Infinity Rack — User Manual

Manual version v0.96.1 · August 2026 · Kaizen Audio

Contents

1. Introduction
2. System requirements
3. Installation
4. Licensing: trial, activation and deactivation
5. Quick start
6. The interface, zone by zone
7. The chain: modules, order and control
8. The module catalog, category by category
9. Macros: automation from your DAW
10. MIDI: MIDI Learn and the Vocoder
11. LFOs
12. Snapshots
13. Presets and A/B comparison
14. The clock: FREE, HOST and TAP
15. Sidechain
16. Plugin Host: your plugins inside the rack
17. The Infinity single plugins
18. DAW notes
19. Troubleshooting
20. Specifications

1. Introduction

Infinity Rack is two things. First, a modular effects rack: 49 modules — EQ, dynamics, saturation, modulation, reverbs, delays, pitch, noise reduction, DJ effects and more — that you chain inside a single plugin, in any order, with no insert limit. Drag modules into the chain, reorder them, compare them, and everything sounds instantly. And second, a suite of single plugins: the same modules, also available as standalone plugins (section 17).

What sets it apart is not just the catalog, but the control system wrapped around the chain:

• 32 Macros your DAW sees as regular automatable parameters: any knob of any module (or several at once) hanging off a single lane.
• 8 LFOs to set any control in motion, free-running or locked to tempo.
• 16 Snapshots: complete chain states you recall with one click or through automation — verse/chorus/bridge from a single plugin instance.
• A built-in TAP clock to work in time even where there is no tempo map (post, live rigs, material recorded without a click).
• Plugin Host: a module that hosts your third-party VST3/AU plugins inside the chain, with 16 mappable knobs for their parameters.

The single-plugin suite shares its license, its sound and its presets with the rack, and it will keep growing until it covers the full module catalog; today it includes the first 8 (Infinity Compressor, Infinity Gate, Infinity Limiter…).

What goes in, what comes out

• Input: mono or stereo (+ an optional sidechain input).
• Output: mono or stereo, following the track.
• Plugin formats: AAX (Pro Tools), VST3, AU (Logic) — macOS only for now.

2. System requirements

Windows is in development; this version is macOS-only.

3. Installation

3.1 Install

1. Download the Infinity Rack installer from your Kaizen Audio account.
2. Double-click the .pkg. The installer is signed and notarized by Apple: you will see no macOS security warnings.
3. Follow the steps: Introduction → Read Me (release notes) → License (usage agreement) → Installation Type.
4. On “Installation Type” you can untick any format you don’t need. By default all three are installed:

5. Enter your administrator password when macOS asks for it and finish the installation.

Each format installs 9 plugins: Infinity Rack plus the 8 singles (Infinity Gain · Infinity Compressor · Infinity EQ 3-Band · Infinity Gate · Infinity Expander · Infinity De-Esser · Infinity MB Comp · Infinity Limiter). The Audio Units go to the root of Components/ (not a subfolder): that is where macOS scans them.

3.2 After installing

• Restart your DAW so it picks up the plugins.
• Pro Tools: if it was open, quit it completely (Cmd+Q) and relaunch — it rescans plugins automatically.
• Logic: on first launch, macOS validates the Audio Units automatically.

3.3 Updating

Install the new .pkg on top; no need to uninstall first. Your license, your presets and your settings are untouched. The plugin itself tells you when a new version is out (6.6).

3.4 Uninstalling

There is no uninstaller; it is done by hand. Delete the Infinity bundles from the three folders in the table above (the first two require an administrator password).

If you have other Kaizen Audio plugins installed, don’t delete the Kaizen Audio/ folders themselves — only the bundles whose name starts with Infinity. Your presets live separately, in ~/Documents/Infinity Rack/ — keep that folder if you want to keep them. And remember: before retiring or wiping a computer, free its activation with Deactivate (4.5).

4. Licensing: trial, activation and deactivation

Infinity Rack is licensed through your Kaizen Audio account. No iLok, no serial numbers to type: activation happens in your browser.

One activation covers everything: the rack and the 8 single plugins share the same license. Activate once (from any of them) and they are all activated.

4.1 What happens the first time

When you insert Infinity Rack without a license, the activation panel opens on its own over the plugin and cannot be closed until you activate. While the plugin is not activated it runs in demo mode: audio passes clean for 5 seconds, then goes silent for 3 seconds, in a continuous cycle. If you hear those periodic dropouts, nothing is broken — it just needs activating.

4.2 Activating (with internet)

1. Click Activate your plugin, then Let’s go!.
2. Your browser opens at kaizen.audio. Log in and, from the side menu of your user account, assign your license — or request the trial period if you haven’t purchased yet.
3. Go back to your DAW. The panel closes by itself and the audio runs clean within 5 seconds, no restarts needed.
4. Check the status in the About window (click the Kaizen logo, top right): you’ll see the green LICENSED pill and your email.

If the browser doesn’t confirm within 4-5 minutes, the panel shows Timed out, please try again! — just repeat the process.

4.3 The trial period

The trial is the full plugin, with no sound limitations, for 30 days — the rack and the 8 singles. While it runs, the license panel shows Trial valid until with the exact date. When it expires, Infinity Rack returns to demo mode (3-second dropouts) and the activation panel reappears so you can enter a permanent license.

4.4 Offline activation (computer without internet)

If the studio machine is isolated from the network, on the Activation screen click the Offline Activation link:

1. Step 1 — Generate Machine File: save your computer’s identifier file (blacktone-infinity-rack_OfflineActivation.dt, Desktop by default).
2. Step 2: take that file (USB stick) to any computer with internet, go to kaizenaudio.moonbase.sh/activate, upload it and download your license file (.mb).
3. Step 3: back in the studio, drag the license file onto the drop zone in the panel (or double-click the zone to browse for it).

