Two of the coolest plug-ins at AES were from SoundToys, whose marketing director Mitch Thomas sported spiky purple hair especially for the event. PanMan, as the name suggests, is an auto-panner that makes your stereo field a creative destination for complex modulation. With PanMan’s user-programmable rhythm editor, MIDI sync and user-definable LFO shapes, you can set up stereo patterns that just weren’t possible until now.

Decapitator, as the name implies, has a potentially radical effect on audio signals. Decapitator is a saturation processor offering settings that range from slightly grungy to flat-out overdrive. It beefs up your sound by modeling five types of analog gear. Once you find a sound you like, clicking on the Punish button pushes it right over a cliff without losing any of its analog-sounding edge. SoundToys says that Panner and Decapitator should be available before the end of the year.

Of all the products vying for the biggest buzz at Javits Center, the most labor-saving was almost certainly Vocal Rider, a new plug-in from Waves. Vocal Rider simplifies the job of mixing by automating the normally hands-on process of adjusting the faders on vocal tracks. Instead of manually riding the levels or painstakingly drawing automation data in your multitrack recording software, all you have to do is set a range of levels and let Vocal Rider do its work. It compensates for any variations from the target range, raising or lowering the volume as needed. That should leave a lot more time to focus on recording or other aspects of perfecting your mix.