Audio Plugin Union is the MAGIX-born plug-in brand that Boris FX now presents as three suites: wizardFX (11 one-control effects), coreFX (10 full-control mixing tools) and colorFX (3 colour processors). There is no standalone way to buy any of them: you get them inside Windows-only Boris FX programs, and coreFX already comes with both Sound Forge and Sound Forge Plus. Published reviews praise the metering and the quick workflow, single out the coreFX Limiter and the colorFX Bitcrusher, and all three hands-on reviews flag a limit on depth or scope. None of the published sources gives CPU or latency figures.
My advice is short. If you already run Sound Forge, start with the coreFX on your drive before you shop for anything. If you want tape and tube colour, the route runs through Samplitude Suite or Sequoia, because those are the hosts that ship colorFX. And if you work on a Mac, I would not plan around these suites right now: every program that carries them is Windows-only, and the suite pages name no operating system at all.
What Audio Plugin Union is in 2026
The Audio Plugin Union page on borisfx.com calls the brand a home for mixing and mastering plug-ins and splits it into three suites: wizardFX with 11 plug-ins, coreFX with 10 and colorFX with 3. The suites were originally developed by MAGIX Software, as the Audio Plugin Union brand listing on Equipboard still records, and later came under Boris FX.
Boris FX picked up the MAGIX audio programs in two steps. It announced the acquisition of Sequoia, Samplitude and Music Studio on August 21, 2025, then announced Vegas Pro, Sound Forge and Acid Pro on March 30, 2026. Those releases name the host programs, not the plug-in brand. Today the suites sit alongside those programs in the Boris FX audio line-up, which is where Sound Forge, Samplitude and Sequoia live too; the rest of the company's catalogue is in the Boris FX hub.
One name you will meet next to them is essentialFX. It is a separate 11-plug-in suite from the MAGIX years, listed for Sound Forge, Samplitude and Music Studio, and it is not part of Audio Plugin Union.
wizardFX: 11 effects, one control each
The wizardFX suite page groups its 11 plug-ins into three families:
- Dynamics: VolumeFormer, Compressor, Limiter and Gate.
- Coloration: Tape Machine, Bitcrusher and Tube Distortion.
- Modulation: Modern Reverb, Delay, Chorus and Flanger.
The workflow is the whole point. You pick a preset and set its intensity with a single control. Tape Machine, Tube Distortion, Compressor and Gate add an auto input gain that warns you when the incoming level is too low or too high and can set it in one click. Chorus is the exception to the preset model: it works without presets.
That design suits anyone who wants a decision in seconds rather than a page of parameters. The vendor is candid about the ceiling: the wizardFX page itself points you to coreFX when you want more settings for dynamics, Delay, Chorus and Flanger, and to colorFX for fuller coloration. Boris FX publishes no wizardFX version number.
coreFX: 10 full-control mixing tools
The coreFX Suite page lists ten plug-ins: coreFX Utility, VolumeFormer, 2-Point-Compressor, Compressor, Limiter, Gate, Expander, Delay, Chorus and Flanger. You will also see the figure nine. The brand page's body copy still says coreFX offers "nine essential effects", while the card on the same page, the suite page and the Samplitude and Sequoia pages list ten. The difference is coreFX Utility, which the suite page marks as new, so ten is the current count.
What the extra controls buy you:
- Visible processing. Every coreFX dynamics plug-in draws the dry and the processed waveform in real time.
- VolumeFormer creates a pumping effect without sidechain routing, with an envelope shape you can adjust.
- 2-Point-Compressor has two input stages that compress peaks at different levels to different degrees.
- Compressor adds a sidechain filter and a low-pass filter.
- Limiter offers two variations of transparent clipping.
- coreFX Utility handles basic editing tasks with automatable parameters.
- Gate, Expander, Delay, Chorus and Flanger round out the set.
Not sure whether the Compressor or the Limiter should do the work on a given file? Read compressor vs limiter first. The coreFX Gate works on the same threshold idea as the noise gate in Sound Forge Pro, so if you have set that up, nothing here will surprise you.
colorFX: tape, bitcrush and tube colour with heavy metering
The colorFX Suite page lists three plug-ins: Tape Machine, Bitcrusher and Tube Distortion. Their routing can be filtered and modulated, and Boris FX positions them for masters, groups and single tracks. Every colorFX plug-in carries input and output analysis: peak and RMS, a spectrum view, a loudness meter, VU meters and waveform displays. Bitcrusher reduces bit depth and sample rate (the page's example is 8-bit at 22 kHz), and its parameters can be modulated.