Licenses activated offline never connect to the internet again.

4.5 Deactivating / moving to another computer

Your license covers up to 2 of your own computers (one license per person). To free up a machine:

About → Manage License → Deactivate (red button).

• Requires an internet connection (it tells the server that seat is now free).
• Deletes the local license; the rack and the singles return to their unactivated state.
• Important: always deactivate with the button — not by deleting files or wiping the drive. If you remove the local license without deactivating, that machine still counts as occupied. If that happens, contact support to release it.
• Offline-activated licenses have no Deactivate button: to move them, handle it through the website or support.

4.6 Day-to-day use and working offline

With an online license, Infinity Rack revalidates with the server occasionally and silently. If your machine goes offline (or a proxy/VPN is blocking), the plugin keeps working normally for a 14-day grace period, showing the deadline on screen. Get back online at any point before that date and the counter resets itself.

4.7 One Mac, two activations (the Rosetta case)

If you use the plugin in a native Apple Silicon DAW and also in one running under Rosetta, each mode stores its own activation — it may ask you to activate twice on the same Mac. That’s normal.

5. Quick start

1. Insert Infinity Rack on a mono or stereo track. In Pro Tools you’ll find it in the Effect category, under Kaizen Audio.
2. Activate if it’s the first time (section 4).
3. The chain starts empty, with a Quick Start guide on screen. At the bottom sits the module tray: click a module to add it to the end of the chain, or drag it to the exact spot.
4. Build a simple chain — say Compressor → EQ 3-Band → Reverb Modern — and tweak to taste. The arrows between cards remind you of the signal flow: left to right.
5. Each module switches on and off with its green LED, collapses with the - button to save space, and is removed with the red X.
6. The D/W knob (top right) blends the whole chain against the original signal — perfectly phase-aligned, for instant parallel compression.
7. Want to control something from the DAW? Right-click any knob → Assign to Macro… — then automate the “Macro 1” lane in your DAW (section 9).
8. Save your chain with SAVE (top bar), or capture Snapshots to switch scenes on the fly (section 12).

The plugin’s latency depends on the modules loaded (an empty chain is zero) and is reported to the DAW, which compensates automatically — the exact value is always visible in the Lat: readout under the BYPASS button.

6. The interface, zone by zone

The window is resizable in width (drag the edge; the width is remembered across sessions). The height is fixed; the bottom section folds away by clicking the active tab of the bottom panel.

Top to bottom:

6.1 Top bar

• Infinity logo (left): click → opens the User Guide, a built-in cheat sheet with the essential gestures. Close with Esc or a click outside.
• A / Copy → / B: A/B comparison of the full chain (13.3).
• Preset bar: < and > navigate, the central menu lists the presets, SAVE saves (section 13).
• BPM readout and TAP button: the rack’s own clock (section 14).
• ⚙: opens the Settings panel (6.5).
• D/W (0–100 %, factory 100 %): global dry/wet. The dry path travels delayed by exactly the chain’s latency, so the blend never comb-filters: parallel compression/saturation with no tricks.
• Kaizen logo (right): click → About window (6.6).

6.2 Minimap strip

• BYPASS: bypasses the whole plugin. While active it blinks red — impossible to leave on by accident. It is the same bypass your DAW shows in the plugin header, and it keeps the track aligned: the bypassed audio is delayed by the chain’s reported latency, so toggling never shifts anything in time.
• v0.96.1 CPU: 12%: installed version and CPU load. The text turns yellow above 50 % and red above 80 %.
• Modules: 5 Lat: 240 smp: how many modules are in the chain and the total latency reported to the DAW, in samples. If snapshots are stored, this figure is always the highest of all scenes — so switching snapshots never causes jumps (12.2).
• Minimap: the whole chain in miniature, with the visible area highlighted. Click or drag to jump around — indispensable in long chains.
• MIN ALL / MAX ALL: collapse or expand every module at once.
• RESET CHAIN: removes all modules. ⚠️ No confirmation and no undo — use it deliberately.

6.3 The chain and the IN / OUT panels

• IN and OUT each carry a vertical gain fader (−72…+12 dB, factory 0 dB, double-click to return to 0) and meters with a dB scale. On a mono track you’ll see one bar; on stereo, two.
• The clip LED (the light above each meter) latches on if anything exceeds 0 dBFS; click the meter to reset it.
• Arrows are drawn between cards: signal flows from IN to OUT through each module in order.
• The chain scrolls horizontally (mouse wheel or the bottom scrollbar). Dragging a module near the edge auto-scrolls the view.

6.4 The bottom panel: four tabs

• MODULES — the tray: the 49 modules organized into category tabs (ALL · EQ · DYN · MOD · HARM · REV · DLY · PITCH · NR · FX · OTHER). The 🔍 button opens the search by name (Esc closes it). Click a pill = add to the end; drag = insert anywhere.
• AUTOMATION — the 32 macros (section 9).
• LFOs — the 8 LFOs (section 11).
• SNAPSHOTS — the 16 snapshots (section 12).

A handy touch: clicking the already-active tab folds the whole panel away (the window shrinks). Click any tab to reopen it. If the active snapshot has unsaved changes and you are on another tab, the SNAPSHOTS tab pulses orange to warn you.

6.5 The Settings panel

Everything in this panel is a machine preference, not a project setting: it doesn’t travel in presets or sessions, and it follows you from one session to the next.

