By separating frequency spectrum emphasis from phase modulation, the “hybrid vibrato” Duality can create unique, clean, stereo-spinning pitch modulation. It’s one of Sinevibes’ most nuanced — but also most compelling — effects.
I’ve been working with prerelease builds up to the final build — including watching the UI take shape!
It’s really not so necessary to understand technically what’s going on here. Actually, even if you do, the sense of what you’re hearing and the dancing waves that visualize the effect are just as illustrative of its function. But imagine multiple DSP blocks combined into a single hybrid effect. There are not feedback or delay lines — this is not a phaser. That means you get zero output latency (so this pairs well with live instruments, even on a laptop), and you keep the output fairly clean.
As usual, Artemiy at Sinevibes has built click-free lag filters and other details. You set a modulation frequency in Hz or a synchronized division of the host tempo, control the emphasis of the spectrum notches, the depth of the effect, stereo field, and mix. It’s all intuitive by design; that simplicity lends itself to happy accidents and intentional knob-turning alike.
If you are curious, there’s this eloquent description — the nice thing about the engineer also being the designer also being the copywriter:
While it’s somewhat similar in nature to a phase shifter, in this effect, the notches in the frequency spectrum and the phase modulation are created separately – using multiple different DSP algorithm blocks. With this unique setup, Duality makes it possible to control the spectrum notch emphasis independently from vibrato, and is capable of producing cleaner and deeper pitch modulation – akin to a rotating speaker.
Sinevibes has some more conventional applications for electric guitar, electric piano, and — since this is Leslie-like — a tonewheel organ. But let me give you something more left-field, as the nice thing about this is what it can do on synthesized lines, too. Here, I work with custom patches in AAS Multiphonics CV-3 and Minimal Audio Current, plus the Manifest Audio Polyfold sequencer for Ableton Live.
And just for the heck of it, I decided to get a bit strange with a bunch of Sinevibes stuff. Sure, you probably wouldn’t post this as the product demo, but let’s just Sinevibe out anyway.
This time, there’s also Excite Audio Evolve Alloy in the mix, too, plus Multiphonics CV-3 again.
Duality is available now for macOS AU/VST3/AAX, Windows VST3/AAX, and Linux VST3 (Intel/AMD — hey, I want my ARM!).
Duality hybrid vibrato – AU/VST3/AAX
Previously: