Midside Matrix is the utilitarian younger sibling of Midside, our full-featured, mastering-grade mid/side processor. Midside Matrix accomplishes the essential mid/side processing & conversion tasks in a simple, lightweight package — and it’s FREE!

Background

To read more about the concepts of Mid/side audio, please see the Background section of the Midside manual.

  • Want to enhance the width and size of the chorus in your mix? Try automating up the Side Gain when the chorus hits.
  • Want a bridge section to feel smaller and more compact? Automate the Side Gain down.
  • Want to turn your favorite stereo analog compressor into a mid/side-capable compressor? Use Midside Matrix to encode a stereo signal as M/S to feed the compressor, and another instance Midside Matrix to decode it post-compression.

Visualization

Goniometer

Midside Matrix includes a large real-time stereo display called a goniometer (or vectorscope). By interpreting the goniometer, it’s possible to quickly deduce many characteristics about the stereo field and the precise relationship between left & right channels.

Here are some examples of how simple stereo signals appear in the goniometer:

Left and Right in Goniometer

Mid and Side in Goniometer

Controls

Primary Controls

Mid

Mid On/Off

Turns Mid Gain On and Off.

Options: Off, On

  • Default On

Mid Gain

Adjusts the gain of the mid signal.

Mid Gain includes a level meter embedded in the slider. This meter shows the peak level of the mid signal both pre (lighter color) and post (darker color) Midside Matrix’s processing.

If the signal peak exceeds or equals 0.0dB the meter color turns red, indicating that clipping could occur. Midside Matrix will never clip internally, due to its double-precision floating-point processing, but the signal might be clipped at a later stage (by the host/DAW or DAC).

  • Min -96.0dB
  • Max 12.0dB
  • Default 0.0dB

Side

Side On/Off

Turns Side Gain On and Off.

Options: Off, On

  • Default On

Side Gain

Adjusts the gain of the side signal.

Side Gain includes a level meter embedded in the slider. This meter shows the peak level of the side signal both pre (lighter color) and post (darker color) Midside Matrix’s processing.

If the signal peak exceeds or equals 0.0dB the meter color turns red, indicating that clipping could occur. Midside Matrix will never clip internally, due to its double-precision floating-point processing, but the signal might be clipped at a later stage (by the host/DAW or DAC).

  • Min -96.0dB
  • Max 12.0dB
  • Default 0.0dB

Routing

Input Mode

Sets the input signal format.

Options: L | R, M | S

  • Default L | R

Output Mode

Sets the output signal format.

Options: L | R, M | S

  • Default L | R

Flip L/R

Swaps the left and right channels.

Options: L | R, R | L

  • Default L | R

Master On/Off

Bypasses Midside Matrix’s processing.

Options: Off, On

We recommend using the Master On/Off instead of your DAW’s plugin bypass to avoid digital artifacts.

  • Default On

Specs

Supported Channel Configurations

Input Channel # Output Channel #
2 2

Presets

The presets are a great way to get to know each plugin. The preset drawer can be accessed at the bottom of each plugin by clicking the current preset name.

Acknowledgements

Annlie Huang / Chris Conover / Diana Zheng / Jack Stratton / TaeHo Park

Authors

Devin Kerr / Rob Stenson / Jasper Duba / Noah Dayan

Translators

TaeHo Park / Tiago Frúgoli / Gustavo Guzmán / Reda Kermach / Noah Dayan / Gal Cohen / Sydney Bolton

About Goodhertz Plugins

User Interface

Goodhertz plugins are made to be workhorse tools that sound amazing. We’ve put a lot of thought and care into the audio quality and plugin usability, and for that reason, we’ve opted for simple and direct controls & interfaces that don’t rely on photorealistic knobs or ornamental screw heads to communicate their meaning.

We’ve also decided to only include meters and graphs when we feel they will directly lead to a better sonic result. Meters/graphs can consume significant CPU resources, and we firmly believe that if it sounds good, it is good.

Our meters can be manually enabled or disabled via the “Enable Metering” User Preference.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Action Keyboard Shortcut
Enter New Parameter Value Once you’ve tapped or double-tapped a control, type in a value, then hit Enter, Return, or Tab
Increment Parameter Value ↑ or → arrow keys
Decrement Parameter Value ↓ or ← arrow keys
Jump to Next Parameter Tab
Jump to Previous Parameter Shift + Tab or ` (backtick)
Escape Parameter Focus / Close any Open Drawers Esc
Tap Tempo t (N.B. For this to work, you must have a BPM control selected.)

