Cymatics Vortex Plugin (808 Enhancer) – Comes Free With Diablo!
Worth the investment or just a gimmick?
Cymatics Vortex Plugin – What is it?
It’s a saturation plugin for 808s! Yaaayy…Anotha one! Yep, for all you EDM and Trap heads. You can slap this on any channel or sound, but that’s the plugin’s intended purpose, enhancing your 808s (low end) hence the name.
How Much Will It Cost?
The Vortex Plugin will be free to early adopters of Diablo, not the lite version but the flagship model. Right now, that is priced at $50 and is set to release the same day Vortex does. January 22, 2021. With that being said, if you’re not interested in Diablo, but want Vortex, it will be priced at could be $50.
I’ll keep you updated if there are any price changes.
Vortex Features
4 Saturation modes:
Electric: Blue Color Scheme
Fire: Red Color Scheme
Radiation: Green Color Scheme
Ultraviolet: Purple Color Scheme
Cool…vague, but cool. I’m not sure what the colors mean in terms of the type of saturation, but….yea.
Filter: This is an EQ. The filter allows you to pinpoint the frequency you want to saturate vs saturating the entire spectrum.
Color: Possibly another EQ. EQ is the easiest way to add color to a sound aside from reverb, I doubt their color knob routes to a reverb.
Mix: Blend the wet and dry signal to taste.
Typical features, I’m most interested in GUI and what the 4 saturators sound like. Those are the two things that sound out in my opinion.
Seriously, how many 808 enhancing plugins do we need?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy and proud of any company that consistently puts out products, especially those that reinvent themselves or dives into the plugin world, it’s not easy, but can you at least bring something innovative to the table?
I hate to sound like a Debbie downer but right now, they’re on track to doing what they did when they first started their company -> pushing the same sounds everyone else is/has. They certainly have some good stuff now but in the beginning……Anyway, IÂ feel like that’s where we’re heading with the plugins… I could be wrong.
What Cymatics Vortex 808 Enhancer Lacks
Shaping/Contour Design: Waveshaping.
L/R or M/S Processing: No ability to process these individually. Left/Right and Mid Side should be a standard by now. Not many saturators or plugins) offer this, so definitely a missed opportunity.
Multiband Processing: The filter EQ is a nice touch, but what if we want to saturate the Low end differently than the mid-range? I guess We’ll have to load multiple instances of the plugin…
Saturators that are better than Vortex 808 Enhancer
Where to begin…. hopefully, I’m proven wrong.
Sublab: Has everything you could want and more and it’s $40 at the time of this post. It’s the GOD of 808 creation, processing, etc. I don’t see how Vortex could compete with it, check out the full feature list.
Trash 2: You can find it for $29.00 here. Cheaper than Vortex and does much more.
MSaturator: Literally has everything mentioned that Vortex lacks minus multiband processing. It’s light on the CPU, sounds good, and it’s FREE
MSaturatorMB: Same as its little brother, but includes Multiband processing and a few other options. Most of the time you can find it on sale for $60, you can get it on Melda’s site.
I’ll post a few more Saturators once Cymatics Vortex Plugin is released.
Is Cymatics Vortex Plugin Worth Getting?
Good question, not really fair to answer without actually trying the plugin (which isn’t out yet) but comparing features and flexibility vs others on the market…I wouldn’t pay for it. Especially, if SubLab and MSaturatorMB keep their price point during Cymatic’s launch.
Another factor to consider is experience. If you’re an experienced music producer, a plugin like this might not be appealing as you’ve pinned down a good workflow and go to plugins that have a home in your template. If you’re a new producer or need something better than what you have, this might be the tool to get.
Vortex looks cool, has a simple GUI and it lights up, but Cymatics would have to bring much more to the table for me to recommend it over the saturators mentioned above. I may revisit this statement based on how Vortex sounds.
Quick Update (1-21-21): Cymatics Confirms on 4000 copies of Vortex will be Free with Diablo.
They need to start showing some videos of Vortex in action
1-21-2021 Cymatics Disclose The Price Of Diablo and Vortex
I don’t know if this is worth the price. We’ve still yet to hear what this thing sounds like. I guess they want everyone to buy in on the off chance that it’s the most incredible plugin in it’s niche.
1-22-2021 SlowMagic Says Cymatics Is A Game Changer
thank you @cymaticsfm for the new plugins! these are game changers for drum and bass tracks ? @drewcymatics @StevenCymatics pic.twitter.com/RrxOHeY5lE
— Slow Magic (▲ imaginary) (@slowmagic) January 22, 2021
2-8-2021 Cymatics Vortex In Action
June 18 2021 – Crazy Sounding 808s
View this post on Instagram
We get a little tease of what’s going on. I’d like to hear some dry vs wt comparison I’ll probably dive into this over the weekend (given that they’ve now offered DEMO versions) and compare it to some other tools I like and see what’s good. Never ever purchased a plugin without trying it first.
