01
Init
All defaults. Width 100%, Depth 0%, Bass Mono 110 Hz. A neutral, transparent starting point for building your own image from scratch.
Audubon · Plugins
ALB-001
·
Released v1.1
Stereo Widener
Albatross.
Spread the tops.
Anchor the lows.
A mono-safe Mid/Side stereo widener and imager. Every widening move happens on the Side channel, so the mono fold-down is never coloured — push the image as hard as you like and it still survives club, phone and vinyl. A true 48 dB/oct Linkwitz-Riley Bass Mono crossover keeps sub and kick locked dead-centre while the tops open up.
Free · v1.1.0
Free
01 — Overview
Widen without wrecking the mono.
Albatross splits the incoming stereo into Mid and Side and does every widening move on the Side alone — Width, Depth and Tilt all live there. Because the Side cancels when L and R are summed, none of them colour the mono fold-down. You get a big, decorrelated image on top and a rock-solid centre underneath, built from the ground up for bass music.
A stereo widener that spreads the tops as hard as you want while the sub and kick stay dead centre and uncoloured.
Width scales the Side, Depth injects an all-pass-decorrelated copy of the Mid into the Side so even a mono source gains a wide, moving image, and Tilt weights that width toward lows or air. Then the Bass Mono crossover runs last, after the Mix: a 48 dB/oct Linkwitz-Riley high-pass on the Side folds everything below the cutoff to the centre. And the dial reads where the image is actually mono, not where the crossover corner sits — set it to 90 Hz and 90 Hz is mono, not 6 dB closer to it. A live goniometer and a banded correlation meter keep mono compatibility on screen the whole time.
02 — The Engine
Everything happens on the Side.
Albatross encodes L/R into Mid = (L+R)/2 and Side = (L−R)/2, shapes only the Side, then decodes back to L/R and blends dry into wet with Mix. Because the Side is exactly what cancels in a mono sum, any amount of Width, Depth or Tilt leaves the mono fold-down bit-for-bit uncoloured — verified sample-exact in the DSP sim.
Mid / Side Split
The signal is encoded to Mid (the mono content, L+R) and Side (the stereo difference, L−R). Width, Depth and Tilt only ever touch the Side; Center only touches the Mid. Decode back to L/R is Mid ± Side. The mono sum is 2·Mid — the Side vanishes — so the widening controls physically cannot colour it.
Width — Side Gain
Width is a straight gain on the Side, 0–200%. At 0% the Side is silenced and the track collapses to mono; 100% is unchanged; 200% doubles the sides for maximum spread. Since it scales the Side and nothing else, mono energy is identical at every Width setting — the image gets wider or narrower, the centre never moves.
Depth — Mono to Wide
Depth disperses a copy of the Mid through a cascade of eight fixed first-order all-passes and injects it into the Side. A dead-centre or mono source gains a wide, phasey, moving image out of thin air — and because the injected copy lands in the Side, it too cancels in mono. No comb-filtering of the fold-down.
Mix & Output
Mix is a dry/wet blend from 0–100% — the audition Monitor modes ignore it and force full wet so you always hear the true image. Output is a final ±24 dB trim after the crossover. Zero added latency, fully parallel and sub-safe, so Albatross drops onto any bus without shifting timing.
03 — Bass Mono
A true crossover mono-maker.
Bass Mono is not a shelf or a simple high-pass on the sides — it's a real Linkwitz-Riley crossover. The Side gets a 48 dB/oct high-pass and the Mid gets the crossover's matching all-pass, so the pair stays phase-aligned through the transition band. Mathematically it's exactly "split at fc, fold the low band to mono, pass the highs." And the dial reads where the image is genuinely mono — most mono-makers label the crossover corner, which is only 6 dB down, so half the Side is still sitting there at the frequency on the knob. Dial 110 Hz here and the Side at 110 Hz is 28 dB down, not 6.
A — Slope
24 dB / Octave
The Side high-pass is a Butterworth biquad cascaded twice — a fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley response. Below the cutoff the stereo width falls off steeply: −24 dB one octave down, −48 dB two octaves down. Everything under fc — natural stereo, injected Depth, even the dry portion of a partial Mix — collapses cleanly to the centre.