SPECTRUM ANALYZER (applies to the analyzers in EQ 3-Band and EQ Tactile):

APPEARANCE:

CHAIN:

Stable PDC, at a glance. With ON (factory), the latency reported to the DAW counts every module in the chain, bypassed ones included — so bypassing a module never changes the total latency and Pro Tools never has to recalculate mid-playback. With OFF, only active modules count: lower total latency, at the cost of it changing when you bypass. In Pro Tools, leave it ON.

PLUGIN HOSTING: the Plugin Host scan settings (VST3/AU formats, search folders, SCAN NEW ONLY, FULL RESCAN, CLEAR BLACKLIST) — see section 16.

6.6 The About window and the update notice

Click the Kaizen logo (top right):

• Installed version.
• License status: green LICENSED pill (activated — with a license or with the trial running) or amber TRIAL (not activated), with your account email and, if applicable, the Expires: date.
• Manage License — opens the license panel: view your activation details (type, email, ID) and Deactivate to free the machine (4.5).
• Update notice: when a new version is out, an Update to vX available link appears here — and, when the plugin opens, a centered card with Update Now (takes you to the download in your browser; nothing installs itself). The card fades away on its own after a few seconds; Do not show again silences it for that version only.

Close with Esc or a click outside.

7. The chain: modules, order and control

7.1 Add, move, duplicate, remove

There is no module limit: your CPU is the only ceiling. You can repeat the same module as many times as you like.

7.2 A module’s card

Each card carries, left to right on its header:

• Green LED — switches the module on and off (individual bypass). Off, the card loses its color.
• Folder icon — the module’s presets, kept in sync with that module’s single plugin: what you save here shows up there, and vice versa (13.4).
• Module name — double-click the header to collapse the card.
• SC pill — only on the 5 sidechain-capable modules (section 15). Orange = external sidechain active.
• - button — collapses the card into a narrow vertical strip (the name turns vertical, the LED stays live; double-click to expand). Collapsing is purely visual: the module keeps processing exactly the same.
• Red X — removes the module.

Along the left and right edges of each card run two thin VU strips: that module’s input and output level — spotting where the gain blows up in a long chain is priceless.

7.3 Knobs: shared gestures

• Drag (or wheel over the knob) — changes the value. The value box accepts typing the exact number.
• Double-click / Alt+click — resets the knob.
• Right-click — assignment menu: Assign to Macro... and Assign to LFO... (sections 9 and 11).
• A knob driven by a multi-mapped macro is drawn dimmed and locked: only the macro moves it (right-click still works, to unassign).
• The colored badges on a knob tell you who controls it: macro number (top right) and LFO with its wave (bottom right).

Switching presets, snapshots, A/B slots or any module’s mode selector goes through an internal micro-fade: no clicks, no thumps.

8. The module catalog, category by category

All 49 modules, as they appear in the tray. Each card: what it does, its controls with range (factory value), and its quirks. Where a module introduces latency, it is noted — the DAW always compensates automatically.

Waveform, mode and algorithm selectors are listed with their exact on-screen options. FREE / HOST / TAP means the module has a syncable clock (section 14).

8.1 EQ

Air

Opens up the top end without going through a shelf: it splits the “tip” of the spectrum from the body and gives each its own gain — clean air, no metallic edge. Ideal on vocals and dull hi-hats.

EQ 3-Band

Console-style three-band EQ with a curve display and spectrum analyzer. Lows and highs on shelves (switchable to bells), mids always a bell.

The L / M / H handles on the display drag directly on the curve (horizontal = frequency, vertical = gain). The analyzer is configured globally in Settings.

EQ Tactile

The “drawing” EQ: 5 parametric bands plus HP and LP cuts, driven entirely on the graph — there are no knobs. With a spectrum analyzer and a floating readout for every gesture.

• 5 band dots (100 · 400 · 1000 · 4000 · 10 000 Hz from factory, ±36 dB gain, Q 0.1–10): drag to move frequency and gain.
• Wheel over a dot = adjusts the Q. Cmd+vertical drag too.
• Right-click on the first or last band = toggles Bell/Shelf.
• Alt+click on a dot = resets that band.
• HP and LP: circles at the edges; drag them in to engage. Their HP 12 / LP 12 buttons cycle the slope from 12 to 96 dB/oct (the wheel over the circle works too).

Living entirely on the graph, EQ Tactile has no knobs — and Macro/LFO assignments are made on knobs. For an EQ you can automate from macros or LFOs, use EQ 3-Band.

HP / LP

Low-cut and high-cut filter with a selectable slope per section — the quick clean-up tool.

Trick: Cmd+wheel over the left or right half of the module changes that filter’s slope without touching the buttons.

8.2 DYN

Bus Comp

Glue compressor for buses, tube-flavored: no threshold, no times — it breathes with the material. For gluing a mix or a drum bus, not for catching peaks.

An amber LED and a GR strip (-x.x dB GR) show how hard it is working.

Compressor

The all-round channel compressor: adjustable knee, Peak/RMS detection, a low-cut on the detector and four color flavors. With external sidechain (section 15).

Display with the live transfer curve (the white dot is your signal) and an orange gain-reduction meter.

De-Esser

Sibilance tamer with four philosophies, from the wideband classic to an adaptive one that never chases thresholds. With external sidechain.

Wideband reduces the whole signal when it detects an “s” (the classic); Split only the high band; Bell only a narrow bell; Smart adapts to the vocal’s level — push the fader up or down and it stays locked. Spectrum display with the reduction zone in red.

Expander

Downward expander: it progressively lowers what falls under the threshold, with a maximum attenuation cap — more natural than a gate for reducing bleed or floor. With external sidechain.

Gate

Classic noise gate: opens above the threshold, silences below, with hold so it doesn’t chop tails. With external sidechain.

