It was only a matter of time before music software and hardware behemoth Arturia announced a series of modulation plugins. The company has been slowly building up a catalogue of emulations of famous hardware effects, and modulation effects were a noticeable absence.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term in this context, modulation, as in music, creates change and movement. It tends to be that one element of a sound is modulated – this could be volume (tremolo), pitch (vibrato) or something more complex – and this creates the effect of movement within the sound.
As with previous Arturia effects, the three included products are emulations of effects that actually exist and have been widely used.
BF-20 Flanger
The flanger is the first effect that I tried, and the most obscure hardware effect included here. The plugin is based on a BEL BF-20 flanger from the late-70s designed by ex-Genesis guitarist Mick Barnard. The original was used in countless studios but is still a relatively obscure piece of hardware. The Arturia emulation takes this original model and then adds several additional controls.
The main controls on the plugin are used to affect the shape and intensity of the movement. The effect can have either automatic modulation or be controlled manually for more specific control. There is also a feedback control (labelled Regen) that affects how much of the delayed signal is fed back into itself to create deeper and more intense flanging.
Flanging is quite a marmite effect. It can be intense, so I find the best way to use this plugin is via a bus or aux track. The ability to keep some of the unprocessed track in the mix allows the flanger to not become too overpowering.
Dimension-D
The Dimension-D plugin is the suite's chorus effect and is an emulation of the famous Boss rack unit from the early ‘80s of the same name. Arguably its most famous use is on the opening guitar riff to Purple Rain by Prince.
The Dimension-D (and its pedal offspring, the Dimension-C) only have four buttons on the front that recall the pre-set sounds from the unit. The Arturia emulation recreates this, but with a couple of extra features that were not on the original, including the ability to change the modulation waveform for differing levels of smoothness in the modulation.
The Dimension-D is a very deep chorus effect. Chorus works by delaying one signal and modulating the pitch of the delayed signal. Most chorus effects have one delayed signal – this has four! So, with that many delayed and pitch modulated signals, it sounds very thick and more like an ensemble.
If you are looking for a deep chorus effect this could be the perfect choice – but it sounds particularly good on guitars or keyboards.
Bi-Tron Phaser
The final of the three included modulation effects is the Bi-Tron dual phaser. This is an emulation of a 1970s’ effect from a company called Mu Tron. Although phaser effects had been around for some time, Mu Tron were (probably) the first company to create a dual phaser that allowed the player to run them in series, parallel, or totally separately.
The Arturia emulation recreates this functionality (except the ability to process two things simultaneously, but if you want to do this, simply load another one). The two phaser channels are independently switchable and have their own controls for speed and depth. The effects can be routed in series or in parallel. In series it is possible to get some very deep phasing with the signal sounding quite washy with the depth turned up in both, but I found running the phasers in parallel was the place where I could get sounds I really liked. By running the effect in parallel at different speeds, it is possible to have very fast and very slow modulations simultaneously without either becoming overpowering.
There is an emulation of the original optional rocker pedal for controlling the effect and how much signal can be fed back into it. As with the other modulation effects, there are some Arturia extras, including the option to change how many poles the phaser uses for subtler or more extreme phasing effects.
Summary
This is quite an in-depth look at three quite specific effects that might not be universally popular. But – and here is the important point – modulation effects in DAWs are usually quite generic and don't always contain a great deal of functionality.
As I get older, I am realising how much benefit a good modulation effect can have on a sound. So, if you have a student who is working on a piece of music and has a part that needs another level of interest, then a modulation effect might provide that.
The Arturia modulation effects are three of the most useable modulation effects I have ever tried, and they will certainly be getting a lot of use from me and my students in their coursework. These are totally recommended.
The bundle retails at €199. To find out more, visit arturia.com.