B — Phase-Matched
Uncoloured Fold-Down
Because LP4 + HP4 equals a 2nd-order all-pass, running the Mid through that all-pass keeps Mid and Side phase-locked across the crossover. The mono sum only ever passes through a unity-magnitude all-pass, so the fold-down stays uncoloured — phase-rotated only, exactly as any crossover-based tool.
C — Runs Last
After the Mix
The crossover sits after the dry/wet blend, so "mono below fc" holds for the blended output too — a 50% Mix can't leak stereo sub. The cutoff sweeps click-free (a ~20 ms glide on the frequency). Range is 20–400 Hz; 20 Hz is effectively off. Set it just above your sub and kick fundamentals.
04 — Depth & Tilt
Shape where the width lives.
Width sets how much; Depth and Tilt set what it is and where it sits. Depth manufactures stereo out of a mono source; Tilt biases the width toward the low end or the air. Both act on the Side, so both stay mono-safe no matter how far you push them.
A — Depth
Decorrelation Engine
0–100%, default 0%. A cascade of eight fixed all-passes disperses a copy of the Mid across the frequency spectrum before it's injected into the Side. The dispersion spreads phase broadly without ringing on any single note, so a mono synth, bass or vocal gains a genuine wide image rather than a hard-panned double. Fully mono-safe.
B — Tilt
Frequency Balance of Width
−100 to +100%, default 0%. A ±6 dB shelf about a 700 Hz pivot on the Side. Negative widens the lows (a broad, weighty spread) and tightens the highs; positive widens the highs — air and shimmer — while keeping the low-mids focused. At 0% the width is spectrally flat.
C — Center
Mid Trim
−6 to +6 dB on the Mid, default 0 dB. Push the centre — vocal, kick, bass — forward to punch through a wide mix, or pull it back to let the sides breathe around it. It's the counterweight to Width: raise Width and lower Center for an airy, spacious feel, or the reverse for a focused, upfront one.
05 — Metering
Mono compatibility, always on screen.
The hero display is a live goniometer (vectorscope) with a classic −1 · 0 · +1 correlation bar directly beneath it. Both are coloured by correlation — green through amber to red — so a phase problem is visible before it's audible. Three Monitor modes let you audition the mono sum or solo the Side at a click.
A — Goniometer
Vectorscope
Mid on the vertical axis, Side on the horizontal — the classic 45°-rotated point cloud fed by a decimated L/R stream from the audio thread. A tall, narrow shape is mono-leaning; a wide, round cloud is a big stereo image; a horizontal smear warns of out-of-phase content. The dots are coloured by correlation so risk reads at a glance.
B — Correlation ›fc Hz
Banded Above the Crossover
The correlation is measured above the Bass Mono cutoff — the readout label tracks the knob (e.g. Correlation ›110 Hz). The lows are mono by construction, so on bass-heavy program a full-band meter would pin near +1 and tell you nothing; banding it makes the needle track the part of the spectrum the widener actually shapes. At 20 Hz (Bass Mono off) it degrades gracefully to full-band.
C — Monitor
Stereo / Mono / Side
Stereo is the normal output. Mono sums to the true fold-down so you can check what a club or phone hears. Side solos exactly what's being widened. The audition modes force full wet (ignoring Mix) and keep the correlation meter live, so you can flip to Mono, confirm the sub holds, and flip back without touching a fader.
06 — Controls
Seven knobs, one switch.
Width
0 – 200% · default 100%
Side gain. 0% folds the track to mono, 100% is unchanged, 200% doubles the sides. The primary spread dial. Mono energy is identical at every setting.
Depth
0 – 100% · default 0%
All-pass-decorrelated Mid injected into the Side. Manufactures genuine width from a mono or centred source. Mono-safe — it lands in the Side and cancels in the fold-down.
Tilt
−100 – +100% · default 0%
±6 dB shelf about 700 Hz on the Side. Negative widens the lows and tightens the highs; positive widens the air. 0% is spectrally flat width.
