KVR Audio

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:42 pm

Picked this up the other day as I'm interested in effects that work on the wavecycle level. This effect supposedly can "electrify" simple loops by concentrating on each wavecycle in turn turning them "synthy" by replacing certain waves with synth waves, selectively dropping waves outside of a parameter specification range thingy, repeating waves and individually pitching each wave (which works a bit like a really glitchy kind of PWM). Armed with a pitch and envelope follower and the ability to pass audio untouched and morph (not crossfade) between passive and active operation, it's capable of quite a wide range of effects.. I used to use the freeware Bojo Wavechanger, this is like a pro version of that on steroids.

But this plugin is wide open for "abusive" settings, the manual encourages you to just screw around, and there's a huge scope for glitchy effects which can become almost offensive to the ear. Bitcrushing variations, weird phasing, 'robotizing' where you can freeze and reign in the pitch of material and make it conform to new rules, and feeding it monophonic synth waves allows allsorts of pure geometric shenanigans.

I know there was a bit of interest for this when it was released, but it quickly died down, and I suspect there are not many people who know about it anymore. I've only played with it a bit but I can see me getting a lot of use from this, from sample mangler to buss texturizer, lofi effects and monosynth expansion, it's quite flexible.

One shortcoming is that it's quite easy to get it to sound "bad", asin broken, which could offput a lot of "quick fix engineers", but again as the manual states, getting good results from it is a bit like learning how to play an instrument in that it takes a bit of practice and mental effort.

ChiTown24 · Post by **ChiTown24** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:52 pm

Sendy wrote:it's capable of quite a wide range of effects..

That certainly wasn't my experience!
I thought this effect was garbage, everything sounded the same, and I found it next to impossible to find source material to help it create interesting sounds. I wouldn't recommend this plugin at any price I'm afraid

YMMV

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:52 pm

I don't think I ever heard about this one... seems very cool though in this first demo song it's hard to tell what it's doing and what's weird synth drums/bass.

ariston · Post by **ariston** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 4:19 pm

ChiTown24 wrote:
Sendy wrote:it's capable of quite a wide range of effects..
That certainly wasn't my experience!
I thought this effect was garbage, everything sounded the same, and I found it next to impossible to find source material to help it create interesting sounds. I wouldn't recommend this plugin at any price I'm afraid
YMMV

That was kinda my impression, as well, but I really only spent about a half hour with it. Nothing I heard during that time made me want to go back, but maybe I'll give it another spin.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 7:37 pm

I'm guessing the bad impressions and sameyness complaints are coming from that sound you often get from this effect, which I'd describe as a "derpy burble" like a spazzing out sine wave or something. I agree that it's quite difficult to get away from those type of sounds, but the effort required escaping this phenomenon is worth it if you like unusual sounds. The amount of Autechre-style clicks and cuts I've made with this is just insane.

Another effect similar to this is the freeware DFX Geometer. Again, not a lot of fans because it's difficult to tweak, but the treasure you can find if you like unusual sounds makes it worth the effort.

CrystalWizard · Post by **CrystalWizard** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 2:18 am

had similar experience with a violin. picked it up and played it for a few hours and couldn't get a decent sound out of it. i wouldn't recommend a violin :>)

just sayin'- some tools (often quite excellent ones) need some time to get good results from~

i just noticed a old review of relectroin a magazine and then saw this thread, i'm going to check it out.

ouroboros · Post by **ouroboros** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 2:49 am

Sendy wrote:Another effect similar to this is the freeware DFX Geometer...

shhhhh...

michael2 · Post by **michael2** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:28 am

CrystalWizard wrote:had similar experience with a violin. picked it up and played it for a few hours and couldn't get a decent sound out of it. i wouldn't recommend a violin :>)

Aiynzahev · Post by **Aiynzahev** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 3:32 am

I've planned to get this effect ever since I listened to the audio demos. I felt it really was unique. It's not super high on my list right now though because right now I am not composing my own music very much.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 4:59 am

I tried the Demo for this, ran some D16 drums through it and couldnt really get this to make anything cool sounding. It sounded like S*** to be honest.

I did find that it worked pretty good on Monosynth material, as I could add a bit of "digital" sounding oscillators to my analog style stuff. Overall I find linplug synthesizers to sound pretty plasticy and digital *Which isnt bad btw*, but thats just my opinion.

I would not pay the asking price for this, maybe if it was cheaper and I didnt already have a bunch of other plugins.

Crackbaby · Post by **Crackbaby** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:10 am

http://www.linplug.com/relectro.html $79

Like many, i only played around with it quickly. For that amount of money i think it needs to be a more central effect, not a use-once-every-full-moon.

bailees7irish · Post by **bailees7irish** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:34 am

Relectro is awesome! Killer for anyone that makes IDM, techno, and experimental. All others need not apply.

dayjob · Post by **dayjob** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:35 am

it's fun but i didn't find it very useful and i think the sound quality of the FX/result was kinda sub par. i'll probably mess w/the demo for a while longer and see if i'm missing something but so far i'm kinda underwhelmed.

in contrast... i like permut8 which is along the same lines of FX weirdness but to my ears has a higher quality output and more useful results and imo a much better more inspiring interface.

i like all the modulation in relectro though. some nice routing options/destinations there and syncing all the sources to different clocks is pretty fun.

hard for me jump on relectro though. i'll have to spend more time with the demo and see if it fits.

Brittlestem · Post by **Brittlestem** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 7:16 am

CrystalWizard wrote:had similar experience with a violin. picked it up and played it for a few hours and couldn't get a decent sound out of it. i wouldn't recommend a violin :>)

just sayin'- some tools (often quite excellent ones) need some time to get good results from~

Judging by the presets, Linplug only spent a few hours playing with it too. I'd recommend Permut8 over this anyday.

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:55 am

JB Fsynth pro does something similar, now free.

I thought Bitspeak would be the closer effect than Permut8?

Linplug Relectro