The fullest hands-on account is Magnetic Magazine's March 2025 colorFX review. The reviewer found the suite easy and quick to learn and praised the Bitcrusher and, on a piano-chord demo, the Tape Machine's saturation. The same reviewer heard a soft white noise behind Tape Machine the entire time and did not mind it, because it fits the tape sound. If you need a clean signal path, listen for it before you commit.
If you mainly want colorFX for its meters, the free metering plug-ins cover loudness, spectrum and phase without buying a host.
Which suite fits which job
The three suites share a lot of names, and that is where buyers get confused. A shared name does not mean an identical plug-in: the wizardFX version is the preset-plus-one-control take, and the vendor sends you to coreFX or colorFX when you want more settings.
| Plug-in | wizardFX | coreFX | colorFX |
|---|---|---|---|
| VolumeFormer | Yes, one control | Yes | No |
| Compressor | Yes, one control | Yes, with sidechain and low-pass filters | No |
| 2-Point-Compressor | No | Yes | No |
| Limiter | Yes, one control | Yes, two clipping variations | No |
| Gate | Yes, one control | Yes | No |
| Expander | No | Yes | No |
| coreFX Utility | No | Yes | No |
| Delay | Yes | Yes | No |
| Chorus | Yes, no presets | Yes | No |
| Flanger | Yes | Yes | No |
| Modern Reverb | Yes | No | No |
| Tape Machine | Yes | No | Yes, full analysis |
| Bitcrusher | Yes | No | Yes, modulatable |
| Tube Distortion | Yes | No | Yes |
| Total | 11 | 10 | 3 |
Read it by job:
- Fast preset mixing, one decision per insert: wizardFX.
- Precise dynamics with visible waveforms: coreFX.
- Saturation and lo-fi with analysis on every plug-in: colorFX.
- Reverb: only wizardFX has one, Modern Reverb.
Which Boris FX programs include the suites
This is the table that matters, because a host program is the practical route to the plug-ins today.
| Program | wizardFX | coreFX | colorFX | US price, perpetual | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound Forge / Sound Forge Plus | Not listed | Full suite, both editions | Not listed | $299.95 / $399.95 | Windows 11 |
| Samplitude | Not listed | VolumeFormer and Delay only | Not listed | $395 | Windows only |
| Samplitude Suite | Not listed | Full suite | Full suite | $495 | Windows only |
| Sequoia | Not listed | Full suite | Full suite | $1,695 | Windows only |
| Music Studio | Full suite | Delay only | Not listed | $95 | Windows only |
Prices are US list prices read on October 20–21, 2026. The Samplitude page splits the line in two: base Samplitude gets only VolumeFormer and Delay, while the full coreFX Suite and colorFX are reserved for Samplitude Suite. Subscriptions run $25 a month or $145 a year for Samplitude and $175 a year for Samplitude Suite, with upgrades at $185 and $275. If you are weighing Samplitude Suite partly for its Sound Forge side, the workflow is covered in Sound Forge in Samplitude Suite.
The Sequoia page includes both coreFX and colorFX and lists $95 a month, $595 a year or a $595 upgrade. Its 2026.5 release notes say the Audio Plugin Union tools are "faster, smoother, and more responsive". That is vendor wording; no figures come with it. At the other end of the price scale, the Music Studio page pairs the wizardFX Suite with coreFX Delay for $35 a year or a $45 upgrade.
Sound Forge's subscription and perpetual plans are broken down in my Sound Forge price guide. The Acid Pro product page and the Vegas Pro pages list none of the three suites; that is what the pages show, not proof that nothing ships inside, but I would not buy either program for these plug-ins.
Every host on this list offers a 15-day trial. Boris FX does not say whether a trial includes the suites, so treat it as a trial of the host and check its plug-in list once it is installed.
Already on Sound Forge? What you have and what you don't
According to the Sound Forge plans comparison, Sound Forge and Sound Forge Plus both include the coreFX Suite, next to the essentialFX Suite and the dynamic EQ plug-ins. wizardFX and colorFX are not listed for either edition. coreFX is in both editions, so it should not decide your Sound Forge vs Sound Forge Plus choice.
To find the effects, open View > Plug-In Manager. The Sound Forge 2026 help page for the Plug-In Manager describes All, Boris FX and Third Party folders. It does not say which folder holds coreFX, so start in All and look for the coreFX names.
