United Plugins has just released a new distortion effect plugin from JMG, and Aphelion’s Orbit takes it for a spin. Read on to see what he thinks about it!
What is it?
Distortion, tone-shaper, sound sculpting plugin.
Who is it for?
Everyone. This plugin works for sound design, or adding distortion, color to a single track or song.
First impressions
I am usually skeptical of advertised plugins that have a one plugin fits all approach on their website. Nevertheless, JMG Cyberdrive can at least make it a discussion, as you size up Cyberdrive against other effects plugins in your setup.
The first thing you notice about this plugin is its gorgeous GUI that looks amazing at any scale. The layout of the plugin and the different modules all make sense in the layout. I was able to quickly shape and get a mix that sounds good. I even dropped this plugin on the master without any tweaking and got a good result with no tweaking.
Cyberdrive will go as hard or minimal as you need it to be for your design. The 3 distortion modules are easy enough to edit along with a 4th module named feedback. All these core sections have the clip functionality.
Additionally, sculpting can be done with further controls on dynamics, tone, profile, and space. I found the dynamics section to be good, especially the compression. If you have a sound that you’re still not sure about, or doesn’t fit into a mix, try editing even further by realigning dynamics, tone, profile, space, and feedback in any order you desire in the signal chain.
Cyberdrive comes with a nice set of presets. Although, I didn’t need them because the dice randomization feature is next level. It allows you to randomize all the controls or subsets. For example, you have a good sound, but you want a different feedback setting, randomize just the feedback.
Pros:
- Signal Flow
- Clip
- GPU Acceleration
- Dice Randomization
- Screen Capture
Cons:
- None. Does what it’s supposed to do by adding distortion, color and grit to sound.
Final Thoughts
Cyberdrive is nice. I went into this review thinking, not another distortion plugin. Although, I was surprised that it was a lot of fun to use, sounds good, looks great, and tweakable. There really are no rules about what you can achieve with this plugin.
Don’t get it twisted, at the heart of this beast is hardcore aggression. Yet, it can be subtle and warm when needed. I was oddly surprised how analog some of the filters are.
Does it replace my RC-20, Rift 2.0, or ShaperBox? Probably not but it sure has a place right beside them.
United Plugins is offering Cyberdrive at an introductory price until September 30th, 2024 (regular 79 USD/EUR). This offer is available at the United Plugins store and from distributor Plugin Boutique.
