NINE50

A French-touch sidechain processor with SP950-style lo-fi emulation, inspired by Daft Punk's Homework era. Combines an Alesis 3630-style sidechain compressor with Emu SP-1200/Akai S950 emulation in a single VST3/AU plugin.

Features

Sidechain Compressor

• VCA-style feed-forward compressor with aggressive ratios (up to 10:1)
• Optional sidechain input bus for external key signals
• High-pass filter on sidechain (100/200/300 Hz)
• Makeup gain compensation
• Channel linking for stereo sidechain detection

SP950 Emulation

• 12-bit bit reduction with TPDF dither
• Sample rate reduction to 26.04 kHz (SP-1200 characteristic)
• Detune/pitch shift with semitone or fine (0.1 st) steps
• 6th-order Butterworth low-pass filter (bypassable)
• Multiple channel layouts: Mono Sum, Mono L/R, Stereo, Stereo L/R, Mid/Side
• Drive and output gain with link option
• Dry/wet mix control

Requirements

• macOS: 10.15 or later

Installation

Download (Recommended)

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

macOS:

1. Download NINE50-macOS.zip
2. Extract the archive
3. Double-click NINE50.vst3 or NINE50.component to install
4. Restart your DAW

Windows: Support planned — coming in a future release.

Build from Source

Prerequisites

• C++17 compatible compiler (Xcode 12+)
• Xcode Command Line Tools

Build Instructions

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/audiohacking/nine50.git
cd NINE50

# Configure (VST3 + AU)
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

# Build
cmake --build build -j8

# The plugin will be in build/Source/NINE50_artefacts/Release/

Build with Tests

cmake -B build -DBUILD_TESTING=ON
cmake --build build -j8
ctest --test-dir build

See DEVELOP.md for detailed development guidelines.

Usage

1. Add NINE50 to a bus/aux track in your DAW
2. Route a sidechain signal (e.g., kick drum) to the sidechain input
3. Adjust the Threshold and Ratio to control ducking depth
4. Use the SP950 section to add lo-fi character to the wet signal
5. Fine-tune with Attack, Release, and Makeup controls

License

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

Credits

• Inspired by the French-touch house production techniques of Daft Punk, Cassius, and others
• SP-1200 and S950 emulation based on classic sampler characteristics
• Compressor design inspired by the Alesis 3630