Carbonated Audio SPRITZ: A $49 ShaperBox Rival for Beat Flips
SPRITZ chains 11 curve-driven effects, from tape stops to pitch flips, with eight scenes per preset and 912 presets for $49. Specs, rivals and who should buy.
Carbonated Audio has released SPRITZ, an effects rack where every module follows a curve you draw over the loop. Ramps on the Time module become tape stops, steps become stutters, and a dip on Volume under every kick becomes sidechain. Chain up to eight modules, give each of eight scenes its own drawing, and a plain drum loop comes back as a new pattern every bar. It costs $49, one time.
At a glance: SPRITZ is $49 direct from Carbonated Audio, or included in the nine-plugin All Plugins Bundle for $99. It has 11 modules (Time, Volume, Filter, Drive, Pitch, Reverb, Pan, Width, Crush, Liquid and Noise), up to eight in one chain, eight scenes per preset, up to four bands per module and 912 factory presets. It runs as VST3, AU and AAX on macOS 11 or later and as 64-bit VST3 on Windows 10 and 11. Latency is a constant 22 ms plus 128 samples, reported to the host. A full-featured demo is free.
What is SPRITZ?
Beat flipping plugins usually come in two flavors. Stutter boxes give you buttons: press for a roll, press for a tape stop. Shaper-style plugins give you drawable LFOs on a fixed set of effects. SPRITZ sits closer to the second camp, and its module list will look very familiar to ShaperBox 3 owners. The difference is in how the pieces connect: modules are taps on a rail that you reorder, duplicate and switch per scene, so a single preset can hold eight different flips of the same loop.
It is the ninth plugin from Carbonated Audio, the small developer behind the On Tap sidechain ducker and the FOAM ducking reverb. Like those, it is sold direct, licensed for three machines with no iLok, and priced well under the big names.
The 11 modules, and what they do for a loop
- Time scrubs a tape of the loop. Ramps are tape stops, steps are stutters, and slopes past the reference line play backwards. Ranges cover beats, bars or fine moves.
- Volume draws gain in dB with sample-accurate edges, for pumps, gates, trance chops and trims. You can overlay the sidechain waveform to line a dip up with the kick.
- Filter gives cutoff and resonance their own curves, with low, high, band, notch and peak shapes, clean or warm, from 6 to 24 dB.
- Drive offers twelve shapes from soft clip to fold, oversampled, with a live transfer curve.
- Pitch shifts up or down two octaves without changing tempo. Every transient restarts on its step, so drums stay tight through a pitch dive.
- Reverb draws send and dry separately, for throws, washes and gated tails that ring into the next downbeat.
- Pan has five pan laws plus Haas panning on a glide.
- Width moves mid/side from mono to 200%, loudness compensated.
- Crush puts bits and sample rate on separate curves, with an anti-alias pre-filter, jitter and dither.
- Liquid is a flanger or phaser with 2 to 16 stages and signed feedback.
- Noise adds white, pink, brown, vinyl, tape, fizz, digital or rain noise that can follow the music or duck under it.
Duplicates are allowed, so two Time stages or two Filters in one chain is fine. Each module gets its own envelope follower, its own trigger and up to four crossover bands with a curve per band. That last point is the practical one: you can tape-stop the lows while rolling the hats inside the same module.
The workflow features that matter
Scenes A to H
Every preset holds up to eight scenes, each with its own curves and settings. You can switch them from the pads, from MIDI notes (C retriggers, C# to G# pick a scene), or turn on AUTO to step through a sequence every one, two or four bars. Switches land on the next beat or bar so nothing jumps mid-hit. For a producer arranging an eight-bar loop into a full beat, this is where SPRITZ saves real time.
Three trigger modes
Curves run in Sync against host tempo with swing and phase, restart from a MIDI note, or restart on every detected transient. Audio trigger can listen to an external sidechain input. The envelope follower then adds to or multiplies the curve, so a drawn filter sweep can also open with the hits.
Drawing tools and waves
Points come in hard, medium or soft, with curve, S-curve, hold or quad segments. A library of 143 wave shapes and a nine-slot palette lets you stamp a stutter, a half-time, a reverse or a tape ramp in one click, and the palette follows you across instances. There are 200 undo steps, which you'll appreciate the first time a scene goes sideways.
912 presets
The factory bank spans 18 categories, led by live flips, beat flips, half-time and speed, stutter and repeat, builds and transitions, reverse, tape and vinyl, and scratch, with sidechain, filter motion and mixing tools alongside. A "Start Here" set of 29 presets is the quickest way in. For one-shot tape-stop fills drawn as automation, Cableguys TimeStop is the narrower, cheaper tool.
