Creature
TL;DW: Creature is a soft slew saturator, a new class of noisechanger.
So here’s something new: didn’t exist before, even I didn’t have it.
Creature is a soft slew saturator. It’s a way of working with applying a sin() function to slew clipping. In fact it applies an unbounded sin() function, so it might be technically considered a slew wavefolder? Because that’s what everybody needed, was a slew wavefolder. How useful, nerdy, and pointless.
Not so much. Listen to this little monster.
Creature is up to 32 (or more, at high sample rates) soft slew saturators, stacked up like the poles of a filter. It acts like a distortion, except it’s not a distortion. It acts like a filter, but it’s even less of a filter. Its interaction with sample rate is really strange (has to scale up with the square root of the sample rate multiplier!)
And what Creature really does, is roar.
As you keep adding Depth, the gain and the thunder increase unreasonably. The total force on tap is pretty ridiculous, and it keeps getting harder to control as you turn it up. There’s an Inv control that can give you a really interesting cancellation that acts like a highpass-ish, but not like any highpass you’ve ever heard. Using it in phase, in Wet mode, unleashes a monstrous overdrive with humongous bass that refuses to lose weight even at impossibly high gains (real interesting on drum rooms!)
There is no overdrive. There is no EQ. There is no highpass.
It’s just Creature, which is very much its own beast. It’s also a very, very simple algorithm (isn’t that so often the way?) so especially at low Depth settings, all this monstrousness can be yours for almost no CPU. I’ll be finding ways to put this to use, but as always, you’ve got it fresh from the plugin forges. Be careful, and have fun with your new Creature.
download 64 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Signed M1/Intel Mac AUs.dmg
download Signed M1/Intel Mac VSTs.dmg
download LinuxVSTs.zip
download LinuxARMVSTs.zip for the Pi
download Retro 32 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac AUs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac VSTs.zip
Mediafire Backup of all downloads
All this is free and open source under the MIT license, brought to you by my Patreon.
VCV Rack module
Thanks for making this and the other ones!
This is now yet another secret weapon in my toolbox. I never use it as a distortion, but it’s incredibly good at making stuff that’s way too bright maintain their character and size while chilling out the top.
This is amazing (especially on a 303 bassline), but is there any chance of adding an attenuator? I love the sound when it really goes crazy, but it also becomes ungodly loud. I’d like to level-match the volume to the bypassed audio so when it kicks in, I don’t need to have to automate the volume, and it’d also save my ears. I could use a volume utility plugin, but then I need to bypass two VSTs each time with automation, which seems silly.
This is the one that finally did it, I’m a patreon supporter now. You’re on the verge of greatness
huu… wasn’t expecting this kind of goodness
really, i am completely sold to what this is doing. if it fits the source, it can make them sound real und sonically fulfilling like no other tool i have ever used. especially the inverse option is remarkable. it really fills up spaces inbetween. bypassed, the original sound seems to be hollow :-)
but it can be really hard sometimes to find the sweetspot, as mentioned in the video.
so here is my first request since i follow your work chris (about ten years or so …):
please give us a version that skips the insane parts and scales the more subtle settings in a wider range, plus an outputvolume (plus and minus 12 db or so). … if you’ve got time and find it fulfilling …
so good to have you and your ideas around! may life always be kind to you!
all the best,
mathias
Chris, I LOVE this plug-in! I am wondering if this can be achieved in analog or is it straight digital wizardry. I would love to have a guitar pedal that could even get halfway close to what this Creature does. I’ve got a friend that builds audio gear, is a slew wave folder possible to make in analog or to get it onto a chip that goes into a pedal? I’m just a dumb guitar player in love with this new amazing tool and am wondering how to bring it on the road with me. Any direction you could point me towards would be massively appreciated.
Makes me think of the band Atari Teenage Riot! Thanks for giving us the option of going extreme. Great for sound design.
In another Airwindows catchup cycle, and holy wow is this plugin incredible. Thanks as always!
good afternoon Chris
which of your saturation plugins would you recommend for per channel use, to get a nice warm overall sound?
Many thanks
Mel