Plugin Alliance's Sandman Pro is 'unlike any other delay available'

Plugin Alliance and Unfiltered Audio have announced a major new version of Sandman, their popular delay/looper plugin, Sandman, which is aptly named Sandman Pro.

The new version represents a complete overhaul of the original and offers a slew of new features, including seven new delay modes.

Classic Tape mode adds virtual tape saturation, wow and flutter to traditional delay effects and to unorthodox loops and grains.

Multi-Tap mode delivers 16 simultaneous delay lines that can be used to create massive doubling, ensemble and echo effects. The Reverse mode, meanwhile, produces click-free, haunting reverse echoes.

Using Modern Instant mode, Sandman Pro's delay time can be dramatically modulated to morph flanging or doubling effects into long echo trails in realtime without producing audible pitch artifacts.

The dual-mono Pitch Shifter mode is ideal for vocal harmonies, classic shimmer effects, metallic textures and more, while the Glitch Shifter mode adds instability to pitch-shifted signals for unorthodox effects.

It's possible to modulate Sandman Pro's Sleep button in No Echo mode to create stutter and glitch effects in realtime, and the new Echoes section in Sandman Pro includes a stereo feedback network and a Diffusion control, blending any delay tail you create into thick reverberant pads.

Plugin Alliance and Unfiltered Audio believe it's the plugin's extreme versatility that sets Sandman Pro apart from competing products. "Capable of creating any and all delay-based effects - and never-before-heard sounds that transform mixes, FX tracks for film and live performances - Sandman Pro is unlike anything else currently available."

Until the end of October 2016, Plugin Alliance will be offering Sandman Pro for $29 as an upgrade (70% off normal price of $99) while first-time Sandman Pro buyers get the streamlined Sandman for free.

The plugin is available in AAX native, VST and AU formats for Mac OS 10.8 or higher and Windows 7 through 10. The new Pro edition is available as a fully-functional 14-day demo from the Plugin Alliance website.

Sandman Pro features

  • Seven new delay modes: Classic Tape, Modern Instant, Pitch Shifter, Glitch Shifter, Multi-Tap, Reverse and No Echo
  • Produces an unparalleled variety of time-based effects, including flanging, phasing, chorus, ping-pong delays, 16-tap delays, automatic double tracking, reverse echoes, reverb, pitch shifting, harmonizing, granular synthesis, percussion resonator, stutter generator, glitch effects and many other effects that defy description
  • Professionally designed presets from Richard Devine, Julius Dobos (a.k.a. forgotten future), Simon Stockhausen, and Toby Pitman of Air Studios
  • Delay times range from 5 ms to a whopping 1,000 seconds when used in conjunction with Sample Rate reduction
  • Sleep buffer can be reversed, re-pitched, down-sampled, trashed with noise, modulated and shaped with built-in lowpass and highpass filters
  • Every control - including the Sleep and Kill (panic) buttons - can be automated
  • Unfiltered Audio's flagship modulation system provides six freely assignable and fully automatable modulators (sine LFO, sawtooth/triangle LFO, square-wave LFO, input follower, sample-and-hold noise, and macro control knob), with intuitive drag-and-drop patching to each and every one of Sandman Pro's controls
  • Left and right channels can have cross-channel feedback and filtering applied and their delay times linked, offset or independently adjusted
  • Feedback, X-Feed and Diffusion parameters to create thick delay tails or even reverbs
  • M/S mode outputs Mid and Side signals on left and right channels, transforming Sandman Pro into a mid-side encoder
  • M/S Width control adjusts the wet signal's stereo field from mono to stereo to super-wide stereo
  • Soft Clip function provides analog-style saturation at Sandman Pro's inputs and outputs
  • Waveform display shows the effect of your control tweaks in real time
Simon Arblaster
Video Producer & Reviews Editor

I take care of the reviews on MusicRadar and Future Music magazine, though can sometimes be spotted in front of a camera talking little sense in the presence of real musicians. For the past 30 years, I have been unable to decide on which instrument to master, so haven't bothered. Currently, a lover of all things high-gain in the guitar stakes and never one to resist churning out sub-standard funky breaks, the likes of which you'll never hear.