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Old 05-18-2018, 06:37 AM   #1
Tyrannocaster
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Default Looking for a plugin that morphs, but is not "Morph"

Maybe "morph" is not the term I want, but I don't know what is.

I am looking for a VST plugin that will change a sound over time, hopefully in more ways than just mod-wheeling a resonant filter. So far, all I have come across is the one that's actually called "Morph", but it's not at all what I want; it requires two audio samples and although it's kind of interesting, I'm not after a vocoder effect, and I want something that works on my synths, not samples.

I can use EQ plugins and go in manually and change things over the track's duration (for example), but I'm looking for something a bit more user-friendly, and hopefully something that does more than just EQ or reverb/delay.

Of course, some synths have voices that can do some amazing changes, but I'm really looking for something that I can apply to existing voices that I use but which could do with more (and changing) texture. I'm guessing there is such a thing out there, only I haven't figured out what search terms to use to find it.

Can anybody suggest something?
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Old 05-18-2018, 07:15 AM   #2
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If you want to use your existing synth patches, i would think that modulating the parameters would be the best solution - you'd have loads of options for tweaking the sounds to your requirements (depending on what VSTi you are using, of course)
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Old 05-18-2018, 08:12 AM   #3
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If you want to use your existing synth patches, i would think that modulating the parameters would be the best solution - you'd have loads of options for tweaking the sounds to your requirements (depending on what VSTi you are using, of course)
Yes, of course this is absolutely correct, but I'm wondering if there is anything out there that does its own thing to modify the sound in a changing way. Obviously, you can do amazing things by editing all those parameters over time...by hand. But it takes an immense amount of time. I'm just wondering if this is an area of plugins that I either don't know about or doesn't exist.
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Old 05-18-2018, 08:28 AM   #4
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elloez-- yeah it depends on your definition of morphing- it can be done in lots of ways!
vst or plugin wise -your looking @ modern wavetable,granular and reasampling units-- there's a bunch available,but all do their own things in their own ways...
vps avenger,serum,harmor+ rack extensions like grain= provide ways todo all sorts of morphings.. depends on what your actually after and how deep your pockets are!


it can all be done in reaper's timeline tbh (a decent sampler unit is invaluable also) --wavetabling,reasampling,realtime stretching and sample offsetting+crossfading a heap of tracks to layers and blend-- honestly--our minds +computer powerz are the actual bottlenecks these dayz m8
knock yourself out with designing-because this is modern instrumentations and methods after all.
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Old 05-18-2018, 08:32 AM   #5
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Other than the advice above with wavetable synths, Take a look at the Korg wavestation VST - it emulates the original hardware which was well known for having large evolving patches. Plus it has a 4 way vector control which allows you to morph around the sound manually - you can assign this to a pitch/mod wheel too!

Other than that, any synth that has multi layers and/or LFO's you can set LFO's to a really low rate and they will automatically open the filters etc. for you.

Likewise, synths that have oscillator layers you can change one layers Oscillator to be very slow attack etc. Combine that with a slow LFO and you get some really nice evolving patches quite quickly.
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Old 05-18-2018, 09:01 AM   #6
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There are all kinds of plugins that do all kinds of things. Many of them have their own modulation schemes and all of them can be modulated or automated with Reaper. Your description of what you want is just too vague, though. You want it to do something. Something different. Ermmm... I assume you'll know it when you hear it? Unless you can describe what you actually want to hear a lot better (maybe post examples of the types of things you might want) all we can do is just shout the names of plugins randomly.

My suggestion is just plug it in and see what happens. Twiddle knkbs and see if it comes closer. Try everything. Try several things at once in series and in parallel. Learn what kinds of things make what kind of sounds so that eventually you will know more or less where to start to get whatever sound you think you want. I mean, do you really want to just ask for suggestions from random internet yokels (present company excluded, of course) every time you want to do something? Would you rather actually know what you're doing so you can confidently make these kinds of decisions on your own?


All that said, the first place I'd go for a wide range of effects with their own powerful modulation features would be Melda Productions. Their free pack is awesome. Grab those and start playing around.
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:50 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by Skijumptoes View Post
Other than the advice above with wavetable synths, Take a look at the Korg wavestation VST - it emulates the original hardware which was well known for having large evolving patches. Plus it has a 4 way vector control which allows you to morph around the sound manually - you can assign this to a pitch/mod wheel too!

Other than that, any synth that has multi layers and/or LFO's you can set LFO's to a really low rate and they will automatically open the filters etc. for you.

Likewise, synths that have oscillator layers you can change one layers Oscillator to be very slow attack etc. Combine that with a slow LFO and you get some really nice evolving patches quite quickly.
Not exactly what I was thinking of but neat. I played a real Wavestation for many years, and I didn't even know there is a VST; I will have to look at it. Thanks for bringing that up.
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Old 05-18-2018, 10:57 AM   #8
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I think controlling/automating the plugin parameters are going to get you where you need to go better than some magic plugin... there are many great ones, but frankly, any plugin becomes magical once you start automating the parameters. The depth and creativity is limited to your imagination.

