Frostfret: a guitar you play from MIDI, for demos and pre-production
Frostfret is a VST3 instrument that plays electric, steel-string and nylon guitar and electric bass from MIDI, with modelled strings instead of samples. It belongs to the Code Chaos Black Metal Suite by Tim Borchert, who masters at Polished. It is made for the moment a song exists only in someone's head or in a MIDI file: the riff can be heard as a guitar part with tremolo picking, palm mutes and a double-tracked wall before anyone picks up a real guitar.
Hear it: Frostfret
Black metal: double-tracked tremolo guitars and bass through the built-in amp, 170 BPM, E phrygian (25 s)
- Intro: tremolo on the open E (Wall of Ice, Double Track)
- Riff A: tremolo picking with bass (Bass Pick Grind)
- Palm-muted gallop
- Riff B, an octave higher
- Ringing chord to the end
Acoustic: a strummed steel-string, then a fingerpicked nylon guitar, 100 BPM (26 s)
- Steel Strummer: strummed chords in E minor
- Nylon Nocturne: fingerpicked in A minor
Clean and crunch: a clean arpeggio, then a crunch riff, 110 BPM (23 s)
- Clean Neck Arpeggio v1 (version 1 sound; clean is the most synthetic-sounding part)
- Cold Crunch Rhythm v1
Every note was rendered from MIDI by the plugin code, through Frostfret's built-in amp. No external effects, no drums, no recorded guitar anywhere. The black metal clip is mixed to about -13 LUFS, the acoustic clip to about -16 LUFS, the clean/crunch clip to about -14 LUFS.
What Frostfret sounds like, honestly
Frostfret is a model. Every note is a simulated string that is picked, rings, beats against itself and decays; there are no recorded guitar notes inside. No synthesised guitar sounds exactly like a recorded one, and Frostfret does not either.
- Closest to a recording: distorted guitars (crunch and high gain) and the steel-string and nylon acoustics. The electric bass is close as well.
- Most clearly synthetic: the clean electric guitar. You hear it in the first half of the clean/crunch clip above.
- Two voicings: Natural is the current model, Classic (v1) keeps the darker sound of version 1. The Air knob makes strings and mic brighter or softer.
Code Chaos Audio checks every sound type with an automated listening model against real recordings, and the result above is what that check says. Listen to the three clips or load the free demo before you buy.
A guitar demo without the guitarist
Many songs start with one person who has the riff but not the time, the tone or the guitar player at hand. With Frostfret, the riff becomes a guitar part the band can rehearse to:
- Write the part as MIDI. Hold a note and Frostfret picks it as tremolo in 1/16, 1/16 triplets or 1/32, synced to your DAW tempo, with alternating down- and upstrokes. One key plays a power chord. Tunings go from E standard down to B standard, including Drop D and Drop C.
- Mark the mutes. Palm mute follows a velocity zone, the mod wheel or a keyswitch, and it is continuous. Gallops and chugs sound muted without a second track.
- Send the demo, keep the MIDI. When the real guitars are recorded later, the MIDI part shows the exact riff and tempo, and the Frostfret track serves as a guide.
For the final record, a real performance through Gravesaw or a real amp usually still sounds better. For writing, pre-production and rough mixes, Frostfret saves the session.
Double tracking that survives mono
Turn on Double Track and Frostfret plays the same MIDI part as two independent takes, hard left and hard right, each with its own timing and picking. That is how a real rhythm wall is recorded, and it is why the wall holds up when a phone or a club system sums it to mono.
Below 160 Hz, Frostfret keeps the output mono (with Double Track up to about 250 Hz), so the low end cannot cancel. Every preset is tested for mono compatibility. In the black metal clip on this page, the two sides correlate at 0.97 below 200 Hz, and folding the whole mix to mono costs 1.7 dB. A copied and delayed single take, the usual shortcut, often loses much more and sounds hollow. A master cannot repair that afterwards, which is why the audit at Polished checks phase and mono before every master.
