Stutter Effect Audio Unit

Stutter Audio Unit

Stutter is a simple Audio Unit that acts as a cutoff switch for the signal path. The speed of the cutoff can be changed and therefore automated. The song “Shapes” by The White Line uses this effect at the end of the synth lead (at approx 3:25). The original idea was to sound like a spinning coin coming to rest. (from an idea by Paul Fox, March 2005).

There are two versions of the Audio Unit. A Universal version and the original PowerPC version. The Universal version has been tested with Mac OS X 10.4.8 and Logic 7.2.3, it passes the AU Validation.

The PowerPC version has only been tested in Logic Pro 7 with Mac OS X 10.3.9, so your mileage may vary, though it passes the AU Validation.

Screenshot

The following screen grab is taken from the song “Shapes”. It shows Stutter being used with Logic’s automation to produce the effect in the audio example below.

Audio Example

What does it sound like? This audio demo is taken from the song “Shapes” by The White Line, from about 3:25. The synth lead is an ES2 with the “Moog Fusion Style” preset which ends with the Stutter FX. Listen:

Shapes_ES2_Stutter.mp3

Download

Download the Disk Image and copy the Stutter.component into your Library/Audio/Plug-ins/Components directory. Restart your DAW. Insert the plug-in as an audio effect, change the parameters.

Mac OS X 10.4 (Universal)
Stutter.dmg

Mac OS X 10.3.9+ (PowerPC)
Stutter.component.zip

Source Code

The Stutter effect plug-in is open source. Licenced under GPLv3. Get the source bundle here and refer to the README for instructions on building and contributing. I use Plastic SCM for source code management.

Stutter-0-4u.zip