A new way to color.
Albatross is a multi-effect built around toning, texturing, and designing sound from a color point of view. That’s why we’ve specialized in unique tone-shaping tools that give you greater control over the timbre and character of your sound. Each effect offers multiple ways to carefully manipulate your signal—from subtly blending it back into the mix to pushing it front and center.
1. Gooey Icon — Hover your mouse over the Gooey icon to view the current plug-in version. Alternatively, click the icon to bypass the entire plug-in.
2. Preset Menu
Save Preset — Click the down arrow to open the save window, allowing presets to be saved to the Gooey Music folder.
Preset Navigation — Use the scroll arrows to quickly browse through presets and audition different settings.
Preset Display — Click the preset name to open a complete menu of all available presets. User-created presets will be categorized under the Misc section.
3. Main Mix — Controls the overall mix of Albatross. Note that the drop presets are designed with bass cuts and effects that create tension or thin out the sound. Use the Main Mix control to quickly reduce the amount of color and bring the original bass back into focus.
4. Volume — Provides a subtle boost or reduction in volume to help dial in the desired amount of sidechain pump.
5. Sidechain Pump — The Pump control will have no effect unless the Sidechain button is enabled. When active, the Sidechain button will turn yellow. Raise the Pump control to increase the amount of pumping generated by the sidechain signal. Note that you must still route a sidechain signal into the plug-in for the sidechain pump to operate.
6. Bypass — Bypasses the limiter section. This is particularly useful when comparing the limiter’s effect, as Digital mode can add brightness and increase the signal level while also helping preserve headroom.
7. Threshold — In Digital mode, lowering the limiter threshold will attenuate louder signals while also bringing up quieter signals. In Vintage mode, lowering the threshold primarily attenuates the signal once it reaches the selected level.
8. Lookahead — In Digital mode, Lookahead has little to no audible effect because the limiter operates as a brickwall limiter. In Vintage mode, Lookahead allows the limiter to anticipate incoming peaks and reduce amplitude before they occur.
9. Release — Controls how quickly the limiter returns to normal after gain reduction has been applied. This control operates in both Digital and Vintage modes.
10. Vintage — Switches the limiter between Digital and Vintage modes, changing the overall tone and timbre of the limiting process.
11. Input Gain — Controls the level of the incoming signal. The input can be boosted by up to 24 dB or reduced by up to 60 dB.
12. Main Filter — Acts as a bandpass filter with a 24 dB/octave roll-off, allowing you to remove harsh or unwanted frequencies from the effect.
13. Tone Filter — Shapes the tonal character of the signal, with a focus around 1 kHz. Alternatively, press the red light button to engage a more focused filter for the Tone control.
14. Width — At the center position, the Width control has no effect on the signal. Turn it to the right to spread the signal across the stereo field, or turn it to the left to narrow the signal toward mono.
15. Output Gain — Controls the final output level. The output can be boosted by up to 24 dB or reduced by up to 60 dB.
16. Draggable Control — Click and drag this area to easily swap effects within the effect chain. This is particularly useful when crafting sounds and experimenting with different effect orders to find the right tone.
17. Visual Display — Provides a visual representation of how the selected effect is interacting with the signal. The display is a rough approximation of the signal’s transformation rather than an exact representation. For example, when Tape Wobble is active, an additional inner waveform may appear within the fluctuating wow waveform to represent the effect’s flutter.
18. Effect Menu — Choose from 15 different effects. Effects can be browsed using the scroll controls or selected directly from the effect menu.
19. Main Effect Area — Each effect features a unique color-coded interface with a dedicated set of controls tailored to the selected effect.
20. Flux — Introduces controlled randomness into the sound, adding variation and movement to the effect.
21. Bypass Light — Quickly bypass the selected effect to A/B test the processed and unprocessed signals.
22. Effect Mix — Controls how much of the selected effect is blended into the overall effect chain.
The Vintage Tape module is the heart and soul of Albatross. Use it on pads, keys, and other long, continuous sounds to add organic wow and flutter, bringing a nostalgic tape-like character to your sound.
(1) Wow — Applies a slow, warbling modulation to the signal, gently bending the pitch for a more nostalgic character. The control uses a skewed response curve, so as it approaches maximum, the wobbling becomes increasingly extreme—almost like a damaged or scratched tape deck.
(2) Flutter — Introduces random, rapid pitch variations within the wow modulation. Flutter adds the distinctive instability of a vintage tape deck, creating the sensation of the tape skipping and bending in pitch over time.
