Blue Cat Audio updates Axiom and Destructor to v1.6 - Apple Silicon support and more

29th June 2021 - KVR Audio News

Blue Cat Audio has updated Blue Cat's Axiom and Destructor to v1.6, with major new features and improvements for its multi effects processor for guitar & bass, and its distortion and amp modeler plug-in.

The new Axiom brings a new multicore processing engine and many performance improvements to load even more effects and amp simulations at lower latencies. It also adds many new features to control the software via MIDI (incl. tap tempo). Axiom 1.6 now includes more than 70 built-in plug-ins, with a new MIDI controllable looper, and several new delay, distortion and compression pedals.

The new version of Destructor, which also acts as an amp and pedals modeler inside Axiom, introduces a brand new user interface mode to build your own distortion or compression pedals. All presets can now be assigned a custom range for the drive parameter, to fine tune the behavior of each effect and guarantee a perfect response, even when pushed to 11.

The redesigned Tone Maps for both Destructor and several built-in effects improve the discovery of new presets and the construction of new tones. Apple Silicon support has also been invited to the party, for optimal performance on the new M1 Macs, as shown in the company's benchmark.

The update is free for existing users and demo versions are available for download on bluecataudio.com. To celebrate the event, both Axiom and Destructor are on sale until the end of July (details below), and Blue Cat Audio has teamed up with The Guitar Channel to offer a 6 months subscription (worth $60), giving you access to in-depth interviews with musicians, luthiers, or manufacturers and independent gear reviews, for every purchase of one of the following guitar products: Axiom, Destructor, Hot Tuna, Re-Guitar, AcouFiend, or the Axe Pack bundle. To get the free subscription, you just need to accept to receive emails from Blue Cat Audio upon purchase.

What's new for both Destructor and Axiom 1.6:

Improved Tone Maps navigation, with updated user interface (for amp simulation and 9 built-in effects).
Added MIDI control support (MIDI CC messages) for Next and Previous Preset commands, with MIDI learn.
Improved MIDI & automation control settings with lock, reset and "save as global setting" capabilities.
Preset files can now be dropped onto the preset LCD area to be loaded.
Level meters, spectrum analyzers and tuner stop processing when the user interface is closed, reducing CPU usage.
Multiple DSP performance improvements.
Reduced the number of threads used by the plug-ins.
Improved global and preset settings window loading time on Windows.
Reduced time to load Axiom, Destructor or any built-in plug-in.
Full unicode support.
Native Apple Silicon (M1 processor) support.
Dropped 32-bit support on Mac.
Now requires MacOS 10.9 and newer.
Fixed VST3 (and sometimes VST) version freezing Ableton Live upon save on Windows.

What's new in Axiom 1.6:

Up to 5 times more processing power with the new multicore engine that processes each channel and each tool on a separate core.
Multicore engine also available for the built-in Late Replies plug-in (Pattern module).
Includes Destructor 1.6 and Late Replies 1.5.
Updated all 460 factory presets with appropriate drive range for all simulated amps.
New built-in looper plug-in (in the "Utils" category).
New built-in distortion and dynamics pedals based on Destructor with new pedal GUI.
New built-in delay models based on Late Replies 1.5 with new "EZ mode" GUI.
New DSP workload meter that displays the DSP activity and CPU load.
Tap Tempo with MIDI CC to set BPM in the application with a footswitch.
Lock effects bypass switches to match the state of MIDI foot controllers when changing presets.
Improved buffer management in standalone application on Mac, reducing both latency and CPU usage.
reverted default preset to empty preset to improve performance upon load (the preset is still available as "Default Clean").
Added ability to select the plug-in to load when a shell plug-in file is dragged and dropped onto a slot.
Fixed standalone app not always asking for Microphone access on most recent MacOS systems.
Fixed host loop end value not properly passed to hosted plug-ins, for the VST2 version.
Fixed several crashes upon load for multiple third party plug-ins (mostly VST3).
Fixed display issues with Waves plug-ins V12 in Mac standalone application.
Fixed MIDI control for hosted plug-ins not always working when fed with silence.
Fixed harmonizer and Pitch Shifter built-in plug-ins that did not always flush their buffer upon bypass (short sounds could be heard when getting out of bypass).

What's New In Destructor 1.6:

New "Guitar Pedal" mode: build your own effect pedals with Destructor.
New drive range parameter to adjust the range of distortion available in a preset.
Revisited all 707 factory presets and related tone maps, with adjusted drive range and improved tone.
Added 19 new distortion and compression pedals presets.
The opacity of the tone map window can now be adjusted.
Arrow keys can now be used to navigate presets, in the main view or in the presets browser.
Smoother presets switching.
Improved smooth plug-in bypass (faster and smoother transition).
Level meters, spectrum analyzers and tuner stop processing when the user interface is closed, reducing CPU usage.
Mac: fixed GUI performance issues on native P3 displays and improved performance on other displays.
Mac: fixed mouse wheel that required large movements to change parameter values.
Mac: fixed mouse cursor flickering issues.
Mac: fixed Esc key not closing fine edit parameter dialog.