Sinevibes - An amazing collection of Plugins!
A complete walkthrough of all Sinevibes innovative plugins.
Sinevibes is a music software company that has a very wide collection of releases and some very impressive collaborations with the most famous hardware manufacturers like Korg, Dreadbox, Spectrasonics (the company behind Omnisphere), Novation, and many more. Today though, we are going to go through their full collection of AAX/AU/VST3 plugins for Mac and Windows and see why all the top manufacturers and tons of producers around the world trust them for their effects!
Albedo
Albedo is a granular cloud reverb that makes everything sound lush and ethereal. It is split into 4 sections, Buffer, Grains, Mix, and Modulation. Your signal first hits the filter in the Buffer, then it’s recorded onto it, goes into Grains, and ends up in the Mix. The Modulation is there to modulate the Grains with a Rate and Depth control.
Essentially that means that your sounds are recorded constantly in the buffer and then they are chopped up into small parts (grains) and mixed with your input. That results in a cloud of sound playing along your original input, creating an evolving and full-of-texture reverb. It creates a swarm of sound that can be controlled by the Grains section where you set the number of grains, their size & speed, and you can also detune them to have a more dramatic effect!
It’s a very full and dense effect that ambient musicians will definitely appreciate!
Blend
Blend is a multi-voice chorus. And when they say multi-voice, they mean you can have up to 16! separate layers to create a rich and thick sound!
It has 3 interpolation algorithms - Lo-Fi, Vintage, and Modern - that all have a very different feel to them. Lo-Fi is dark and cranky, Vintage has a warm sound, and Modern is crystal clear with no artifacts. On Blend, you can also control the Stereo image of the chorus (stereo choruses are always more fun), and with the Feedback knob, you can make it sound like a modulated reverb which is very handy.
While most Chorus effects are usually a one-trick pony, Blend has the controls to create a lot more effects. You can make it sound like a massive Chorus, a Vibrato, a Flanger, and even a Reverb. Definitely a very useful tool for your effects kit!
Corrosion
Corrosion is a multi-algorithm distortion. As we absolutely love distortion on synths (we even have an article just for that), distortion plugins are our favorites! Corrosion is another great and most importantly versatile distortion unit. It has 15 unique algorithms so you can find the exact type of distortion that fits your sound.
It is split into 3 sections, Gate where you set your input noise gate, Distortion where you shape the effect, and Mix to control the output sound. Having all those different types, you can go from that beautiful subtle saturation to the extreme waveform bending and clipping.
Distortion in general is a difficult effect for a plugin since it can get muddy and destructive pretty easily and SInevibes definitely put a lot of effort into making all the different algorithms usable and great-sounding. Its highlights are the great sound and its limitless versatility so if you are looking for a great distortion plugin, it is one of the best options out there!
Dipole
Dipole is a powerful Flanger that uses two delay lines with dual-mode feedback that can create all sorts of flanging effects. As with every plugin, Dipole offers extra flexibility and features to control all aspects of your effect.
You can manually set the zero-point while you have multiple (sine, triangle, trapezoid, parabolic) waveforms for modulation. The stereo knob is also handy as widening a flagging effect has a huge impact on your mix!
Flangers are a very misunderstood effect that most people find corny and outdated. But there’s a lot more than the classic “jet“ sound and Dipole can go to uncharted territories. From extremely wide flaming, vibrato, chorus, and many more, Dipole has all the necessary controls for exploration!
Dispersion
Dispersion is a delay that simulates balls bouncing to set the delay hits. Since that is quite an unusual phrase, let’s explain. It uses 32 sequential delay lines that are spread to different time signatures but the important thing is that they always hit on a specific tempo fraction. That results in various rhythmic patterns that can also be spread into the stereo field.
It may be a bit hard to grasp, but it gets a lot easier once you try it out. You can control the number of bounces while you have a separate control for feedback and modulation options.
Dispersion is a very unique effect that creates interesting and rhythmic delay lines that go way beyond your standard delays. It is a bit of a delay and a bit of a gate sequencer that will add movement to your sound. It is fun to tweak and experiment with and works best for short, plucky sounds where you can immediately hear its rhythmic patterns. Definitely a cool and innovative tool for delays!
Droplet
And from the bouncing balls of Dispersion, we move to the raindrops of Droplets! Droplets is a plugin that creates “raindrop delay“ effects. It also has 32 stereo delay lines connected in series with each delay’s time and stereo pan being randomized in order to produce a natural sound similar to water drops falling onto a surface.
While Dispersion is meant for rhythm, Droplets focuses on lushness and ambient textures beneath your original sound. It will introduce syncopated layers of delays beneath your original signal and you set if you want it to be chaotic or mild.
Delays can also be modulated, dampened, and spread to the stereo field for some extra customization. A great texture maker plugin for sure!
Eternal
Eternal is another Flanger, a barber-pole flanger to be exact. While Dipole is much more a “standard“ flanger, Eternal is very different. With its upwards or downwards movement, it creates repeating waves of sound while adding a flanger or chorus effect simultaneously. To accomplish this unique effect, Eternal employs a thoroughly calibrated low-frequency oscillator with six output signals which modulate and crossfade three flangers.
If I had to describe Eternal, I would say it’s a combo of a Wah pedal and a Flanger. It can get you a Chorus, a Flanger, and a Vibrato while moving your tone up and down.
Definitely interesting and weird, if you are looking for something to spice things up and create unique tones and ear candy!
