GEAR SPOTLIGHT
SURREAL
MACHINES
DUB MACHINES
REVIEW BY FLETCHER STEWART
STREET PRICE €99.00
Imagine a plugin suite
that offers both the
warmth of mechanical
time-based hardware
effects units and the
watery sheen of high-
class digital modulation
and echo. To add interest,
this intuitive ambient
augmenter would have
BBD stereo chorusing,
retro-futuristic reverbs
and all the musical
idiosyncratic behaviours
of real time tweaks,
creaks and oscillations
of our favorite bygone
behemoth hardware units.
Enter Modnetic: the
retro-futuristic ambient
dreamscape device from
Surreal Machines.
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GEAR SPOTLIGHT //
As the core of its new
Dub Machines package
(that also includes Diffuse)
Modnetic is not only a
painstakingly crafted,
hyper-realistic vintage
effects suite, it is also
a 21st century sound
designers dream-come-
true. In their own words
“Modnetic provides
supreme analog-emulated
tape delay, extremely
realistic spring reverb
choices and bucket
brigade chorus on the one
hand, but digital clarity
and impossible tricks on
the other, such as classic
digital phasers, reverse-
tape and clickless real-
time routing options.”
Surreal Machines Dub Machnes
Upon download, I hastily
jacked my guitar straight
into my interface and was
pleased to discover that
the Character section
of Modnetic read 501,
which alludes to a certain
vintage Roland Space
Echo that I regret selling
years ago. I can report
that the tape tones
and BBD Chorusing in
the Modulation section
are bang-on-beautiful
emulations of this elusive
classic. The Spring
Reverbs are dark, dank
and drippy like the old
Rolands, however, there
are many more, Halls,
Plates and bespoke
verbs on tap as well. The