Due to its tremendous energy and hallucinogenic tunes, psytrance is one of the most popular genres at electronic music festivals. The most iconic sounds in this genre are throbbing bass sounds and synthetic and pulsating kick drums, which are backed by intricate harmony layers that help create the deep psychedelic mood that listeners enjoy.
For the Psytrance creation process, there are a variety of VST plugins to get the necessary sound with music production. To generate a distinct sound, most producers employ synth plugins and sound designer tools for the melodic and percussive layers, as well as effects and processors for producing unique textures and ambiances.
Polyverse Manipulator
Get the legendary Psytrance musical duo Infected Mushroom’s trademark vocal processing plugins for psytrance as a starting point. Manipulator is a vocal processor with ten unique effects and a wide range of modulations for changing the timbre and pitch of your vocals and melodic instruments to create a completely different sound. The plugin’s algorithm alters sound qualities with granular modulation and up to four polyphonic voices to produce harmonies with sound quality. To let the creative juices flow, the plugin also enables real-time processing for live performance or studio session use. Manipulator is ideal for achieving the vocal effects heard in Infected Mushroom’s hits like “I Wish.”
In Manipulator, the pitch shifter divides the controls for pitch and formants for your input signal. The “Pitch” knob, as expected, alters the sound’s pitch, whereas the “Formants” knob shifts the signal’s formants in semitones without changing the pitch. In addition, when these two knobs are shifted down, a little slider between them affects how natural the sound is. The maximum value produces a more lifelike tone, and the lowest produces a more robotic sound or alien sounds like a step sequencer.
The harmonic shifter is in the center of the interface, surrounded by three controls. The “Harmonics” knob, for starters, adjusts the harmonics by a ratio determined by the “Ratio” knob without changing the pitch. The oscillator driving the harmonic shifter is then controlled by the “FM” knob. You can morph your voices into new characters and create fascinating characteristics to shock your listeners by modifying the harmonic properties like dark energy.
The grain alternator, which divides individual cycles into overlapping grains and modifies the pitch of each cycle to generate different colorations in your sounds without changing the overall feeling of pitch, is one of the more exciting elements of the plugin. The “Alternator” knob determines the semitones for up and downward shifting, while the “Octave” knob changes the length of the grains in octaves.
Below the primary controls are four modulation slots, each of which can be assigned to one of the five modulation sources. The “Meta Knob” modulator, which allows you to change multiple parameters with just one knob, the “ADSR” modulator, which provides a normal four-stage envelope, and the “MIDI” modulator, which creates modulations using MIDI messages, are the most basic. Then there’s the “Follower” modulator, which generates an envelope follower that turns the source’s amplitude into a modulation signal, and the “Sequencer” modulator, which is a traditional LFO.
In electronic genres, vocals can make a song unique, and what better way to give them a compelling personality than using Manipulator for sound quality as a starting point. The plugin includes all of the features needed to change a dry or dull vocal into an additional synth to compliment the other instruments or a different vocalist that sounds nothing like a human. Because the plugin has timbre shifting settings, it would be nice to have a built-in spectrum analyzer to see how the harmonics manifest in the frequency range, although that can be solved with an external plugin filter types. This is the Best Psytrance Plugin in 2022.
Polyverse Gatekeeper
Gatekeeper’s grandeur is reflected in the iconic loudness envelopes and rhythmic gates found on Infected Mushroom’s productions. Gatekeeper is a volume modulator that may be used to create sequenced volume patterns, sidechain effects, adaptable gain clipping, and a variety of other dynamic processes. It comes with eight envelopes, MIDI controllers, and 30 curve shapes to use in rhythmic sequences, LFOs, and sidechains.
Gatekeeper provides one of the most enjoyable and intuitive ways of shaping the plugin’s eight envelopes. You can use the Edit Tool to add a new node in the envelope by clicking anywhere along the line segments or by double clicking on the backdrop. You may also use the Paint Tool to choose from one of the 30 preset forms that already have an array of nodes.
Modify parameters like time, amplitude, and panning of the envelopes on MIDI messages from your controller or another MIDI device using the MIDI Modulation Control Panel. You can control the modulations as you wish, however we recommend that the amplitude be tied to the velocity of your MIDI notes.
You may use Gatekeeper’s built-in stereo ping pong delay to add depth and perspective to your music via wavetable synthesizer. You can modify the amount of delayed signal with the “Wet” slider, the time between two signal repeats with the “Time” slider, and the number of repetitions with the “FB” slider by clicking the clock logo in the bottom right for sound design.
The plugin has a clipping algorithm that allows you to tame the envelope without losing its natural punch like a Flanger. This process includes two modes: the “Clip” mode, which clips the audio at 0 dB before sending it to the output, and the “Soft Clip” option, which adds a tiny curve to the clipping for a softer, more rounded noise generator sound.
Gatekeeper contains everything you need to create those head-tilting rhythmic effects on your project if you’ve been frustrated by the limits of existing plugins for handling volume modulations. The plugin features eight separate slots for envelope shaping, which you can combine to create intriguing panning effects and stacked parts. This plugin was also produced and authorized by the Psytrance pair, which is a quality stamp for some Polyverse plugins. This is the Best Goa trance Plugin in 2022.
