Cambridge Channel Strip FAQ

Cambridge Channel Strip reports 0 samples of plugin latency to the host. The footer shows the current reported value live while it runs.

No. The engine runs at the host sample rate. The 1× shown in the footer is a fixed indicator of that, not a selector.

VST3 and CLAP, on Windows 10 or newer (64-bit) and 64-bit Linux with glibc 2.35 or newer. macOS is not supported.

Compatible with 64-bit hosts that support VST3 or CLAP. It is a mono/stereo effect with an optional stereo sidechain input, so it can be used on a normal channel or bus.

No. Cambridge Channel Strip processes mono or stereo, with an optional stereo sidechain input. Multichannel layouts are not supported.

The demo is fully functional - every control is active, every preset loads, and there is no time limit. The only limitation is a 2-second silence interruption every 60 seconds, which is also printed into renders and exports. No account is required to download it.

No. Enter your licence key once and the plugin keeps working without an internet connection. Licence validation is local; there is no telemetry or phone-home.

Yes. Buy once and updates are included - there is no paid upgrade path. If a product ever changes enough to be a different plugin, it is released as a separate product rather than a chargeable upgrade.

Yes, with no limit. There is no machine count, no activation cap and no technical restriction on how many of your systems you install it on.

Per-track shaping. It puts filters, a four-band EQ, a compressor and a gate or expander in one instance, in the order you would find them on a console, so you are not stacking several plugins on every channel.

Yes. Each processing section can be used independently. The EQ, compressor and gate/expander can be switched in or out, while the filters have their off positions built into the frequency controls.

Stereo links the two lanes so one set of controls applies to the whole track. Left/Right and Mid/Side give each lane its own complete strip — its own filters, EQ, compressor and gate — which you can set independently.

No. Mid/Side is a processing mode, not a widener. There is no width control. It lets you process the mid and side signals differently, which can change perceived width as a result of what you do — but the plugin does not widen anything on its own.

No. There is no auto-gain and no automatic makeup. The Auto release setting is an explicit release choice you make on the compressor, not an automatic mode that decides things for you.

61 factory presets, named by source rather than by effect — kick, snare, toms, overheads, bass, guitars, vocals, drum bus and room. You can save your own alongside them.

Yes. All 80 parameters are host-visible, automatable and saved with the project, including the full second-lane set used in Left/Right and Mid/Side.

Route the filters to the sidechain. This lets you reduce the low-frequency energy reaching the detector while leaving the audio path untouched, which can prevent kicks and bass from driving unwanted compression.

Yes. Set the sidechain source to external and feed the key input from the other track. LISTEN lets you monitor the key while you dial it in.

Yes — the EQ → DYN toggle moves the dynamics block, and it can be set independently per lane. The control panels and the charts both reorder so the display always matches the actual chain.

The gate ships inert on purpose — threshold at −60 dBFS and range at 0 dB, so it passes everything. Raise the threshold until it interacts with the quiet parts of the signal, then set the range for how far it should close.

Check your glibc version with 'ldd --version'. The Linux build requires glibc 2.35 or newer; Ubuntu 20.04 and Debian 11 ship 2.31 and cannot load it.