1. The plugin is known as ReaFIR VST plugin. Graphical Noise Reducers Far more popular in music and restoration are plugins in our second category: Graphical noise-reducers such iZotope RX2, Wave Arts’ MR Noise, the Sonnox Oxford DeNoiser, and Z-Noise by Waves that rely on “noise profiles.”.
2. MXR Flanger/Doubler by Universal Audio is a Virtual Effect Audio Plugin for macOS and Windows. It functions as a VST Plugin, an Audio Units Plugin, an RTAS Plugin and an AAX Plugin.

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Modulation audio effects are an important part of your mixing toolkit.

They’re the special way to add movement and groove to sounds that need a little something extra.

H-Delay is one of my go-to VSTs when I just want something quick and not overly.

The main types of modulation are Tremolo, Ring Mod, Chorus, Phaser and Flanger.

Despite the different types, all modulation effects have something in common…

They all achieve their effect by modulating an aspect of the signal with an LFO (low frequency oscillator). The style of modulation is different depending on whether the LFO is manipulating the pitch, timing or volume of the signal.

Modulation LFOs work similarly to how LFOs are used in synthesis.

In this article I’ll go through all the common types of modulation, how they work and the best modulation plugins for each.

Tremolo

Tremolo is an amplitude modulation effect. Amplitude modulation plugins vary the volume of your signal.

It’s the easiest type of modulation to understand because you can easily hear the effect of the LFO settings on your sound.

A softer, rounded sine wave shape will create a gentle bobbing tremolo, while a steep square wave will create a machine gun stutter.

A softer, rounded sine wave shape will create a gentle bobbing tremolo, while a steep square wave will create a machine gun stutter.

Tremolo is commonly found on vintage guitar amps, so it’s associated with early guitar genres like surf and country.

But it can be a very interesting effect on all kinds of sources. Try using tremolo to create rhythmic action on sustained sources like synth pads or drones.

Best Tremolo VSTs

Free Plugin: Adam Monroe Tremolo

Adam Monroe’s Tremolo is an effective and easy-to-use vintage style tremolo.

Cheap Plugin: Goodhertz Trem Control

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Goodhertz Trem Control is a great sounding, feature-rich tremolo that can go from subtle vintage vibe to experimental chop in an instant.

Pro Plugin: Soundtoys Tremolator

Soundtoys Tremolator is a fantastic creative tool for designing any kind of tremolo. Tremolator emulates some of the most classic hardware tremolo effects all in one powerful plugin.

Ring Mod

Ring Mod is basically an extreme application of tremolo. It uses the same amplitude modulation principle.

Ring Mod is basically an extreme application of tremolo. It uses the same amplitude modulation principle.

LFO frequencies used for tremolo are far below the range we can perceive as a distinct tone.

As you increase the LFO frequency into the audible range, additional tones called sidebands begin to develop in the signal.

The sidebands can be quite dissonant since they’re not evenly related to each other or the original sound.

This can result in some bizarre robotic effects and strange textures. Ring Mod is probably best known for creating the voices of the Daleks on Doctor Who.

Ring Mod is used significantly less than other types of modulation, so I’ll keep it simple for examples.

Best Ring Mod VSTs

Free Plugin: Melda MRingModulator

Cheap Plugin: Melda MRingModulatorMB

Melda MRingModulator and MRingModulatorMB are two great takes on ring mod from a quality plugin designer.

The basic version covers all of your traditional ring mod needs, while the MB edition includes sophisticated multiband processing.

Chorus

Chorus is another form of simple modulation. Chorus plugins make a copy of the signal and vary its pitch up and down.

Blending the dry and modulated signals gives a shimmery, detuned tone that can add depth and dimension to a sound.

If modulating a sound’s pitch with an LFO is ringing a bell, you’re on the right track. By using 100% of the modulated signal instead of blending it with the dry, you’ll get a vibrato effect, Rm1x vst plugin.

Varying the characteristics of the LFO results in changes to the sound. Increasing the frequency of the LFO makes the rate faster while increasing the amplitude makes the depth more intense.

The first chorus effects created their modulated signals using analog bucket brigade device chips (BBDs).

These chips couldn’t copy the input signal perfectly, but the warm tone and fluid modulation they provided became a classic sound.

Best Chorus VSTs

Free Plugin: TAL-Chorus-LX

TAL-Chorus-LX is an accurate reproduction of the unique chorus found on the classic Roland Juno 60 synth.

Cheap Plugin: D16 Syntorus

D16 Syntorus is a versatile dual analog-style chorus. It offers complete control over each delay line for extremely precise chorus tones.

Pro Plugin: UAD Brigade Chorus

The UAD Brigade Chorus is an incredibly accurate emulation of the classic Boss CE-1 pedal. One of the first chorus effects on the market, the CE-1 is the pedal that started it all.

Phaser

A phaser is an effect that manipulates the phase of the signal with an LFO.

Imagine a sine wave on a graph. The phase is the starting position of the waveform along the x-axis expressed as an angle.