Limiter

Transparent brickwall limiter with inter-sample peak detection. No color, no make-up: a ceiling that cannot be crossed, period.

Latency: ~3 ms of lookahead, compensated by the DAW.

Maximizer

Three-band loudness maximizer: splits into lows/mids/highs, pushes each band with its own character and finishes with a limiter. The “louder and bigger” module.

Three reduction bars (one per band, color-coded) along the base. Latency ~3 ms.

MB Comp

Four-band multiband compressor driven on the graph: drag the crossovers and the thresholds, and click a band to reveal its settings. With external sidechain.

• Crossovers from factory: 120 Hz · 1200 Hz · 5000 Hz (drag horizontally).
• Per-band threshold: horizontal handle (−50…+10 dB, factory −20); dragging it also selects the band. Alt+click resets it.
• Band panel: ATK 0.1–100 ms (10) · REL 10–500 ms (100) · KNEE 0–30 dB (6) · RAT 1–20:1 (4, INF at the top) · GAIN −10…+20 dB (0) · S (solo) · B (band bypass).
• Wheel over a band = its GAIN; Cmd+wheel = its ratio.
• Live spectrum, shaded per-band reduction and numeric GR readouts under the graph.

Like EQ Tactile, MB Comp is driven entirely on the graph: its controls cannot be assigned to Macros/LFOs.

Transient Shaper

Shapes attack and tail with no threshold: it hits the same whether you play soft or loud. Raise or lower the hit, the decay, and even duck the level right after the attack so the hit breathes.

Envelope graph of the resulting shape + bidirectional meter (boost up, cut down). Latency 3 ms.

8.3 MOD

Auto-Pan

Moves the signal from side to side following a wave, at constant perceived level. From gentle sway to rhythmic ping-pong. FREE / HOST / TAP.

Chopper

Cuts the signal rhythmically: from creamy tremolo to gate-in-time. FREE / HOST / TAP.

Chorus

Fattens and widens by duplicating the signal into several slightly detuned voices. From subtle doubling to a dense, glassy choir. FREE / HOST / TAP.

Flanger

The classic jet plane, with deep tape-style cancellations and cross-channel feedback. FREE / HOST / TAP.

Leslie

Rotary speaker: a treble horn and a bass drum spinning at different speeds, with their wobble, their doppler and their amp drive. Move SPEED and you hear the real inertia of the spin-up and the brake. FREE / HOST / TAP.

Phaser

Liquid, swirling notch sweep; with many stages and high feedback it turns resonant and psychedelic. FREE / HOST / TAP.

Ring Mod

Multiplies the signal by an oscillator: bells, robots, metal, science fiction. With high BIAS it tames down into a tremolo.

Tape Flutter

Ages the signal like a tired tape: slow (WOW) and fast (FLUTTER) pitch wobble, saturation, hiss, crackle and treble loss. HISS and CRACKLE sound even with no input — that’s part of the charm.

Vibrato

Pure pitch modulation. At 50 % MIX it sounds like a chorus; at 100 %, true vibrato. FREE / HOST / TAP.

8.4 HARM

Amp Sim

A full guitar amplifier with its cabinet: three cascaded gain stages plus speaker simulation. For re-amping guitars and basses, or giving body and controlled dirt to synths, drums and vocals.

The tube lamp along the base glows with the level. Latency: a few samples (internal oversampling), compensated.

Bass Enh

Generates lows that weren’t there: reinforces the bottom of kicks, basses and mixes, and keeps them audible on small speakers.

Distortion

Hard distortion, the aggressive one. Four very different voices.

Crimson level bar along the base. Latency: a few samples (oversampling), compensated.

Downgrade

Digital degradation: fewer bits, lower sample rate. From the crunch of an ’80s sampler to full 8-bit console carnage. Zero latency.

Drive

Saturation and overdrive with five characters, from gentle warmth to fuzz. The module for adding body without crossing into hard distortion. With automatic level compensation: turning DRIVE up doesn’t fool your ear with extra loudness.

Amber lamp along the base. Latency: a few samples (oversampling), compensated.

Tape

A complete tape machine: tape compression, head-bump low end, wobble, bias and that Dolby-style top-end sheen. For gluing mixes, rounding peaks and adding analog weight. The output carries a safety ceiling: it never exceeds 0 dBFS.

Tape vs Tape Flutter: two different modules. Tape (HARM category) is the tape machine — saturation, compression, weight. Tape Flutter (MOD category) is the deterioration — exaggerated wobble, hiss, crackle. They get along great in series.

8.5 REV

Convolution

Convolution reverb: load an impulse response (IR) file and it imprints that real space onto the sound. There is no factory IR bank — it is built for working with your own.

The IR path is saved with the session and the preset. Latency: depends on the IR; reported and compensated automatically.

Reverb Classic

Classic algorithmic plate reverb, with its own early-reflections section and independent filtering per stage. The face is organized into four columns: IN · EARLY · TAIL · OUTPUT.

Reverb Modern

Modern algorithmic reverb, dense and modulated: living tails with no metallic ringing. Three columns: INPUT · REVERB · OUTPUT.

8.6 DLY

Delay Post

A space simulator for post-production: instead of musical repeats, it generates the reflection pattern of a real room from its dimensions and materials. For placing a voice inside a room, a stage or a booth.

Delay Music

Musical stereo delay with 4 lines: line 1 sets the master time and the other three subdivide it into note values. Each line has its own level and pan — rhythmic stereo patterns from a single module. FREE / HOST / TAP.