When you said, "Obviously, you can do amazing things by editing all those parameters over time...by hand. But it takes an immense amount of time." I got the impression that you may not be aware that Reaper offers a way to modulate parameters that is actually really easy, cool, and tempo-synced already. But a lot of people don't know about it. It might be your answer.

Reaper has a parameter LFO/modulation feature for plugins which is really cool. It allows you to set an LFO with various shapes and lock that LFO to the tempo, adjust the frequency, range, strength, phase, etc... So Reaper is ALREADY quite powerful when it comes to this, and it's easy to use, and does NOT take a huge amount of time to set up and use. You don't HAVE to manually draw in automation for a parameter. Just let an LFO work some magic on the parameters!

Besides that, if you want to go crazy with modulation then I'd suggest you also look at Bitwig, which is built from the ground up with creative modulators that go way beyond Reaper's LFO features.

Just so you realize, most DAWs do NOT have LFOs for parameter modulation. Reaper is very special in that regard, among a select few. One can argue that the feature is kind of hidden, but it's pretty cool. It's a secret weapon that's been there for ages. Then the next level up in this regard is basically Bitwig, which has around 30 different kinds of modulators. Then, if you want to get even more into building sounds, you can use something like NI Reaktor.

If you are just looking for a VSTi that has some nice modulation features built-in, there are tons of them that make it easier and a lot of fun. One family of plugins that comes to mind is Rob Papen plugins, which have an XY matrix kind of thing, where you can assign patterns and parameters to the XY feature and control more than one parameter, etc... it could theoretically get REALLY cool if you use that feature and hook it up to an LFO inside Reaper... the possibilities are limitless.

Good luck with your search!
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:20 AM   #9
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Originally Posted by fetidus View Post

When you said, "Obviously, you can do amazing things by editing all those parameters over time...by hand. But it takes an immense amount of time." I got the impression that you may not be aware that Reaper offers a way to modulate parameters that is actually really easy, cool, and tempo-synced already. But a lot of people don't know about it. It might be your answer.

Reaper has a parameter LFO/modulation feature for plugins which is really cool. It allows you to set an LFO with various shapes and lock that LFO to the tempo, adjust the frequency, range, strength, phase, etc... So Reaper is ALREADY quite powerful when it comes to this, and it's easy to use, and does NOT take a huge amount of time to set up and use. You don't HAVE to manually draw in automation for a parameter. Just let an LFO work some magic on the parameters!
This is very interesting. I'm in Reaper right now, trying to find what you're talking about. It must be the little window that says "Mod..." in the array of things that pop up when you click on a track's trim item. And no, I've never used it. There is so much about Reaper that I don't know! I have the Melda MMultiBandFreqShifter on a track and there are about 800 programmable items there; can you do more than one with the same controller? It will take some study and reading on this, as it's certainly not intuitive how to set up (for example) the mod wheel to control (for example) Band 1 Feedback, which I think is possible. But it is easy to do it with the LFO. I got that working already.

Thanks for bringing this up!
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:29 AM   #10
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Cool, yes, you found it! Have fun with it... hopefully it will help out. And I agree, it's not intuitive. There are tons of little features like that tucked away in Reaper that have taken me years to discover.

For example, I recently discovered Subprojects... and it was a revelation. Simply one of the most powerful features in any DAW, ever. And it was just sitting there, tucked away in a minor release, with NO fanfare or marketing. It's not even listed on the main Reaper website feature highlights, when it would have been a headliner feature with ANY other DAW.

Justin and Schwa definitely march to the beat of the different drummer in how they develop, release and market their features.

Anyway, good luck with that. I do NOT believe you can control more than one parameter with the same LFO, but I might be wrong. Would be a great feature request!

ALTHOUGH, I suppose in some plugins you might have a feature where the plugin has its own group/macro control, where you could internally assign more than one parameter, and then modulate it with one Reaper LFO.

Also, I have NOT investigated this scenario, but I suppose it's entirely possible to write a script in Reaper that does exactly what you want. If you want to get hard-core, dive into the scripting engine, which is the most powerful scripting engine of any DAW on the planet.
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Old 05-18-2018, 11:44 AM   #11
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Anyway, good luck with that. I do NOT believe you can control more than one parameter with the same LFO, but I might be wrong. Would be a great feature request!
if you "Link from MIDI or FX parameter" you can control more than one parameter from the same LFO
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Old 05-18-2018, 01:08 PM   #12
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if you "Link from MIDI or FX parameter" you can control more than one parameter from the same LFO
Oh cool! That makes perfect sense. Thank you, I learn something new about Reaper every week. Would be great if the whole modulation feature was more intuitive though!
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Old 05-18-2018, 01:16 PM   #13
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All that said, the first place I'd go for a wide range of effects with their own powerful modulation features would be Melda Productions. Their free pack is awesome. Grab those and start playing around.
Wow thanks for that tip!! I love the Mxxx plugin - but the cost of that!!! WOW!

It's running as part of the free pack (Says demo on that particular plugin), but i'm guessing it disables after a while.

The other plugins, that i've tried, are really interesting and creative, amazed i've not tried these before, so thanks again for posting this. Get the feeling i'll be buying some of the others!
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