ASTRA CREATIVE AUDIO · Press

Astra Creative Audio — Press Kit

Two plugins from Barcelona: the Astra Sampler FX sampler and the A-2A optical compressor.

A sampler from another world: real-time time-stretch with formant control, draggable chops with instant preview, an FL-style piano roll inside the plugin, live FX on the black keys — and a living, generative universe (the Cosmos) that reacts to everything you play.

Versión en español más abajo. Para licencias de prueba de prensa (NFR, sin tarjeta), escríbenos: las entregamos a vuelta de correo.

News · Monday 7 September 2026

A-2A — optical compressor, €35 + VAT

The A-2A, an optical tube-style compressor, came out on Monday 7 September. It was free during its launch week and costs €35 + VAT from 15 September. Anyone who downloaded it in that window keeps the licence permanently, updates included.

Instead of adjectives, we publish the bench measurements — all taken on the exact build people download:

Zero latency. No delay compensation; you can track through it.
3.11:1 optical ratio with a 7.5 dB soft knee — the classic hardware sits near 3:1; the three plug-ins we measured against run 4.3:1 to 6.9:1.
Two-stage release with program memory — about 115 ms for the first half of the recovery, seconds for the rest.
Gain at rest −0.27 dB — no hidden makeup, so A/B comparisons are fair.
Audible aliasing −71.1 dBc at 48 kHz — the cleanest of the four units we measured. Please do not use the −89.8 dBc figure from our earlier material: see the correction below.
1.34 % CPU.

Formats: VST3 and AU on macOS (universal, Intel and Apple Silicon), VST3 on 64-bit Windows. Product page: astracreativeaudio.com/en · Hi-res panels: idle · compressing.

Installing: our installers are not Apple-notarised yet, so macOS will say it cannot verify the developer — open System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. On Windows, More info › Run anyway.

En español: el 7 de septiembre salió el A-2A, compresor óptico de válvulas. Estuvo gratis su semana de lanzamiento y desde el 15 de septiembre cuesta 35 € + IVA. Quien lo descargó esos días se lo quedó para siempre, con actualizaciones. Medidas publicadas: latencia cero, ratio 3,11:1 con rodilla de 7,5 dB, release en dos etapas con memoria de programa, ganancia en reposo −0,27 dB, aliasing audible −71,1 dBc a 48 kHz y 1,34 % de CPU.

Correction · 20 September 2026 — four figures we published were wrong. If you are working from our material from 7–14 September, or from an article based on it, please use these instead. The mistake was ours, not that of anyone who quoted us.

Aliasing. We published −89.8 dBc. It was never an aliasing measurement: our bench reported the energy left after removing the fundamental and harmonics 2 to 12, and at 96 kHz harmonics 13 upward still fall inside that residual. One of the four units was also measured through an audio interface while the other three ran native. Re-measured with every unit native and harmonics excluded all the way to Nyquist, revision 3 of our report (10 September) gives −71.1 dBc of audible aliasing at 48 kHz: 16 dB ahead of the Waves CLA-2A, 5.5 dB ahead of the NI VC 2A and 1.4 dB ahead of the UAD Teletronix LA-2A Legacy. The same report publishes the figure that does not flatter us — measured as a total at 96 kHz we sit behind two of the three, because the GLOW saturation throws its aliasing up around 28 and 45 kHz, above the audible band.
Ratio 3.11:1, not 3.07:1.
Gain at rest −0.27 dB, not −0.18 dB.
CPU 1.34 %, not 1.27 %.

Those last three were measured on v1.0.2, while the build people download is v1.0.3 and the GLOW stage was redesigned between the two. Everything else stands: zero latency, the 7.5 dB knee, the two modes. The full report, with the method, is in the press kit — it is written to be taken apart, and we will send it to anyone who asks. En español: el 20 de septiembre corregimos cuatro cifras nuestras. El aliasing que publicamos (−89,8 dBc) no era una medida de aliasing; la defendible es −71,1 dBc de aliasing audible a 48 kHz. Además: ratio 3,11:1 (no 3,07:1), ganancia en reposo −0,27 dB (no −0,18 dB) y 1,34 % de CPU (no 1,27 %). El error fue nuestro, no de quien nos citó.

Who we are

Astra Creative Audio is a plugin and audio software brand from Barcelona, founded by BLIKO (rapper and developer) and Phonkid Prod (producer and developer), who spent a year building the sampler they couldn't find anywhere. The factory library is made with producers from their own scene: every "Planet" pack inside the plugin is the sound world of a real artist, with their name and artwork.