Hollow
Hollow is a massive reverb plugin. It can produce tail times that exceed 15 minutes (!) with a soft and natural decay. You have all your standard controls you would want on a reverb plugin but Hollow has a few unique features that make it one of a kind!
First, you have a unique Unison modulation control that adds a chorus modulation effect to your reverb tails and makes them rich and vibrant. Unlike the standard modulation options you can find on many reverb plugins and pedals, Unison modulation is very prominent and surprising.
Secondly, the Pre-Delay is bi-directional, meaning you can set your reverb to precede your dry signal! This is something I’ve never seen (or even thought of) before and it’s so beautiful. It blends the reverb to the dry sound almost creating a new type of effect. It is very special and you’ll definitely have to listen to it to understand its application.
Hollow is a huge space reverb that sounds great, is versatile, and can get extremely massive. If you are like me and you love to drown your sound in reverb, Hollow is a must-have!
Luminance
Luminance is a Shimmer reverb. That means that the reverb tails are gradually pitch-shifted upwards or downwards and you get those dreamy ethereal reverb tails you often hear. It’s like having a set of violins playing along with your sounds on a higher or lower pitch.
Here, you can control the size & decay, brightness (which essentially is a low-pass filter), and of course the Pitch. The most common Shimmer reverbs use an octave up or an octave down but you can always experiment with anything in between to add harmonies to your reverb.
There aren’t a lot of dedicated shimmer reverb plugins out there, so Luminance is a great option if you are looking for that specific effect. If you are a fan of shimmer reverbs, it is one of the best you can find!
Bonus tip: You can have two separate send effects with different pitches and when you start introducing them to your dry sound you can get reverbs that can sound as chords beneath your original sound ;)
Rerun
Rerun a self-randomizing repeater effect plugin. It chops your sound into small slices, plays them back a number of times, and then it starts again. The cool thing about Rerun is that in every round it randomizes the slice’s size, number of repeats, and adds pauses between them.
You can set the direction (forward, reverse, alternating), size, repeats, and probability and then let Rerun do its thing! If you want no randomness you can just set the Probability knob to 0% and have an always repeating pattern.
Rerun is made for glitch effects and crazy rhythms. It can get a boring and flat pattern and make it groovy and glitchy in no-time.
Skew
Skew is a non-linear audio reverser. Probably my favorite plugin of Sinevibes collection and definitely one of their most famous plugins, Skew is constantly recording the incoming audio into a buffer – and playing it back in reversed chunks.
Its controls may feel cryptic at first and you’ll have to experiment a lot to master it since it’s not based on any standard effects we already used a thousand times. Size defines the relation between the audio chunk to be reversed to the ratio of your tempo. As you increase the size, you increase the chuck’s duration. Overlap is the Gate duration of the previously reversed audio chunk blended in with the currently reversing audio chunk that lets you smoothly go through its reversed sound or make it choppier. Curve applies a curve to the reverser playback timeline (Up, Down, Exponential Up, Exponential Down, Up/Down, Down/Up) and Intensity is the amount of the curve applied. Lastly, Crossfade is a Mix control between the dry sound and the reversed one.
Skew can be used to create multiple rhythmically-precise effects such as reversing, tape rewind, pitch slides, detune, glitching, and scratching I mostly use it to create subtle reversed lines beneath a sound adding a lot of texture. It is a very unique effect that can’t be found elsewhere and it will generate amazing results once you master it. If I had to choose one Sinevibes plugin, I would always get Skew!
Stator
Stator is a tape wobble simulator and it’s made to replicate the characteristics of an old tape machine. There are so many plugins nowadays that are made just for that since lots of producers are trying to create a Lofi sound. And tape machines with their flaws and random glitches produce exactly that.
Stator is mainly focused on the Wow & Flutter effects which are the two main effects a tape machine has. Wow is the random fluctuation of pitch and Flutter is the random fluctuation of speed playback.
Since there are tons of plugins that specialize in simulating the behavior of a 4-track recorder, Stator lacks some features like Saturation, Tape Styles, Dropouts, etc. Wow & Flutter are the most profound effects of tape but sometimes you need something more to get the Lofi sound. If you just care about those two, Stator is fine, but if you are looking for an all-in-one Lofi plugin, there are some more solid options out there.
Whirl
Whirl is a barber-pole phaser effect plugin. Just like Eternal, but this time as a phaser, Whirl is moving upwards or downwards based on a Bode frequency shifter model with a feedback line, an algorithm that creates unique spectrum peaks and notches.
The Mode sets the number of Phase stages and then with Frequency you can control the phaser’s frequency (amount of sweeps) both upwards and downwards. Whirl can sound like a very resonant filter sweeping from time to time or as a standard phaser. It’s in your hand to choose.
Phasers are a bit old-fashioned but we cannot rule them out. It’s an effect that’s very distinguishable and if it’s used right and sporadically it can create a very unique and unexpected touch to your music. If you are still standing for Phasers, Whirl is a solid pick for you!
Conclusion
Sinevibes has such an impressive collection of effects that can cover all genres and all tastes. It is impossible not to find something that you would use from all those different and carefully crafted effects. And if you don’t trust us, there are so many legendary companies that use them for their hardware synths! I love their clear and straightforward aesthetic and their unique touches on standard effects to make them fresh and exciting once again. And their prices are so reasonable that you will easily visit again and again to grab a new plugin for your kit. I’m looking forward to the future of Sinevibes as I’m sure they will keep making great stuff for a long time!
