Caelum Audio Choric: £49.99 PC MAC

Think you're well-stocked with chorus effects? Think again. Choric could provide you with a whole new galaxy of creative potential

For whatever reason, chorus tends to find itself on the less 'cool' end of the effects hierarchy. While many clamour over flavoursome delays, spacious reverbs and snarling distortions, chorus tends to generally get lumped in with those that are relied on to generate '80s-leaning sheen.

However, chorus offers a great deal more than just a helping of shimmering cheese, and can be used to add thickness to synths, leads, basses, drums and vocals. It's an underappreciated way of bringing out more character. Deeper interrogation of just how these processes are working can open up even further sound-morphing possibilities. It's this type of wide-ranging modulation that Choric, the latest plugin from Caelum Audio, spotlights.

Chorus carving

While Choric can deliver fat chorus textures, from two to 32 voices, some major vibe-affecting scope can be achieved by meddling with the plugin's modulators, filters and pitch-shifting abilities. Its Filter controls take the incoming signal and allow you to apply a low, high and band-pass filter to it prior to modulation. Cutoff and resonance dials are on-hand too. Next, the signal flows into the Pitch Shift section, wherein it can be bumped up (or down) by 12 semitones. Thankfully, a helpful Preserve Formants control keeps the original formants of the signal intact as you scale those cents. It's a nice touch, and prevents things from getting too unrealistic as the sound moves further away from its starting point.