Canadian Musician - January/February 2021 | Page 22

ROAD TEST FabFilter Creative Bundle Plug-In Suite

By Adam Gallant

Up for test in this issue is FabFilter ’ s Creative Bundle , a suite of four plug-ins that includes the company ’ s most recent release , Saturn 2 . The design team at Fab- Filter have a unique gift for UI creation , which is reflected in all the plug-ins in this bundle . FabFilter ’ s software does a wonderful job of setting the stage for usability and creativity . All parameters are presented in an intuitive way while allowing users to dive as deep or as shallow as they wish . In this write up I ’ ll give a brief break down of each plug-in and point out a few key features .

FabFilter Saturn 2 Saturn 2 is the second generation for what has become a very popular multiband saturation plug-in . From nearly invisible-sounding tube saturation to full-on Marshall Plexi fuzz , Saturn 2 has a very wide range of flavours . This plug-in serves any sound source , and at our studio it often finds its way onto drum busses , bass guitar , the mix bus , and any instrument that needs a little help to stand out in a mix . A common trick we ’ ve been employing is to split the saturation between the high and low frequencies to apply more saturation to the high-end content than the low . This trick seems to effectively emulate the quality of recording to analog tape , wherein the high frequencies get a little hairier sounding than the lows .
If you ’ re using this plug-in on a master bus or big group of instruments , one key feature is the “ quality ” setting at the bottom of the plug-in . This button engages oversampling , which will reduce the amount of audible aliasing . The options are Good ( 8x oversampling ) and Superb ( 32x oversampling ), and the higher frequencies on complex material benefit greatly with it engaged .
FabFilter Timeless 2 On the surface , Timeless 2 is a tape delay plugin . Under the hood this plug-in has an infinite palette of sounds : choruses , flangers , phasers , and more . The modulation section opens up a whole realm of configurations wherein basically any modulation effect can be mapped to any attribute within the plug-in or controlled via an external MIDI controller . Like all the plug-ins in this bundle , the modulation section has a
22 CANADIAN MUSICIAN very intuitive drag-and-drop workflow . Cycling through presets is a great place to start if you ’ re on the hunt for something inspiring .
Playing around with drum loops through Timeless 2 is when things tend to get interesting . For instance , creating an XY controller in the modulation section and mapping filter sweeps or feedback swells to either X or Y can give an amazing amount of playability to this plug-in . Timeless 2 is very much about creating a whole other instrument or sound out of a delay-focused plug-in .
FabFilter Volcano 2 Volcano 2 is a brilliantly inspiring filter tool that will re-imagine any source material you throw at it . It has a similarly extensive modulation section as Timeless and Saturn with the drag-and-drop matrix . It can operate in mono , stereo , or mid / side and is totally customizable in its patching and modulation options . I ’ ve had really great results using Volcano 2 on a full mix to create transitions in and out of breaks , and on subgroups of instruments as an effect to bridge sections by engaging the delay circuit . Volcano is perhaps the best plug-in in this bundle to get a sense of how the Modulation section in all of these products is laid out .
FabFilter Twin 2 Twin 2 is a powerful and customizable synthesizer plug-in that comes with a massive library of 1,600 well-organized presets . At the core of
Twin 2 are three oscillators with PWM , hard sync , and phase sync . In default mode these oscillators are fed to filters , delays and then the modulation section ( which is where the real mind-bending versatility lives ). Building massive lead patches for EDM is where we found Twin 2 to shine , it ’ s equally at home making wide lush pads and percolating pulse layers . Teamed up with any other plug-in in this bundle , Twin 2 has an infinitely large palette of sounds to deliver .
Final Thoughts All the plug-ins included in this Creative Bundle are designed for users on either end of the tweakability spectrum . They are available in VST , Audio Units , AAX Native , and AudioSuite formats ( all in both 64-bit and 32-bit ). With GPUpowered graphics , these plug-ins are CPU efficient , especially given their potential to perform really complex tasks .
FabFilter makes some of the most wellrespected and awarded software in our field . If you haven ’ t tried any of their products , I suggest readers start with Pro-Q 3 and Saturn 2 . The company does a really great job of providing lots of support material in the way of video tutorials and well-thought-out manuals .
Adam Gallant has worked in all facets of digital audio production , from music composition to location and post audio for television and film . He currently owns and operates The Hill Sound Studio in Charlottetown , PE .