Pinky 2

The first version of Pinky was released as an early beta many years ago.

I never developed it further, but a surprising number of people kept using it. I did too.

There was clearly something useful in the idea. Pinky could make a small but meaningful difference to the overall balance of a mix or master. At the same time, there were parts of the original approach that I was never fully satisfied with. It could sound good, but there were situations where I did not feel that the process was controlled enough to trust blindly.

Over the years, I kept returning to the idea.

Work on other plugins, a lot of listening, and a better understanding of how the different frequency areas, stereo channels, and transients should interact eventually gave me the tools to make a version that behaves in a much more controlled way.

Pinky 2 is the result.

It is still based on the same basic idea: a stereo adaptive spectral balancer that gently guides audio toward a selectable noise-based spectral balance. But it is now much more flexible, much more controlled, and designed to work as a final tonal touch on mixes and masters that are already in good shape.

The original Pinky is roughly equivalent to around 20% on the Amount control in Pinky 2.

Pinky 2 gives you a much wider working range, while still keeping the actual correction controlled. Even at maximum Amount, no individual band is adjusted by more than ±1 dB relative to the selected target curve.

The Tilt control lets you choose a target between pink noise, with a −3 dB-per-octave slope, and brown noise, with a −6 dB-per-octave slope. The default −4.5 dB-per-octave setting works well for most commercial music.

Higher Tilt values produce a brighter and more aggressive result. Lower values move toward a deeper and warmer tone.

Pinky 2 is not intended to replace corrective EQ or solve major tonal problems in a track. It works best once the important EQ decisions have already been made, where small and controlled spectral movement can help a source, mix bus, or master feel a little more settled.

It can work in L/R or Mid/Side and includes controls for Independence, Correlation, Low and High protection, and Transient protection.

The latter is particularly important when using stronger settings. When Pinky detects a transient, it temporarily increases correlation between both frequency bands and processed channels, making the correction move more as a coherent whole and reducing the risk of phase smearing.

Blind testing

Blind testing was a big part of the development of Pinky 2.

From quite early in the process, I kept making Pinky versions of finished commercial masters and comparing them to the originals in PER. Sometimes I could spend hours doing this, not because the masters needed fixing, but because I wanted to know if Pinky could add something useful even when I already liked the material.

Some of the masters were releases I had mastered myself and was already happy with. Others were releases mastered by other mastering engineers, including records and songs where I already loved the way the master sounded.

For each master, I created a Pinky version and adjusted the settings by ear until I felt it improved the result. The settings could vary quite a lot. There was no fixed recipe and no attempt to force every master toward the same sound.

I then rendered the Pinky versions with a limiter placed after Pinky to catch any new peaks, and compared the original masters and the Pinky versions in PER using fully blind tests. I did not know which version I was hearing. I simply chose the version I preferred.

During development, I consistently preferred the Pinky versions in the PER blind tests. Up until now, I have only found a handful of songs where I actually prefer the version without Pinky. During the development period itself, I did not run into a single master where I felt Pinky did not make it at least a little better.

That does not mean every master needs Pinky. But it confirmed something I kept hearing during development: small, controlled spectral changes can still make a meaningful difference, even when a master already sounds good.

PER is the free blind-testing application used for these comparisons:
https://www.patreon.com/Noisebud/posts/160240913

A different access model

Pinky 2 currently works differently from the other Noisebud plugins.

The full version is available only to active paying Noisebud Patrons.

When you first load Pinky 2, enter the email address connected to your Patreon account. If the account has an active paid membership, Pinky 2 registers automatically and runs as the full version.

Free Patreon followers, former Patrons, and users who are not connected to the Patreon campaign can still use Pinky 2 in Demo Mode.

In Demo Mode, Pinky 2 adds a short, low-level noise burst once or twice per minute. You can click the DEMO text in the interface to temporarily remove the demo noise while you work and listen. Pinky 2 returns to Demo Mode when you try to render or when you reopen the project.

Should you later become a paying Patron, the same email address will automatically unlock the full version.

This is an experiment, but also a small way of giving something extra back to the people who have supported Noisebud over the years.

Paying Patrons can also see, at the bottom of the Pinky 2 interface, an estimate of how many Noisebud development hours their support has helped make possible. This is not specific to Pinky 2, but to the ongoing development of Noisebud plugins, scripts, and tools in general.

There is currently no separate one-time purchase option for Pinky 2.

Formats:
Mac – VST3 & AU
Win – VST3

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Original Patreon post:
https://www.patreon.com/Noisebud/posts/162702668/

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