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All Reviews by rob_crowdy


By rob_crowdy
On 4th June 2006
Version: 2.0

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  GUI
Sound
Features
Docs
Presets
Support
VFM
Stability
Smart Electronix DFX Buffer Override

Of all the “glitchy” effects this is my favourite. It is both fun to play with and useful. The GUI is excellent- built in help and clear delineation and arrangement of sections as well as good colours.

The presets are good, but you really need to work on them yourself. Just play. Nothing really subtle ever happens, although I find that the bottom left-hand corner of the rectangle gives the most useful effects. (And try tempo sync on the LFOs).
Listen to the mp3 demos first to see if you like the idea, but they really only scratch the surface of what is possible.

It should probably be called something else , although I have no idea how you would describe it adequately. (One of the DestroyFX people describes it as “… nothing more than repeating parts of recent audio … and applying some cross-fade in some cases. … though what makes it interesting is the ways that you can control how that happens”).

Stable, always works, but can be hard on the ears.

Not sure what support you’d ever need and although it is free I expect you’ll find yourself donating something.

VitaminD’s review (below) really says it better than I can, but I’d encourage its use on any kind of material.
 
    

By rob_crowdy
On 29th May 2006
Version: 1.0

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Stability
Ugo Metallurgy

This is definitely one of those FX that just “works”- the demo presets are great (and the real thing is even better) and you should follow Ugo’s advice and try any effect on any instrument. (Very nice with drums, particularly). Despite the name (and the GUI) it is capable of subtle effects as well as extreme ones (burnished, lustrous, reflective, anodised, annealed?).

Doesn’t seem to use much CPU- I’ve had many instances of it running (along with other things) at once with no stability problems.

In the documentation Ugo mentions a problem with a couple of hosts (including Live) where momentary stutters appear if muting/ soloing- I find this happens with many plugins in Live so it probably isn’t a Metallurgy specific issue. The documentation is helpful rather than just descriptive- plenty of hints on how to experiment. Camel manuals are good like this too, but not many others…

The GUI is very clever, but I think I’d like an alternative “cleaner” one- I’ll get used to it though.

I can’t comment on support as I haven’t needed any (yet) but it is obvious what to do if there is a problem and Ugo answers emails promptly. VFM is obvious- it costs what one would normally donate as a matter of course for something this good.
 
    
Latest 2 reviews from a total of 2