Very clever Eventide. It took me a few minutes of saying it out loud but I get it now… CrushStation…. Crustacean! Ergo, the Rock Lobster preset. Eventide has a new distortion plugin with a lot of bells and whistles!
Today Eventide announced CrushStation, a new overdrive/distortion plug-in for Mac, PC, iPhone and iPad. CrushStation is a versatile stereo distortion platform with controls that can enhance a track with creamy saturation or create a brutal sonic assault.
But distortion is just the starting point. CrushStation brings multi-effects to the mix by adding a three-band EQ, Compression, Octave Mix and the Sag control – Eventide’s unique take on failing hardware. Use the MIX Control to blend your dry signal with CrushStation to create parallel compression, distortion and other effects.CrushStation’s combination of ingredients creates a plugin that excels at the three broad ways distortion effects can be deployed. FX expert and author Alex Case refers to them as the “3 Fs”: FIT, FIX and FEATURE.
“FIX” a weak snare track by adding just a bit of grit & compression.
“FIT” finesse the lead into your mix by adding a bit of warmth and bottom.
“FEATURE” the lead by crushing it ‘til it hurts.
“CrushStation has such a broad range of use that it begs for a comprehensive set of presets. We’ve made our best efforts to create dozens of presets that cover the many ways you’ll want to use it,” said Eventide product manager Collin Bevan. “CrushStation comes bundled with thirty-five presets so you can always find one that gets you close to where you want to be.”PunkRock Lobster helps your guitar, bass or synth to sit perfectly in the mix by dialing in warmth and depth. Fat n Snappy uses GRIT to add preamp-style distortion that can help bring out kicks in the mix. Big Pop Octaves adds subtle distortion and lower octaves for unique pitch-blending vocal effects. These are just a few of the presets that users will find helpful in dialing in their tone with this versatile plug-in.
CrushStation features:
-
35 PRESETS painstakingly tailored to cover all the bas(s)es
-
DRIVE from shallow subtle boost to deep overdrive distortion
-
GRIT and SUSTAIN pushes into fuzz territory
-
SAG was inspired by our experience of the sound of dying analog gear; the power rail sags and the amp starts sputtering and cutting out and just sounds broken
-
MIX in higher and lower OCTAVES then turn up the DRIVE and SUSTAIN to crush them together to form massive new textures
-
GRIT for low-end, gritty, chugging sounds
-
3-band EQ to shape your tone
-
GATE your signal to tame an aggressive distortion output, or get aggressive with high threshold gating and dry MIX for parallel gated crunch
-
RIBBON lets you “play” the effect in real time and provides dynamic and fluid control to morph back and forth between the settings of your choice
-
HOTSWITCH allows you to instantly switch between two different distinct settings within the same preset at the push of a button
-
MIXLOCK keeps MIX control constant as you audition presets
