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Morass — User Manual

Morass is a vocal channel strip: one plugin that takes a raw vocal and runs it through a tuned, studio-style chain — clean-up, mic modeling, EQ, compression, de-essing, air, saturation, doubling and reverb — with a deep preset library.

  • Formats: AU, AUv3, VST3, Standalone (macOS); VST3, Standalone (Windows/Linux)
  • Manufacturer: Morass Audio · Plugin/mfr codes: Mora / Mrss

The Morass interface — Input / Clean tab

New here? The README has a 60-second quick start. This manual is the full reference for every control.

1. Installing

See INSTALL.md for the quick path. In short, the installers drop Morass into the standard plugin folders your DAW already scans:

OS AU VST3
macOS ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3
Windows — C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3
Linux — ~/.vst3

Rescan plugins in your DAW (or restart it) and Morass appears under Morass Audio.

2. Signal flow

Audio passes through these stages in order:

in → Input Gain → Noise Gate → Hiss-Killer → High-Pass → Mic Profile
   → [Mid/Side] EQ (Low / Mud / Presence / Air) → Compressor → De-Esser → [/Mid-Side]
   → Air Exciter → Saturation → Doubler → Reverb → Output Gain → out
  • Mic Profile is corrective EQ, applied before the creative EQ.
  • Mid/Side: when enabled, the EQ, compressor and de-esser run on the Mid and Side channels independently; everything else stays L/R.
  • The Air Exciter, Saturation and Doubler run after the dynamics, in L/R.

3. Controls

Header

  • Preset button — opens the preset browser, grouped by category. < / > step through the whole library.
  • A / B — two independent settings snapshots; click to flip between them.
  • Copy — copies the active snapshot onto the other (A→B or B→A).
  • Save / Import / Export — save a user preset, or share .morass files.
  • Bypass — bypasses all processing.

Global strip

  • Mode — Stereo (L/R) or Mid/Side processing for EQ/comp/de-ess.
  • Sat OS — saturation oversampling: Off / 2× / 4× (reduces aliasing; adds latency, which the host compensates).
  • Reverb — algorithm: Room, Plate, or Hall (a feedback-delay network).
  • Mic In → Target — model your source mic as a target mic (see §4).
  • Gate / Hiss Kill — enable the noise gate / hiss-killer.

Visualizers

  • EQ curve — shows the combined HP + 4-band response. Drag a node to set a band's frequency (X) and gain (Y); the HP node sets frequency only.
  • Meters — IN (input peak), GR (gain reduction), OUT (output peak).

Knob sections

Section Knobs
Input Input Gain, HP Freq
Clean Up Mic Amount, Gate Thr, Gate Range, Hiss Freq, Hiss Thr, Hiss Amount
EQ Low (freq/gain), Mud (freq/gain/Q + Dyn thr/range), Presence (freq/gain/Q + Dyn thr/range), Air (freq/gain)
Compressor Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Makeup, Lookahead
De-Esser Freq, Threshold, Amount
Saturation Drive, Mix
Air & Width Exciter Freq, Exciter, Doubler
Reverb Mix, Size, Damping, Width, Predelay
Output Output Gain

Every control has a tooltip; hover for a plain-English description. The value readout sits below each knob.

4. Mic modeling

Pick the microphone you recorded with under Mic In, and optionally a Target mic. Morass applies the difference between their response curves, so an SM7B can take on the air of a U87, etc. Leave Target on Neutral to simply flatten your source mic. Mic Amount scales the effect (0–100%). With Mic In = Target (or amount 0) the stage is bypassed.

Modeled mics: Shure SM7B, SM58, Beta 58A · Neumann U87, TLM 103 · Rode NT1 · AKG C414 · Sennheiser MD421 · Audio-Technica AT2020 · Neutral.

5. Dynamic EQ

The Mud and Presence bells can be made dynamic with the Mud Dyn / Pres Dyn toggles. When on, the bell's cut engages only when that band's level crosses its Dyn Thr, by up to Dyn Range dB — ideal for taming boxiness or harshness only when it actually spikes.

6. Clean-up

  • Noise Gate — silences the signal below Gate Thr by Gate Range dB, with a hold so sustained notes don't chatter. Great for tightening up room noise between phrases.
  • Hiss-Killer — a high-frequency expander above Hiss Freq: when the highs drop below Hiss Thr, it pulls them down by up to the Hiss Amount, removing tape/electrical hiss without dulling the sung vocal.

7. Presets

143 factory presets across 14 categories (Pop, Rock, Hip-Hop, R&B/Soul, Electronic, Country, Acoustic/Folk, Jazz, Podcast/VO, Lo-Fi/Vintage, Creative FX, Utility, Chart/Trending, Studio/Console). Start from one close to your source and tweak.

  • Save writes a user preset (with optional notes) to your User category.
  • Export / Import share .morass files (metadata + full state) with others.
  • Presets are also exposed to the host as programs.

User presets live in:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Morass Audio/Morass/Presets
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Morass Audio\Morass\Presets

8. Tips

  • Order of operations: set Mic In first, gate/de-noise, then shape EQ, then compress. The chain is already arranged for this.
  • Latency: enabling Sat OS or compressor Lookahead adds latency — the host compensates automatically (delay compensation). Bounce/print is sample-accurate.
  • A/B before committing: dial a version into A, hit Copy, then push B further; flip to compare.
  • Mid/Side mostly affects the compressor/de-esser (linear EQ behaves the same in M/S as L/R) — use it to control the sides of a stereo/doubled vocal.

9. Troubleshooting

  • Plugin not showing: rescan plugins / restart the DAW; on macOS clear the AU cache (rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/AudioUnitCache) and restart. See TESTING_IN_LOGIC.md.
  • Timing feels off vs the grid: ensure your DAW's delay compensation is on (it is by default in every modern DAW).
  • Reset a control: double-click a knob (DAW-dependent) or load Init / Clean.