Are you tired of generating the same melodies repeatedly, or are you always making
Do you have different and unique melodies that always sound the same? All these conditions lead to confusion and artist block. Artist block is when you hit a creative wall and can’t come up with new ideas. I heard about this term from my music producer friend. This condition would be the same as shown in the picture.
So, now the question arises: What is the solution to this problem? The answer is motivation and inspiration. Most producers prevent their artists block through motivation by listening to other artists’ songs. Their friends and family also play a great role in this regard. The other technique to prevent the artist block is inspiration. There are a couple of ways to get inspired. The first is to listen to different songs and the second is to experiment with different types of melodies and put random efx plugins on those melodies to get strange sounds that may raise your creativity. There comes the plugin, Illusion, produced by the Cymatics, for getting strange and impressive sounds from simple melodies.
1. Introduction to the Cymatics:
Cymatics is a company that is very famous in the world of music production. It initially made different sample packs, which is the main reason for its popularity. The main thing producers liked about this company was that it always replica samples of popular songs. For example, it released sample packs of Roses, a great song by Chainsmokers. This sample pack got a hit and made this company very famous. After achieving success and becoming well-rooted in the world of music production, it started making plugins, and one of its recently released plugins is called Cymatics Illusion.
2. Cymatics illusion:
In the past, no VST was used in music production. Producers used hardware to record, produce, and add some effects to their recordings.
As technology advanced, it replaced hardware with software and made music production easier for all. Producers used reverb and delay pedals in the past, and now they use reverb and delay plugins. Some producers recognized that the old and classic delay and reverb pedals have some unique characteristics that modern plugins lack. To tackle this problem, many emulations of old hardware were made, and Cymatics illusion VST is one of them.
Illusion is a plugin that is actually
3. The Power of Bucket Brigade Delay (BBD):
Bucket Brigade delay is a technology described as a delay line. It was first developed in the 1960s. In the past, it was a very significant and widely used technique, but as we know, modernity replaces everything, and the same happened with the BBD. In the modern era, it was replaced by digital methods like VSTs, VST3, and much more.
1. How it works:
Now we are going to explain how the BBD works. It works based on an analog signal that passes through the number of capacitors and, in this way, a time.
2. Limitations:
- This technology is less precise compared to the digital delay plugins
- It provides the low quality
Delay signal as processing the signal.
3. Benefit:
Unique Sound:
This technology can introduce certain harmonics that make the sound stand out upfront. It adds nice and interesting warmth to the sound.
Creative Potential:
As we talked about earlier, BBD is not accurate, and this point can also be taken as a benefit of this technology because imperfections sometimes bring new ideas to mind
Working of the Cymatics – Illusion
It is a creative delay plugin that transforms a sound in a million different ways. You can apply this plugin to any sound, whether it is a drum, cymbals, hi-hats, melody, etc. This plugin is a great source of prevention of artist block because it gives producers new and inspiring ideas. Now, we are going to discuss its working model.
1. Dry/wet Knob
The function of the dry/ wet knob is the same in every plugin. It mixes the processed signal with the unprocessed signal.
2. Preset Bar section
On the top of the plugin, there is a preset selection section where the user can choose his desired preset. There are a couple of presets designed by professional producers.
3. Three types of delays
Below this, we see there is a long bar divided into three sections. These three sections have different colored lights. This bar represents the delay types. So this plugin effect affects the input signal with the help of three delays and makes it unique. We can also change the timing of these delays. For example, if we liked the delay which lies on the first lightened band, and this band is 1 bar long. We can also change the number of bars.
4. Delay Section
Again, there are three sections below this. The first section has controls like sync, time, ping pong, feedback, and glide. Users can turn on and off the sync control. This control matches the processed signal or echo sounds with the project’s tempo. Next to this, there is control known as Ping-Pong. Turning this on will make the processed signal come from the left and right speakers, creating a special effect that works as a stereo widener.
5. Pitch Section
After this, we have two sections named Pitch 1 and Pitch 2. With the help of these sections, we can change the pitch of the wet signal.
Advance Settings of the Cymatics Illusion
Now, we are going to discuss the plugin’s advanced settings. When you first open the plugin in your DAW, you are provided with the basic settings to mess around with. But in the bottom middle of the plugin, there is a triangle-shaped icon; by clicking that icon, the plugin reveals its advanced controls. Let’s discuss them.
1. Filter section
This is the plugin’s basic built-in EQ, which processes the input signal. Sometimes, users put a delay plugin on a sound with bass frequencies. The plugin works on the whole sound spectrum, so bass frequencies cause the mix to be muddy. To avoid this problem, we can use the filter section in this plugin. This filter section has basic controls like a high cut.
And low cut, and it also allows the user to affect the mid-frequencies. In short
, with the help of the filter section, we can modify the tonality of the processed signal.
2. Characteristics Section
Next, we have the characters section, which allows us to add distortion or saturation to our processed signal. This section also offers hundreds of possibilities, which you can learn by experimentation.
Our Honest Review
The Cymatics Illusion plugin was recently released. We used it for five days to explore its abilities. Here is our honest review of it.
- Firstly, we want to say, that this plugin is good for music producers who want to play around with different ideas. This plugin is capable of turning simple sounds into something new and unique.
- The price of this plugin is a bit high compared to the services it provides. Different plugins could offer the same functionalities at a lower price.
- Depending upon our experience with this plugin, we would rate this plugin 7 out of 10.
Additional Information
- Download Cymatics – Illusion v1.0.0 VST3, AAX (x64) [05.2024] (TCD) (Repack)
- Original Publisher: Cymatics
- Version: 1.0.0
- Format: AAX, VST3
- Category: VST Plugins
- Require: Windows 10 or later
- License type: Full
- Download Size: 8.6 MB
