23DSP has released 23Bloom, a harmonic enhancer and loudness expander for Windows, macOS and Linux in VST3 and AU formats. It is a rebuilt version of the company’s earlier Bloom plug-in, carrying a new name and a new engine, and it replaces it.
23Bloom
23Bloom raises perceived loudness by adding harmonics rather than by reducing gain. The signal is driven into a transfer curve that lifts low-level detail and folds the loud parts under full scale, so density and presence increase without the dynamic range being compressed.
Input provides up to 12 dB of drive, Curve selects the shape of the transfer function from −50 to +50, Effect blends the shaped signal against the dry one from 0 to 100 per cent, and Output trims up to −12 dB. A Clip switch holds the input at 0 dB rather than at twice full scale. An XY pad plots the transfer curve while the signal is playing.
The band split is now adjustable. Both Linkwitz-Riley crossovers are parameters, the lower one from 60 to 800 Hz and the upper from 1 to 10 kHz, and each of the three bands has its own Amount from 0 to 100 per cent, so one band can pass unshaped while the others are driven. The low band carries the upper crossover’s all-pass, so the three bands sum back flat. The earlier Bloom split at a fixed 240 Hz and 2.4 kHz and applied the same shaping to all three bands.
Loudness tracking has been rewritten. A K-weighted detector — a high-pass at 100 Hz, a 4 dB bell at 2 kHz and a low-pass at 8 kHz — drives the Curve control from the programme level, firmer as the material gets louder at a positive Amount and softer at a negative one. Its rise is 2 ms, and a Response control sets the release: Fast at 40 ms, Slow at 800 ms, and Auto between the two according to how sustained the material is.
Other features include:
- Stereo and Mid/Side modes, as in Bloom, but with three independent sets of controls for the stereo pair, the mid and the side in a single parameter tree rather than two networks.
- A Solo control for the mid or the side, and a Delta control that plays the output minus the input. Neither is stored in a preset or in a session.
- Level Match, which offsets the output by the gain that the input drive and the shaping add to pink noise at −16 dBFS RMS, so that Curve and Effect can be compared at a constant loudness.
- A Density readout, giving the reduction in crest factor in dB over the most recent measurement window.
- 18 factory presets in seven categories, each carrying a description, with a browser that saves, renames, deletes, imports and exports user presets. Presets saved in Bloom import directly.
- Two settings slots, A and B, with a copy button, plus undo and redo.
- Oversampling at 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x or 16x, with the resulting latency reported to the host: none at 1x, four samples at 2x and six above it.
- Input and output peak meters, per channel, from −60 to 0 dB, and a window that scales from 0.75x to 2x.
- Stereo input and output, at sample rates from 44.1 to 192 kHz.
Pricing & Availability
23Bloom is available now on a pay-what-you-want basis from EUR 10. It runs on Windows (64-bit, VST3), macOS 10.13 and later (Intel and Apple Silicon, VST3 and AU, as a signed and notarised installer) and Linux (x64, VST3).
The current version is 0.10.0-RC2, a release candidate.
Owners of Bloom receive it at no further cost through their existing purchase.
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