8.7 PITCH

Freq Shift

Frequency shifter: it moves all frequencies by the same amount in Hz, breaking the harmonic relationship — metallic, bell-like, alien. With feedback and its internal LFO you get “barber poles” (endless rises). Note: its factory values already make sound — it is an effect module, not a resting one.

Pitch Shift

Real-time transposition up to ±2 octaves with formant preservation: vocals go up without turning into chipmunks.

Latency: depends on the mode (higher with more quality); always reported and compensated by the DAW.

8.8 NR

Bands NR

Broadband noise reducer with learning: teach it what the floor sounds like and it pulls that noise down across 32 independent bands. For hiss, hum, air conditioning, room noise.

The workflow: play a stretch where only the noise is audible → press LEARN (it captures ~1 second and switches itself off; the status goes from “Learning…” to “Profile OK”) → raise REDUCE until the floor disappears. You can repeat LEARN over other noises: the profile accumulates (learn the hum, then the hiss, and it covers both). RESET clears the profile.

The 32-band graph shows how hard each band is working — and it is editable: paint with the mouse to protect or attack specific zones of the spectrum (right-click resets it). Latency: 5 ms of lookahead, compensated.

Vocal NR

Neural-network noise reducer for voice: nothing to teach — it tells the voice from the floor and cleans. One knob and one selector.

The first time you engage DEEP it takes a moment to load the engine. Latency is always reported and compensated; when you switch engines, the DAW updates on its own.

8.9 FX

Codecs

Degrades the audio as if it had gone through a low-quality codec: cropped bandwidth, quantization, grit and bad-call packet dropouts. Phone voices, radio, walkie-talkie.

Crowd Mult

Turns one voice into many: up to 32 copies with micro-delays and slightly different tunings. Crowds, choirs, mass dubs, walla.

Distance

Truly pushes the source away: it mimics how air swallows transients and brightness over distance — it sounds “far”, not “muffled”. Backgrounds, off-screen dialog, distant explosions.

DJ MultiFX

The Beat FX strip of a DJ mixer inside the rack: pick the effect on the dial, set the beat fraction with BEAT ◀ ▶, and perform with a single knob while ON/OFF drops it in and out. Tempo comes from the DAW (HOST) or from your TAP — this module has no free-running mode.

LEVEL/DEPTH, at a glance. It is the authentic DJ-mixer knob: fully left is always the clean signal, and the further right, the more effect. On the filters, the knob itself IS the frequency (like a mixer’s filter knob); on FREEZE and STUTTER, left re-arms the capture and right plays the loop.

Fixed controls:

The 16 effects and their contextual knob:

Behavior details: when you switch off a delay/echo/reverb-family effect, the tail that was already sounding decays away naturally (the dry signal returns instantly); changing effects while the module is on re-arms the captures; and the cyclic effects always land on the same spot of the bar thanks to the TAP grid.

Doppler

A source driving past the mic: pitch rises and falls, it approaches and recedes in level, loses highs with distance and crosses the stereo field. Car passes, projectiles, whooshes.

Two modes on the LOOP / ONE button: a continuous pass (cyclic, syncable FREE / HOST / TAP) or a single pass repeating every DUR seconds of playback.

The lower graph draws the pass curve with a playhead running along it in real time.

PhoneFilter

Makes the sound come out of a specific device: it crops the bandwidth and adds that speaker’s own resonances and saturation.

Vinyl

Old-media dirt: generated clicks and scratches plus a continuous floor (hiss, hum, interference) taken from real recordings in a loop. It adds to the signal; it doesn’t filter it.

Vocoder

Classic vocoder: it analyzes the incoming audio (usually voice) and uses it to shape a tone generated inside the module. Robot voices, talking synths, impossible choirs. Play it over MIDI if you want to pitch it from a keyboard (section 10).

The lower analyzer shows the bands working in real time.

8.10 OTHER

Gain

Clean gain with polarity flip. For staging levels between modules or compensating an effect.

Noise Gen

Signal generator: a test source for chains (with MIX at 100 % it replaces the input) and a sound-design layer (noise floors, subs, textures).

Stereo

The imaging toolbox: width, rotation, mid/side balance, mono lows, polarity and M/S listening — with correlation and balance meters to watch mono compatibility.

VST Loader

The module that hosts your VST3 and Audio Unit plugins inside the chain, with a thumbnail of their interface, compensated parallel blending and 16 knobs mappable to their parameters. It has its own section: 16. Plugin Host.

9. Macros: automation from your DAW

The three control systems, at a glance:

• Macros = DAW automation lanes. 32 knobs that move whatever you hang off them.
• LFOs = automatic cyclic motion. 8 oscillators that make any control move.
• Snapshots = full pictures of the chain. 16 states you recall in one go.

All three coexist: one knob can hang off a macro and an LFO at once, and snapshots remember the assignments.

9.1 The idea

Your DAW sees 32 parameters called Macro 1 … Macro 32. Inside the rack, you decide what each one moves: any knob of any module — or several at once. Write automation on “Macro 3” in your DAW and the rack translates.

9.2 Assigning

1. Right-click the knob you want to automate.
2. Assign to Macro... → pick the slot (1–32). The menu tells you how many mappings each one already has.
3. Done. The knob wears a badge with the macro’s number and color, and the macro’s cell lights up on the AUTOMATION tab.

To undo: right-click the knob → Remove Macro N assignment. To empty a whole macro: right-click its cell → Reset Macro (clear all assignments).

Assignments live on knobs. Two modules are driven only on their graph and have no knobs to assign: EQ Tactile and MB Comp. If you want an EQ hanging off macros or LFOs, load EQ 3-Band.