The phaser effect is created by splitting the signal and sending it through a series of “all-pass” filters that alter the phase.

The phaser effect is created by splitting the signal and sending it through a series of “all-pass” filters that alter the phase.

When the dry and phase-shifted signals are combined, any frequencies that are inverted 180 degrees cancel out, resulting in the characteristic notches.

As the LFO sweeps, notches will appear at different frequencies. Each all-pass “stage” introduces more notches into the sound.

This creates the churning frequency shifting character of phaser effects.

Best Phaser VSTs

Free Plugin: Blue Cat Phaser

Blue Cat Phaser is a free high quality phaser plugin that’s capable and versatile considering it’s free…

Cheap Plugin: D16 Fazortan2

D16 Fazortan is another entry into the series of highly flexible modulation effects from D16. This phaser has two LFOs available for more tweakability.

This phaser has two LFOs available for more tweakability.

Pro Plugin: Soundtoys PhaseMistress

Soundtoys PhaseMistress is one of the best sounding and most in-depth phaser plugins available. If you can’t get your perfect phase with this super-flexible plugin, it probably doesn’t exist.

Flanger

Flanger is the original modulation effect. It’s the recognizable “jet engine taking off” sound.

The first flanging was created with two tape machines playing identical tracks at the same time.

Applying pressure to the edge of the reel (or “flange”) of one machine would cause it to slow down and play back out of sync.

Flanger is the original modulation effect. It’s the recognizable “jet engine taking off” sound.

Summing the two signals together created the distinctive comb filtering sound that started to appear on recordings in the psychedelic 60’s.

LFOs are used to modulate the delay time in place of manually slowing down the tape in today’s flangers.

Flangers sometimes also include a “feedback” or “regen” control to mix some of the affected signal back to to the input to intensify the effect even more.

They’re great for thickening and stereo widening as well as that classic jet plane sound.

Best Flanger VSTs

Free Plugin: Blue Cat Flanger

Blue Cat Flanger is another great free option from a respected plugin maker.

Cheap Plugin: Toneboosters Reel Bus 4

Toneboosters Reel Bus 4 is an incredible bargain for such a full-featured plugin. In addition to great tape saturation emulation, it features a fantastic sounding tape flanger

Pro Plugin: Softube Fix Flanger and Doubler

Softube Fix Flanger and Doubler was designed in collaboration with Paul Wolff, who engineered the original hardware BBD flanger in the 70s. The resulting plugin is a drool-worthy high-end flanger.

All Mod Cons

Modulation effects can be some of the most fun processing you apply in your mix.

Any of these modulation types can add movement, interest and dimension to your tracks.

To recap…

The 15 Best Modulation VSTs

Now that you know some of the best plugins for every modulation style, Start adding LFO action to your tracks.

Using Ableton Live we'll show you how to achieve unique, analogue sounding synth parts with guitar effects pedals.

Musicians have always pursued new sounds and ways to alter their tone. In the past century, amplification and pedals have come into play, creating a whole new palette of timbres, tones, attitudes, fuzz, warbles, echoes, snarls and sweetness for guitarists to obsess over in creating their own distinctive sounds.

We can adapt these effects pedals and techniques to create analog sounding synth parts that won’t sound like anyone else. I’ll take you step by step through choosing your pedals, hooking everything up, and integrating them within your DAW of choice.

So, let’s get down to it!

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What you’ll need:

• Sound card: First and foremost, you’ll need a a sound card with 1 input and 1 output. We’re going to use the Komplete Audio 6 from Native Instruments, but any good modern card with low latency will work. Effects pedals are mono since they are designed for use with guitars. Don’t see this as a limitation though; you can always add spacial effects like reverb or panning inside your DAW.
• DAW: I’m using Ableton Live 10, but any version of Live 8 or higher will work. The reason I’ve chosen Live for the tutorial is that I’m going to use the “External Audio Effect” bundled plug-in. Logic 9 and higher comes with something similar called “I/O Plug-in.” If you’re a Pro Tools, FL Studio, Bitwig or Studio One fan, share some of your tips in the comments.
• Effects pedals: The fun part! The thing to remember here is that there are no right or wrong pedals. While guitarist have now reached a point of sophistication akin to wine tasting when it comes to tone, at the core it’s still all about experimentation, creativity, trying things out and breaking rules. However, I recommend using one pedal that has tone or EQ controls. This can be handy as some pedals boost the bass or darken the sound, especially analog delays and other non-linear effects such as drive and distortion pedals. Having control of the tone in the effects chain allows you to adjust for these changes. In this example the SansAmp Para Driver takes on this role. While there is some analog magic in the interplay between all the effects pedals outside the box, its is useful to have some tonal control in the middle of all this, but don’t stress if you don’t have a pedal with tone controls at hand. You can fix always use software EQ once you’re back inside your DAW.
• Cables: You’ll need a minimum of 2 for a single pedal, and then one extra for every other effect you want to daisy chain. Don’t splash out on expensive cables – simple guitar cables are totally fine. With the API Tranzformer, I used a high quality balanced cable into the balanced input of the NI Komplete 6, but this was more out of respect for the engineers at API than any perceived fidelity difference!

