DFX Geometer

If there's one thing going for this effect, it's it's uniqueness. Geometer is my kind of plugin - it works on the raw geometry of the waveform in realtime, with a graphical and text based interface which gives you a very good idea what's going on.

The overall sound of Geometer is FSU style decimation, sample rate reduction, pitch scaling and distortion, but spend a while with it and you'll find some deliciously subtle flavours and blends of all of the above, and occasionally some fizzy crunchy procedures which are quite simply pure Braindance gold, the likes of which I've never heard before.

The sound is created by placing 'anchor points' on the waveform according to certain rules, and chosing from processes and thresholds a way to deconstruct and reconstruct the waveform, allowing you to create interesting sweeps by moving the parameters and thresholds while the audio is processed. This goes beyond sample rate and bit crushing sweeps, allowing more ways to change and degrade the sound.

Is this the effect for you? If you need gloss, easy and quick results, and instant inspiration, probably not. If you're a fan of grit, grain, bit crushing and lo-fi weirdness, and like to sit with a plugin and experiment thoroughly, you'll find this one of the most unique and fun lo-fi freewares out there. As I've said before, occasionally this spits out transformations that make the hour of twiddling entirely worthwhile - especially on drums!Read Review

User Interface: interface wider than average, what i find a good thing. Nothing special to say about the geometric greenish look.

Sound: here is the strong point. I like this plug and use it a lot, for the sonic touch it can add. As a kind of very electro, but warm enough, distorsion (and mixed with care) it's perfect.

Features: not much. Put it on the track, demix it, and it's gonna give the dist. (always). Maybe it's intented for a wider range of features but the handling is somehow hazardous (imo) so...

Documentation: There's the quick presentation on the download page, a txt file included, and there's a big part of the GUI dedicated to "explain" different operators (when placing mouse on them).

Presets: not much, and one is making a big sinelike wave, without any input (ouch... especially at night).

Customer support: Smartelectronix have a forum here and a mail box is available on the dFX own web page.

Value For Money: It's freeware.

Stability: no problems, no bugs, but can produce very impolite sounds. So beware, at night :)Read Review

I've still got this one, but almost deleted it several times - the only reason I haven't really is because you just never know when you might need a weird FX when your inspiration runs out for programming patches in synths and FX.

VFM - free, so no excuse for not at least giving it a whirl.

Patches - there is a small handful that give some kind of idea what Geometer can do, but not many, and considering it's a funny FX to figure out, I could certainly do with more.

Stability - It's never crashed on me, but it can take a reasonable amount of CPU depending on the settings etc. It's not necessarily the type of FX that you would have to run live though, so rendering to audio would solve that - it's more the type of FX that you'd just throw onto the odd vocal sample or for a break on some drums etc.

Documentation - there are help screens that show up, which at least give some idea about the functions and features - I wouldn't have a clue without these. (in fact I don't have much of a clue with them either)

Features - it's not quite a one-trick pony - it will make some varied sounds, but it tends towards the degrade-and-destroy type FX - you really have to tweak the settings an awful lot to get away from noise blasts, but patience can occasionally be rewarded.

Sounds - as above. It will make some robotic/vocoder-ish type FX and is distinctively different from your usual run-of-the-mill robotic FX. If you were into the Underworld-y vocal FX, you might be able to do it with Geometer, but have your own angle.
It can also (and regularly does) make a complete screaming distorted mush out of whatever you put into it. Probably right up your street if you're into industrial, I guess, but I wouldn't call Geometer musical most of the time, so it's not usually my cuppa tea. I can also see potential in it for ambient meandering type music though.
It does some esoteric shenannigins with splitting up your audio at whatever points you dictate, then stretches/bit-reduces/extrapolates in some manner I have no idea about (nor do I want to!)

It's free - if you like noise, give it a try. It's also worth taking some time with to get unique sounds that occasionally you'll get (usually by pure luck) that I've never had on any other s/w FX.... so I haven't deleted it. It'll never become a classic, but it's distinctively different.Read Review