Broken Record

Controls

Wear

Controls the character of the entire effect, from 0 to 100.

At 0, the signal passes through unaffected. As Wear increases, Broken Record gradually brings in tonal aging, saturation, surface noise, crackle, pops, pitch drift, stereo narrowing, and mono low end.

Lower settings add subtle vintage color. Higher settings move into worn, warped, and damaged-record territory.

Bypass

The amber lamp in the top-left corner shows whether the plugin is active.

Bypass is click-free and can be automated. Instead of switching hard between processed and dry audio, Broken Record crossfades over about 12 ms.

How it behaves

Broken Record is designed as one voiced signal chain rather than a collection of separate vinyl effects. Each part of the processing follows its own curve against Wear, so the sound ages gradually instead of everything arriving at once.

The tone gets darker as Wear rises, with gentle saturation adding harmonic weight along the way. The stereo image narrows progressively, while the low end moves toward mono.

Crackle and pops are generated procedurally in real time rather than played back from samples, so long passages do not loop and no two playbacks are exactly alike.

The crackle also reacts to the music. An envelope follower gently increases crackle density, grain size, and hiss with the incoming signal, helping the texture feel embedded in the recording instead of sitting on top of it.

Wow is tied to 33 1/3 rpm, the rotation rate of an LP, with a small amount of faster flutter layered on top. The modulation is identical on both channels, so it reads as pitch drift rather than stereo chorus.

At moderate settings, the movement stays subtle and mostly reads as age. Push Wear higher and the top end darkens further, the stereo image closes in, pops become more frequent, and the pitch drift starts to sound like an audibly warped record.

There is no dry/wet control. Broken Record runs in series, and the internal balances are fixed so the whole thing moves together.

Features

• Single WEAR control for the complete effect.
• Transparent processing at WEAR 0.
• Progressive high-frequency roll-off.
• Low-frequency mono centering.
• Progressive stereo narrowing.
• Soft saturation.
• Real-time generated pink surface noise.
• Additional grit layer.
• Procedurally generated micro-crackle.
• Sparse larger pops at higher Wear settings.
• Once-per-revolution defect tick.
• 33⅓ rpm-inspired wow.
• Mechanical flutter.
• Program-dependent surface texture.
• Click-free bypass.
• Mono and stereo operation.
• ~2 ms reported latency.
• VST3 for Windows, macOS and Linux.
• Audio Unit for macOS.

Installing

macOS

Run the installer, Broken-Record-<version>.pkg. VST3 and Audio Unit are both installed unless you press Customize and uncheck one.

VST3 (Windows)

Copy "Broken Record.vst3" to: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\

VST3 (Linux)

Copy "Broken Record.vst3" to: ~/.vst3/

Note that a .vst3 is a folder, not a single file — copy the whole thing. Your host may need a plug-in rescan, or a restart, before it appears.