VST/AU plug-in instrument/effect round-up: Week 47
Six of the best
It’s been a little while since our last round-up, but we return with a fine and varied selection of instruments and effects.
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NEXT: ToneBytes Ambient Nature Noise
ToneBytes Ambient Nature Noise
If your tracks are lacking a bit of atmosphere, this plug-in could fill the gap. It offers 21 ‘sound profiles’ that cover not only living things such as birds, insects, bats, trees and flora and fauna, but also other nature noises including the sound ofa waterfall, rain and a fire crackling.
Inear Display Bucephal
The curious thing about this “nasty dual delay” is that it’s not intended to be employed as a delay. Instead, thanks to the inclusion of an envelope follower and LFO, you can use it for glitching purposes, morphing between vibrato, flanging, pitchshifting, and crushing effects. Use the randomizer and waveshaper to add even more dirt.
G-Sonique Monitor MSX5
The perils of mixing using headphones are well-documented; this plug-in aims to eliminate the problems by simulating the way that you hear your music when you’re using monitors. A range of tweakable parameters enable you to optimise performance.
OverTone DSP EQ500 and DYN500
These channel EQ and dynamics plug-ins are styled to resemble API-500 format modules. DYN500 offers soft-knee compression and gentle tape saturation style overdrive, while EQ500 does three-band parametric EQ. Both work in mono and stereo.
Manx XS-2
Released as a replacement for the now discontinued XS-1, XS-2 is a 2-oscillator synth that also sports three 6-stage envelope generators and a filter section. The synth is designed to emulate DCO technology from the ‘80s, the theory being that you’ll get a distinctive sound that’s bright and punchy.
Overloud Mark Studio 2
This Markbass-branded bass amp/effects suite has been updated so that it now brings you six heads, nine cabinets and a much-enhanced pedalboard. Other enhancements include MIDI and plug-in automation support and an increased number of presets.
Buy or download demo of Overloud Mark Studio 2
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I’m the Group Content Manager for MusicRadar, specialising in all things tech. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 20 of which I’ve also spent writing about music technology.