Arturia has been on a little bit of a roll over these previous few years. The firm has at all times made high notch MIDI controllers and tender synths. But in 2020 it introduced the KeyStep Pro and PolyBrute — delivering the MIDI controller than many had been clamoring for and an analog polysynth that has bowled people over. (Maybe at some point I’ll be fortunate sufficient to get my palms on one.) Then in 2021 it gave the MicroFreak and Pigments, two enormous free updates, upgraded its FX Collection with seven new plugins, and launched the SQ80 V digital synth, which I fell immediately in love with. Now the corporate is launching Efx Fragments, a granular processor that that brings an experimental edge to its present results lineup.
Granular is fairly fashionable proper now, take a look at the Microcosm and Lemondrop as an illustration. But, it is also will be troublesome to tame. Arturia has been placing a number of effort into making its software program extra person pleasant, although, and that is clearly on show with Fragments. Simply put, it is likely to be probably the most fast and musical granular processor I’ve ever used and provides the Microcosm a run for its cash as a cheat code to creating lovely ambient music. But, it’s able to far more than simply epic drones.
The core of Efx Fragments is a granular engine with three distinctly totally different modes and a 16 second buffer. Depending on which mode you choose, the best way it chops up and performs again incoming audio varies. There’s “classic mode” which is just about what everybody thinks of after they hear the phrase “granular synthesis”. It’s versatile and distinctive and really unapologetically digital. Texture mode softens the tough edges a bit and leans into granular’s extra ethereal facet. While Rhythmic mode goes in the other way, strengthening the stuttering and glitchy facet.
That’s to not say you may’t make drones in Rhythmic mode, or create driving rhythms in Texture mode, you will simply should work a bit tougher at it.
In addition to the core granular processing, there’s two results slots for including filtering, reverb, delay and different tone shapers; a bit crushing part with 5 totally different modes; a strong panner and spatializer; two assignable macros; three perform mills for modulation; and a modulation sequencer. Not to say all the varied instruments accessible for manipulating the grains instantly, like dimension, form and pitch.
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If that seems like an awesome array of choices don’t fret, there is a helpful tutorial that helps you get conversant in the interface. And the UI is impressively clear and intuitively laid out. I would not hesitate to suggest Fragments to somebody that was new to granular results. Two issues assist preserve it approachable (past the superb tutorial). For one, the extra intimidating controls are stashed away within the superior tab as is the case with many Arturia merchandise. And, two, the 60 presets are wonderful.
The presets cowl every part from refined background pads, to chaotic jitters, to dense other-worldly drones, and rhythmically advanced pitch-shifted delays. There can be completely nothing mistaken with merely sticking to the presets right here. But they’re additionally helpful as a leaping off level in case you’re nonetheless getting conversant in the world of granular processing (or in case you’re like me and simply lazy).
One tremendous enjoyable trick is to make use of Fragments as a time stretching impact. When paired with the bit crusher it could make melodies really feel like they’re being run by means of digital molasses or drums sound like they’re coming from one other dimension.
My solely criticism interface-wise, is that all the modulation choices are hidden within the superior tab. But at the very least there are randomization controls round every digital knob that means that you can create some motion. So, whereas it is easy to get lovely outcomes with assistance from the presets, to do even reasonable sound design you will should enterprise into the superior tab. But you actually ought to enterprise into the superior tab. If for no different cause than to see the tremendous enjoyable visualizer that brings me again to the times of Windows 3.1.
Honestly although, the controls within the superior mode aren’t terribly exhausting to wrap your head round. You can mainly draw no matter form you need within the perform mills then click on assign and hover over the parameter you need to management till you see blue numbers pop up subsequent to it. Then simply click on and drag up or right down to set the modulation depth. This is mainly how all of Arturia’s devices work. It’s easy and efficient option to make deep sound design instruments really feel extra approachable.
One different factor to know, is that granular processing will be fairly useful resource intensive. I encountered stuttering and artifacts with the density turned up excessive even below supreme circumstances: a easy audio loop and no different plugins operating in Ableton Live 11, with no different packages operating on my 2019 MacBook Pro with a 2.8GHz i7 and 16GB RAM. So, be ready to freeze or resample something you are operating by means of Fragments.
Efx Fragments is offered now at an introductory worth of $99, although in case you already personal different Arturia merchandise there’s in all probability a steep low cost ready for you. You may get it bundled at no cost with FX Collection 2 which is at the moment on sale for $299, which is not a foul deal in any respect.
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