(3) Random — Reshapes the flutter algorithm to use random playhead jumps instead of traditional oscillations. The overall effect is similar to the standard flutter mode, but the resulting pitch variations are sharper, more erratic, and less predictable.
The Spring module emulates the rapid pitch fluctuations created by sound vibrating through mechanical spring coils. Use it to add a lively, unstable pitch character to your sound. Tip: To recreate the classic sound of a spring-style reverb, place the Spring effect before a plate reverb in the signal chain.
(1) Rate — Controls the speed of the spring coil vibrations, ranging from medium to fast rates. Lower rates create slower pitch movement, while higher rates produce more noticeable and energetic vibrations.
(2) Rate Lock — Locks the oscillation rate to the host tempo, allowing the spring vibrations to synchronize rhythmically with your project.
(3) Depth — Controls the intensity of the pitch modulation relative to the input signal. At lower settings, the effect is subtle and resembles gentle vibrato. As the depth increases, the modulation becomes more pronounced, eventually transforming the vibrato into an intense and aggressive pitch-bending effect.
(4) Phase — Applies an offset between the left and right oscillators, creating a wider, thicker stereo image. At maximum Phase, the oscillators are perfectly out of phase, causing one side to rise in pitch while the other falls, producing a pronounced stereo movement.
The Classic Chorus module is inspired by the vintage-style chorus effects of the past. Its internal oscillators operate at slightly different rates and phase relationships, creating a deep, dark, and lush stereo character with the rich thickening expected from a classic chorus effect.
(1) Rate — Controls the speed of the internal oscillators. At lower rates, the chorus effect remains subtle while adding width and movement to the stereo image. As the rate increases, the oscillations become more noticeable, though they remain smoother and less pronounced than those produced by the Spring mode.
(2) Depth — Controls the intensity and range of the chorus modulation across the stereo field. Higher Depth settings produce deeper, darker, and warmer modulation, while lower settings create a more subtle chorus effect with gentle stereo movement.
(3) Darken — Applies a damping filter to the upper frequencies of the signal. Use this control to shape the tone and color of the effect, allowing the chorus to sit more prominently forward in the mix or recede into the background.
The Flanger module features two distinct modes, each offering a different take on the classic flanging effect.
Digital Mode produces a pronounced Doppler-style flange, with dramatic wailing, sweeping, and wooshing movements. Traditional Mode is inspired by the character of Leslie-style modulation, delivering a deeper, darker, and more subtle wooshing effect.
(1) Feedback — Controls the amount of the flanger signal fed back into the effect, increasing the intensity and resonance of the wailing and wooshing character. The Feedback control in Albatross is always limited to below unity gain, ensuring the effect remains stable and never becomes self-oscillating.
(2) Tempo Lock — Locks the rate of the internal oscillators to the host tempo, allowing the flanging movement to synchronize with the timing of your project.
(3) Depth — Controls the range of the flanger’s pitch movement. Lower Depth settings create shorter, tighter, and higher-pitched wooshing effects, while higher settings produce wider, deeper, and lower-pitched sweeps.
(4) Rate — Controls the speed of the internal oscillators and determines how frequently the flanging movement occurs. When Tempo Lock is enabled, the Rate control determines the rhythmic interval at which the modulation occurs relative to the host tempo.
(5) Phase — The flanger uses two internal oscillators to create its stereo movement. Phase introduces an offset between the two oscillators, causing them to fluctuate at different points in time. At maximum Phase, the oscillators are perfectly out of phase, with their peaks and valleys occurring at exactly opposite intervals for a pronounced stereo effect.
(6) Color — Shapes the tonal character of the flanger using a shelving filter. Moving the control in one direction applies a high-shelf boost for a brighter sound, while moving it in the opposite direction applies a low-shelf emphasis for a darker character.
The Wah Filter is inspired by the classic wah pedal, where the filter’s cutoff frequency is continuously swept to create its signature vocal-like tone. Instead of being controlled by a foot pedal, Albatross uses the incoming audio level (amplitude) to automatically open and close the filter, producing a dynamic, expressive wah effect.
(1) Wah – Adjusts the sensitivity of the envelope follower. Higher settings cause the filter to respond more dramatically to changes in the incoming signal. For the most natural effect, this control should be dialed in to match the dynamics of the source material.
(2) Invert – Reverses the direction of the envelope movement. Instead of opening the filter as the input level increases, the filter will close, creating an alternative wah response.
(3) Cutoff – Sets the center cutoff frequency around which the wah movement occurs.
(4) Rate – Controls the speed of the internal LFO, which can be used to add continuous modulation on top of the envelope-controlled wah. The LFO can operate freely or be synchronized to the host tempo.
