◆GROWL
A free bass growl saturator. Keep the sub clean and mono, saturate everything above it five different ways, and make it talk with a tempo-synced vowel (formant) filter. Every knob is automatable.
HOW TO OPEN ON MAC
macOS 15 and later says “Apple could not verify CMPLXTY-Growl-Setup-1.0.3-mac.pkg is free of malware.” That is because this Mac download is not signed with an Apple Developer ID yet, not because anything is wrong with it (check the SHA256 above). Click Done (not Move to Trash), then use one of these:
Option A, Terminal (macOS 13 to 26). Paste this, then double-click the file:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/CMPLXTY-Growl-Setup-1.0.3-mac.pkgOption B, Settings: open System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to Security and click Open Anyway next to “CMPLXTY-Growl-Setup-1.0.3-mac.pkg was blocked”, then enter your Mac password. The button only stays for about an hour after the blocked attempt. If it is not there, use Option A.
HOW TO OPEN
Our Windows installer isn’t code-signed yet, so Windows may warn you the first time. The file is built in public on GitHub, and you can check it against the SHA-256 shown on this page.
- Double-click
CMPLXTY-Growl-Setup-1.0.3-win.exe. - If you see “Windows protected your PC”, click More info.
- Click Run anyway, then follow the installer.
If your browser flags the download, choose Keep, or Keep anyway under “Show more”.
Our Mac installer isn’t notarized by Apple yet, so macOS blocks it the first time.
Easiest: open Terminal and paste this, then enter your Mac password when asked. No warning appears.
curl -fsSL https://cmplxty.music/install-mac.sh | bash -s growl-saturatorAlready downloaded it? In Terminal run this, then double-click the file:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/CMPLXTY-Growl-Setup-1.0.3-mac.pkgOr use System Settings: double-click the file and click Done (not Move to Trash). Then go to Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to Security, click Open Anyway next to the blocked file, enter your password and click Open. The button only shows for about an hour after the warning. If it isn’t there, use the Terminal line above.
WHAT IT DOES
- Presets (new in 1.0.2): 17 factory presets with a preset browser (prev/next and a menu), plus Save as and Load for your own presets. Fix: Space and the other DAW keys work again after closing a knob menu with Escape or typing a value.
- Input // Split: input gain and a steep crossover at 60-200 Hz. The low band stays clean (optionally mono) and only the highs get the growl. Sub level trim.
- Drive: five saturation types (Tanh, Tube asymmetric, Fold, Hard clip, Diode) with drive and bias. Oversampling Off, 2x or 4x.
- Formant // Vowel: three formant band-passes that morph OO, OH, AH, EH, EE, with formant shift, focus, amount and a tempo-synced vowel LFO (1/1 to 1/32, five shapes) that follows the host.
- Post filter: low-pass or high-pass with cutoff and resonance.
- Out: dry/wet mix, output gain and a soft safety limiter.
- Every control and every section switch is host-automatable. Double-click a knob to reset it. Right-click any knob or switch for reset, type a value, copy and paste, Automate and init all, plus the host’s own parameter menu where the host offers it.
- The editor never keeps keyboard focus, so Space and the other transport keys always reach your DAW.
- Optional, silent update notice, at most once every 24 hours. Nothing about you is sent and nothing downloads on its own. You can switch it off for good.
- Real-time safe DSP (no allocation on the audio thread), any sample rate, mono or stereo. Fixed latency of 37 samples is reported to the host in every oversampling mode.
INSTALL
- Run
CMPLXTY-Growl-Setup-1.0.3-win.exe. One setup program, nothing to unzip. - It installs for all users (UAC prompt) to
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3and...\CLAP. If you decline the prompt it installs for the current user only. - In FL Studio: Options > Manage plugins > Find plugins. Growl appears under Installed > Effects. In other DAWs, rescan plugins.
Installing a newer version over an older one just works, and your settings are kept. Uninstall from Windows Apps & features. No Visual C++ redistributable needed.
CHANGELOG
- 1.0.2
New presets: 17 factory presets with a preset browser (prev/next and a menu), plus Save as and Load for your own presets. Fix: Space and the other DAW keys work again after closing a knob menu with Escape or typing a value. Windows and Mac. - 1.0.1
New monochrome look: black, white and greys only. No sound changes. On a Mac, the update check now reads the Mac installer link. Windows and Mac. - 1.0.0
First release: clean mono sub / growl split, five saturators, oversampling, tempo-synced vowel filter, post filter, mix, output gain and limiter. VST3 + CLAP for Windows x64. Setup program with upgrade-in-place and uninstaller. In-plugin update notice with an off switch.
OTHER DOWNLOADS
Source code (GPLv3, GitHub) SHA256SUMS
Installer SHA256 above. The source is in the growl-saturator folder of the GitHub repository.
HONEST STATUS
Growl was built and tested on Linux and under Wine (plugin load, editor rendering, install, upgrade, uninstall). It has not been tested on a real Windows machine or in FL Studio yet. Keep a backup of your project the first time you use it, and tell me what breaks. The Mac installer is unsigned (or only ad-hoc signed) and has not been tested on a real Mac yet.
LICENSE
GNU General Public License v3. Free to use, share and modify. The full corresponding source, including the patched JUCE 9.0.4, clap-juce-extensions, build scripts, patches and installer script, is the source zip above. Third party: JUCE (GPLv3), VST3 interface (GPLv3 / Steinberg), CLAP and clap-juce-extensions (MIT), Barlow font (SIL OFL 1.1). VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
◆ CMPLXTY