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[supernova777]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/aug04/articles/pluginfolder.htm
Audio Damage Mayhem
Formats: PC, Mac OS 9 & OS X VST

i swear i posted this before but again, search reveals nothing

Audio Damage are a relatively new face in the competitive plug-in market, and Mayhem is their first commercial release. It actually consists of five VST plug-ins: Filterpod, stereo and mono Crush, Master Destrukto and TimeFnk.

Filterpod is a based around a low-pass filter that contains an internal LFO and adjustable distortion stage. Looking suitably organic in a fetching grey colour, Filterpod is based around just six controls that adjust the cutoff frequency/width, resonance and mix of the filter, plus the depth and rate of the LFO and amount of distortion. Simple to use, Filterpod adds plenty of bite to just about anything you put through it, and with the aggressive curve of the resonance and distortion turned up to full, you can get pretty brutal with any overly polite synth sounds.
plug screens

Crush is a pair of compressors, one for mono signals and one for stereo. Describing the results as 'unapologetically in your face', Audio Damage have decided not to hide any odd artifacts and compression side-effects but instead to 'embrace them'. Alongside the usual Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release and Make-up (gain) controls is the aptly named Grunt, for adding even more fatness and warmth to the compression. Metering is done via two rows of orange lights, one pair for gain reduction, the other for output level. I'm not so keen on the deliberate 'low-tech' style of Crush's interface, but once again it's easy on the eye and simple to get to grips with. Compression always comes down to personal taste and whilst Crush is hardly subtle, it does add a heavy and robust flavour to drum loops that I found really appealing.

The next plug-in in the collection goes by the very B-movie-villain moniker of Master Destrukto. Perhaps not unexpectedly, this is a distortion unit, based around four different sections: Clipper, Sine Warp, Overdrive and Sample Destroy. Each section employs a different distortion algorithm, and they can be used independently or all together. The Overdrive section is based on a model of an (un-named) vintage guitar pedal, whilst Sample Destroy uses two controls to reduce the bit depth and sample rate of the incoming signal. Master Destrukto is a bit of a beast, which under tight control can go from adding just a touch of crispness — perfect for taking off those smooth digital edges — to full-blown audio destruction of whatever you feed it. The ability to mix and match the four distortion types makes for a powerful tool that is also great fun, but use with caution or all you'll be left with is a few clicks and glitches.

Last but not least is TimeFnk, a rhythmic delay plug-in that features an adjustable resonant filter and yet more sample-rate reduction for that vintage flavour. An LFO is tempo-sync'ed to the filter, and can be used to control both the cutoff frequency and panning, which leads to some interesting effects. In keeping with its vintage aspirations, TimeFnk uses three attractive VU meters for displaying the dry/delayed signal and pan position, and also packs plenty of character, whether doubling up a sound for extra fatness or descending into filter-sync'ed chaos.

Taken as a whole, Mayhem offers a nice array of plug-ins dedicated to messing up your nice clean sounds in a truly creative fashion. All the user interfaces are clear and easy to understand, and the sound quality is excellent. Packed with attitude, the majority of effects are far from subtle, but for some heavyweight audio destruction or sound-shaping that is powerful, yet has bags of 'turn it and see' usability, Mayhem is just the job.

If you need some more distortion to whet your appetite, you could also take a look at Audio Damage's freeware Fuzz+, which is based on a model of an actual vintage guitar pedal (again no names). Styled like a classic stompbox, it has just two controls, Fuzz and Output (plus a bypass 'stomp' switch) and is simplicity itself to use. Fuzz+ also employs the same custom distortion algorithm as several of the above Mayhem plug-ins, giving a taste of its more destructive bigger brother. Fuzz+ is free to download from the Audio Damage web site. Oli Bell