S1gns Of L1fe - Glitchwork: FM Grid Glitch Percussion

[morphex]

Chris Bryant aka S1gns Of L1fe has released Glitchwork, a really cool FM percussion instrument available at https://s1gnsofl1fe.gumroad.com/l/glitchwork for $29. And to thank the customers who support him, use code GLITCH40 to receive 40% off for a limited time.

This is ideal for short clicks, digital shards, and metallic drum sounds of varying kinds. It would work well in any genre that requires highly-detailed, glitchy digital percussion. I love this kind of 'sound design meets rhythm programming' concept. It feels like Glitchwork was meant to encourage exploration and flow, with rhythms that evolve in intricate ways. And the results sound like professional ear-candy.

I can see how Glitchwork could be a very useful timesaver, and a fun VST at the same time. The aesthetic gels very nicely with the other S1gns Of L1fe plugins and M4L devices, so give his website a visit.

[Sandra F]

I will pick it tomorrow! Like it!

[MillerSam]

Looks like vibe coded. Let's see how long the plugins are getting updates and support.

[drumsynthesizer]

A few years ago, it was: buy my courses, presets, or templates. Today it's: buy my plugins, which I obviously didn't code myself. Seems to be a good business.

[onerob]

Most developers use AI to assist them, one way or another, these days. But this does not have a vibe coded look to me (as in the whole UI and code being spawned from prompts). Either way, it looks like a good plugin.

[MillerSam]

No problem with AI-assisted stuff, but why are plugins looking so, let's say, generic these days? Or is this the new 2026 look?

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

Looks like vibe coded. Let's see how long the plugins are getting updates and support.

Fair question. Glitchwork is built in JUCE, and I did use AI-assisted / agentic coding tools as part of the development workflow.

I’ve been a KVR member for nearly two decades, and I have a lot of respect for audio developers. I’ve also worked closely with many of them over the years.

I’m a producer and sound designer first, not someone claiming to be a lifelong DSP engineer. The concept, workflow, sound design direction, presets, testing, manual, demos, and support are all mine, and I’ll be maintaining the plugin directly.

I understand if AI-assisted development is a dealbreaker for some people. For anyone interested, I’d simply say judge it by the demos, the sound, the workflow, stability, and support. I’ll also have a full walkthrough of the plugin on my channel shortly.

[whassup]

Demo version?

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

Demo version?

No but if it's not working for any reason, feel free to reach out.

[parma]

I've only had a quick play yesterday but I was finding myself wishing it could get harsher. More glitch. Like Alva Noto-type sounds. Maybe I just need more time with it.

[parma]

Ok, after trying some of the presets I see you can get more glitchy than I first thought. Am I missing something or is there no master volume knob. It's pretty easy to get a hot signal - definitely need a master volume control preferably in the header where there is already room for one.

Also - the mixer is a bit of a mess. The slider position does not reflect the loudness of the track. You have to move the slider way, way down before you get appreciable volume difference. Definitely need to re-calibrate the mixer.

Edit 2 - Going through some of the presets I noticed some sounds are panned far left or right but when I go to the mixer, everything is centered. Is there a pan parameter that I'm missing somewhere? Mixer definitely needs work. EDIT: I see it's the "width" macro

Edit 3 - What is the Morph button supposed to do? It just seems to increase voice parameters incrementally.

Again, there *needs* to be a master volume control. It's way too easy to randomize yourself into "ouchie ear" territory.

I like what you're doing here with 1.0 but I hope there is some "polishing" coming.

Edit: the Edit One/Edit All voices toggle needs to be available on the Sequencer page as well as the Engine page, imo.

[S1gnsOfL1fe]

I like what you're doing here with 1.0 but I hope there is some "polishing" coming.

Great suggestions! A few of them (including Master Volume control) is already on the list for 1.1.

Re: Morph - click and hold it for randomization that slowly increases over time.

[parma]

I like what you're doing here with 1.0 but I hope there is some "polishing" coming.

Great suggestions! A few of them (including Master Volume control) is already on the list for 1.1.

Re: Morph - click and hold it for randomization that slowly increases over time.

hmmm...if I hold Morph all it does is gradually increase all Voice parameter values until they are maxed. No randomization is happening. Edit: ok, I see that it is changing values in the sequencer as well but it is definitely not random. It makes the step values "extreme" - all the way up or down and it seems to be doing it every other step, not randomly.

[parma]

I wish there was a depth or amount control for the randomization. And maybe a separate Random for the macros or just include macros in the current scheme.

Also - Undo/Redo would be greatly welcomed for when you hit Random one too many times

[Chicken Drummy]

Some of these grumps may not know or care who this dev is.

He collaborated with Dawesome on SOL, a fantastic free reverb, and the guy clearly knows what he's doing. It's not by some half-assed vibe coder hocking junk for 100 dollars.

With the current discount, Glitchwork comes to a whopping...$17.40.

I do see a couple good suggestions here. A master volume knob (which Chris has already addressed in this thread) would be at the top for me. A demo version would be appreciated and hopefully he'll consider offering one for this and/ or any future plugins.

That said, it looks and sounds great from what I'm hearing and at a very fair price point - especially with that 40% off discount. But even at full price it seems like a steal for what it can do. I would like to know how it'll get on in my DAW but alas..

I'm a sucker for just about anything glitch related, I've been using the hell out of the free SOL vst since I first installed it, and this developer has already proven himself to be more than capable of releasing a solid plugin that he won't just walk away from without sorting any bugs.

So I'm gonna bite the bullet despite no demo and snag it while the discount is still good! For less than 20 bucks it's a no-brainer for me.