Fact sheet

Product	Astra Sampler FX, v1.38.0
Brand	Astra Creative Audio (BLIKO & Phonkid Prod), Barcelona, Spain
Formats	VST3 · AU · Standalone
Platforms	macOS 10.13+ (Intel) / 11+ (Apple Silicon), universal binary · Windows 64-bit
Library	18 ASTRA factory packs + 15 artist "Planets" (369 sounds), and the library keeps growing — new Planets are included with the subscription
Key features	WARP time-stretch with formant control (FORM/ENV) · chop with draggable slice markers and instant preview · FL-style piano roll with MIDI recording · drum sequencer with per-pad mixer and per-pad reverb/delay sends (BPM-synced 1/2–1/64) · FX Keys: live effects on the black keys · tempo-synced LFO · ~45 automatable parameters · the Cosmos, a generative visual universe that reacts to your playing
Price	€9.99/month or €99/year (≈2 months free) · 7-day free trial · cancel anytime · taxes included
Licensing	2 machines per license · 7-day offline grace · sold via Lemon Squeezy
Release date	August 10, 2026
Website	astracreativeaudio.com/en (English) · astracreativeaudio.com (Spanish)

Review licenses (NFR)

15-day press licence. Full version, no card required, delivered by return email — it expires on its own, nothing to uninstall. Music you make with it stays yours, royalty-free, even if you don't continue. Write to the press contact below from your outlet's address.

Install note: the current installer is not signed or notarized with Apple. Double-click the .pkg, dismiss the warning with OK or Done (not "Move to Trash"), then open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the bottom and click "Open Anyway". On macOS Sequoia and later the old right-click → Open shortcut no longer works. Full instructions ship with every NFR delivery.

Assets

⬇ A-2A press kit (ZIP, 6 MB) ⬇ Images only (ZIP, 5 MB)

The A-2A kit holds the press release, fact sheet, reviewer notes, images, level-matched A/B audio, and the measurement bench with its source and raw results. The plug-in itself is a paid product: write to us and we will send you an NFR licence. Revised 8 September 2026: if you are holding an earlier copy, replace it — the corrections are listed in its README.

Panels, launch flyers and interface screenshots, plus a text file with the bench figures and how each one is measured. Todo el material en un ZIP: paneles, flyers y capturas, con las medidas y el método en un fichero de texto.

O una a una: click derecho → guardar. Todas las capturas a 2000×1360.

A-2A panel, idle — A-2A — panel (idle) · 2000×534 PNG
Download

A-2A panel while compressing, needle showing gain reduction — A-2A — compressing · 2000×534 PNG
Download

A-2A launch flyer: release date and measured figures — A-2A — launch flyer (English) · 1080×1350 PNG
Download · Spanish version

Astra Sampler FX main UI — Main UI — EARTH SENTIMENT pack, Cosmos background
Download PNG

Drum sequencer with per-pad mixer — Drum sequencer — PLANET BLACKTHOVEN, per-pad REV/DLY sends
Download PNG

PLANET BLACKTHOVEN drum kit in the step sequencer — PLANET BLACKTHOVEN — drum kit in the step sequencer (v1.37)
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PLANET AGON loaded in Astra Sampler FX — PLANET AGON — one of the artist Planets (v1.37)
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PLANET MV BEATZ loaded in Astra Sampler FX — PLANET MV BEATZ — artist Planet with cover art (v1.37)
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PLANET VENDETTA violin articulations in Astra Sampler FX — PLANET VENDETTA — violin with LONG / PIZZ / SHORT articulations (v1.37)
Download PNG

Astrini, the mascot (5 s loop)
Download MP4

Logo (from plugin UI)
Download PNG

Astra Sampler FX social card — Social card 1200×630
Download PNG

En español

Astra Creative Audio es una marca de plugins y software de audio de Barcelona, fundada por BLIKO (rapero y desarrollador) y Phonkid Prod (productor y desarrollador), que han pasado un año construyendo el sampler que no encontraban en ningún sitio. Astra Sampler FX está a la venta desde el 10 de agosto de 2026: 9,99 €/mes o 99 €/año, con 7 días de prueba. La librería de fábrica —18 packs ASTRA y 11 "Planets" de productores reales de la escena— sigue creciendo con la suscripción. Licencias de prensa (NFR) disponibles a vuelta de correo.

Press contact

soporte@astracreativeaudio.com · Instagram @astracreativeaudio