(5) Depth – Determines how far the internal LFO modulates the cutoff frequency from the Cutoff setting.
(6) Q – Adjusts the filter resonance. Higher Q values emphasize frequencies around the cutoff point, producing a more pronounced and vocal-sounding wah effect.
The Noise Generator recreates the character and imperfections of vintage audio equipment. It includes classic vinyl sounds such as record hiss and needle scratches, along with a collection of atmospheric noises including amplifier hum, room chatter, vacuum cleaners, and other environmental textures. These sounds can be blended into your mix to add realism, grit, or nostalgic character.
(1) Duck – Adjusts the sensitivity of the noise ducking. The noise level changes proportionally to the incoming audio signal. At lower settings, the noise remains relatively constant, while higher settings cause the noise to react more dramatically. At extreme values, the noise can become the dominant sound rather than simply sitting beneath the source.
(2) Invert – Reverses the ducking behavior. When enabled, the noise becomes more prominent as the input signal gets quieter. When disabled, the noise follows the incoming signal in the normal direction.
(3) Bandpass Filter – Shapes the tonal character of the noise using a 24 dB/octave bandpass filter. Adjust the filter to focus the noise on a specific frequency range or narrow its bandwidth.
(4) Amplifier – Controls the output level of the generated noise.
(5) Color – Applies a shelving filter to the noise, allowing you to brighten or darken its tonal balance without affecting the dry signal.
(6) Sidechain – Enables external sidechain control for the ducking circuit. When activated, the noise responds to the sidechain input instead of the main audio signal, making it easy to create rhythmic or mix-dependent noise effects.
The Sample & Hold (S&H) effect is modeled after traditional analog sample-and-hold circuits. It periodically captures the incoming signal, holds the sampled value, and optionally glides between successive samples. The result is a stepped, lo-fi character with a smoother, more organic quality than a purely digital sample-rate reduction effect.
(1) Clock – Sets the sampling rate, determining how frequently the signal is sampled and held. Faster settings produce finer resolution, while slower settings create more pronounced stepped artifacts.
(2) Glide – Controls the transition between held samples. Higher settings smooth the steps by interpolating between samples, producing a softer, more dampened sound.
Digital Crush is Gooey’s unique take on traditional bit reduction. Rather than simply lowering the bit depth, Digital Crush creates a more aggressive, cutting texture by subtracting the processed signal from the original and allowing an adjustable offset between the two. The result is a harsher, sharper digital character that ranges from subtle grit to extreme digital destruction.
(1) Resolution – Sets the bit depth of the crushed signal. Lower resolutions introduce more quantization noise and digital artifacts, while higher resolutions retain more of the original detail.
(2) DC Offset – Applies a DC offset to the crushed signal before processing. This changes the symmetry of the distortion, adding extra edge and character to the bit reduction.
(3) Bandpass Filter – Shapes the tonal balance of the crushed signal using a bandpass filter. Use it to emphasize or isolate a specific frequency range without affecting the dry signal.
(4) Offset – Adjusts the subtraction offset between the original and crushed signals. Increasing this control produces a more aggressive, abrasive digital texture.
(5) Amplifier – Controls the output level of the crushed signal. Since Digital Crush can generate extremely harsh artifacts, this control makes it easy to blend the effect into the mix.
Add warmth, character, and harmonic richness with the Classic Drive module. Designed to emulate the behavior of tube-style saturation, Classic Drive pushes your signal into natural distortion territory while offering additional clipping options for creative tone shaping.
The module includes optional diode clipping and two unique distortion chambers: Soft and Cubic, each providing a different saturation character.
(1) Overdrive – Applies pre-gain amplification to drive the signal into saturation, creating new harmonic content and controlled clipping. Use the distortion selector beneath the Overdrive control to choose between different distortion characteristics.
(2) Levels – Controls the post-gain output level of the saturated signal. Use this to compensate for gain increases or further push the processed sound forward.
(3) Three-Band Equalizer – Shape and refine the distorted signal with independent low, mid, and high-frequency controls. Use the EQ to enhance, tame, or color the harmonic character created by the drive stage.
Amp Sauce creates dynamic amplitude movement across the stereo field, adding motion, width, and depth to your sound. Use subtle settings to introduce gentle pulses of movement, or push the controls further to create dramatic stereo swells and rhythmic amplitude modulation.
(1) Rate – Controls the speed of the amplitude modulation. The modulation can run freely or be synchronized to the host tempo using the Lock button.
