16 Levels
BASEMENT CYPHER - Free Grimey Vocal Plugin
BASEMENT CYPHER - Free Grimey Vocal Plugin
Couldn't load pickup availability
Free vocal plugin · The Grimey Vocal Chain
Clean condenser in. Basement booth out.
BASEMENT CYPHER makes a pristine modern vocal sound like it was cut on a beat-up dynamic mic, through a cheap '90s mixer pushed into the red, in the corner of a basement padded with moving blankets. Four stages in one insert: a mic modeler, a plosive saturator that turns your P's and B's into punch, a hard-clipping desk preamp and a short, dead concrete room.
Made for the raw demo-tape vocal
The vocals on the records you grew up on weren't cut in a treated room through a $3,000 condenser. They were cut on whatever mic was lying around, into a desk with the gain too high, in somebody's basement. BASEMENT CYPHER puts that whole setup on one insert, and every stage can be pulled back to transparent.
One insert, four stages
Mic, plosives, preamp and room, in the order a real basement session runs.
Pops become punch
Instead of cutting plosives, it crunches them into a percussive thump.
Real desk clipping
Clean, clean, then crunch, like a cheap channel with the trim cranked.
A room, not a reverb
Short, boxy and dead. Gives the vocal a space without the gloss.
Free download
Get BASEMENT CYPHER free
No trial, no license key, no subscription. Enter your email and the Windows download appears right here.
- Enter your email to unlock the download.
- Run the installer. It puts the VST3 where your DAW looks.
- Rescan your plugins and drop it on a vocal.
Enter your email and the download appears right here. You'll also get occasional news and updates from 16 Levels; unsubscribe anytime. Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
You're in
Thanks! BASEMENT CYPHER is ready to download. The download includes the Windows installer and a read-me.
Unzip the download and run the setup. Windows may show "Windows protected your PC": click More info, then Run anyway.
Coming soon
On a Mac?
A macOS version (AU and VST3, Apple silicon and Intel) is on the way. Leave your email and you'll be the first to know when it drops.
You're on the list
We'll email you as soon as BASEMENT CYPHER for macOS is ready.
Inside the basement
Kill the air
01 / Mic Modeler
Modern condensers hear everything, including the shimmer above 10 kHz that makes a vocal sound expensive. The Mic Modeler reshapes the response to match a cheaper, darker mic. Amount morphs the curve from flat to full, so a partial setting never sounds phasey.
- Beat-Up 58Proximity bump, honk, presence peak, dented-grille dip, nothing above 10k
- Old BroadcastThick, warm low-mids and a top that's gone by 7k
- PA DynamicThin, nasal and shouty for ad-libs and hooks
Pops become punch
02 / Plosive Sat
When a P or B blasts the mic, this stage catches the burst of low-end air and drives just that band into saturation, so the pop lands as a crunchy, percussive thump. Between pops the voice passes through untouched. It's tuned to ignore vowels, even deep boomy ones, and "s" sounds.
- SensHow easily a pop is caught
- CrunchFrom a fatter pop to a distorted thump
- Pop lightShows you exactly when it fires
Gain too hot
03 / Mixer Pre Drive
A cheap '90s mixer channel with the trim cranked. It stays clean right up to the rails, then flattens hard, with a slightly lopsided clip that adds spit to loud syllables. Oversampled so the grit stays gritty instead of harsh.
- DriveUp to +36 dB into the channel, with partial auto-gain
- HissThe desk's noise floor, rising with the gain
- Clip lightFlickers when the channel is clipping
Blankets in the corner
04 / Concrete Room
A very short, heavily damped room modelled on a concrete basement with the vocalist tucked into a blanketed corner. Soft reflections up close, boxy weight from the bare walls further away. Space and weight without a lush tail.
- SizeFrom closet-tight to an open garage
- BlanketsMore padding is darker and deader
- RoomHow much of the space you hear
Built for your session
Five presets
Basement Freestyle, Mixtape Host Radio, Blown Channel, PA in the Cellar and Just a Little Dirt.
Parallel blend
A Mix knob with a time-aligned dry signal, for clarity with dirt underneath.
Safe to track through
4 samples of latency, reported to your DAW and compensated automatically.
Mono or stereo
Works on mono vocal tracks and stereo buses, at any sample rate.
What's included
- BASEMENT CYPHER Windows 64-bit VST3 effect plugin
- Standalone application
- Five factory presets
- Windows setup installer with uninstaller and desktop shortcut
- 10-page illustrated PDF manual with a quick start, mix recipes and troubleshooting
- Free to use on as many of your own computers as you like, including for commercial releases
Free. No catch.
Step into the basement
No trial, no license key, no subscription. Just your email. On a Mac? Get notified when the macOS version drops.
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Plugin format | VST3 effect (64-bit). Standalone app included. |
| Compatible hosts | Any 64-bit VST3 host, such as FL Studio, Ableton Live, Reaper, Studio One, Bitwig, Cubase and MPC software on Windows |
| Channels | Mono or stereo |
| Disk space | About 20 MB |
| macOS | Coming soon (AU and VST3). Join the waitlist. |
Before you download
The installer is not yet code-signed, so Windows may show a "Windows protected your PC" screen. Click More info, then Run anyway. Version 1.0.0.
BASEMENT CYPHER is an independent product inspired by classic dynamic microphones and budget mixing desks. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Shure Incorporated or LOUD Audio (Mackie). The mic models are original EQ curves, not measurements of any specific product.