SPRITZ specifications
| Spec | SPRITZ |
|---|---|
| Type | Curve-driven multi-effect rack |
| Modules | 11: Time, Volume, Filter, Drive, Pitch, Reverb, Pan, Width, Crush, Liquid, Noise |
| Chain | Up to 8 modules, duplicates allowed |
| Bands | Up to 4 crossover bands per module, curve per band |
| Scenes | 8 per preset (A to H), switch by pad, MIDI or AUTO sequence |
| Triggers | Sync (with swing and phase), MIDI, Audio (with external sidechain) |
| Presets | 912 in 18 categories |
| Wave shapes | 143, with a 9-slot palette |
| Undo | 200 steps |
| Latency | 22 ms plus 128 samples, reported to the host |
| macOS | 11 or later, VST3, AU, AAX, universal, signed for Pro Tools |
| Windows | 10 and 11, 64-bit VST3 (no Windows AAX) |
| License | $49 one time, three machines, no iLok, lifetime updates |
| Demo | Full plugin; audio plays 60 seconds, mutes for 10, on a loop |
SPRITZ vs ShaperBox 3 vs Effectrix 2
| SPRITZ | Cableguys ShaperBox 3 | Sugar Bytes Effectrix 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 | $99 list, $89 at Plugin Boutique to Dec 1 | $129 |
| Effects | 11 modules, chain up to 8, duplicates allowed | 11 Shapers | 14 effects |
| How you drive them | Drawn curve per module, envelope follower, Sync/MIDI/Audio trigger | Drawable LFOs, envelope followers, audio triggering | 32-step effect sequencer with per-step modulation |
| Multiband | Up to 4 bands per module | 3 bands per Shaper | No |
| Variations in one preset | 8 scenes with AUTO stepping | One setup per instance | Up to 12 setups, switchable by MIDI |
| Presets | 912 | Factory preset browser | 400+ |
ShaperBox 3 is the obvious benchmark. It has the same eleven effect types, a long track record, and PitchShaper's four algorithms for vocals, drums and complex material. It also runs as AAX on Windows. What SPRITZ adds is the rack: reorderable, duplicable modules, a fourth band, and eight scenes per preset. For half the price, that's a strong case if your main job is flipping loops rather than mix-bus utility work.
Effectrix 2 is the performance pick. Painting 14 effects onto a 32-step grid is faster than drawing curves when you want classic loop slicing, vinyl stops and grain freezes, and its 12 setups per preset are made for live switching. It costs more, and it doesn't offer per-module band splitting.
Who it's for
SPRITZ is built for beatmakers and electronic producers who start from loops: drum breaks, sampled phrases, vocal chops. If you spend time bouncing a loop, slicing it and hand-automating a tape stop at the end of every eighth bar, SPRITZ does that inside one insert. Live performers get MIDI scene switching, and anyone already using On Tap or FOAM will find the same no-fuss licensing.
Skip it if you are on Pro Tools for Windows, since there's no Windows AAX yet. Skip it, too, if you already own ShaperBox 3 and mostly use it for sidechain and width. And if you would rather press a button than draw a curve, a step-sequenced tool like Effectrix 2 will suit your hands better.
Pricing and availability
SPRITZ is available now from Carbonated Audio for $49, a one-time purchase with lifetime updates and three machine activations. The All Plugins Bundle, with all nine Carbonated Audio plugins including SPRITZ and FOAM, is $99. A free demo for macOS and Windows needs no email address and is identical to the paid version apart from a 10-second mute every 60 seconds.
FAQ
Is SPRITZ tempo synced?
Yes. Every curve runs against host tempo in bars or beats, including polymetric lengths, with swing and phase. Curves can also run free in Hz or follow a held MIDI note.
Does SPRITZ add latency?
It reports a constant 22 ms plus 128 samples to the host, so your DAW compensates automatically. An audio-triggered chain that also holds a Pitch module reports a little more.
SPRITZ vs ShaperBox 3?
Both cover the same eleven effect types. ShaperBox 3 is the established choice with Windows AAX and PitchShaper's algorithms. SPRITZ costs $49, chains up to eight modules with duplicates, splits into four bands and stores eight scenes per preset.
Does it work in Pro Tools?
On macOS, yes: the AAX build is signed for Pro Tools. On Windows, there is no AAX version yet.
How many computers can I install it on?
Three machines per license, with no iLok, dongle or account. Activate once online and it works offline after that.
Verdict
SPRITZ takes a familiar set of shaper effects and wraps them in a rack built for flipping loops: reorderable modules, four-band splits, three trigger modes and eight scenes per preset. At $49 it undercuts ShaperBox 3 by a wide margin, and the 912 presets lean hard into exactly the moves beatmakers reach for. The lack of Windows AAX is the clear gap. This is a first look based on Carbonated Audio's official materials, not a hands-on test.
