Type B: A Vintage Exciter Plugin by AudioThing

Vintage Exciter
Type B is a plugin inspired by a famous vintage exciter effect.

The original unit was designed to add presence and brightness to vocal or instrument tracks. It was often used to enhance dull recordings where the high frequency content was missing due to tape overdubs.

Type B lets you control more aspects of the exciter circuit emulation, giving you access to the internal filter, the harmonic generator and more.

Additional Features
You can show/hide the drop-down panel by clicking on the arrow icon in the bottom left corner of the interface.
You’ll get access to:

• Filter controls: mode (pre/post), type (highpass, bandpass), slope (12/24dB), emphasis
• Additional options: direct signal, wet boost, and background noise

How does it work?
Exciters generate high-frequency content that is not part of the original signal using a combination of filtering and distortion (harmonic generator).

The input signal goes into a filter (usually highpass, but you can also choose bandpass with Type B) before feeding it into the harmonic generator. You have controls over the generated harmonics using the Color parameter. The signal is then mixed back with the dry signal.

Expensive Exciter
The original aural exciter algorithm was developed in the mid-1970s by Aphex Systems. At first, it was available to recording studios only to hire (at a cost of $30 per minute of finished recording time in 1975). Eventually, its popularity led to the release of commercially available models like the Type B and Type C.