(2) Depth – Determines the intensity of the amplitude modulation. Higher settings produce deeper volume swells, while lower settings create a more subtle effect.
(3) Phase – Offsets the phase relationship between the left and right modulation oscillators. At maximum, the channels are 180 degrees out of phase, causing one channel to rise in volume as the other falls, resulting in a wide, animated stereo image.
(4) Breaker – Adjusts the shape of the internal modulation waveform. Increasing this control sharpens the waveform’s edges, transforming smooth swells into more rhythmic, choppy amplitude changes.
Vintage Delay delivers the character of classic analog-style delay, adding warmth, movement, and organic imperfections to your signal. The delay line includes subtle wow and flutter modulation for a naturally aged feel, along with Ghost Mode, which transforms the delay by reversing the playback direction of the delay line.
(1) Bandpass Filter – The filter is placed directly inside the delay feedback path, causing the filtering effect to accumulate with each repeat. This creates progressively darker and more textured echoes over time.
(2) Left and Right Delay Lengths – Control the timing of the left and right delay lines independently. The Vintage Delay offers a variety of subdivision options, including even and odd fixed intervals, as well as free, dotted, and triplet timing modes for flexible rhythmic control.
(3) Feedback – Controls the amount of signal fed back into the delay line, determining the number and intensity of repeats. Higher feedback settings create longer, more sustained echoes.
(4) Wow / Flutter – Adds subtle pitch variation and movement to the delayed signal, recreating the natural instability of vintage tape-based delay systems.
(5) Ghost Mode – Reverses the delay line playback, creating a unique reverse-delay effect with a ghostly, evolving character.
Retro Verb recreates the acoustics of real-world spaces using carefully selected impulse responses. Each impulse has been refined through filtering, gain staging, and tonal shaping to produce rich, musical ambience that complements a wide range of sounds.
(1) Decay – Controls the apparent decay time of the reverb. At lower settings, only the early and medium reflections are heard, creating a tighter ambience. As the control is increased, the late reflections and reverb tail are gradually introduced for a larger, more spacious sound.
(2) Level – Adjusts the overall level of the reverb wash.
(3) Color – Brightens or darkens the character of the reverb by emphasizing or attenuating the upper frequencies.
(4) Low – Rolls off the low-frequency content of the reverb, reducing muddiness and tightening the ambience.
(5) High – Rolls off the high-frequency content of the reverb, creating a warmer, more subdued reverb tail.
The Expander provides upward compression by increasing the level of signals that fall below a defined threshold while leaving louder signals largely unaffected. This enhances low-level detail and presence without significantly altering the dynamics of louder passages.
(1) Expander – Sets the threshold at which upward expansion begins. This control is inversely mapped, so turning it to the right lowers the threshold, causing more of the signal to be expanded.
(2) Ratio – Determines the amount of upward expansion applied to signals below the threshold. Higher ratios produce a more pronounced increase in low-level material.
(3) Attack – Controls how quickly the expander responds after the input signal falls below the threshold.
(4) Release – Controls how long the expander takes to return to unity gain after the signal rises above the threshold.
(5) Amplify – Applies additional output gain after the expansion stage to further increase the overall signal level.
The Compressor provides traditional downward compression by reducing the level of signals that exceed a defined threshold. It helps control dynamics, increase sustain, and create a more consistent overall level.
(1) Threshold – Sets the level at which compression begins. Signals exceeding the threshold are attenuated according to the selected ratio.
(2) Ratio – Determines the amount of compression applied to signals above the threshold. Higher ratios produce a more pronounced reduction in dynamic range.
(3) Attack – Controls how quickly the compressor responds after the input signal exceeds the threshold.
(4) Release – Controls how long the compressor takes to return to unity gain after the input signal falls below the threshold.
(5) Make-Up – Applies post-compression output gain to compensate for the reduction in signal level introduced by compression.
The Equalizer is a classic three-band EQ designed to provide the smooth, musical tone of vintage analog equalizers. Use it to shape the overall tonal balance of your signal with simple yet effective high, mid, and low frequency controls.
(1) High – Applies a high-shelving filter to boost or attenuate the upper frequencies, adding brilliance or reducing excessive brightness.
(2) Mids – Adjusts the gain of a peaking filter centered at the selected mid frequency. Use the Q control to determine how broad or narrow the boost or cut is, allowing for subtle tonal shaping or precise frequency correction.
(3) Low – Applies a low-shelving filter to boost or reduce frequencies around 250 Hz, adding warmth and body or tightening the low end.
Instruction Manual – V1.0.0 – last updated 7/28/2026
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