Unusable Engineering has released a September update expanding its plugins with new synthesis, expression, and effect modes, alongside shared editing improvements and under-the-hood optimizations across the lineup.
Curves & Membranes moves to version 1.4.0, headlined by Four Voice Mode, which turns the original monosynth into a four-voice paraphonic instrument with round-robin allocation, voice stealing, and a shared membrane filter.
Expression Mode adds per-note MPE control over pressure, pitch bend, and CC74-controlled oscillator geometry, while Velocity Slot Morphing lets note velocity set each voice’s position between oscillator slots. Voice overlays now show each playing voice’s waveform in the editor, and wave editing gains axis-locked movement, full-wave scaling and inversion, smoother morphing, and multi-step undo/redo.
Version 1.3.2 of Partials & Discrepancies brings Live View, which follows an active voice and displays its slewed geometry, partial settings, and sequencer position. X-Voice FM lets each voice modulate the next in a circular chain, sourced from the preceding oscillator or its filtered signal, and Vel->Position gives note velocity control over oscillator slot placement.
The following plugins were updated with new effect modes in version 1.3.2:
- Frequency Guillotine: Smooth Mode uses wider filter slopes, softer asymmetric drive, tape-style band saturation and gentler output limiting.
- Harmonic Dissector: Smooth Mode adds softer drive and drive-dependent high-frequency damping to the input and both filter sections.
- Tension Reactor: Bright Spring introduces a separate spring path with more upper-frequency content, smoother decay and lower CPU use.
- Cavitation Fractures: Emission names the original mode. Erosion removes narrow frequency bands, while Vacuum subtracts from signal amplitude.
- Ensemble Diffuser: Updated filtering, modulation smoothing, BBD character, phaser response and feedback behavior.
Effect slot sequencers across the lineup now share the same core editing behavior, including holding a parameter while the sequencer advances to record new values into incoming slots, plus Cmd/Ctrl-click slot preview and locking. Copy/paste and 30-step undo and redo are now available across most effects, and shift-drag adds linked editing to Frequency Guillotine and Harmonic Dissector.
The update also brings CPU, memory, WebView, and real-time state-management improvements, with visual processing stopping more consistently when an editor is closed and audio buffers pre-allocated in more places. Basic user guides and changelogs are now published on every plugin page.
Available for Windows and macOS (VST3/AU), customers can purchase the individual effect plugins for €29 EUR each, Curves & Membranes is €59 EUR, and Partials & Discrepancies is €79 EUR. Binaural Modulator and Cavitation Fractures remain free.
More information: Unusable Engineering
