Acid Trip
Turn your bass guitar into a synthesizer.
Acid Trip is a filter and modulator designed for velocity-sensitive bass, particularly real bass guitars. Keep in mind that this was made in SynthEdit. If this turns you off, feel free to go back to using your sexy, name-brand effects in Pro Tools. This is not a smooth, sultry, vixen filter. This is a hot, nasty, slut filter. This is not a world-class butler who polishes up your softsynths because they don't sound quite analog enough. This is a drug dealer in the back alley who slips an ebony pill into your pocket.
More than a moogerfooger™ emulation.
Acid Trip started out as a simple emulation of the moogerfooger™ lowpass filter and ring modulator. When a polite letter from the president of Moog Music notified me of trademark infringement, I sent my software through a complete redesign that included a modulator with sixteen oscillators, such as vintage saw and parabola; an ADSR filter (and volume) envelope that reacts to audio instead of MIDI; an extremely versatile LFO; a built-in mixer; and a total of ten filters.
No matter how renowned the Moog filter is, I saw no reason to limit the user to one filter. So, I added nine more, including a VCF ladder filter from Marc Lindahl, the brains behind the Model E Filter that Sound On Sound hailed as "a rich, natural and above all musical sound, with a lovely controlled resonance."
SOS continues, "Model E's virtual 'ladder' filter design produces subtle distortions that, like much valve circuitry, add a warmth to the sounds passing through it; for this reason it's disappointing that other audio tracks can't be routed through it, even as a separate audio filter plug-in." Now, that plug-in is here.
Your own bass synth pedal for VST.
Of course, Acid Trip can do a lot more than sound like a Moog. With the subtle threat of a lawsuit, I decided to find inspiration from other sources as well. My trusty Akai Deep Impact bass synth pedal was a huge influence on me. For example, if you play more than one string at a time, the Akai gets a bit squelchy and crazy (a common "feature" of analog synth pedals). Acid Trip does the same thing. Such subtleties help move Acid Trip away from the frigid precision of the digital realm and closer to the attractive timbre of a hardware bass synth pedal.
Another unique achievement of this software is the modulator. Ring modulation is often thought of as a bell-like, metallic, atonal effect. However, Acid Trip abuses this effect for its needs to bring your instrument closer to the classic, squelchy bass synth sounds that made Deep Impact a world-class pedal. Plus, its uncanny response to velocity parallels that of a bass synth pedal, yielding a highly playable effect.
Unlike Deep Impact, which lets the user modify nine preset sounds, Acid Trip gives you the flexibility to open up the box and **** around inside. Of course, the Moog influence is still prevalent, and moogerfooger™-styled effects can be obtained. But if you twist the knobs a little more, you'll find the Acid Trip has its own unique sound.
IMPORTANT
The volume of your signal has to be just right to find the Acid Trip's sweet spot. Adjust the input control as desired (preferably when your signal is at its peak volume, i.e., as you strike a bass guitar string hard) until the green lights flash and you hear the thick, squelchy purr of the RockstarFX Acid Trip.
Let's **** shit up.
http://rockstarfx.com/acidtrip.htm
http://rockstarfx.com/downloads/acidtrip.zip