Cableguys has announced the release of CrushShaper, a new multi-band rhythmic bitcrusher that brings a vintage lo-fi touch to your sounds.

CrushShaper is powered by Cableguys’ easy drawable LFOs and flexible envelope followers, allowing you to create unique digital distortion patterns, per-note multiband crushing, and crunchy downsampled grooves in just a few clicks.

Cableguys CrushShaper

CrushShaper puts 3 distinct bitcrushing styles at your full control: ‘Crunch’ for fuzz, grind and grit. ‘Bits’ to reduce audio resolution, going 8-bit and beyond. ‘Resample’ for digital overtones and lo-fi retro sound. Animate each with its own custom LFO and envelope follower, then filter and layer with the dry signal using the handy ‘FX Mix’ section.

For creative production and sound design, use CrushShaper to craft crunchy lo-fi melodies and retro videogame FX. Create ‘talking’ robot synths, gnarly speaker-rattling bass growls and old-school downsampled drums. Transform even the plainest loops into inspirational track-starting rhythms to fuel your next track!

For mixing, deploy CrushShaper as a laser-targeted multiband tool: crush individual hits and frequency ranges in a loop, add treble sizzle and shine to vocals and hi-hats, rough up the lows in a bass, dynamically distort drum transients, and so much more.

CrushShaper features

  • Combine 3 distinct bitcrushing styles: ‘Crunch’ for fuzz, grind and grit. ‘Bits’ to reduce audio resolution, going 8-bit and beyond. ‘Resample’ for digital overtones and lo-fi retro sound. Animate each with its own custom LFO and envelope follower, then filter and layer with the dry signal using the handy ‘FX Mix’ section, which is itself modulatable.
  • From smoothly gliding sample rate reduction to intense stepped distortion patterns, any pattern or wave shape you can imagine is just clicks away with Cableguys’ famous wave-editing tools. Lock your LFOs to host tempo with sample accuracy, or trigger in any rhythm with MIDI notes.
  • Designing the perfect bitcrushing LFO is fast and simple with three powerful, easy-to-grasp Pens. Draw crisp lines, smooth arcs and flowing S-curves. Easily pick out single hits in a loop, and rapidly sketch wild rhythmic sequences. Switch back to classic single-node editing anytime.
  • Discover dynamic bitcrushing that reacts to your beats, loops, melodies – anything. Use CrushShaper’s flexible envelope followers to reduce the sample rate with the transient of each note. Lower the bit-depth as synths grow louder. Trigger from other tracks in your project using sidechain routing.
  • With up to three bands of highly targeted bitcrushing, CrushShaper becomes an incredible mix tool and an even crazier creative playground. Add sizzling top-end air for ultra-modern sounds that leap from the mix. Rhythmise midrange with percolating bit patterns. Grind the bass with gnarly resampling.
  • Get inspired with dozens of LFO wave presets, and share patches with others via the syncable Cableguys Preset Cloud. Up your workflow with 1-click Quick Presets for production essentials like snare enhancement, rhythmic stutters, and more. Just add the plugin, click and create.
  • CrushShaper runs in Cableguys’ ShaperBox 2 effects plugin. Use it on its own, or combine it with Time, Filter, Volume, Pan and Width Shapers for multilayered effects.

CrushShaper is available for purchase for 39 EUR / $44 USD from Cableguys and distributor Plugin Boutique. It is free for existing ShaperBox 2 Bundle owners.

The new plugin is also included in ShaperBox 2 Bundle alongside 5 other Shapers, priced at 89 EUR / $99 USD (55% off individual prices).