9.3 One knob (direct mode) or many (multi-mapping)

• With a single knob assigned, the connection is bidirectional: move the knob and the DAW lane moves; move the lane and the knob follows. The knob stays yours.
• With two or more knobs on the same macro, the knobs become locked (dimmed): only the macro moves them. That’s your “super-knob”: one gesture that opens the reverb, closes the filter and pushes the delay all at once.

9.4 Per-mapping ranges (and how to invert)

In the macro’s cell (AUTOMATION tab), the ⚙ button opens the mappings window: one row per knob with two bars, Min and Max — the stretch of travel that knob covers as the macro goes from 0 to 100.

• Want a knob to go down as the macro goes up? Set its Min above its Max. Inverted.
• The bars are dragged, and the mouse wheel fine-tunes.
• The × button on each row removes that mapping.

9.5 Renaming

Double-click the name under the macro’s knob (M1, M2…) and type your own: “Darkness”, “Air”, “Chaos”. The name travels with presets and snapshots.

9.6 Macros and presets: one important detail

Presets and snapshots store the macros’ assignments, but not their values. Why? Because a macro’s value belongs to your DAW’s automation: if a preset stomped on it, it would fight the lane you already wrote. Load presets knowing your automation stays in charge.

9.7 Pro Tools: jump to the lane

Ctrl+Cmd+click on an automatable control (the macros, D/W, the IN/OUT faders, BYPASS… and also any module knob assigned to a macro) opens its automation lane directly in Pro Tools.

10. MIDI: MIDI Learn and the Vocoder

The rack accepts MIDI input in every format, with two uses:

10.1 MIDI Learn (CC → Macro)

Control the macros from your surface or keyboard:

1. AUTOMATION tab → right-click the macro’s cell.
2. MIDI Learn — the cell blinks LEARN in orange.
3. Move a knob on your controller. The first CC that arrives gets assigned and the cell shows CC<n>.
4. To remove it: right-click → Clear MIDI (CC <n>). To change it: MIDI Learn (reassign).

CC assignments listen on all MIDI channels, are saved with the session and presets, and whatever you move over MIDI can be recorded by your DAW as macro automation.

10.2 Playing the Vocoder

Set the Vocoder’s TYPE to MIDI and the carrier follows the notes you send: monophonic, last-note priority (release a note and it falls back to the previous one; no notes, silence). Route a MIDI track to the plugin in your DAW — in Pro Tools, by assigning the MIDI track’s output to the plugin; in Logic, by using the rack as a MIDI-controlled Effect (section 18).

11. LFOs

Eight global oscillators on the LFOs tab, to set any knob in motion.

11.1 Assigning

Just like a macro: right-click the knob → Assign to LFO... → slot 1–8. The knob wears a badge with a little wave and the number. Remove with Remove LFO N assignment.

Important: by default the LFO sweeps the knob’s entire travel, minimum to maximum. To narrow it, open the ⚙ window of the LFO’s cell and adjust that mapping’s Min/Max bars — same system as the macros, inversion included.

11.2 Each LFO’s controls

The glowing strip in each cell shows the LFO in motion. Double-click the name to rename it.

LFOs sync to the DAW’s tempo (HOST). The TAP clock (section 14) drives the sync-capable modules; LFOs don’t follow it.

11.3 Coexistence

The same knob can carry macro + LFO at once: the macro sets the base and the LFO oscillates on top. LFO assignments travel with presets and snapshots, just like macro ones.

12. Snapshots

Sixteen complete pictures of the chain: modules, order, every parameter, bypasses, assignments… Switching snapshots is switching scenes — verse/chorus, dry/wet, version A/B/C of a design — from a single plugin instance.

12.1 Capture, recall, update

On the SNAPSHOTS tab:

• Click an empty slot → captures the current state.
• Click a filled slot → recalls it (with a micro-fade: no clicks).
• If you then change anything, the active slot pulses to warn you of unsaved changes, and an UPDATE button appears: press it to re-save the slot with the current state.
• Right-click a slot: Update current state · Recall · Rename... · Clear slot.
• The red X in the corner clears the slot.

12.2 Automating scene changes

Snapshots are recalled from the DAW through the Snapshot Select parameter (---, Snap 1 … Snap 16). Write automation with it and the chain changes scene on the exact bar — in Pro Tools, the lane even shows the name you gave each snapshot.

Two guarantees built for this:

• Latency never changes on a switch. The latency reported to the DAW is always the highest of the current chain and every stored snapshot; lighter scenes are compensated internally up to that value — changing scenes never shifts the track or causes a jump.
• Macro values are left alone (9.6): your automation stays in charge.

12.3 Snapshots and presets

Rack presets include the snapshots. If you load a preset while you have your own snapshots stored, the rack asks (Snapshot Conflict): Overwrite replaces them with the preset’s; Keep Mine keeps yours and loads just the chain.

13. Presets and A/B comparison

13.1 The preset bar

• < / > — previous / next preset.
• Central menu — every preset: factory first, then your folders and your presets.
• SAVE — saves with a name and folder (you can create new folders right from the dialog with New folder…). If the name exists, it asks before overwriting.

A preset stores the complete chain: modules and settings, D/W, IN/OUT gains, macro/LFO/MIDI assignments and the snapshots. It does not store macro values (9.6) or machine preferences (Settings).

Your presets live in ~/Documents/Infinity Rack/Presets/ (.btpreset files); subfolders are the menu’s folders. Copy them, back them up or move them to another machine as regular files.

13.2 What ships from factory

The Default preset: the clean, empty chain — the starting point.

13.3 A / Copy → / B

Two complete memories for comparing, in the top bar:

• A and B — switch between the two memories (the current state is stored in the one you leave). B starts empty: a blank canvas one click away.
• Copy → (or ← Copy, depending on the active side) — copies the current state to the other memory and jumps to it: the perfect starting point for “same, but with this one knob different”.

