DIFIX

Name: DIFIX
Price: 45 USD
Author: United Plugins

by United Plugins · Restoration · DI guitar and bass fixer

Not rated yet

DIFIX from Soundevice Digital (sold by United Plugins) restores guitar and bass tracks recorded straight into an interface input with the wrong impedance.

Recording and mixing modes and analog saturation recover the tone a proper DI box would give, for $55.

Best for: Guitars, Bass. Genres: Rock & Indie, Metal, Pop.

Keywords: bass, electric guitar, mixing, repair, analog-sounding, corrective, high latency, perpetual licence, spectral, subtle, tight, tracking.

What it does

DIFIX is a Soundevice Digital plugin, sold by United Plugins, that fixes direct-input guitar and bass recordings made through interface inputs whose impedance is too low for passive pickups. It levels the sound with several processes and adds light analog saturation, "as if you used a real DI-box."

Recording mode: gives a dynamic DI sound while tracking, for playing through an amp sim in real time.
Mixing mode: uses spectral dynamics for a stronger result on recorded tracks; it may add latency on some systems.
Instrument choice: separate guitar and bass settings.
Improve control: sets how strongly the signal is corrected, from subtle to obvious.
Analog saturation: a small amount of DI-box style colour as part of the correction.
Background tech: 64-bit processing at any sample rate up to 192 kHz, a sleep mode on silence, and a click-free bypass with latency compensation.

It comes with free lifetime updates. There is a free 15-day trial with no saving limits.

Source: United Plugins product page

When to use it

DIFIX solves one narrow problem: the dull, thin tone of a guitar or bass recorded through a weak instrument input. Unlike RX 12 or SpectraLayers Pro 13, it doesn't repair noise, clicks or other damage; it restores the brightness and fullness the pickups lost at the input. Compared with dxRevive Pro, which rebuilds degraded dialogue and vocals, it is aimed only at DI guitar and bass and costs much less. It sits first in the chain, before an amp sim such as AmpliTube 5 MAX, rather than in a repair workflow.

Best for: fixing thin or dull DI guitar and bass tracks from budget interfaces, before amp sims, and reviving old DI recordings.
Genres: rock, metal, pop and any music with DI-recorded guitar or bass.
Look elsewhere if: you need to remove noise, hum or clicks; RX 12 is the tool.
Tip: Home Studio Today set the main knob between two-thirds and full for a clear effect, placed before the amp sim.

What producers say

The few reviews are all positive, describing it as a one-trick tool that does its trick well.

Home Studio Today gave it five stars for looks, features, usability and value; it added "sparkle and clarity" to DI guitar and bass and even helped behind a mid-priced channel strip, calling it "a one-trick pony" but "a very good trick."
KVR users rate it 5 out of 5 from 1 review (2020), which said it makes guitar recordings "alot tighter and fuller sounding."

Where to buy

Tutorials and reviews

All restoration & repair