Excite Audio Lifeline Console review

Excite Audio Lifeline Console: What is it?

In the not too distant past we delved into the wild frontiers of Excite Audio’s debut plugin, Lifeline Expanse. It transpired to be an adept sound-shaping multi-tool, with a particular penchant for making our tracks bite that bit harder, particularly via its re-amping and signal dirtying potential. 

The Lifeline family now welcomes a new member in the shape of Lifeline Console. Bearing the same drag-and-drop, modular interface as its predecessor, the plugin’s focus is on recreating the warmth of an analogue mixing console, the quirky characteristics of traditional storage formats and – what Excite Audio describes as – the ‘charm’ of computer-free music production. 

With five central modules, Lifeline Console is able to either clean and spruce up your entire track, or pointedly degrade your audio into retro-sounding gnarl. Console’s five modules includes three core mixing sculptors: Pre-amp, EQ and Compressor. The other modules, Modulation and Wear, in this case refer to adding the effect of tape-manipulated speed, wow and flutter, and the creative application of noise respectively. 

Excite Audio Lifeline Console: Performance and verdict

As with Lifeline Console, each module has a frequency visualisation. This is particularly useful when sculpting the four-band parametric EQ. With four modes on offer, the EQ-ing potential is surprisingly wide. 

Gain mode pushes all frequencies up a notch, Vintage Circuit daubs on some of that retro saturation that classic hardware would often leave in its wake, while the cranked-to-the-max Dirty Circuit can pleasingly mess up your tracks as only an overloaded piece of dusty hardware would. Unlike other software endeavours to replicate analogue crunch, the end results absolutely sound as if every element has been captured on a wheeled-in, old large-format console.  

This is true too of the Pre-Amp, which injects surprising levels of space and presence to each track element. It notably brings out the clarity of our guitar signal, while further swift tweaks to the low-end augment an already far more impactful element of our track. As with EQ, three distinct modes – Bright, Warm and Dark – carve out the various nuances of high, midrange and low-end frequencies.

The Compressor is equally impressive, with adjustable parameters to easily swing your track in various directions. Spanning traditional hardware quality-imparting to modern slickness. Simple Threshold, Ratio, Attack and Release controls are familiar, while Mid/Side and Left/Right processing is available for more soundstage-tightening tasks.

Down in the dirt

Though the mixing modules are effective, it’s with the Modulation and Wear modules where the real meat of Lifeline Console’s colourful character is on show. Adjusting the pitch subtly within the Mod section can subconsciously trick the ear into thinking you’re listening to something recorded in the pre-digital era, the easy-to-adjust visualisations of the X/Y pads make fine-sculpting Wow and Flutter controls a doddle. Starting here, it’s then encouraged to adjust Wear’s Noise and Age controls to degrade the signal, add the illusion of movement to your audio, and work up some traditional-sounding analogue sound design.

Lifeline Console has a range of applications, then, from large-format console-style mixing and sound fattening, to weaving some aged, vibe sound design that is pretty much indistinguishable from going to town on a reel-to-reel with a couple of razor blades. It’s fantastic that the oft-forgotten beauty of tape and analogue-based effects are at the forefront of contemporary plugins such as this, emphasising that what was once thought of as a by-product of a wonky format, is now the revered hallmark of a past, glorious age.

MusicRadar verdict: There’s a lot to mine here, from fattening our mixes to adding the illusion of age and dabbling with the weird consequences of going down a tape-effect rabbit hole.

Excite Audio Lifeline Console: The web says

"The ability to swap around modules and mix/match all the different effects in whatever order you want opens up so many possibilities. It does the job of at least 5 plugins if not more."
Audio Plugin Guy

Excite Audio Lifeline Console: Hands-on demos

Plugin Boutique

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White Noise Studio

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Will Hatton

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SumnSumnSumn HTK

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Excite Audio Lifeline Console: Specifications

• macOS 10.7 or higher (Intel / Native M1 Apple Silicon supported). VST, VST3, AU, AAX, Standalone. 64-bit compatible only.
• Windows 7 or higher. VST, VST3, AAX, Standalone. 64-bit and 32-bit compatible.
• CONTACT: Excite Audio