Remove the peripherals: the stereo sides close in, the mono middle comes forward. A Goghini and Box Of Rules collaboration.
Downloads always point at the newest build, so there is never a stale link to chase. Free for any use when you pick $0, commercial productions included.
Focus Frames quiet the visual noise at the edges so your attention stays on what's in front of you. Focus does it to a stereo bus: turn the dial and the shields close on the image. The sides get shut out, the middle comes forward. At 0% it is bit-exact passthrough.
QUIET cuts the sides, surgically. CALM holds the loudness while the image narrows, so the room stays as loud. PRESENT brings the middle forward with a presence lift and gentle saturation. DEEP folds the lows to mono first, highs last, all the way to exactly mono.
All mid/side: in QUIET, CALM and DEEP the mid is never touched, so your mono fold-down keeps its character. Only the width changes. Stereo only, by design (a mono bus has no peripherals to remove). Zero latency: safe for tracking.
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Download your platform's build after checkout. The macOS .dmg runs an installer that puts the AU, VST3, LV2 and the AAX for Pro Tools in the system plug-in folders; on Windows and Linux, unzip and drop the bundle into your VST3 / LV2 folder (Pro Tools on Windows: the separate AAX zip goes into Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins). Rescan plugins in your DAW and load Focus on a stereo bus. It will not appear on mono tracks, by design. The macOS build is Developer ID signed and notarized; the Windows builds are signed too.
It removes the peripherals from a stereo bus. One dial: as it turns, the stereo sides close in and the mono middle comes forward, like the side shields on Goghini's Focus Frames glasses, but for your ears. Four MOODs decide how: QUIET cuts the sides surgically, CALM holds the loudness while the image narrows, PRESENT pushes the middle forward, DEEP folds the lows to mono first.
You decide. Pick $0 and it is free, for any use, commercial productions included, no account, no dongle. The paid tiers are the tip jar: same download, and everything you chip in funds the next plugin.
By design: a mono bus has no peripherals to remove. Focus works in mid/side, and in the QUIET, CALM and DEEP moods the mid is never touched, so your mix's mono fold-down keeps its character; only the width changes. It refuses mono channel layouts outright, so it won't appear on mono tracks.
Both the plugin and the Focus Frames glasses it takes after were invented by James H. Gordy: the musician who is Box Of Rules, and the founder of Goghini. Same idea, same inventor, two senses.
It counts anonymous usage: a random install id with the plugin version, OS and DAW, never audio or personal data, batched roughly hourly. A clearly labelled opt-out checkbox in the SYS panel stops everything immediately. Full details are in the Box Of Rules privacy policy.
Focus is proprietary software, © Box Of Rules, all rights reserved. Built with the JUCE 8 framework in line with the JUCE 8 EULA. A Goghini and Box Of Rules collaboration; Focus Frames is a Goghini product. The plugin counts anonymous usage (never audio or personal data), with a clearly labelled opt-out in its SYS panel. Details in the Box Of Rules privacy policy.
