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always special vst3 / au / aax

randomize

no rolls

amount 100%

1 curve → a knob · a shape you draw, looping

the actual plugin layout: module · randomize · two modulator slots · history strip, in one window. click a tab to switch a slot; hover to hold

parthow many spectral peaks get tracked, 6 to 23. few reduce a chord to its outline; many follow the whole texture.

decayhow long each sine hangs on after the partial feeding it has gone.

scanmoves an emphasis curve across the spectrum to choose which region's peaks get picked. it ranks the peaks and leaves their level alone.

noiseadds broadband white noise scaled by the summed partial level, so the air swells and ducks with the sine bank. the noise is generated, not recovered from the input.

tunetransposes the whole bank against the input, from 2 octaves down to about 17 semitones up, with unison at centre. as it rises the bank thins from the top, because peaks that would transpose past nyquist (half the sample rate) are dropped from the search instead of folding back.

mixdry/wet balance. fully down is dry only; fully up is the effect alone.

spectral · wam-120 · standalone + cv modulation

always special partial resynthesis

US$25or all 76 · US$399one-time · 14-day free trial built in

buy always special · US$25 subscribe · every module · US$9/month try it free · 14 days

vst3 · au · aax · macos 13+ · windows 10+ · no ilok · unlocks in the tangle rack too

dry · the kookaburra on its own
default factory settings
broad aurora pitch-shifted · dark · noisy · lo-fi
airy spectrum bright · pitch-shifted · airy · thin · noisy
drifting nebula metallic · wobbly · grainy · evolving · dry
breathing prism pitch-shifted · thin · bright · mono · dry

§ every control

what each knob does

Six controls, no menus. Here they are on the panel itself.

partHow many spectral peaks get tracked, 6 to 23. Few reduce a chord to its outline; many follow the whole texture.

decayHow long each sine hangs on after the partial feeding it has gone.

scanMoves an emphasis curve across the spectrum to choose which region's peaks get picked. It ranks the peaks and leaves their level alone.

noiseAdds broadband white noise scaled by the summed partial level, so the air swells and ducks with the sine bank. The noise is generated, not recovered from the input.

tuneTransposes the whole bank against the input, from 2 octaves down to about 17 semitones up, with unison at centre. As it rises the bank thins from the top, because peaks that would transpose past Nyquist (half the sample rate) are dropped from the search instead of folding back.

mixDry/wet balance. Fully down is dry only; fully up is the effect alone.

§ built-in modulation

it modulates itself

Always Special ships with the full CV/logic modulation section every Tangle standalone carries. Two slots, each running one of six modulators: pick one from a slot's tabs, drag a patch cable onto any knob, and that control moves on its own, no DAW automation required. Both slots can run the same kind, each its own copy, and slot 2 can be switched off.

lfoSmooth cyclic movement: sine, triangle, square, sample & hold, or a shape you draw.

curveA looping contour you draw by hand: smooth, spiked or stepped.

noiseStepped, smoothed or slewed randomness for texture and wander.

transientListens for hits, then fires a trigger plus an envelope on every transient it hears.

env followTracks how loud you are playing and turns that into a control voltage.

timingSpreads hits as evenly as possible across a bar, so rhythms land musically instead of bunched.

§ always recording

it keeps what you just played

A rolling capture strip runs beneath the panel, always recording the plugin's output. No transport, nothing to arm. Played something great while you were just tweaking? Click-drag across the history waveform to select it, then drag the slice straight into your DAW timeline.

ARM flips it to ring-capture for hands-free takes.

§ one purchase, two plugins

it unlocks in tangle too

Always Special is a module from Tangle, the free cable-patchable rack. Buying it here licenses both: this standalone plugin, and always special unlocked inside the rack, where you can patch it into any other module you own. There is no second purchase and no upgrade path; the rack itself costs nothing.

Sign in once in the rack and your licences follow your account: a module bought this morning appears at the next licence check, on every machine you install on.

explore the tangle rack →

§ the box

always special

US$25or all 76 · US$399one-time