The Wider VST plugin is one of the most famous stereo effects out there.
And itās totally free.
The Wider VST effect is a stereo expansion plugin. Basically, it takes any sound and makes itā¦ well, wider š And the recently release V2 brings a few more options to the table. Donāt worry, Iāll run you through everything you need to know.
Whatās more, Wider is not the only plugin from Polyverse. In this guide, Iāll also go over my 3 favorite other Polyverse plugins.
So letās get stuck in š
If youāre just here to download the Wider VST, you can grab it here. Although I would recommend hanging around to learn how to use it š
What Is The Wider VST? š¤
As mentioned in the intro, the Wider plugin is a stereo expansion plugin.
If youāre new to the topic of stereo imaging, hereās what you need to know.
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 1 image 119](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/image-119.png)
Stereo imaging is the art of placing elements of your track in a 180Ā° field. By placing certain sounds to the left and others to the right, you create a sense of space.
If youāre interested in diving deeper, weāve got a full article on the differences between mono vs. stereo š
However, what if you want to make a single element wider? That is, you donāt want to place to the left or right of your mix. You just want it to occupy āmore spaceā, for lack of a better term.
This is where the Haas effect comes in.
The Haas effect states that:
- 2 identical waveformsā¦
- ā¦ separated by a short enough time delay (lower than 40ms)ā¦
- ā¦ will be perceived by our ears as a single sound.
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 2 image 120](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/image-120.png)
But hereās the kicker.
Although we still perceive it as one sound, a feeling of space is introduced.
Check this example out:
This is the type of effect the Wider VST achieves:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 3 The Wider VST](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image.png)
Wider takes any mono-signal and artificially widens it. Letās take a listen:
But with the V2, Wider has introduced some new features. Letās look at some of them š
A Deeper Look into How the Wider VST Works š§
The Wider VST is described as using a ādiverse all-pass and comb filtering algorithmā. This enables the sound to always remain āin phaseā with itself.
Phase cancellation is a topic I learned a bit late in my production journey.
If youāre new to production, you might also be wondering what āin phaseā means. And why is it important?
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 4 Pay attention to mono compatibility...](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-1.png)
To make a long story short, it has to do with when your track is played in mono. This could be in a club, on an iPhone, or on a small Bluetooth speaker. When this happens, the Left and Right channels are summed together.
If you happen to have sounds that are out of phase, they will cancel each other out.
This will result in a weak-sounding mix. Especially if the phase cancellation happens in the low end.
If you want to learn more, check out our full guide on phase cancellation and mono compatibility.
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 5 Two waveforms that are out of phase will lead to phase cancellation](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-2.png)
Lucky for us, the Wider VST will always keep a sound in phase.
This means you can widen a sound as much as you want, but it will still sound good in mono. You can even instantly check this with the āMonoā button:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 6 Checking for mono compatibility in the Wider VST](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-4.png)
The other cool feature introduced by the V2 of the Wider VST is āLow Bypassā.
Basically, this lets you exclude low frequencies from the widening effect.
For example, you might have an instrumental loop you want to widen. But you want to leave the kick and bass in the center.
3 Use Cases for the Wider VST
So, when should you use Wider?
The short answer is, whenever you want some width š
Jokes aside, letās look at a few practical examples.
#1: Wider VST on Drums š„
This is one of my favorite applications of the Wider VST.
The idea here is to artificially re-create the room mic in a drum room:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 7 image 6](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-6.png)
Room mics are what give a sense of space to our drums. Here are 5 easy steps to re-create them:
- Create a parallel channel for your drum track
- Set a reverb with a short decay to 100% Wet
- Remove the mid information with an EQ that has mid/side processing
- Load Wider and set it to 100%
- Low-cut below roughly 200 Hz
All you have to do now is blend the processed signal to taste! This should bring you from this:
To this:
Nice! š¤©
#2: Wider VST on an Effect Send ā”ļø
Another great way to use the Wider VST is to widen effects.
This means you are placing Wider on a parallel channel, not the main sound.
If this sounds confusing to you, make sure to check out our complete guide on parallel processing.
One example is to widen a reverb. But widening a delay can also work:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 8 Placing Wider VST in the Reverb Send](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-7.png)
#3: Add Presence to a Bass šø
Do you often find yourself adjusting the volume of your bass?
It never seems to fit ā either itās too quiet, or too loud.
One trick to remedy this is to widen your mid-bass. Your sub-bass should always stay in mono, however.
If youāre in FL Studio, you can do this with the Frequency Splitter:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 9 Using Frequency Splitter to only process the mid-bass](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-8.png)
In Ableton Live, you can use the Audio Effect Rack:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 10 Audio Effect Rack in Ableton Live](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-9.png)
Once youāve isolated the mid-bass, load up the Wider VST. This should give your bass more presence, without sacrificing the mono-compatibility.
What About the Other Polyverse Plugins? š
Although the Wider VST plugin might be the most famous, Polyverse offers a whole range of plugins.
Letās have a quick look at my 3 favorites.
Comet: Achieve Maximum Lushness
Comet is a reverb plugin designed to craft beautiful, lush spaces:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 11 The Comet VST reverb plugin](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-10.png)
Comet is not a reverb destined to re-create real spaces. For that, you might want to look at a convolution reverb.
Instead, Comet is best suited to create artificial textures and ambiance.
A key feature of Comet is the preset morphing ability. This means you can smoothly switch between presets with the Glide function:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 12 Switching presets with the Glide function](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-13.png)
In this example, I am going to switch between 2 different presets over 8 bars:
Other cool features include:
- High and Low Damping. This lets you control how fast the high and low frequencies disappear from the reverb
- Color. A sort of filter that makes your reverb darker or brighter.
Finally, one last functionality that I havenāt seen on other reverb plugins is the āLockā function:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 13 Locking certain values in](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-12.png)
Basically, you can lock any parameter to a defined value. You can then switch between presets without affecting that parameter. This is really useful when Comet is on a Send channel and you want to keep the Wet at 100% for example.
Manipulator: Drastically Alter Any Sound
Manipulator is a wonderfully weird plugin:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 14 Manipulator, a beautifully weird plugin](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-14.png)
The easiest is to show you what it can do. Here is the original audio Iām working with:
And here are some of the results passing through Manipulator:
Manipulator works best on vocals, but you can throw it on any sound (just like the Wider VST). Hereās what I got when I loaded a Kick + Bass into it:
My preferred way of using Manipulator is to map a bunch of parameters to my MIDI keyboard.
I then play a loop and mess with the MIDI knobs until I find something I like!
Supermodal: Bringing Filters to the Next Level
Finally, Supermodal is a next-gen filter like no other:
![Wider VST Free Download + Our Top 3 Polyverse Plugins š„ 15 Supermodal VST](https://www.edmprod.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-15.png)
Supermodal features 27 different filter modes. These modes can be subtle, or completely transform your sound.
You also get integrated LFO sequencers. With these, you can automate any parameter you want to create rhythmic sequences:
Just like with the Wider VST plugin, you can lock parameters to certain values. This makes it smoother when switching between presets. Finally, you also get Macro knobs to control different parameters together.
Last Words
Thatās it for this guide on the Wider VST and my favorite Polyverse plugins!
Did I miss out on anything? Any questions? Let me know over at [emailĀ protected]