DI Out into Gravesaw, or the amp built in
Frostfret contains the amp of Gravesaw in four modes (Clean, Crunch, Overdrive, High-Gain) with the same 19 synthesised cabs. For a quick demo that is enough. For a mix you may want more control:
- Switch the amp to DI Out. Frostfret then sends a clean DI signal, and you put Gravesaw or any other amp plugin after it, exactly as with a recorded DI guitar.
- Print the DI as its own track. Amp decisions stay open until the mix, and you can re-amp the part without playing the MIDI again.
- Set the amp gate before it matters. The noise between riffs gets louder in mastering, so gate it in the mix, not in the master.
Export the finished mix with 3 to 6 dB of headroom and no limiter on the master bus. The black metal mastering page explains what happens after that.
At a glance
| Detail | Frostfret |
|---|---|
| Price | €29 on Gumroad, free demo available |
| Format | VST3 instrument + Standalone, played from MIDI |
| Windows | Windows 10/11: VST3 + Standalone |
| macOS | Apple Silicon (arm64) only, no Intel build. VST3 + Standalone, not signed or notarized: macOS blocks it at first, allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security. |
| AU / Logic Pro | No AU version, so Logic Pro is not supported. |
| Copy protection | No licence server, no login, no online check. |
| Guitars | Electric (bridge and neck humbucker, three single coils, tone pot), steel-string and nylon acoustic with modelled bodies and mic positions (12th fret, soundhole, lower bout), piezo or mic + piezo |
| Bass | Electric bass with finger, pick and light slap, three bass cabs or DI |
| Tunings | E, Eb, D and C standard, Drop D, Drop C, B standard (7-string / 5-string) |
| Playing | Tremolo picking synced to the host (1/16, 1/16 triplet, 1/32), power chords, palm mute, legato, slides, bends, vibrato, harmonics, dead notes, strumming, Humanize, Double Track |
| Amp | Gravesaw amp DSP: Clean, Crunch, Overdrive, High-Gain, 19 synthesised cabs, or DI Out |
| Sound source | Modelled strings and bodies, no samples. Closest to a recording: distorted and acoustic guitars. Most clearly synthetic: clean electric. |
| Presets | 30: 10 electric, 6 acoustic, 4 brighter variants, 4 version 1 sounds, 6 bass |
| Stereo | Width only from Double Track and the room; mono below 160 Hz |
| Latency | 61 samples (1.4 ms at 44.1 kHz), reported to the DAW |
| Testing | Automated checks on every preset at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz (no clicks, no silence, peaks below -0.3 dBFS, mono check). Not tried in every DAW yet. |
| Demo | The free demo is the complete plugin; it plays a short noise burst every 45 seconds. |
Checkout, payment and any applicable taxes are handled by Gumroad. Polished only links to it.
Tool, mix or master?
A Frostfret demo is a sketch of the record. Once real guitars, bass and drums are recorded, the mix decides how the album sounds, and the master decides how it translates to earbuds, car speakers and streaming normalisation. Polished starts every master with a written audio audit of your mix, including phase and mono checks of the guitar wall. See black metal mastering.
Mastering at Polished starts at €79 per track, all prices incl. 19% VAT, pay after delivery if you like. Request an audio audit.
Cheaper in a bundle
Frostfret is part of the Code Chaos Black Metal Suite. It is included in the Complete bundle:
- Black Metal Suite Complete: €69 instead of €105 (save €36). Contains Frostfret, Hoarfell, Gravesaw, Rimehall, Black Metal Tone Kit, Black Metal Drum Kit.
Compare the bundles. Bought separately, Frostfret costs €29.
Frostfret FAQ
Does Frostfret sound like a real guitar?
Can Frostfret replace the guitarist on our album?
Can I use my own amp plugin?
Does it run on a Mac?
Is there a free trial?
More tools
Try Frostfret free.
The free demo is the complete plugin; it plays a short noise burst every 45 seconds. Buying and downloading happens on Gumroad, under Code Chaos Audio.