illformed Glitch 2 VST Effect Review
The Glitch 2 VST is well known and loved glitch effect plugin in the industry that has been used for quite a while now. The strong suit of the Glitch 2 is how it works as an effect, unlike most effect VSTs, Glitch 2 works somewhat like a sequencer, allowing you to put a sequence of different effects in a pattern, which you can adjust, by selecting the number of bars and divisions.
We will take in my video review a look at an amazing Glitch VST – the Glitch 2 by Illformed.
Glitch 2 Features
Sequencer
- Each program consists of 128 scenes that can be triggered via MIDI notes. Each scene has its own unique sequencer pattern, timing, and effect settings, allowing you to create tons of unique variations for every moment in your song, all ready to go at the press of a key!
- Multi-lane sequencer allows many effects to be played simultaneously, to create interesting layered sounds.
- Improved sequencer timing controls to better match your groove and song structure.
- Intuitive pattern editor with drag’n’drop. Draw, erase, resize, split and join blocks with ease.
Effects
- A collection of cheeky little effect modules designed to slice, dice, chop, screw, twist, turn and mangle your sounds into radical new forms.
- Tempo-synced effects can easily be dialled in to precise musical timings such as 16th notes, 8th note triplets, and so on.
- Filter, mix, pan and volume controls on each module, to help shape and fine-tune the output.
Randomize, Mutate, Glitch!
- Randomize and Mutate functions can be found at almost every level. Mutate a single effect to get slightly different parameter variations, or instantly Randomize everything in the entire scene to create unexpected, chaotic and inspiring results!
The sequencer includes quite a bit of versatility when it comes to the effects. The list includes: a randomizer, modulator, tape stop, retrigger, reverser, stretcher, lofi, distortion, gater, delay and a shuffler. What’s more, is that you can really dial these individually to create the exact effect you want. For example, if you choose the gater effect, you can adjust what kind of a gater it is – free, even, triplet or dotted. And while some cheap glitch plugins would stop there, it’s where Illformed glitch 2 is just getting started.
Moving on, you get a step time knob, smoothing knob, volume bars that can be controlled per step basis, filter with adjustable frequency and eq and a mixer, which allows you to control the pan, volume and mix of the effect. And the glitch 2 plugin is not even stopping here. Because it works as a sequencer, you can turn on these effects individually, all at once or create complex effect chains that really shape your sound. Personally, I have found a great use for this plugin in some more modern electronic music-making, utilising the glitch sequencer to create some great melodies that made the entire project sound dynamic.
Now, more about the sequencer – every single program contains 128 scenes that are triggerable by MIDI notes. Every instance of the scene has a unique pattern and effect settings, as mentioned previously, the sequencer is multi-lane, which means you can trigger multiple effects at once and the graphical interface makes it quite intuitive and easy to use the sequencer to achieve what you want or just to play around and see what happens.
The effects are designed for you to chop, dice, slice, twist, turn and screw any sound in radical and creative ways. Also, the previously mentioned Random effect does not just play a random effect when it gets triggered but rather changes the parameters of the effects being triggered adding an extra layer of chaos and fun.
The Glitch2 VST has gotten many patches making it the best plugin it can be, increasing compatibility so everyone can enjoy the glitchy madness of this plugin. The original plugin became infamous but was locked to one system, but with the Glitch 2, it is compatible both with Windows and Mac, so none are missing out.
The graphical interface is slick and clean, it is easy to navigate and fun to use, everything is visible and clear and the different effects have their own colour making it a vibrant experience placing the different effects in the patterns you choose.
And you know you can trust the product to be the best glitch effect out there as this is the only plugin Illformed offers and compared to dblue glitch, it is easy to see why. It slick, simple, effective and pleasent to work with.
The Glitch 2 comes at the price of 50 euros, making it quite affordable and in the same price range as most of the Tritik plugins, which might be seen as way more limiting than this offering from Illformed.
But – if you don’t feel like cashing out over 60 dollars to have the best glitch plugin out just right off the bat, you can always try their demo, which is heavily suggested as if you go onto their website, the free demo download button will be the biggest button above the actual buy button.
The demo version will not save any data and will periodically produce some background noise so you have a good incentive to get the full version.
macOS 10.15 Catalina is not yet fully supported.
Here is a temporary workaround that may work: rogueamoeba.com
Please test the demo version first to check for compatibility with your system!
