Ewan Bristow has released ANINA, a free spectral shaping plugin for macOS and Windows.
While ANINA is a new plugin, it is not a new concept.
However, Florah Lite had one particular drawback for many users: it requires Plugdata.
Without entering any debate about the pros and cons of Plugdata as a developer and end-user, it’s fair to say that anything that adds an extra step to a process can put people off.
So, anyone who was excited about Florah Lite but not keen on Plugdata will be glad to hear that ANINA is available in AU, VST3, and CLAP formats for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
No Plugdata required!
Plugdata aside, ANINA is an overall improvement over its predecessor.
Like Trackspacer, ANINA is greater than the sum of its parts.
With up to 1024 bands of compression, low/high filter-signal cutoff controls, and a sidechain input, you can create space in different ways, where it’s needed in your mix.
You can also apply a gate to the filter spectrum, and a nice visual display shows the real-time response of the input and filter spectra.
At the top right of the GUI, you’ll see the option to adjust the block size of the plugin: smaller block sizes produce a tighter feel, and larger sizes deliver better frequency resolution.
But ANINA has some functions that lean more into sound design, and with the quirky nature of spectral processing, you get some very interesting results.
Besides the three main controls, Attack (adds attack to the spectral curve), Amount (amount of reduction), and Release (adds decay to the spectral curve), we have Freeze and Delta functions.
The Freeze button freezes the filter spectrum.
The Delta function lets you hear what ANINA is removing from your signal, taking it from resonance suppression to resonance isolation, and that can lead to some weird and wonderful sounds.
If you missed out on Florah Lite, you’ll definitely want to give ANINA a try.
And, if you’re new to Ewan Bristow, it’s worth checking out previous releases, too.
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Last Updated on February 20, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
