HoRNet releases Butterfly, mastering tool and channelstrip

HoRNet Butterfly: A Versatile Mastering Tool and Channel Strip for Professional Audio Production

HoRNet plugins is proud to announce the immediate release of Butterfly, a cutting-edge mastering tool and channel strip that is designed to give producers, engineers, and music creators the tools they need to achieve a professional, polished sound. Whether you’re finalizing a stereo mix or working on a mastering project, Butterfly is built to deliver all the necessary features in one comprehensive plugin. Offering flexibility, powerful processing, and intuitive controls, HoRNet Butterfly is a versatile solution for modern audio production, offering excellent sound quality with a focus on usability and precision.

At the core of Butterfly is a suite of high-quality processing modules that have been carefully crafted and optimized for mastering applications. The plugin incorporates the same state-of-the-art technology found in HoRNet SAMP, the master processor used for Dolby Atmos. This connection to professional-grade technology ensures that Butterfly delivers exceptional performance and unparalleled control in all aspects of your audio work. Whether you’re a seasoned mastering engineer or a producer looking to finalize your tracks, Butterfly is designed to meet the highest standards of sound quality.

One of the standout features of HoRNet Butterfly is its comprehensive set of audio processing tools that work seamlessly together to enhance your audio. The plugin includes an equalizer, a compressor, a clipper, and a limiter, each one offering unique capabilities to help you refine your mix or master.

The equalizer is based on the technology behind HoRNet TotalEQ, an EQ plugin that is well-regarded for its precision and flexibility. In Butterfly, the equalizer gives you complete control over the tonal balance of your audio. Whether you need to make subtle adjustments or perform more drastic reshaping of your mix, this EQ lets you do it with ease, offering excellent transparency and clarity. This EQ is essential for mastering, as it allows you to shape the frequency spectrum of your track, ensuring that it sounds balanced across different listening systems.

The compressor in HoRNet Butterfly is built on the technology of SyncPressor, a popular compressor plugin known for its versatility and intuitive controls. The Butterfly compressor allows you to control the dynamics of your audio with precision. Whether you’re looking to tighten up the mix or add warmth and punch, this compressor offers the flexibility to adapt to various styles of music. It helps maintain a cohesive sound, ensuring that your tracks are polished and ready for release.

Additionally, Butterfly includes a clipper, which is an essential tool for taming peaks and maximizing loudness without introducing distortion. The clipper works by softly limiting the signal when it exceeds a certain threshold, offering smooth and controlled clipping. This makes it an invaluable tool for mastering, as it allows you to increase the overall loudness of your track without the harshness or distortion that can occur with traditional limiting techniques.

The limiter in Butterfly utilizes the same advanced technology as HoRNet Magnus MK2, a highly regarded limiter plugin. The Butterfly limiter is designed to provide transparent, musical limiting, ensuring that your track’s peaks are controlled without sacrificing dynamic range. It provides the final touch to your mastering chain, allowing you to push the loudness to competitive levels while preserving the integrity of the sound.

One of the most powerful aspects of HoRNet Butterfly is its ability to allow for complete flexibility in how the modules are arranged. You can easily rearrange the order of the effects by dragging their positions in the top tabs control section. This feature is incredibly useful for mastering, as it allows you to experiment with different processing chains and quickly find the best order for your workflow. Whether you prefer to EQ before compression or use compression first, Butterfly lets you adapt to your personal mastering style.

On the left side of the interface, there is a LUFS metering section that shows the input and output levels of your audio. This section provides several types of readings, including momentary, short-term, integrated, and true peak levels, offering a comprehensive overview of your audio’s loudness. These LUFS readings are essential for mastering, as they allow you to ensure that your track adheres to industry standards for loudness, especially when preparing for streaming services or physical media formats. By using the LUFS meter in Butterfly, you can confidently adjust the overall loudness of your track while maintaining a balanced and consistent sound.

Although Butterfly is primarily designed for use on stereo busses during the mastering process, it can also be used as a highly effective channel strip for individual tracks. This makes it an excellent tool for mixing as well, as it allows you to process each element of your mix with the same high-quality processing found in the mastering chain. Whether you’re working on a final mix or adjusting individual tracks, Butterfly delivers precise control, flexibility, and professional-grade sound quality.

To ensure that Butterfly doesn’t overwhelm your computer’s CPU, the plugin is optimized to be light on resources. This allows you to use as many instances as needed without compromising performance. For those working on complex sessions with multiple tracks and effects, this feature is crucial, as it lets you handle demanding projects without encountering lag or performance issues. Additionally, each module in Butterfly can be independently disabled, which further conserves CPU power when certain effects are not needed.

In summary, HoRNet Butterfly is a powerful, all-in-one solution for audio mastering and mixing. Whether you are fine-tuning the final master of your track or processing individual elements in the mix, Butterfly provides professional-grade processing, precise control, and a seamless user experience. With its flexible modular design, intuitive interface, and exceptional sound quality, HoRNet Butterfly is an essential tool for anyone looking to elevate their audio production to the next level.

HoRNet Butterfly is available now for just 37,99€, making it an affordable yet highly powerful option for producers, engineers, and musicians who want to achieve professional results in their music.