u-he Uhbik is a suite of effects plugins with similar interfaces, which originally was released in 2007. I probably got it around 2010 or so at a nice discount. At the time, some of the effects it came with had very little competition, but (as with GRM Tools) other alternatives sprung up along the way, so it didn’t remain state-of-the-art forever.
But still, up through 2025 I have found Uhbik-Q (a parametric equalizer) useful. it displayed no spectrogram or Hz values anywhere, requiring me to tune it with my ears alone, and it just had a nice vibe as a companion to more surgical equalizers. And Runciter, which combines fuzz, overdrive and an enveloped filter, still sounded great. The flanger and phaser were a little bit eclipsed by other offerings but still worth using for their particular approach, and the reverb — on those rare occasions when I remembered it existed — also still had some life left in it.
u-he just dropped Uhbik 2.0, a free update for owners of the original. Updated interfaces, VST3 and CLAP support, built-in modulation, a new compressor plugin, more filter types for Runciter, another reverb model for the reverb, less cryptic names, a little fresher DSP code etc. The EQ does show Hz values now, but not a full spectrum and it’s still vibey. I still am not really a fan of the delay, but I have plenty of those. I could wish the visual feedback for modulation was a little more “live” as it is with Bitwig, but that’s a modest nitpick. It’s a lovely update.
While I’m on powers of 2, Joranalogue announced the upcoming Walk 4 module a few weeks ago, to be released sometime in the remaining quarter of 2025. It’s an interesting concept — a quad sample and hold which adds input voltages to a channel rather than merely replacing it, combined with an auto-reset feature to create steppy ramp modulation, a quad random source to create “random walk” steppy modulation, and a Constraint CV that reduces step sizes as they get farther away from 0V. Its internal clock tracks V/OCT, or each stage can be clocked externally.
This is one of those modules which doesn’t necessarily have a prescriptive use, but can do a variety of things. It’s not going to replace my Clep Diaz, which steps a precise number of steps per cycle, but it’ll do things in a similar spirit along with a lot of other stuff. I’m particularly keen to try processing other CV and audio with it, generating related variations, which should fit right in with Multimod, Just Friends, Silhouette, Nearness, Planar etc.
It’s replacing my Zorlon Cannon. I know, I liked ZC and kind of missed it after selling it the first time. But I have tools to generate similar shenanigans, and its flexibility pales in comparison to what I expect from Walk 4.
New Survey Finds Anti-Trans Ads Ineffective, Disliked by Voters
As it turns out, political ads that attack trans people are unpopular with not just Democrats but Republicans. Even the people who don’t care about trans rights are tired of the obsession with picking on trans people, likely seeing absolutely no relevance to the economy or any of the issues they actually care about.
Not only that, but by a 21% margin, voters would rather back a candidate who supports trans rights over one who opposes them. 74% of people say that trans folks deserve dignity and respect. 58% overall (and even 45% of Republicans!) say that the government should stop interfering with trans rights and health care.
But MAGA just can’t offer anything that will actually help — the only thing they can deliver is hate and distractions. Remember how T***p was going to fix the price of eggs and supposedly that’s why he had so much support? Oh ho ho ho. Here is data from those horrible woke socialists at… Harvard Business School.
Compare that to wages, with this absolutely dismal forecast…
Given their lack of an alternative, I think the MAGA types will just keep doubling down on the hate and lies until the entire movement totally stalls out and crashes.
But I sure hope Democratic strategists and the media are paying attention here. The survey data very much counters the narrative that dragged on all spring and summer about how Democrats lost because they were “too woke” on trans rights, which everyone apparently just pulled out of their asses (despite the Harris campaign barely touching on it at all, instead following the HRC’s recommendation to ignore political attacks on trans people.). Now we have Zohran Mamdani, who apparently really knows how to run a campaign, literally dedicating an entire video to trans rights and featuring the story of Sylvia Rivera, and getting praised widely for it. So, strategists and candidates, consider that in your calculations.