Step 1: Choose your Effects Pedals

In this tutorial I’m using the API Tranzformer GT, SansAmp Para Driver, and MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay. Shout out to the guys at Perfect Circuit in Los Angeles for their in-store help. There is still a wealth of expert knowledge out there that’s not a simple Google search away and your local shop can be a great resource.

Tranzformer GT by API: This is a fairly new pedal from API, the makers of highly regarded compressors and EQs. This pedal gives you the sought after API sound for a fraction of the price in an easy to use stomp box. For that alone, it’s worth considering. I used this pedal last in the chain. The compressor keeps everything under control while adding a subtle pumping effect as it works its magic, with the fixed band EQ spicing whatever comes in with that high end API “air.” Check out the recent review from Sound on Sound here. One thing to note is that there are two versions of the Tranzformer: GT and LX. I recommend the GT as the fixed EQ band at 2Khz is a shelving rather than a notch on the LX bass optimized version.

SansAmp Para Driver by Tech 21: The Para Driver is a swiss army knife of a pedal. It gives you a three band EQ, dry/wet control, level boost and drive. I used this right before the Tranzformer. The drive is not too aggressive, adding fuzz style harmonics without overly degrading the sound into heavy metal territory. When combined with the integrated EQ, you’ve got a lot of control over the sound. Circle² creates a wide variety of tones from one preset to another, so this feature definitely comes in handy. Having a pedal with three band EQ built-in is useful to tune up the effects chain as you experiment with different presets and sound design techniques.

Carbon Copy Analog Delay by MXR: The Carbon Copy is an analog delay that uses a bucket brigade delay line. You get three controls: dry/wet, time and feedback. Personally, I love bucket brigade delays. Due to the nature of the circuitry, the delay sound is compressed and low-pass filtered. Adjusting the delay time will pitch up or down the delayed sound, creating a dubby tape-like effect. Another analog delay to check out is the Memory Man by Electro-Harmonix. Thankfully, in the past years these pedals are reducing in price and becoming more accessible as the bucket-brigade chips needed to make them are back in production due to renewed demand.

Step 2: Hook everything up

So now that we have our effects pedals and equipment down, we’ll hook everything up. I’ve put a diagram together below with the inputs and outputs numbered for easy setup.

• Take the output of the sound card (I’m using out 4 of the Komplete Audio 6) and run through the input of the MXR Carbon Copy.
• Take the output of MXR Carbon Copy and run it through the input of the SansAmp Para Driver.
• Connect the output of the SansAmp Para Driver and connect to the unbalanced input of the API Tranzformer.
• Using a balanced cable run the output of the API Tranzformer to the input of the sound card. (I’m using Input 1 on the Komplete Audio 6)

The main thing to remember here is that you want to create a loop from the output of the sound card, through the pedals, and back into the sound card again. There is no limit to the number of pedals you can have in a chain, and feel free to mix and match the order to see what works for you.

Once everything is hooked up and turned on, you’re ready to get started in Ableton Live!

Step 3: Setup your Effects Pedals in Live

Launch Live and put an instance of Circle² on a midi track. On this new track use the drop down menu to set “Audio To” to “Sends Only” and set the amount on “Sends A” to full. This means that whatever is played on Circle² goes only to “Send A” and not to the usual default setting of “Master.”

Next, in the left hand side browser of Live find the bundled “External Audio Effect” under “Audio Effects.” Grab an instance and drop it on the “A Return” channel. You’ll see the name of “A Return” will change to “A Ext. Audio Effect”. Now click on channel “A Ext. Audio Effect” and jump down to the plug-in itself on the bottom panel. What we want to do is send audio to Channel 4 of the NI Komplete sound card, through our connected pedal chain, then back in Input 1 of the NI Komplete card.

Once you’ve setup the routing to and from the pedals, you can start to experiment with the other settings, which I’ve annotated in the image above. Both the “Phase” and “Hardware Latency,” while conceptually easy to understand after reading Live’s manual, are generally best dealt with in a trial and error fashion. What I found works best is to make sure you’re using the lowest buffer size possible in Live’s main audio card settings and then play around with these two controls and listen to how the settings interplay while you adjust the dry/wet control and experiment with different presets.

Step 4: Experiment

Now you’re ready to start experimenting with your pedals and jamming around. I’ve put together a short video below of our experimentation session. I used Circle² to build a very simple sound using 3 sine waves, 1 triangle, and 4 oscillators each tuned at 8 semi-tone intervals. These simple tones allow the drive of the SansAmp to add clearly audible harmonics to demonstrate exactly what it’s doing. Feel free to go crazy though – there is no right or wrong way – just trust what you like.

If you have any questions or tips on how do this tutorial in another DAW, leave a comment below!