RJ Studios releases "True Mid/Side" - Left/Center/Right channel extractor

[Larry Shelby]

RJ Studios has released True Mid/Side, Mid<>Side Channel Extractor. They say:

Traditional "Mid/Side" processing is often a misnomer for what is technically "sum and difference" processing. In this traditional approach the "Mid" output is simply the mono sum of left and right (M=L+R) while the "side" output is the mono difference of left and right (S=L-R). Any signals panned hard left or hard right - which are actually pure "side" signals - will appear in both the Mid and Side outputs. Meanwhile, the "Side" output is a mono mix containing both the left and right sides. This is not how we hear stereo and is not "true" Mid/Side.

"True Mid/Side" actually separates the phantom center (what we hear in the middle of a stereo mix) from the stereo side signals. The stereo Side signals are separated to their respective Left and Right sides. All three resultant signals (Left-Center-Right) can be exported and controlled independently. Signals panned to the center of the stereo mix (the "Phantom Center") emerge ONLY in the Middle/Center output while signals hard-panned Left/Right in the stereo mix emerge ONLY in the Side outputs (and on the same side they appear in the stereo mix).

True Mid/Side can be used to extract and render Middle/Center and Side stems from a stereo track or bus and can also be used in effects inserts and sends in your DAW during mixing and mastering. All outputs are directly usable - latency compensated and linear phase - and do not require re-encoding back to stereo.

True Mid/Side is a 64-bit plugin in VST, VST3 and AAX formats for Windows PC and VST, VST3, AAX and AU formats for Mac OS 10.11+ on Intel and Apple Silicon.

Price: $29.95. Free 14-day trial demos are available for download at RJ Studio's website.

https://www.kvraudio.com/product/true-mid-side---mid-side-channel-extractor-by-raising-jake-studios

[bitflipper]

WTF. I had to read that explanation twice to figure out wth they're talking about. First, they give the actual literal definition of M/S and then proceed to tell you that it's all wrong by giving a misleading explanation of how M/S processing works and what it's for. And then arrogantly designate their interpretation as "True" Mid/Side.

The good news is it's not complete bs. You just have to read between the lines. What they call "True" Mid/Side is just a way to make left, center and right content available as separate streams.

I'm not sure at this point why I'd want to do that, but it legitimately is a new way of looking at stereophonic processing. I take issue only with confusing it with what they call "traditional" M/S processing, because that's what M/S processing is. Of course, they use the same technique internally to determine the common content that M/S encoding does, but this is in no way a replacement for M/S encoding/decoding.

I'd be curious to hear anyone's hypotheses as to potential applications for this plugin. Separating voices in a spoken interview recorded with a stereo microphone in the same room, perhaps?

 

[antler]

Err... did they just say that "true" mid/side can be achieved by:

1. Doing "wrong" mid/side processing, and then
2. Splitting the left and right channels of the side channel into two separate channels themselves?

 

1 hour ago, bitflipper said:

I'd be curious to hear anyone's hypotheses as to potential applications for this plugin. Separating voices in a spoken interview recorded with a stereo microphone in the same room, perhaps?

Breaking up an LCR mix maybe? Other than that, no idea...

Edited April 16, 2022 by antler

[bitflipper]

Maybe opening a hole within a stereo synth pad to make room for vocals?

Obviously, it depends on your definition of Right, Left and Center. Looking at the screenshots on their page show that these are all user-definable.

They definitely make a better case there than what's in the KVR product description. On their own product page, they advertise it as a width maximizer. Sounds like you'd use it to emphasize the Side content - which is exactly what you do with a M/S-aware EQ or compressor, except with the added ability to treat Left and Right independently. These pictures make it more clear what the plugin does.

[bitflipper]

Oops, that screenshot is for a different plugin. The "True Mid-Side Extractor" does not have all those controls. Here's the one we're talking about:

With "Adjustable" as the selected output, this plugin pretty much acts like a normal M/S gain effect like MSED (free from Voxengo). If you turn the knob all the way to the left, the result can be comical. I tried it on a full mix that had a stereo organ track. The Leslie effect was turned into a weird bubbling noise, since all I heard was when the sound went fully to the side, while the panning transition through the center was quashed.

With "Middle/Center" selected, it does the same thing as Cakewalk's Channel Tools plugin if you center the L and R sliders. Basically a stereo-to-mono effect.

"Stereo Sides" works like MSED when you turn the Side up or the Mid down, emphasizing the harder-panned components.

"Left Side" and "Right Side" are exactly that. Eliminates the opposite side.

Still looking for a practical use case. At this point that would seem to be as a M/S widener, but I can already do that with Channel Tools or MSED.

[Bapu]

Maybe it's used to put Baby (aka Bapu) in the corner.

[mibby]

6 minutes ago, Bapu said:

Maybe it's used to put Baby (aka Bapu) in the corner.

Is it already bought and installed??