Smash Happy Audio — User Manual
A mastering-grade mid harmonic console — tighten resonant buildup, then add tube-driven warmth and presence, keyed to one master frequency you can hear moving through the mix.
Firewaves treats the mid range in two moves: clean up resonant buildup first, then add harmonic richness on top of what's left. Everything is additive and parallel — the dry signal is never removed from the mix, only added to — so pushing Firewaves hard thickens and warms a mid range rather than reshaping it.
Three bands (Low-Mid, Mid, High-Mid) each get a Blend push-fader and a Triode/Pentode character knob, all driven by a shared, fixed-hot internal drive stage and a global tube output section for the final analog-style warmth.
Six sections run left to right: Focus, Tighten, Low-Mid, Mid, High-Mid, and Output/Tube. Focus is the master control every other section keys off — moving it retunes where Tighten listens and where each band's harmonic generation is centred.
The master frequency (400 Hz–4 kHz) that everything else in the plugin follows. The knob face reads the live frequency in Hz — move it and you're retuning both the resonance detector and where the added harmonics land.
Dynamic mud/resonance suppression swept around Focus. Three detectors, skewed below Focus where boxy buildup typically lives, only cut when real resonance is detected — clean material sees little to no reduction. Runs before the harmonic stages, so you're always adding warmth on top of a cleaned-up signal, not compounding buildup.
Each band shares the same two controls:
The added content from Focus's own band is deliberately voiced above the Focus frequency itself, so pushing Firewaves adds presence and clarity at the target rather than cloudiness below it.
A global 12AX7-modelled output stage, off by default. Engage it for a final pass of analog-style warmth across the whole signal after the three bands have done their work — its glow in the interface tracks the actual signal level driving it, warming around −24 dBFS and running hot by −3 dBFS.
The Δ button solos exactly what Firewaves is adding and removing — the difference between input and output — so you can dial in Blend, Character, and Tighten purely by what's being added, without the full mix in the way.
Steps back your last change. Related edits in quick succession group into one undo step.
A/B compare: first press stores your current settings as the alternate; press again to flip and compare.
| Formats | Audio Unit, VST3 |
| Platform | macOS, Apple Silicon |
| Bands | Low-Mid, Mid, High-Mid — Blend + Triode/Pentode each |
| Focus range | 400 Hz – 4 kHz |
| Processing | 4x oversampled, alias-suppressed saturation |
| Signal path | Parallel/additive — dry signal never removed |
| Tube stage | 12AX7-modelled global output, off by default |
| Channel configuration | Stereo in / stereo out |
Try raising Tighten and setting Focus on the boxy area you're hearing before adding more Blend — Firewaves is designed to clean up resonance first, add warmth second, and pushing Blend without Tighten can compound existing buildup rather than fix it.
Blend is a push fader, not a subtle trim — push it further than you'd expect from a typical "amount" control. Use Solo Listen to hear exactly what's being added in isolation.
It's off by default and its visual glow tracks real signal level — quiet passages will show little glow even when engaged. Confirm the Tube control itself is turned up.