The A/B is a working tool for the mixing session: it doesn’t travel in presets.

13.4 Per-module presets

Each module has its own preset system behind the folder icon on its header: save just that module’s settings (Save as..., with folders), load them into any instance, or open the folder in the Finder (Open folder).

They live in ~/Documents/Infinity Rack/Module Presets/, and they are the very same files the Infinity single plugins use: a Compressor preset saved in the rack shows up in Infinity Compressor, and the other way around (section 17).

14. The clock: FREE, HOST and TAP

Ten modules work in time: Delay Music, Auto-Pan, Chopper, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Vibrato, Leslie, Doppler and DJ MultiFX. They all share the same mode button:

FREE / HOST / TAP, at a glance.

• FREE — free time in ms or Hz. No bar, no beat. (The only module without it is DJ MultiFX.)
• HOST — follows the DAW’s tempo and its tempo map. The natural choice when your session has a click.
• TAP — the rack’s internal clock: you tap the tempo in. For material recorded without a click, post, live rigs — a beat where the DAW has none.

Any click on the button (FREE ▾ / HOST ▾ / TAP ▾) opens the menu with the three options. In HOST and TAP, the module’s rate knob switches from ms/Hz to note divisions (4/1 down to 1/64, with dotted D and triplet T values).

14.1 The master TAP

The top bar houses the internal clock’s BPM readout and TAP button — one clock for the whole rack: every module in TAP mode stays locked to every other.

• Tap the tempo in time with the music (2 to 8 taps; the average of the whole run refines the result).
• With the transport running, your taps also anchor the “one”: the grid locks to your timeline and the effects land on the same spot of the bar every time — on re-play and on bounce too.
• With the transport stopped, TAP only measures the BPM (there’s no timeline to anchor to).
• Hold the button (~half a second) for SET 1: pins the “one” at that instant without re-measuring the BPM.
• Double-click the BPM readout to type the exact value (60–200).
• The button’s LED blinks quarter notes when the grid is armed.

14.2 The fine menu (right-click on TAP)

SET 1 - anchor beat one here · Beat 1 -10 ms (earlier) / Beat 1 +10 ms (later) (micro-nudge of the “one”) · BPM ÷ 2 / BPM × 2 · Round BPM to integer · Clear grid.

14.3 Details that matter

• The BPM, the anchor and the grid state are automatable parameters (Tap BPM, Tap Beat 1, Tap Grid On): you can write tempo changes per section, and offline bounces reproduce them exactly.
• Each module’s TAP button does the same as the master (it is the same clock); using it switches that module to TAP mode automatically. In HOST mode the module’s TAP button dims — you don’t need it.
• Each module’s LED only blinks when that module is in TAP.

15. Sidechain

Five modules can listen to an external signal to decide when to act: Compressor, Gate, Expander, De-Esser and MB Comp.

15.1 Hooking it up

1. Route the external signal to the plugin’s sidechain bus, in your DAW:
   • Pro Tools: the Key Input selector (top of the plugin window).
   • Logic: the Side Chain menu (top right of the plugin header).
   • Ableton Live: enable the sidechain input in the device’s input/output configuration.
   • REAPER: add the second input pair in the FX routing (pin connector).
2. Switch on the SC pill on the header of the module that should listen (it lights up orange).

Each module decides on its own: you can have a Compressor ducking to the kick over sidechain and a Gate working off the normal signal, in the same chain. If SC is on but nothing is connected to the bus, the module falls back to its normal signal (it never goes mute). A mono sidechain feed is converted to stereo automatically.

15.2 Gain-reduction meters in Pro Tools

The rack publishes two aggregate gain-reduction meters that Pro Tools shows on the insert header and in the mixer: GR Comp/Lim (compressors/limiters) and GR Exp/Gate (expanders/gates) — the maximum reduction the chain is applying in each family.

16. Plugin Host: your plugins inside the rack

The VST Loader module (OTHER category; its card is titled Plugin Host) brings any VST3 or Audio Unit plugin on your system into the chain: your favorite third-party reverb, that character EQ, a plugin of your own — as one more module, with parallel blending and rack automation.

16.1 Scanning your plugins (once)

Scanning only happens when you ask for it — never when inserting the module or opening a session:

• RESCAN — full scan from scratch.
• RESCAN NEW — only what was installed since last time (fast).

While scanning, the card pulses and shows progress. The scan runs outside the DAW’s process: a broken plugin cannot take your session down — it just gets noted. If anything was skipped, the status says so (N plugins · M saltados ▾): click to see the list and, if you want, retry them.

The formats to scan (VST3 / AU) and the search folders are configured in ⚙ Settings → PLUGIN HOSTING (with CLEAR BLACKLIST to clear the skip list).

16.2 Loading and using

• SELECT PLUGIN — menu by format and manufacturer. On pick, the plugin loads and its interface opens by itself in a floating window.
• OPEN GUI / CLOSE GUI — open and close that window anytime. The card shows a real thumbnail of the plugin’s interface (captured when you open it).
• MIX (0–100 %, factory 100 %) — parallel blend with the dry path latency-compensated: parallel processing with no cancellations.
• REMOVE — unloads the plugin.

Whatever latency the hosted plugin reports is added to the chain’s and compensated like any module’s. The plugin’s complete state (its settings) travels with your session and your presets.

16.3 The 16 VST Macros

On the right of the card sit 16 knobs in a grid. Each maps to one parameter of the hosted plugin: press the button under the knob and pick the parameter from the menu (plugins with hundreds get them grouped 20 at a time).