Bass Mono
20 – 400 Hz · default 110 Hz
48 dB/oct Linkwitz-Riley crossover. Everything at and below the dial folds to the centre while the tops spread. 20 Hz ≈ off. Set it to where you want mono — the number means what it says.
Center
−6 – +6 dB · default 0 dB
Mid trim. Push the centre (vocal / kick / bass) forward or let the sides breathe around it. The counterweight to Width.
Mix
0 – 100% · default 100%
Dry / wet blend. Automate it like a parallel send. The Mono and Side audition modes ignore Mix and force full wet.
Output
−24 – +24 dB · default 0 dB
Final trim after the crossover. Match levels for an honest bypass comparison or gain-stage into the next processor.
Monitor
Stereo / Mono / Side · default Stereo
What reaches the output. Mono checks the true fold-down; Side solos what's being widened. Audition modes force full wet and keep the meter live.
07 — Factory Presets
Eight starting points.
Factory presets span a barely-there glue to a huge, engineered pad width — every one of them mono-safe by construction. Applying a preset resets all parameters to default first, then dials in only what it changes, so there are no hidden leftovers.
02
Gentle Glue
A light spread with the crossover pulled a touch lower. Adds a subtle sense of width and air to a bus without an obvious effect. Safe on a full mix.
03
Wide Master
Master-bus width with a positive Tilt so the spread favours the air. The Bass Mono at 120 Hz keeps the low end mono-solid while the tops open up.
04
Mono Sub Lock
A firm 150% spread with the crossover raised to 160 Hz — everything below stays dead-centre. Built for bass music where the sub must never wander.
05
Mono Synth Spread
Width at unity but Depth at 55% — a mono synth or bassline gains a wide, moving image entirely from the decorrelation engine. Crossover at 140 Hz.
06
Huge Pad
Maximum-character width: 165% Width, 70% Depth, +35 Tilt. Sustained pads and strings become enormous and airy while the fundamentals stay anchored.
07
Air Only
A modest 112% Width with Tilt pushed hard to +85 and the crossover at 180 Hz. Only the top end spreads — a shimmering high-frequency width with a tight body.
08
Narrow / Focus
Width down to 65% with a +2 dB Center lift. Pulls a too-wide source in and pushes the centre forward — a corrective preset for mono-leaning focus.
08 — Workflow
How to use it.
01
Set Bass Mono first. Before anything else, place the crossover just above the fundamentals of your sub and kick — 90–160 Hz suits most bass music. Everything below folds to mono, so the low end is locked before you start spreading the tops. Flip Monitor to Mono briefly to confirm the sub is solid.
02
Dial Width for existing stereo. If the source already has a stereo image, use Width to spread or narrow it. 100% is neutral; push toward 150–200% for a wider bus, or pull below 100% to reign in a source that's too wide. Watch the goniometer — a wide round cloud is healthy, a horizontal smear is a warning.
03
Use Depth for mono sources. On a mono synth, bass or vocal, Width alone does nothing (there's no Side to scale). Raise Depth instead — the decorrelation engine manufactures a genuine wide image out of the mono content. 30–70% is a strong, musical range. It stays mono-safe, so the fold-down is unharmed.
04
Balance with Tilt and Center. Use Tilt to decide where the width sits — positive for airy top-end spread, negative for weighty low-mid width. Use Center to trim the Mid: push it up to keep a vocal or kick upfront in a wide mix, or pull it down to open the sides further. They're the fine-tune pair after Width and Depth.
05
Check the correlation meter. Keep an eye on the banded Correlation ›fc readout beneath the goniometer. Green is mono-safe, amber is very wide, red is phase risk. A little amber on a wide bus is fine; sustained red means partial cancellation in mono. If you see red, ease Width or Depth back until the needle recovers.
06
Blend and level-match. Use Mix to blend the widened signal back against the dry — great for subtle enhancement on a master. Set Output so a bypass A/B is level-matched and you're judging image, not loudness. Flip Monitor to Mono one last time before you commit, then save your settings as a user preset.
