Dream Catcher DRME — Dual Ribbon Mic Emulation by TRONA Audio.

We got tired of music feeling like work. So we built something that makes it feel like music again.

The Dream Catcher DRME started as a personal frustration. Ribbon microphones have a sound that nobody forgets — warm, honest, and alive in a way that condenser mics rarely are. They make recordings feel like recordings. Like someone was actually in a room, playing something that mattered. But real ribbon mics are fragile, expensive, and out of reach for most people making music today.

So we measured ours. Not modeled. Not approximated. We captured actual impulse responses from real physical TRONA ribbon microphones — the little ribbon and the large ribbon — and built a plugin around what we found. Every knob in the DRME exists because something real in that microphone behaved that way.

What came out the other side is a plugin that doesn't feel like a plugin. It feels like putting up a mic in a room and just playing. The proximity bloom when you lean in. The figure-8 pattern bleeding in from behind. The transformer adding that last little bit of weight that makes a vocal sit in a mix without you having to think about it. It sounds like the records that made you want to make music in the first place.

That's the only reason we built this. Not to add another tool to your chain. To give you back the feeling that started all of this for you.

Features.

Dual Ribbon Engine — R1 (Little Ribbon) — smaller element, grittier character, higher harmonic content (~7.5% THD) — R2 (Large Ribbon) — larger element, cleaner response, smoother saturation (~2.4% THD) — R1 and R2 Length controls (0–100) — shape the physical ribbon length and its effect on frequency response and pattern behavior.

Three Processing Modes — RR Mode — length-based comb filtering, dramatic figure-8 character and frequency shaping — PR Mode — physics-correct Faraday induction modeling, more transparent and realistic ribbon behavior — OFF Mode — all ribbon processing bypassed, IR and character processing only.

Ribbon Controls — Proximity (0–100) — distance simulation from 1 foot to 1 inch close-mic, with authentic low-frequency bloom — Ribbon Tone (0–100) — blend of measured impulse response and harmonic character — Port Size (0–100) — rear acoustic port simulation from tight cardioid to full figure-8 — Rear Distance (0–100) — acoustic rear path length from 2 to 6 inches — Corrugation (0–100) — ribbon tension and resonance pattern, tuning the low-frequency floor from 70Hz to 20Hz.

Character Controls — Transformer (0–100) — output transformer saturation and warmth, from subtle color to heavy saturation — Ribbon Glue (0–100) — warmth, high-frequency sag, bloom, and gentle compression in one control.

Level Controls — Input Level (-60 to +12 dB) — Sensitivity (-60 to 0 dB) — virtual mic position and source level — Output Level (-60 to +12 dB).

Utility — BK (Back) — simulates rotating the mic 180° for a darker, more saturated tone — LC (Low Cut) — cycles OFF / 30Hz / 80Hz / 160Hz — PH (Phase Flip) — 180° polarity inversion — BYP — plugin bypass with 60ms crossfade, use instead of DAW bypass for clean transitions — A/B Comparison — store and recall two full parameter states for instant comparison — Delta Mode — monitor the wet/dry difference only, for precise dialing of subtle processing.

Under the Hood — Real impulse responses captured from physical TRONA ribbon microphones — Harmonic saturation models built from measured THD profiles — Physical modeling of Faraday induction, resonance, and phase effects — Acoustic emulation of port sizes, rear paths, and corrugation patterns — AutoFreeze CPU management — silently captures and freezes processing after 5 seconds of inactivity, dropping from 20–25% to 5–8% CPU, instantly unfreezing when any control is touched.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS — Formats: AU (Audio Unit), VST3 — Platform: macOS 10.13 or later — Universal Binary (Apple Silicon + Intel) — DAW Support: Logic Pro, GarageBand, MainStage, Ableton Live, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, any AU or VST3 host — Sample Rates: 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz — Bit Depth: 32-bit floating point — Latency: 100–300 samples (IR-dependent) — CPU Usage: 15–25% per instance (5–8% when AutoFreeze is active) — RAM: 16 GB recommended — License: 1 license, up to 3 computers — Price: $49.

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