Audio Spices Sesame: A Step-Locked Stutter Slicer
Audio Spices Sesame is a host-locked stutter slicer. Stack seeds on four to sixteen piles to ratchet a beat. Launch $39.99 against $59.99. VST3, AU, AAX.
Audio Spices shipped Sesame as a step-locked stutter slicer on 14 September 2026. Sixteen tiny piles sit on the timeline. You drop seeds in them. The launch price is $39.99 against a $59.99 regular. The download is 15 MB.
At a glance: $39.99 launch / $59.99 regular. VST3, AU, and AAX on macOS. VST3 and AAX on Windows. Host-tempo locked. Click, stack, ratchet. Buy it from audio-spices.com.
This is a first look at the shipping plugin and the official product page. We have not run Sesame in a session yet.
What Sesame is
Sesame is a stutter you program by stacking. One seed lets a step through clean. Add another and the step splits finer. Keep stacking and the beat ratchets into a roll. Empty a pile and that step falls silent. The official metaphor is piles and seeds, not a piano-roll of slice points.
That is a narrower job than a sequenced multi-effect. ShaperBox 3 draws LFOs across eleven processors. Effectrix 2 sequences fourteen effects on a 32-step grid. Infiltrator 2 is a 50-module rack. Sesame does one thing: lock a stutter pattern to the host and let you thicken or mute each step by dropping seeds.
Audio Spices is Adi Rotem's shop. The other live spices sit next to Sesame: Anise, Salt, Chilli, Basil, Ginger. Sesame is the chop. The site tagline on the plugin is "anything you want to chop."
There is no MIDI to program and no step grid to draw. The official instruction is three verbs. Click. Stack. Ratchet.
Piles, seeds, and host lock
The pattern can be four piles or sixteen. Eighth notes or sixteenths. It locks to the host tempo and loops at its own length. Change the host tempo and the stutter stays on the beat.
One seed is a clean pass. Add more and the step splits finer. Keep going and the retriggers get shorter until the step is a roll. That is the ratchet. You are not drawing a stutter curve. You are adding slices to a pile.
An empty pile is a rest. Leave a step blank and the audio drops out for that hit. That is how you write a chop that breathes instead of a roll that never stops.
The official window labels the rest of the desk. Steps sets how many piles are live. Random scatters a new pattern. Motion sits beside them. Those three sit under the piles on the factory film.
Motion, Random, and a cream window
Motion is how a pile stops being a flat stack. It is a labeled control on the official GUI, next to Random and the step count. Use it when the ratchet needs to move, not only repeat.
Random is the other fast path. Hit it when the current piles are too polite. Then restack the steps you want to keep.
The factory window is cream, not a dark rack. The name sits above the piles in the same type as the other spices. It looks like a small instrument, not a channel strip.
Where it sits in a session
Sesame wants audio that already has a pulse. Drums, bass, a chopped vocal, a guitar stab. Put it on a loop you would otherwise edit by hand. The host-tempo lock is the reason the chop stays on the beat when the session tempo moves.
It is less useful as a wash. If the job is granular texture, Graindad is the other current chop on this desk, and it is a grain engine, not a step slicer. If the job is a whole rhythmic FX rack, ShaperBox or Infiltrator will do more than Sesame will ever claim.
The 15 MB download is the whole plugin. There is no sample library to babysit.
A demo download is available from the Audio Spices storefront. The product page sends a link. The official YouTube film is the see-it-in-action pass: piles, seeds, and the ratchet on real audio.
Sesame specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Step-locked stutter slicer |
| Pattern | 4 to 16 piles, eighths or sixteenths, loops at its own length |
| Seeds | Stack per step; one seed is clean, more seeds ratchet |
| Empty step | Silent |
| Lock | Host tempo |
| Controls | Steps, Random, Motion |
| Size | 15 MB |
| Formats | VST3, AU, AAX on macOS; VST3, AAX on Windows |
| Price | $39.99 launch / $59.99 regular |
Sesame vs ShaperBox 3 and Effectrix 2
| Sesame | ShaperBox 3 | Effectrix 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job | Host-locked stutter slicer | LFO-driven multi-effect | 32-step multi-effect sequencer |
| Programming | Click and stack seeds | Drawable LFOs, 11 processors | 14 sequenced effects |
| Makes a roll | Stack seeds on a pile | Time / stutter shapers | Step-sequenced chops |
| Price | $39.99 / $59.99 | $99 | €129 |
| Formats | VST3, AU, AAX | VST, AU, AAX | VST, AU, AAX |
Pick Sesame when you want a stutter that stays on the song position and you are willing to program it with seeds instead of a curve. Pick ShaperBox 3 when the stutter is one module in a larger rhythmic rack. Pick Effectrix 2 when you want fourteen sequenced effects, not one slicer. Infiltrator 2 is the deep sequenced rack if the session needs fifty modules.
$39.99 is a specialist price. You are not buying a multi-effect flagship.
Who Sesame is for
Sesame suits producers who already edit chops by hand and want that move locked to the host. It also suits anyone who wants a fill or a mute pattern they can randomize without drawing a grid. Drums, bass, and short vocal phrases are the obvious first tracks.
Skip it if you wanted a granular engine. Skip it if you needed a full sequenced FX rack. Skip it if your host has no AAX or VST3 and you are on Windows without AU. Skip it if you only needed a one-knob stutter.
The launch price is the reason to decide now. $39.99 against $59.99.
How much does Sesame cost?
Sesame is $39.99 at launch against a $59.99 regular on audio-spices.com/sesame. One-time. The installer is 15 MB.
Formats are VST3, AU, and AAX on macOS, and VST3 plus AAX on Windows. That is the Audio Spices format line across the shop.
A demo link is available from the product page. The official YouTube film is on the Audio Spices channel.
Sold direct. There is no Plugin Boutique or Thomann listing.
FAQ
What is Audio Spices Sesame?
A step-locked stutter slicer. Piles sit on the beat. Seeds split each step into finer retriggers. Empty piles go silent. The pattern locks to host tempo.
How much does Sesame cost?
$39.99 launch against $59.99 regular, sold direct from Audio Spices.
Does Sesame need MIDI?
No. It is an audio effect. You click piles and stack seeds. No MIDI grid.
Sesame vs ShaperBox?
ShaperBox is a multi-effect with drawable LFOs. Sesame is one slicer. Use Sesame when the only job is a host-locked ratchet.
What formats does Sesame support?
VST3, AU, and AAX on macOS. VST3 and AAX on Windows.
Verdict
Sesame is a stutter you stack. Four to sixteen piles, seeds that turn a step into a roll, empty steps that rest, and a pattern that stays on the host. $39.99 against $59.99. It will not replace ShaperBox or Effectrix as a rhythmic FX rack. If the job is a clean, song-locked chop you can click into place, this is the Audio Spices plugin for that sentence.
