One of the hallmark steps of a novice producer is having stagnant and lifeless sounds. Even if the music is well written, the production will always fall flat if the sounds aren’t morphing, modulating, and being as expressive as possible. It requires an exceeding level of attention to detail to get right, but various plugins have come to market over the past few years to take a little of the heavy lifting off your plate.
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Editing MIDI, adjusting velocities, adding modulation in the synth, and more will always give you the most control over your sound. Still, if you’re looking to add that extra little bump of analog randomness to a sound or turn a flat and standard pad into something rhythmic enough to enhance the groove of your track, these plugins will make sure that the job is done.
So let’s dive in.
Morph EQ
While EQ’s primary function is to carve and shape sounds to remove unwanted frequencies, they also can modulate the sound and alter its tonality by having the different EQ nodes sweep and move around the sound in exciting ways. The only problem with that, at least when using standard EQs, is that dialing in the modulation usually has to be done across many different parameters, making the entire process incredibly annoying.
But the new Morph EQ from Minimal Audio takes all of the heavy liftings off your plate and allows you to create custom modulation paths for each node of the EQ that sweeps, ducks, bumps, and enhances different frequency bands. It’s excellent for creating wildly affected sounds and rhythmic soundscapes! What we enjoy most about this plugin is that the amount of morphing can be controlled so that you can have a sound start with little movement during the breakdown of your song and then automate the dry/wet amount of the morphing during the more intense sections of your arrangement.
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Rift
This is another plugin by Minimal Audio that is a fantastic tool for adding movement and syncopated rhythm to your music and productions. Where the Morph EQ affected different frequency bands, Rift is a multiband distortion unit allowing infinite modulation points. This allows for some intense distortion patterns that add an incredible about of life to a sound and have the potential to make the sounds jump out of the speakers.
Multiband distortion plugins seem to be reasonably rare in the music production space, and whenever we find one, we jump on the opportunity to try it out. When we tried Rift, we were blown away by the tool’s power, functionality, and sound. It’s an easy recommendation for this list and anyone simply looking for an excellent distortion plugin to add warmth, color, and bite to their sounds.
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FabFilter Timeless 3
Delay plugins are a great way to add movement and depth to a track, but few delay plugins offer enough control over their delay and patterns to warrant their inclusion on a list like this. But FabFilter’s Timeless 3 delay is anything but a standard stock delay and is more akin to a creative sound-design tool or instrument in and of itself.
The spacious delays it creates can be controlled with LFOs, envelopes, and other modulation points to create ambient and rhythmic textures and elements in your music that add a tremendous amount of groove to the sound. The best part is this movement can be as subtle or as drastic as you need it to be! When used aggressively, it can help lead elements like synths and vocals fill the space with ear-catching details, and when used more subtly, it can add a tasteful amount of movement to background elements like pads and strings. If you’re looking for a creative tool to get you to get that coveted “more from less” then this is the plugin for you.
If you want to hear a subtle use of this plugin in action, I used it to create light and rhythmic delays in my 2022 single “At Least We’re Safe” released on David Hohme’s Where The Heart Is Records.
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The Cube
Okay, so this plugin won’t directly alter and add movement to a sound like the rest of the plugins on this list will. But it is a fantastic way to blend and mangle two – or more – samples together to create a twisted and morphed result that is greater and more detailed than the sum of its parts. The Cube resembles a monstrous creative granular synth that lets you blend and shape samples with an orbiting device that modulates the movements between the two samples.
Of course, once The Cube has created this ever-moving sound, you are free to continue to add more movement to the samples and recordings from there, either in the plugin’s suite of powerful onboard effects or through any of the other effects on this list!
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SoundToys Filter Freak 2
SoundToy’s Filter Freak plugin can be a bit intimidating to look at when you first crack it open and load it up in your DAW, but just scrolling through the list of presets will start to show you the rhythmic power and modulation capabilities of this fantastic little device.
It allows you to create complex gating patterns in your sounds and can also add highly-resonant frequency patterns to create grittily, biting, and screeching patterns that sound as drastic or as subtle as you would like. Start with the presets and dial it in from there; you will not be disappointed with the results.
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Naturaliser
Adding human movement to digital sounds and MIDI sequences is one of the production processes’ most time-intensive and detail-oriented stages. Adjusting the exact MIDI values so that some notes are aggressively plucked and others and more delicate to help attenuate the groove and momentum of the track takes a ton of patience. While the result is always worth the work, there has got to be a way to have a plugin adjust some of this for you right?!
Well, that’s where the Naturaliser by Rast Sounds comes in, which allows each note in a sequence to be slightly affected differently by altering the amount of reverb, the transient, and the color of each note that runs through it. While this plugin might not single-handedly make your music come alive with human movement and authentic detail, it is a powerful way to take much of the heavy lifting off your plate, allowing you to focus on the more creative parts of music-making!
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FabFilter Saturn
FabFilter’s Saturn plugin stands out as a rare gem in multiband distortion plugins, renowned for its ability to achieve extreme modulation levels. Its enduring presence in our studio setup is a testament to its versatility, consistently revealing new and imaginative applications that enhance the dynamic movement of our tracks.
The allure of Saturn lies not only in its exceptional modulation capabilities but also in its acclaim as one of the industry’s top-tier distortion and saturation tools. Numerous producers endorse it as their go-to saturation plugin, a powerful endorsement of its effectiveness. Whether seeking to inject kinetic energy into your sounds or aiming for a dependable saturation tool to enrich your tracks with color, drive, and warmth, Saturn is an investment worth making.
As Waxman from David Hohme’s Where The Heart Is Records puts it, “Saturn-2 is a multiband saturator that lets you affect particular frequency bands with different saturation and modulation.” This level of precision and control underscores why Saturn is not just another plugin; it’s a transformative tool for music production.
Dive deeper into the possibilities with Saturn by checking out our full interview with Waxman. Discover how this plugin can elevate your sound and get inspired by the tracks that embody its distinctive influence.
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Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
