NINE50

A French-touch sidechain processor inspired by Daft Punk's Homework era. Combines an Alesis 3630-style sidechain compressor with Emu SP-1200 / Akai S950 bitcrush and downsample emulation in a single plugin.

Quick Demo

NINE50-demo.1.mp4

Features

• Analog-inspired UI with labeled rotaries, amber GR metering, and per-stage ON/BYPASS
• Factory presets plus user save/load (.nine50 files in ~/Library/Audio/Presets/NINE50)

Sidechain Compressor

• VCA-style feed-forward compressor with aggressive ratios (up to 10:1)
• Optional stereo sidechain input bus for external key signals
• High-pass filter on the sidechain key (100/200/300 Hz)
• Makeup gain and stereo link

Bitcrush / Downsample (SP-1200 / S950)

• Single DETUNE control: mild SP character (26.04 kHz / 12-bit) through heavy crush (~900 Hz / 5-bit; EXT → ~400 Hz / 4-bit) — pitch and duration stay constant
• Open input anti-alias, nearest-neighbour ADC, hard midtread quantize, and ZOH reconstruction (Yeh / pitcher–inspired)
• LPF (S950-style 6th-order, 0–99, bypass at 99) and HPF (0–99, off at 0)
• Drive, mix, and out (with optional drive/out link)
• Layouts: Mono Sum/L/R, Stereo, Stereo L/R/Mid/Side (wet/dry after layout)

Requirements

• macOS: 10.15 or later (VST3 + AU)
• Windows: 10 or later (VST3)
• Linux: modern x86_64 distro with ALSA (VST3)

Installation

Download (Recommended)

Download the latest release from the Releases page.

macOS:

1. Download NINE50-macOS.zip (or the .pkg installer)
2. Extract the archive
3. Double-click NINE50.vst3 or NINE50.component to install (or run the installer)
4. Restart your DAW

Windows:

1. Download NINE50-Windows.zip
2. Extract and copy NINE50.vst3 into your VST3 folder (typically C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3)
3. Rescan plugins in your DAW

Linux:

1. Download NINE50-Linux.zip
2. Extract and copy NINE50.vst3 into a VST3 path (e.g. ~/.vst3 or /usr/lib/vst3)
3. Rescan plugins in your DAW

Build from Source

Prerequisites

• C++17 compatible compiler (Xcode 12+, MSVC 2019+, or GCC/Clang on Linux)
• CMake 3.16+
• Linux: see JUCE Linux Dependencies (ALSA, X11, FreeType, etc.)

Build Instructions

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/audiohacking/nine50.git
cd nine50

# Configure (VST3 everywhere; AU on macOS)
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

# Build
cmake --build build -j8 --config Release

# Artefacts: build/Source/NINE50_artefacts/Release/

Build with Tests

cmake -B build -DBUILD_TESTING=ON
cmake --build build -j8
ctest --test-dir build

See DEVELOP.md for detailed development guidelines.

Usage

1. Add NINE50 to a bus/aux track in your DAW
2. Route a sidechain signal (e.g. kick) to the sidechain input
3. Set Threshold / Ratio for ducking; use Attack, Release, and Makeup to shape the pump
4. In BITCRUSH, sweep Detune for SP grit, then shape with LPF / HPF, Drive, Mix, and Out
5. Bypass either stage with the ON/BYPASS switches

License

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

Credits

• Inspired by the French-touch house production techniques of Daft Punk, Cassius, and others
• SP-1200 and S950 emulation based on classic sampler characteristics
• Downsample / ADC techniques informed by Yeh’s SP-12 circuit model and pitcher
• Compressor design inspired by the Alesis 3630