While the SoundToys Crystallizer Granular Echo Synthesizer offers pitch-shifting granular reverse echo, think of it more as an incredibly creative, powerful, new granular-pitch-splice-forward/backward-echo-plus-space-drive-shimmer-accumulator-effect-device. Crystalizer is certainly a mind-warping sound design trip.
SoundToys Crystallizer's functionality, as you can see, is difficult to sum up - especially to wrap up in a succinct fashion. That's because Crystallizer is a special kind of tool; the culmination of an insane amount of programming hours, head-scratching, listening, and tweaking to achieve the perfect results. But to truly explain why Crystallizer is unlike anything else, a little history lesson is in order.
Gather round for Some Background!
A bunch of years ago the brains behind Soundtoys (formerly Wave Mechanics) worked for a little company called Eventide in the swamps of New Jersey (yes, there are swamps). While there, these geniuses created the now world-famous H-3000 Harmonizer® which contained a new type of algorithm they called Reverse Shift. That new algorithm remained largely unused until a sound designer by the name of Andrew Schlesinger had a realization. Andrew found that by using the algorithm, coupled with generous feedback and delay, one could create lush Crystal-Like echoes and shimmering effects that sounded absolutely incredible, especially on guitar. And so, a preset was created for the H-3000 titled Crystal Echoes which has subsequently been used by hundreds of artists and producers on countless albums.
Fast-forward to the present-day. With Crystallizer you now have an updated and more powerful device capable of generating (and truthfully surpassing) the same quality of effect created by the very same guys who conceptualized the original.
What Crystallizer does essentially is that it grabs a slice of stereo or mono audio coming in from the input and plays it back (either forward or in reverse) with the ability to shift the pitch of the audio slice (4) octaves up, or (4) octaves down. It also includes the ability to delay the playback of the audio by up to (2) seconds and most importantly use regeneration or Recycle to feed the output back into the input allowing you to create some radical and beautiful effects on all sorts of input signals.
Additionally, a set of hidden Tweak parameters allow you to further mutate the signal for endless sonic possibilities. Crystallizer, due to its uniqueness, is a plugin that simply begs to be tweaked and played with.
SoundToys Crystallizer Plug-In Features
- Recreate the classic crystalline sounds of the Eventide H3000
- Turn simple melodies and chords into shimmering, textured soundscapes
- Create rich, evolving effects with reverse echos and pitch shifting
- Lock the the effect to your project's tempo and even add custom automation
- Transform guitar, bass, drums or loops into something completely new
- An amazing tool for creative sound designers
SoundToys Crystallizer Plug-In Specifications
- All version 5.0.4 Soundtoys products come with 32-bit and 64-bit VST, AU, and AAX Native plug-in formats.
- Here is a list of all of the DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) that are officially supported:
- Pro Tools
- Live
- Cubase / Nuendo
- Sonar
- Logic
- Digital Performer
- *If your DAW is not on this list, it doesn't necessarily mean that SoundToys plug-ins won't work... It just means that it has not been tested. If something goes wrong with an unsupported DAW, SoundToys welcomes to write into support, but they cannot guarantee a solution.
- Supported sample rates:
- Minimum: 44.1 kHz, Maximum: 192 kHz
- System requirements:
- Operating system:
- Mac OS X 10.8 or later
- Windows 7 or later
- An internet connection is required at the time of activation.
- Operating system:
- Other requirements:
- iLok.com account (An iLok USB dongle is not required)
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