For the full list of what each Sound Forge edition installs, including essentialFX, dynamic EQ and the Plus extras, see which plug-ins come with Sound Forge. Once you find coreFX, a practical way to hear it on a file is to stack it in the Sound Forge Plug-In Chainer.
Price and where to buy them now
There is no standalone purchase route for any of the three suites:
- The brand and suite pages on borisfx.com show no price, operating system, plug-in format, version, product-specific trial or buy button. The header's Free Trial link leads to the Boris FX Suite trial, not to a trial of these plug-ins.
- The Boris FX store listed 46 product families on October 20, 2026, including Sound Forge, Samplitude, Sequoia, Music Studio, Acid Pro and CrumplePop, and nothing for Audio Plugin Union, wizardFX, coreFX or colorFX.
- Former MAGIX product URLs for the suites and the Plugin Boutique wizardFX page now redirect to homepages. That is an observation, not a discontinuation notice.
So the practical price of the suites today is the price of a host. The cheapest wizardFX route is Music Studio at $35 a year or $95 perpetual. The cheapest route to the full coreFX plus colorFX is Samplitude Suite at $175 a year or $495 perpetual. If coreFX alone is what you want, Sound Forge already has it.
The older prices you may find online are history, not quotes:
| Date | Product | Price then | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2020 | coreFX Suite | $59.99 offer, $199.00 list | MAGIX offer to qualifying users, with VolumeFormer free until August 12, 2020, as quoted in a KVR Audio forum thread |
| December 2020 | wizardFX Suite | $29.99 introductory, $39.99 regular | Launch, described as VST/VST3 and AU for Windows and Mac in Rekkerd's wizardFX launch report |
| March 2023 | coreFX VolumeFormer | Free until April 2, 2023 ($24.99 value) | Giveaway listed for VST, VST3, AU and AAX on Windows and macOS by Bedroom Producers Blog |
| March 2025 | colorFX Suite | $100 | Price given in the Magnetic Magazine review, which also noted a free trial |
| Undated | coreFX Suite + Tape Machine bundle | $199.00 full price; last sale $49.00 | Shown as "Not on sale" in the Music Software Deals price history on October 20, 2026 |
None of these is a current price. Before you pay list price for a host, check the deals page for current offers on the programs that include the suites, and check the Boris FX store once more in case the suites reappear as products.
Mac, plug-in formats and "for any DAW"
Boris FX states no operating system or plug-in format on any of the suite pages. Every host that bundles them is Windows-only: the Sound Forge system requirements list Windows 11, and the Samplitude, Sequoia and Music Studio FAQs describe those programs as developed exclusively for Windows.
Mac versions did exist in the MAGIX years. The 2020 wizardFX launch and the 2023 VolumeFormer giveaway both listed AU builds for macOS. Reports on the Apple Silicon status of those older builds disagree, and Boris FX says nothing either way. I would not plan a Mac setup around them. If Sound Forge itself is the real question, the options are in Sound Forge for Mac.
The coreFX page headline sells the suite as "Powerful Effects & Plug-ins for any DAW", but the page names no formats, so read that line as marketing, not a compatibility list. If VST, VST3, AU and AAX are just letters to you, start with what a VST plug-in is.
Licences, activation and old MAGIX keys
Everything known about Audio Plugin Union licensing comes from MAGIX-era user reports, not a published policy. Three threads show the pattern:
- In a magix.info thread on coreFX and wizardFX activation, a December 2021 buyer of a MAGIX bundle was never asked for keys; a reply explained that the key prompt appears when you open the effect's window as a VST effect, and the buyer then found where to enter the keys in Samplitude, while Acid and Sound Forge had used the suites without one.
- In May 2022, in the same thread, a user who bought the suites in the Acid Pro 10 in-app store was asked for an access key when loading them in Reaper; the forum answer was that a full version from MAGIX was needed.
- In February 2022, a Music Maker Premium 2022 owner's wizardFX VolumeFormer serial would not activate. MAGIX explained that the plug-in had been renamed and the serial belonged to the bundled Samplitude, then activated it.
The pattern is keys tied to the bundle or host they came with. The newest version trace is UpdateStar's coreFX Suite listing, which shows version 1.1.8 by MAGIX, released June 24, 2024, for Windows. Boris FX publishes no version for any of the suites.
My advice: keep the original serial, the order email and a note of which program the plug-ins came with, and ask Boris FX support before you rely on an old key in another DAW. If an effect does not appear at all, work through the fixes for VST plug-ins not showing in Sound Forge before you blame the licence. For licence errors in Sound Forge itself, see Sound Forge activation failed.