09 — Specifications
Everything, on one page.
Width
0 – 200% · default 100% — Side gain; 0% = mono, 200% = double the sides
Depth
0 – 100% · default 0% — all-pass-decorrelated Mid injected into the Side (mono-safe)
Tilt
−100 – +100% · default 0% — ±6 dB shelf about 700 Hz on the Side
Bass Mono
20 – 400 Hz · default 110 Hz — 48 dB/oct Linkwitz-Riley crossover, dial reads the mono point (Side −28 dB at the dial); 20 Hz ≈ off
Center
−6 – +6 dB · default 0 dB — Mid trim
Mix
0 – 100% · default 100% — dry / wet; audition modes force full wet
Output
−24 – +24 dB · default 0 dB — final trim
Monitor
Stereo / Mono / Side · default Stereo — audition the fold-down or solo the Side
Metering
Live goniometer + correlation bar, banded above the Bass Mono cutoff
Format
VST3 · Windows 10 / 11 · macOS 10.13+ (Universal — Apple Silicon & Intel) · 64-bit · mono or stereo tracks
Latency
Zero — fully parallel, sub-safe, no PDC shift
MIDI
None
Presets
8 factory · user presets saved to Documents
Version
1.1.0
10 — Fine Print
Documentation.
Operating System
Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) — the editor uses WebView2, which is built into Windows 11 and most current Windows 10 installs. macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later — one Universal build runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
DAW
Any VST3-compatible host — Ableton Live, FL Studio, Bitwig, Reaper, Studio One, Cubase. Insert on any mono or stereo track, bus or master. VST3 only — Logic Pro and GarageBand load Audio Units, not VST3, so they are not supported.
Latency
Zero added latency. Fully parallel and sub-safe — no plug-in delay compensation shift, so Albatross is safe anywhere in the chain.
Activation
No iLok, no dongle — activation is offline with the serial from your Members Area. Your download stays accessible in your Members Area.
Personal & Commercial Use
One licence covers all your personal and commercial productions. No royalties, no project restrictions.
Terms & Refunds
See the Terms of Service and Refund Policy for full details.
No Redistribution
You may not resell or redistribute the plugin binary. Source code is not included.
v1.1.0 — Update check, from the logo
The Audubon Audio wordmark in Albatross’s header is now a button. Click it and Albatross asks audubonaudio.com one question — which build is current — then shows that number beside the one you are running, with a link straight to the members area if there is something newer and a plain “you have the current version” if there is not. If it cannot reach us it says so rather than claiming you are up to date. This is the only moment Albatross touches the internet, it happens only on that click, and nothing about you goes with it — no serial, no licence, no machine id, not even your version or operating system. The comparison happens on your own machine.
v1.1.0 — Bass Mono means what it says
Bass Mono steepened from 24 dB/oct to 48 dB/oct (LR8 — each Butterworth section cascaded twice, with the crossover's matching 4th-order all-pass on the Mid), and the dial recalibrated to read where the image is actually mono rather than where the crossover corner sits. Previously the number marked the −6 dB corner, so half the Side was still present at the dialled frequency and true mono only arrived about two octaves lower. Now the Side is 28 dB down at the dial, 48 dB down a third of an octave beneath it. Set it to 90 Hz and 90 Hz is mono. The mono sum stays uncoloured and latency stays at zero.
v1.0.0 — Initial Release
Mono-safe Mid/Side stereo widener. Width (Side gain), Depth (8-stage all-pass decorrelation of the Mid into the Side), Tilt (±6 dB / 700 Hz Side shelf), Bass Mono (24 dB/oct Linkwitz-Riley crossover mono-maker, phase-matched all-pass on the Mid), Center (Mid trim), Mix, Output, and a Stereo/Mono/Side audition Monitor. Live goniometer plus a correlation meter banded above the crossover. Zero latency. 8 factory presets. WebView2 UI.
Full User Guide
A step-by-step guide covering every control, the metering, and four workflow recipes (mono-safe master width, mono synth spread, bass mono lock, corrective narrowing).
Open User Guide →