Cymatics Diablo Lite Plugin: Drum Enhancer – Download It For Free!
Maybe they should stick to sound libraries?
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Initial Thoughts Pre- Diablo Release
Cymatics releases a plugin? Diablo Lite? What is this? This plugin is set to release later today (12-31-2020), but here’s what I think about it based on what I’ve seen and what we all know about these types of plugins.
On the surface, Diablo looks ok. The GUI is simple, it’s easy on the eyes. Operating it also looks simple, turning a knob or moving a slider doesn’t get any simpler than that, right? Let’s dive into some of the features. The first five are included in the lite version, the rest are included in the paid version.
Table of Contents
Cymatics Diablo Lite Features
Punch: Probably relating to the dynamics of the sound. Generally, when someone says they need or want more punch, they want the sound to cut through a little more. Think of pushing the attack of a transient designer.
Clip: Think of any clipper and what it does. They’ve included both a hard and soft option (good job).
Input/Output: This gives you control over the incoming signal as well as the outgoing signal. This is a pretty standard feature.
Mix: I’m glad they’re allowing access to a ‘mix’ feature. This allows you to mix between the processed and non-processed signal. You can go 100%, 50%, 40%, whatever sounds good to your ears. Think of it as parallel processing.
Diablo Paid Features
Boost: Overall level and volume of said sound after the punch (assuming).
Body: In mixing terms, this means fullness. However, given there is a separate EQ section at the bottom of the plugin, ‘body’ could mean the remainder of the sound after the transient.
Heat: Saturation, maybe, who knows?
Sizzle: High end, but then again, as stated with the ‘body,’ there is an EQ section below. So maybe ‘Sizzle’ means something different.
Width: Stereo spread (that was an easy one) with a high pass filter. Looks like they took ‘mono compatibility’ into consideration here. Some companies forget that.
Magnitude: Who knows?
Filter: On a horizontal plane, I’m assuming you have control from 20hz to 20khz (human hearing)
EQ: They give 3 basic options: Low, Mid, and High. I have no idea what frequency ranges. Might be something they want to include in the future, or not.
Again, this is just my surface review, as the plug-in isn’t out yet, so I haven’t had the opportunity to test it. With that said, it looks like your typical low-budget plugin (that’s not an insult).
Cymatics is offering their 2nd plugin Vortex Bass Enhancer Free with Diablo <– Nice little incentive.
Cymatics Diablo Lite Plugin In Action
It would have been nice to hear a before and after, but there will be plenty of time to test that out later today.
Thoughts After Using Diablo Lite
Finally, after hours of waiting Cymatics finally posted a download link. As expected, it’s a transient shaper with a few bells, and whistles added to it (for the paid version). Right off the bat, I’m annoyed that it’s over 100MB. It’s not the end of the world, but cmon.
When you place the plugin on a channel, its default state is set to WET 100%, and what you’ll notice is some compression, maybe a little saturation is being added to the sound and a little bit of warmth beefing it up slightly. Some people may like this, others won’t. I like it.
It’s very simple to use, but their claim (on the product page) is that you can get a big sound without increasing the dB…This isn’t true, you’re definitely increasing the dB level. Is it doing anything that other transient shapers aren’t, yes and no, depending on which transient designer you use.
Most importantly, does it sound good, I think it does, and that’s what’s important. if you don’t have a transient designer, this could be a good option for you. Is it worth it if you already have good transient tools? That’s a hard question to answer, very subjective. You’d have to take a few things into consideration.
- It’s free
- It has a built-in clipper that you can control
- What you need from a transient shaping plugin
- How does it sound compared to others (to you)
What I’d Like To See Added To The Lite Version
I’d like to be able to control that compression or saturation a bit, as well as the curve of the clipper, just for some added flexibility. Maybe add a sustain option? This is the first time I’ve seen a designer without that option.
Overall, I don’t think it’s a bad plugin. It’s simple and does what it’s supposed to. If I didn’t have a few transient shapers, I’d definitely added this to my arsenal.
You can download Cymatics Diablo Lite Plugin here
……:::::: Diablo Plugin Update 1-21-2021 ::::::……
Cymatics Just Announced The Price of Diablo!
It’s going to be $100.00. The price isn’t outrageously expensive, but I’m not sure if its worth that in comparison to most of the tools that are already out on the market. Let us dive into the official features if Diablo.
Diablo Plugin Features Updated
I listed my assumptions of what each feature meant, but here are the actual meanings.
Punch: Give control over the volume of the transient. – I was right about this one
Body: This is a compressor. Its job (according to Cymatics) is to clamp down on the signal’s dynamic range while giving sustain to the sound. – I was way off
BOOST: Boost is a set of equalizers which their own adjustable range and style/shape.
Kick 1: This is a Pultec-style EQ. They said it adds some weight and removes boxy frequencies from the signal. What this means is they’re using the Pultecs curve information (it’s EQ shape or behavior). This can be done with a common EQ but it’s not that they have this set to a knob.
This is similar MeldaProductions approach to emulation
Kick 2: This is a Bell Shaped EQ with a Wide Q. They suggest using it to boost lows without introducing much resonance.
Snare: Cymatics says this sounds good on snares when combined with the punch knob and can give kicks that chest hitting feeling.
Reso: This is used for creating Low-End Sub Harmonics. These can be very tasty. So, it’s a low-end resonator, in short.
They have a good approach here. I actually have to applaud them for this. – I was way off
SIZZLE: This introduces high-end information to the sound. There are 3 modes to sizzle: Grit, Crush, and then there’s an exciter.
Grit: Creates false High-end, would be good on dull sounds
Crush: Common bit crushing, good for adding a little texture to sounds.
Exciter: Multiband harmonic exciter. This is cool, they’ve added some multiband, I don’t see a way to control that info though.
– Wasn’t too far off here, just lacked detail
Heat: So this is the color station (basically saturation). Heat has 4 modes:
BLAZE: Another clipper, but more focused, known as symmetric clipping.
DEMON: Tape emulation distortion
FLAME: Transistor distortion focusing on the odd harmonics.
PYRO: Tube-ish distortion with a combination of both even/odd harmonics.
– Got this one too
Clip: Soft Clipper/Hard Clipper – I was correct here as well.
Continuing
Width: Once this feature is bumped past 50% it goes into stereo spread mode. Keeping the low info mono and the upper frequencies spread out – I was right with this
Filter: Bandpass and tilt filter combined. You can adjust the cutoffs of the upper and low frequencies. – I was off a bit here
EQ: Typical 3 band EQ that can be adjusted before the signal hits the clipper. – Right again
Magnitude: No mention of this on the site. So we still have no idea what it does
Input/Output: This should be self-explanatory – Right again
Mix: Control and blending of processed/unprocessed signals. Think wet/dry/parallel processing. – I’m sure everyone knew this.
So, for the most part, I was right. I really like the thought of the Pultec Curve, Low-End Resonator, and the 4 modes of Saturation. I believe those functions were well thought out. One thing that strikes me as ‘odd’ is the transient design still lacks a sustain, just a plain sustain, as well as not being able to tame the attack of a sound.
The lite version should have included some of these flagship features, or they (Cymatics) should have included a demo of the flagship version.
Now, all of these features sound cool, but the plugin still isn’t out, so we still don’t know if it actually sounds good past what the light version offers.
