also use it on single tracks instead of the master, and have the beat running, while vocals or instruments get smeared to a stop. |
| Reverb – Distance things from each other, add to the scenery. Reverb is more than just placing a snare in a room, it’s also for washing out sounds, turning pristine technicolor into old storefronts viewed through a rainy car window. Play around with the different devices in Ableton, the regular Reverb has a nice added Chorus to add some warble, and some of the Convolution and Hybrid Reverb settings in particular can work wonders with some of the smaller, boxy impulse responses. |
| Spectral time – A funny one for simulating when your cassette tape spilled its spaghetti and got spooled back up. Time and Feedback set to 10 ms and 0%, Shift at 0 as a starting point. Then play around with mainly Tilt, Spray and Mask in an all Wet configuration. You can create almost like a wah pedal like sound here. |
| Vinyl Distortion – It’s the most straightforwardly named effect of them all, really Ableton’s most single use plug for lofi. In anticipation we listen when the needle drops and the first few seconds of dust in the groove crackle. Add it along the way for more ear candy and a bed of gentle noise for the more silent parts. |
| Vocoder – Set the carrier type to Modulator. Experiment with number of bands, 4 bands can be a good start. Set up as a modulator, the vocoder essentially becomes an EQ with built in lofi properties. You can even play with the Depth knob set to 0% for the longest tails, or turn it up for a gate effect. . The range sets the lowest and highest audible frequency range, but if you use a pre and/or post EQ in your chain, you don’t need to touch this here. The Stereo and Mix faders in the delay section are worth adjusting to narrow in drums for example. |
| Operator / Analog instruments – Just like the Amps, turn up the noise knob and have it sit on a channel by itself, maybe not even playing anything, just oozing out a bed of noise for your track to balance on. |
In conclusion there’s a lot to be learned from doing study sessions using only a couple of devices at a time, to see what they can really do. Often you will find that little loophole in how you set things up, that will make a chain your way of achieving a certain sound.
I will probably revisit the subject of lofi sound design one way or the other in another article at some point. This is not a definitive lofi article in any way, but it represents my thoughts for the time being. Thanks for following along and remember: There are no hard rules in sound design. Have fun!
