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We are excited and honored to announce our third official artist preset pack with the release of TRIAGE 50 Brutal Distortions for TRIAD. These were created by DATABROTH, who has been a long-time member of the Unfiltered Underground, and has made presets for many of our products, most notably Battalion. His "Mystereon" preset is probably my personal favorite from the entire original batch.
When he explained the concept for this pack TRIAGE, we knew it would be something special, as he wanted to treat each preset as its own effect pedal, complete with well-crafted macro controls and tuned sweet spots. The results speak for themselves sonically, but you only understand the full achievement until you install them and start moving the macro knobs themselves to hear the ranges and quality of control. These are mini instruments and full on effects-within-effects. Both Mike and I are obsessed with one in particular, where an envelope follower is used to control stutters. It's the "CORRUPTED" preset if you're curious.
I told him that we were excited not just to feature and collaborate with another sound designer, but also to breathe new life into an old product. I think TRIAD deserves it. In some ways it still represents the (current) high-water mark of our modulation system, made famous in what we refer to as the "BYOME era," which appropriately has three members: BYOME, the first, LION, the synth, where the modulation system became fully polyphonic, and TRIAD, the 3-band splitter. The band-splitting code was copied over from our YOKO Rack Extension for anyone that has been following us for that long, just to give you a picture of how we like to recycle and revisit ideas/algorithms.
That's a long way of saying, it was great to see and hear how DATABROTH approached TRIAD many years after its initial launch, and with a fresh start. Multiband distortion is one of those sound tricks that's almost a cheat code in how captivating it sounds. I could listen to it endlessly, and do plan to spend many more evenings with this pack put on different material. There are 50, FIFTY, of them to explore!
Lastly, I'll just mention that it's been inspiring spending many years observing DATABROTH's devotion to plugins, UX/UI, sound design, and all things related to the modern art of crafting noise. If I want to discuss some esoteric detail of one of our upcoming products, I'll reach out to him right after Mike, as he'll have an encyclopedic knowledge of related ideas, and hilariously strong opinions about how things should or could be done. While I don't always agree, I do always appreciate the sincerity and passion with which he approaches musical tools. I think he's one of the best sound designers and plugin reviewers/performers working in the space.
Actually, as I write that, I realize it almost forms its own category: "Plugin Performer." There are plenty of people who use plugins, but not many that "perform" plugins, as he frequently does via livestream. We often think of the plugins we create as being as much instruments as they are tools, so it's nice to see that exemplified.
Anyway, check out the video for examples and how the pack instantly transforms and enhances (pleasantly destroys?) drums and other material. As he says in the description: "if you’re looking for subtlety, look elsewhere" which is why he's part of the crew.
- Josh