Test results: what reviewers and users report
The test evidence comes from seven readable sources: two editorial pieces (Magnetic Magazine on colorFX, March 2025, and Bedroom Producers Blog on VolumeFormer, March 2023), one KVR thread running from 2020 to 2023, two magix.info licence threads from 2021–2022 and two store listings from October 20, 2026. None of them publishes a CPU, latency or loudness number, so the composite result below is a count of verdicts rather than a benchmark.
| Finding | Count | What the reports say |
|---|---|---|
| Metering or visualisation praised | 3 of 3 hands-on sources | Magnetic liked seeing the processing on input and output visualizers with waveform, meter and loudness tabs; Bedroom Producers Blog called VolumeFormer's metering "clear and clean"; a KVR user said they "love the design of the VU meters" in colorFX. |
| A specific plug-in singled out | 3 of 3 | Magnetic called the Bitcrusher "about as high-quality of one that I've ever used"; KVR users named the coreFX Limiter "one of the best limiters in the industry" and said of the 2-Point Compressor "I am always tickled by the results"; Bedroom Producers Blog found the VolumeFormer envelope "quite flexible". |
| Workflow called simple | 2 of 3 | Magnetic: "easy and quick to learn, and fun to use"; a KVR user called wizardFX "very simple to use". |
| Scope or depth reservation | 3 of 3 | Bedroom Producers Blog: "I wouldn't reach for this as my first dynamics processor"; a KVR user wished coreFX had kept the reverb, phaser and tremolo that essentialFX has; Magnetic asked "Could this have been one plugin?" |
| Tape Machine background noise | 1 of 3 | Magnetic heard a soft white noise the entire time and was not bothered by it. |
| Keys bound to a bundle or host | 2 of 2 licence threads | Both describe activation friction once the plug-ins left the program they came with. |
| User rating on listings | 0 of 2 | Equipboard lists one product with no rating or reviews; UpdateStar says the coreFX Suite "has not been rated" yet and counts 126 users last month. |
| Numeric CPU or latency figures | 0 of 7 | Magnetic heard changes "with absolutely no latency", judged by ear; the Sequoia 2026.5 performance note gives no figures either. |
My verdict on that evidence: these are competent mid-weight utilities whose value depends on owning a host that ships them. The coreFX Limiter, the 2-Point-Compressor and the colorFX Bitcrusher draw the strongest praise. The evidence is thin, with three hands-on sources, but it points the same way, and most reservations are about scope rather than sound quality.
If you can't get them: alternatives
If you are on a Mac, or you don't want to buy a host for a handful of plug-ins, cover the same jobs by category instead:
- Tape, tube and bitcrush colour, plus gates and compressors: the free plug-ins hub is the place to look for saturation, bitcrusher and dynamics tools that do not depend on these hosts.
- Metering: the free metering tools linked in the colorFX section replace the analysis side of colorFX.
- A Windows host anyway: if one of the programs above suits your work for other reasons, the suites come with it, and the Boris FX audio hub shows how the line-up fits together.
Verdict: worth chasing, or already on your drive?
If you own Sound Forge or Sound Forge Plus, coreFX is already installed, and it is the first thing I would try before buying any third-party dynamics plug-in. If tape and tube colour is the goal, colorFX comes with Samplitude Suite and Sequoia, and I would only choose one of those for the DAW itself, not for three plug-ins. Music Studio is the cheapest way into wizardFX, and the right one if quick preset work is what you are after. Mac users and standalone buyers have no current route, so for them the honest answer is to look elsewhere until Boris FX lists the suites again.
FAQ
Is essentialFX part of Audio Plugin Union?
No. essentialFX is a separate 11-plug-in suite listed for Sound Forge, Samplitude and Music Studio. Audio Plugin Union covers only wizardFX, coreFX and colorFX.
Why does Boris FX say nine coreFX effects?
The "nine essential effects" line on the brand page leaves out coreFX Utility. The suite page lists ten plug-ins, and the tenth is coreFX Utility, which it marks as new.
Can I buy wizardFX on its own?
No. Its page has no price or buy button, and the Boris FX store has no product for it. The current route is Music Studio, which includes the full wizardFX Suite.
Does Sound Forge include colorFX?
Not according to its plans page. Sound Forge and Sound Forge Plus list coreFX, essentialFX and dynamic EQ; colorFX is not listed for either edition and appears in Samplitude Suite and Sequoia instead.
Is Audio Plugin Union related to the Union synth on YouTube?
No. Several video results for "Union" are about Soundspot Union, an unrelated synth.