Freakshow Dumpster Fire is better than Drip

[Starship Krupa]

Maybe by now you've seen the YouTube ad for Drip, which is a plug-in effect that from what I could discern, you're supposed to indiscriminately throw on all audio sources in order to make them sound perfect just by clicking on one of the obtusely named buttons. The results sound easily accomplished with various combinations of delay, EQ, and phasing.

I mention this because I think it's in sharp contrast to something I tried out this evening. I decided to give some plug-ins a try whose "demo" videos I'd watched, videos that contained no identifiable audio demonstrating them, just a lot of images from old educational films and cheap graphics, kinda reminded me of stuff I'd go see at underground video festivals in the 80's. Kinda put me off a bit at first, not that I mind that aesthetic at all, but if you want me to buy an audio effect, I want to have some idea of what it does before I throw down my money.

Curiosity finally got the better of me and I went to their site and discovered that their stuff is available with a 2 week timed demo, so I wouldn't have to pay upfront to find out how they actually sounded. I first tried the one that seemed the most obscure (and therefore intriguing), called Dumpster Fire. It fulfills a similar "need" to Drip, you put it on a track after you've run out of inspiration. In the case of Dumpster Fire, though, I think the idea is that you want to destroy whatever track(s) you've been working on. There's no way to describe exactly what it does, but if you like Glitchmachines' stuff (to say I "like" their stuff would be a sad understatement) or Unfiltered Audio's Sandman, Fault, SpecOps, and BYOME, you'll find yourself in friendly, familiar, yet unsettling territory.

GM and UA's stuff is incredibly versatile, has zillions of knobs and virtual patch cables, lets you ruin audio in just about any way you want. As much as I love their stuff, I find myself using the randomizers a lot at this point because, well, to be honest, I may never fully understand all the controls. Dumpster Fire, on the other hand has 5 knobs, none of which are labeled with text until you click on a small icon of the old CBS "eye" logo, and even then the labels include "generates hellscapes" and "scales the Aether pitch spread." You know, for when you're thinking that your snare could use some Aether pitch spread to make it sit in the mix.

What I'm getting at is that Dumpster Fire is like a Glitchmachines or Unfiltered Audio effect with only 5 knobs but more immediate gratification. There are no presets, you throw this thing on and start turning knobs. If you share the same diseased sense of humor and delight in audio torquing as I, you will be grinning like a fool (specifically, me) once you hear what this thing does. I chose the Van Halen-y "80's Metal - A" backing track that comes with Cakewalk. Just a few degrees of knob turning made it sound like a dixieland band being buried in lava. On my own material, it sounded great (meaning giggly insane) on the drum bus.

There is no LFO, so once you dial in a sound, it can be kind of static, but it really shines when you make some automation lanes and doodle with the Draw tool. All 5 knobs plus bypass are available for automating. There is no mix control, which seems right somehow.

I also tried their Backmask effect, which, once you get past the truly bizarre graphics and control labeling (again, clicking on a button gets better explanations), is a very versatile backwards effect. I already have one, Initial Audio's Reverse, which to be fair is designed to be simple and succeeds at that. However if I had experienced Backmask first I wouldn't have gone for Initial Reverse. Backmask has 3 different triggers, note value, mS, or level, which is crazy useful and not something I've seen in a reversing effect. I could probably figure out how to do the level-triggered backward thing using MRhythmizer, but it would take me hours. It also has an automatable freeze function.

The big surprise was that neither of these FX do any bitcrushing that I can discern. From the graphics and advertising, I expected them to ruin audio in a distortion-y way, at least partially, but they do it in a smooth way, which is somehow more subversive and unsettling and delightful. They probably don't do anything in the end that I couldn't already do with my vast collection of sound deformers, but they do it in a quick and fun way. I've emphasized the chuckles I got from Dumpster Fire, but it could be seriously good for ambient ethereal drone-y sound design.

So much fun at $20 each. Since Plugin Boutique carries them now, the purchase qualifies for whatever monthly giveaway they have going, and I hear that they may put them on sale from time to time.

https://freakshowindustries.com/

(they have an unusual feature with their pricing, to discourage piracy they will let you "steal" the products at a variety of discounts depending on which theft option you choose, but their stuff has so much play value that there is really no need. These crazy people deserve to be rewarded and encouraged).