The beauty of it: those 16 knobs are regular rack parameters (“VST Macro 1…16”). Which means: assign them a rack macro (right-click, as always), an LFO, automate them, and they travel in presets and snapshots. Your third-party plugin, inside the rack’s control ecosystem.

If a plugin update reorders its parameters, the rack re-resolves each mapping by name when the session loads.

17. The Infinity single plugins

The rack’s modules also live as single plugins: the Infinity suite, for when you only need one piece. The suite will keep growing until it covers the full module catalog; today the installer includes the first 8:

The important bits:

• Same license: they activate with the same activation as the rack (section 4).
• Same presets: they share the per-module presets with the rack (13.4). Dial in the De-Esser inside the rack, save the preset, open it in Infinity De-Esser in another session — or the other way around.
• Same sound: it is exactly the same processing.
• The 5 dynamics ones (Compressor, Gate, Expander, De-Esser, MB Comp) have external sidechain, just like in the rack.
• They insert on mono or stereo tracks (mono→mono / stereo→stereo).

18. DAW notes

Pro Tools

• Native AAX, Pro Tools 12.8.4+. The rack appears in the Effect category; on mono tracks it offers the Mono and Mono→Stereo variants, on stereo tracks Stereo.
• Sidechain via Key Input. GR Comp/Lim and GR Exp/Gate meters in the mixer.
• Ctrl+Cmd+click on a control opens its automation lane (9.7).
• AudioSuite: available for offline clip processing. No MIDI input in AudioSuite: the MIDI Vocoder and MIDI Learn need the regular insert.
• After installing or updating: Cmd+Q and relaunch (Pro Tools caches the plugin list between launches).

Logic

• Via Audio Unit. The rack accepts MIDI, so Logic registers it as a Music Effect: you’ll find it in the Audio FX menu under Kaizen Audio, and to play the Vocoder from a keyboard, insert it on a software instrument track from the AU MIDI-controlled Effects category and feed it audio through its side chain input.
• The single plugins appear as regular Audio FX.

Nuendo / Cubase / Studio One

• Via VST3, full functionality. Sidechain through the DAW’s standard sidechain button/routing.

Ableton Live

• Via VST3. Sidechain is enabled in the device’s input configuration.

REAPER

• Via VST3. For sidechain, add the second input pair in the FX pin connector.

19. Troubleshooting

The audio drops out for 3 seconds every few seconds. That’s demo mode: the plugin is not activated (or the trial expired). Activate your license (section 4).

Infinity Rack doesn’t show up in Logic. Check you have the latest version installed and restart the Mac (forces an Audio Unit rescan). Remember the rack is registered as a Music Effect — look in that category too.

Pro Tools doesn’t show the plugin (or shows odd configurations) after updating. Quit Pro Tools completely (Cmd+Q) and relaunch. Last resort: delete ~/Library/Preferences/Avid/Pro Tools/InstalledAAXPlugIns and let it rescan.

The track sounds late / drags behind. That’s the chain’s latency (visible in the Lat: readout): modules like Limiter, Maximizer, Pitch Shift, the NRs or a hosted plugin introduce it, and the DAW compensates — during normal playback you shouldn’t notice anything. Bear in mind the reported latency is the highest of the chain and of every stored snapshot (so switching scenes never jumps): if Lat: reads more than your chain adds up to, some stored snapshot holds heavy modules — clear it if you don’t need it. For tracking or live monitoring through the rack, the clean way is a chain (and snapshots) without latency-adding modules.

I bypass and the track goes out of phase. It shouldn’t: the rack’s bypass delays the passthrough by exactly the reported latency, and with Stable PDC on, bypassing single modules changes nothing either. If you notice an offset, check that Stable PDC (Pro Tools) is ON (⚙ Settings) and that your DAW’s latency compensation is enabled.

Tempo effects don’t land on the beat. Is the module in HOST while your session has no tempo map (or the transport is stopped)? Switch it to TAP and tap the tempo yourself (section 14). In TAP, remember to anchor the “one” with the transport running (or with SET 1).

The Vocoder in MIDI mode makes no sound. With no MIDI notes the carrier stays silent: check the MIDI track is routed to the plugin and TYPE is MIDI (10.2).

The sidechain doesn’t react. There are two steps and you need both: route the signal to the plugin’s sidechain bus in the DAW and switch on the module’s SC pill (section 15).

A plugin doesn’t appear in the Plugin Host. Run RESCAN NEW (or RESCAN). Check in ⚙ Settings → PLUGIN HOSTING that its format is enabled and its folder is on the list. If the scan skipped it (crash), it will be in the skipped list — retry it from there.

A module from my old session shows as “(Legacy)”. Session from an earlier version: that module keeps sounding exactly the same so your mix doesn’t break, but it is no longer in the tray. When you get the chance, replace it with its current version (same name without “Legacy”).

I deleted a module / hit RESET CHAIN by accident. There is no undo. If the state was in a snapshot, a preset or the other A/B slot, recover it from there — and for delicate work, capture a snapshot before major surgery.

“Online validation failed” on screen. The plugin can’t reach the server (no internet, VPN, proxy?). You have a 14-day grace period with the date on screen; get back online before that date. Section 4.6.

I want to move my license to another Mac. About → Manage License → Deactivate on the old machine; activate on the new one. Section 4.5.

Support: hello@kaizen.audio — write from your account email and include plugin version, DAW and OS. Error messages in the license panel can be selected and copied directly.

20. Specifications

Infinity Rack is a product of Kaizen Audio SL — kaizen.audio Pro Tools and AAX are trademarks of Avid Technology. VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies. Audio Units, Logic and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.