Right-Click Actions

Action Instruction
Read about Control in Manual Right-Click & select “Read About [control]”
Reset Control to Default Right-Click & select “Reset [control] to Factory Default Value”
Lock a Control when switching presets Right-Click & select “Lock [control] When Switching Presets”
Copy all current plugin settings Right-Click & select “Copy All Settings as URL to Clipboard”
Paste all plugin settings Right-Click & select “Paste All Settings From Clipboard”
Reset all plugin settings to default Right-Click & select “Reset All Settings to Factory Default”
Reset all plugin settings to Preset Right-Click & select “Reset All Settings to [preset] Preset”
Save Preset with current plugin settings Right-Click & select “Save Settings as New Preset”
Update Preset with current plugin settings Right-Click & select “Update [preset] Preset With Settings”
Go to the plugin’s product page Right-Click & select “Goodhertz [plugin name]”

Right-Click Preferences

Action Explanation
Language Switch the display language of text elements in Goodhertz plugins. We currently support the following languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), and Arabic.
Always Open Advanced Pane By default, this is Off — i.e. when the plugins open, they do not show you the advanced controls available by hitting the ••• button in the sidebar. If you’d like to always see the advanced controls, enable this preference.
Dark Mode Allows you to choose the color palette used for displaying the interface. If you prefer the look of dark colors (or work in a darker environment) enable this option. The Auto option will automatically adjust the color scheme depending on the system preferences of your machine (Mac only).
Enable Metering By default, this is On — i.e. in normal operation, all audio meters and visualizations available in Goodhertz plugins are enabled and running. If you’d like to turn them off and disable all metering and visualization, deselect this option. And to turn them back on, simply reselect it. N.B. If you’re struggling to use a large number of Goodhertz plugins on an older processor with an integrated GPU, sometimes disabling metering can help.
Enable Scroll Input By default, all Goodhertz sliders can be scrolled in addition to dragged. If you find this behavior unnecessary, deselect this option and no scrolling events will be used to control Goodhertz sliders.
Enable Tooltips By default, this is On — i.e. all controls will show a tooltip on hover. If you find this behavior unnecessary, deselect this option and no tooltips will be shown.
Require Double-Click for Keyboard Focus By default, you can get keyboard focus on any Goodhertz control with a single click. Enable this option to ensure keyboard focus only occurs on double clicks.
Window Size Enlarge or shrink the Goodhertz plugin window by selecting an option here. This will save your preference for all instances of this plugin.

Mouse Modifiers

Action Combination (Mac) Combination (Windows)
Reset Parameter to Default Value Option + Click Alt + Click
Move Control with Coarse Precision Shift + Drag Shift + Drag
Move Control with Fine Precision Command + Drag Ctrl + Drag
Move Control with Normal Precision Drag Drag

Automation

Unintentional digital clicks and pops are the worst. They happen for lots of reasons and often end up wasting your time with needless revisions or mastering surgery. When they go unnoticed, they can make their way onto commercial albums and releases.

Plugin automation is a common cause of clicks and pops. Sweeping an EQ band, changing a delay setting, and even automating a plugin bypass can cause digital artifacts if poorly handled.

This is not true for Goodhertz plugins. Any parameter in a Goodhertz plugin, even on/off switches, can be automated freely and smoothly without clicks, pops, or zipper noises (unless otherwise noted). You can push them, pull them, LFO them — whatever you do, they’ll handle it gracefully.

Since our Master On/Off controls won’t create artifacts, we recommend that you use them rather than your DAW-supplied plugin bypass if you want to disable plugin processing.

Plugin Settings

Goodhertz plugin settings can be copied and pasted as text urls, which look like this: https://goodhertz.co/vulf-comp/3.0.9?cm=0&wf=0&lf=100&lfc=50

To copy and paste, right click anywhere on the plugin interface and select either the copy or the paste option.

E.g. If you paste “https://goodhertz.co/vulf-comp/3.0.9?cm=0&wf=0&lf=100&lfc=50” into Vulf Compressor it will recall the settings associated with that url. This way you can easily send an exact plugin setting to someone — in an email or even a tweet — without any guesswork or screenshots.”

System Requirements

Mac OS X ≥ 10.9

Audio Unit 64-Bit, VST 64-Bit, VST3 64-Bit, or AAX 64-Bit host

Windows ≥ 7

VST 64-Bit, VST3 64-Bit, or AAX 64-Bit host

Contact Support

To send plugin feedback, please e-mail us at feedback@goodhertz.com.

If you have a quick question, send us a tweet @Goodhertz. We’re often able to respond faster to tweets than emails.

If you’re having trouble, experiencing a technical issue, or you think you’ve found a bug, please email support@goodhertz.com.

Find all our contact info & bug-reporting protocol on the contact page.