And it's free and you might just find it right around the corner...Polyverse Music Infected Mushroom Wider v2.0.0 x64 VST VST3 AU AAX WiN MAC.

 

I got tired of software solutions for widening tracks, so I just got a bigger monitor, now I can zoom those tracks as wide as I want. I can see when 2 gnats landed on my keyboard for example. Highly recommend get a reeeealllyyy Biggggggggggggggg monitor and then some of those hand extenders so you can sit back about 6 feet from the monitor. It looks a little funny but WOW!!!! I'll never mix the same again....

Furbish Tech Tip #389 -5/2024

 

Nugen Stereorizer: https://nugenaudio.com/stereoizer/

All I ever needed and top-notch results, while remaining fully mono compatible.

 

TL;DR

To get no phase issues and mono compatibilty there is the only possibility to manipulate the M/S ratio. So, the best sounding widening you get if you use MSED by Voxengo (free) and raise the side-level. That does not work if the source is a mono-signal. To make a mono source stereo you can use a chorus. I use for doubling (making a signal stereo) the classic Kjaerhuis Chorus. Put that before MSED. That chorus thing may work with other chorus plugins I guess.

 

I use Quikquak Upstereo Pro.

 

I used to use Quickquak Pitchwheel years ago but forgot all about it until you brought up this dev just now. Thanks for the memories....

 

Soothe, if you know how ;-)

 

DJ Swivel Spread goes stupid wide and is fairly kind when it comes to phasing.

 

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that "You should really be making your mix wider organically" isn't the answer you're looking for.
If you just need a plugin that does the sum-mono/spread-sides without artifacts, a few that have everything you need (probably) and nothing you don't are, Boz Digital Labs' Mongoose2, Brainworx' bx_control V2, or Monofilter, by Nugen Audio.
Alternately, if you want to get clever, torquing the knobs on any M/S-capable saturator can also give you some width and character.

 

Yeah, lol, 'wide', and I mean everything 'wide' for some idiots these days (and that's including damn kick drums) is the new slammed L2 ultra maximizer in the red.

It's not about making one element work in a way that brings attention to it and is a moment or part that gives some depth, its about ALL being that as every jackass 'dj' influencer YouTube tik Tok chachi is trying to climb on top of the other guy with it....

it's pretty funny.

and pretty stupidly sad.

hell, they got plugins these days that go so wide they end up folding back into mono again, and noobs love it.

 

I like this one: https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products/spl_vitalizer_mk2-t.html

 

Yeah, I didn't want to start calling out genre-ed examples and instigate some blood feud on AS, but it isn't dissimilar to the everything-louder-than-everything-else era. It gets ridiculous, I mean, do you really want everything bundled up and just haphazardly shoved outwards together, pan law be damned? My overall view is that people can do what they want with their music, but it becomes irresponsible to take shortcuts when you're working on other people's music. Just my less-than-humble opinion.
Incidentally, I think one of the worst offenders of this push to widen everything is the Brainworx, with their mono-maker. It's useful, and I think it deserves a place in many of their plugins, even ones that are meant for the Master/2-Buss, but the way they promote it is as though it's an Easy Button. (I *do have to give credit to the people showcasing or reviewing those plugins who point out that, if you decide to widen your mix on the Master, you'll want to keep the widening to a minimum, like Justin Colletti.)

 

This looks great. I visited their website to see if I could demo it and when there realized that it was all fuk't with ilok and was sad. I found a revolutionary solution and now I'm glad. I'm tellin' ya, the trials and tribulations of just tryin' to get by!

 

StageOne 2 and Stereolab both look great in GUI and functionnalites, can't seems to find them around the corner for mac, if you know better, fell free to PM me ;) for now Wider seems like a satisfying option, thanks for recommending

If that was meant for me I am actually open to ideas and techniques of mixing to create a wide mix with clarity geared towards electronic music as I don't use acoustic instruments. maybe outside of obvious chorus, reverb, sound design etc... The Haas effect with milisecond sample delay is pretty interesting, thanks for sharing.

When I first heard about stereo imagers/wideners I was kinda doubting it as everything "new" and "1 knob magic" is always ass in the end but I am always open to new technology that can ease a workflow, I use DS-10 and Duck all the time for different purpose all the time instead of going EQ/Comp and I have seen innovative VST like Trackspacer or Soothe do wonders in the hands of some people that knew how to use them.

This is interresting, if someone have toughts on "Wide" philosophy in electronic mixing please develop the idea and share your approach, I'm curious about your take on the subject so I can get make my music sound better.

 

Last edited: May 24, 2024

Any thoughts on both of these very different videos about stereo image widening ?

No

Yes

Edit : "Back for another episode of just the tips", "Spread", "the biggest, widest, most satisfying knob"
This guy is killing me... Looks nice tho

 

Last edited: May 24, 2024

Oh I agree, and I was just going on one of my typical hyperbolic rants (in which I don't mean to offend but do...so my bad), as I'm left scratching my head at some of the things that pop up on YouTube when watching reviews or whatnot... and watching people widen everything out to the point where there is literally nothing in the middle.... and also always surprised that people never even check in mono etc..

So I guess I'm just getting "wideness" fatigue now...

hell, I remember decades ago releasing a record where we had done something on a particular song that (was pre-plugin days), that um, we realized in mastering wasn't mono compatible lol, and we just simply screwed up.. so we actually put a note in the liner notes regarding it.... (back when such things existed!)... so I won't claim to be innocent or not guilty myself...

and yeah, I like myself some ~wide~ as well, but more on a here and there basis, or as an impact to a section/part, as (again, the common theme here I meant to bring up with the loudness wars, and everyone essentially slapping a distortion pedal across their 2 bus with how they used the L3 etc)..

but a Pixies/Nirvana chorus means little without the dynamic from the preceding verse kinda thing etc you know?

and while that is genre specific, I still think the general rule still kinda applies in that a note or musical event doesn't mean a whole lot without the one before it, and after it, and how they are presented/framed or not...

and on the somewhat converse side, I just listened to "Tomorrow Never Knows", and lord, somehow they got width and and everything else(with the bass and the drums on the same mono track, out of the 4), and granted, the tape loops were "played" performatively over those tracks to 2 track tape master iirc, ... well, nary a Polyverse Widener in sight... and if that song doesn't get it done, I don't know what does...

 

if you need to make it wider you might try Speculum.vst.

 

make sure to also check it in Mono after doing sometiung like this.
Related:

 

Have you tried duplicating your audio, then pan one to L and the other to R?