X-MCFX
X-MCFX is a fork of the MCFX Convolver plugin by Matthias Kronlachner, with improved performance (more than 2x), an extended number of channels and recompiled as both VST2 and VST3. Where most sound processing programs and DAWs are limited to a handful of channels, X-MCFX can operate with up to 128, and can even output a different channel count than it receives, a capability few multichannel hosts support at all. On an ordinary modern laptop, it can handle a matrix of 128 inputs by 128 outputs, some 16,384 individual FIR filters, each 65,536 taps long, using only 512-tap buffering, while still keeping latency low, along with a filter-loading mode that no longer requires external configuration files and the ability to adjust gain in real time.
tech specs
history
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X-MCFX traces back to two parallel lines of development. Angelo Farina, a professor known for his pioneering work on multichannel audio, Ambisonics and room acoustics measurement, originally built X-volver as an early matrix convolution plugin for Windows and macOS. Around the same time, Matthias Kronlachner developed his own MCFX Convolver as part of the wider mcfx plugin suite, dedicating the project to Farina in acknowledgement of the influence his research had on its design, and later crediting Farina himself, alongside Luca Battisti and Domenico Stefani, for performance optimisations to the convolver engine. In 2021, Farina forked Kronlachner's MCFX Convolver to create X-MCFX, more than doubling its performance and extending its channel capacity well beyond what either the original X-volver or Kronlachner's plugin could handle, effectively retiring X-volver in favour of this newer, faster tool.
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