Hvoya Audio has released Sand, an experimental differential compander plugin (free) designed to add texture, grit, and unusual detail to your sounds.
Rather than processing the original signal directly, Sand works on its derivative, creating a unique blend of companding, soft limiting, and high-pass-like behavior. The result can range from subtle harmonic lift to extreme, glitchy extraction of hidden details.
This is more of a sound design tool than a traditional musical effect, but it can definitely pull extra juice from bass, kicks, field recordings, and even vocals.
Companding With A Twist
A compander is essentially an inverted compressor: it lifts quiet details while gently limiting peaks. Sand takes that idea further by applying the process to the signal’s derivative. In practice, this can act like a strange, texture-enhancing high-pass filter that sometimes reveals details your ear barely noticed before.
You can choose the order of the derivative, from zero (original signal) to higher values for more aggressive detail extraction. Negative order integrates the signal instead, an experimental feature that can yield interesting results. The companding amount is extremely powerful, capable of amplifying even the tiniest nuances (down to dithering noise), so subtle settings are often best.
Watch below the plugin in action:
Features
- Differential compander (processes signal derivative)
- Adjustable derivative order (including integration mode)
- High amplification range for extreme detail extraction
- Softness control for smoother vs gritty response
- “Debrick” control for managing over-compression artifacts
- Flexible filter section with three pass types
- Adjustable filter placement in signal chain
- Stable filter suitable for modulation
- Dry/Wet control with a separate mode option
- MIDI-learnable controls
- Resizable UI
- Available for Windows and macOS
In The Mix
Use Sand subtly on vocals or acoustic instruments with low companding amounts to restore air and texture without sounding processed. On bass, drum breaks, or field recordings, push higher-derivative orders and blend with the dry signal for gritty transients and unusual detail extraction. Extreme settings can create glitchy, high-passed artifacts suited for experimental sound design.
Free Download
Sand differential compander is available as a free download for Windows and macOS (VST, VST3, and AU plugin formats). It’s aimed primarily at experimental sound design, but it can also be used subtly on bass, drums, voice, or field recordings to extract texture and restore high-frequency detail.
For more details and download, head over to the Hvoya Audio website.
