JMG Sound Orbitron €129/£110

Providing an original method of effecting your sonics, Orbitron’s fresh concept conjures living, breathing modulation. Is it a hit?

Re-thinking staid ways of working can lead us down unusual creative routes. The usual approach to shaping our softsynth sounds with modulation effects, say, involves stacking or chaining said effects, with occasional automation bringing in certain modulations at key points. While an established approach, JMG and United Plugins’ Orbitron plays with an entirely other dimension: sounds – and modulation effects – quite literally, orbit each other. Your audio track is visualised at the centre of the plugin’s UI, as a small white dot within a larger X/Y circle. This white dot moves in a circular motion between four different modulators, each of which can be assigned to 12 different in-built FX types. The result is a strikingly organic sound that can repeatedly transition between shimmering chorus, ear teasing phaser, frequency-chewing chaos or space-age resonators. Even the most mundane of tones can become something new entirely.

Say you want a revolution?

Though at its heart Orbitron is an effects plugin, it’s the novel ‘orbiting’ concept that is really taking our dry tones to a new level. While other effects plugins typically allow for simple routing of modules, Orbitron’s always-moving conceit means that the end result is never settled, blending numerous effects to craft hybrid sonics we’d never normally stumble upon.