Soundtoys Crystallizer

Soundtoys are without a doubt one of our favorite plug-in developers. They continually bring innovative approaches to even the most common effects, but they’re also great at going into some relatively uncharted territory. That’s the case with the Crystallizer. This is a granular echo effect, based on the Eventide H3000 effects unit. If you’re a 1980s aficionado, you’ve definitely heard a number of albums that used this piece of hardware. Its unique “Reverse Shift” algorithm was arguably its most innovative and popular effect. It was essentially a delay effect, but unlike anything else anybody had heard at the time. Interestingly enough, the brains behind Soundtoys actually worked for Eventide back in the day to develop this effect. And because they have such an in-depth knowledge, their plug-in perfectly recreates this unique style of spliced, pitch-shifted echo, and adds in some features that let you make the most out of it rather easily.

This plug-in is defined by its two main effects: Granular Echo Slicing, and pitch shifting. These both combine in a very interesting way, resulting in some far-out applications. The granular echo slicing takes a small piece of your audio signal and feeds it into the delay, rather than adding delay to the entire signal. This results in some clipped and slightly distorted delays when highly spliced, and completely transparent when at 0. The “splice” control adjusts this parameter, and the threshold knob controls the volume level at which it splits the signal. It sounds great with the forward setting, but with the reverse setting on, this automatically creates a hypnotic, surreal effect on even the simplest parts. A single chord or sustained note can easily become an ambient pad or atmospheric soundscape with little effort on your part. And the recycle knob lets you continue to feed the delay back into itself, adding another layer of echo to the mix. We found the plug-in to be equally effective during both mixing and tracking sessions, especially if the recording artist or producer is going for this type of ambient effect.

The gate and ducking features allow you tweak the level of the effect relative to the volume threshold of your dry signal, which means you can make the effect increase or decrease in time with the part so that it doesn’t obscure the dry signal. The additional low and high-cut EQs, as well as attack and release for both gating and ducking further refine this capability, which handily prevent the effect encroaching too far into the mix (unless that’s what you’re going for).

Pitch Shifting
The plug-in really starts to get unpredictable (in the best possible way) when you start factoring in pitch shifting. With this engaged, your delay signal has a different pitch than the dry signal, and gives your audio a surreal, processed quality. Having an octave-up echo adds an extra layer of surreal ambiance to any part, especially if it’s spliced. The same applies to lower octaves, fifths, and other intervals depending on the song you’re working with. The additional controls for pitch, splice, and delay time offset will actually allow your parts to continue to pitch shift and change splice levels as the effect progresses, with additional smoothing control to keep it in line if needed. This is where the time we spent experimenting started yielding the coolest, most beautifully unexpected sounds.

The surreal quality of the delay includes some chorus, modulation and reverb-like effects in addition to echo, which makes this plug-in sound unlike any other plug-in on the market. The many presets that Soundtoys gives you can help illustrate this plug-in’s amazing potential, which is considerable. They’re great for “setting and forgetting” but also work fantastically as a starting point for further refinement. This plug-in has made us re-think what we knew about delay, and is highly worth your time to check out. You’ll be surprised at all the different things it can do.

Main Features:

• Granular echo slicing and pitch shifting, based on the legendary Eventide H3000 effects unit, which was lauded for its bright, shimmery sound
• Creates complex delay and shimmer effects that utilize pitch shifting and reverse delay
• Turns even the simplest parts into complex ambient signals that continually evolve over time
• Sync Tempo to DAW and use custom automation, or set time manually
• Excellent tool for composers and sound designers

Controls:

• Pitch Shift Controls (in cents) adjust the pitch of the feedback; additional pitch offset adjusts the pitch shifting as the repeats continue
• Splice control determines how much the effect splits your delay signal, resulting in clipped and cut-off echoes; additional splice offset adjusts splicing as repeats continue
• Delay time control, with additional delay offset which adjusts as repeats continue
• Recycle control feeds delay back into itself, extending the echo and adding another layer of splicing and pitch shifting
• Reverse or forward echo modes
• Threshold control determines the volume level where the effect begins to splice and pitch shift
• Global wet/dry, input and output gain controls
• Mono, Dual (Stereo) Delay, (Stereo) Ping Pong and “Mixed” delay modes
• Low and High-cut Feedback EQ controls
• Gating/Ducking feature with amount knob, as well as attack and release controls; choose to duck or gate the output and feedback separately or together

Specs
Current Version: 5.2.0
Plug-in Formats (both 32 and 64-bit):
• AAX Native, AAX AudioSuite, VST, and Audio Units (AU)
Supported Sample Rates:
• Minimum: 44.1 kHz, Maximum: 192 kHz

System Requirements:
• Operating systems: Mac OS X 10.8 or later; Windows 7 or later
• An internet connection is required at the time of activation.
Supported Hosts:
• Pro Tools (10.3.5 or later), Live, Cubase, Nuendo, Sonar, Logic, Digital Performer
• Click here to view our full list of compatible host applications.
Other Requirements:
• Free iLok.com account.