DDMF MetaPlugin

Plogue Bidule £76
There’s a host of functionality and patchability within
Bidule’s interface that makes it a perfect candidate for
rabid tweakers. Reaktor power-users will love Bidule for
its ability to add esoteric and mathematical modules (or
‘Bidules’) into the rack and its ability to load plugins at
the same time.
Categories of Bidules you can add include Building
Blocks (Delay Lines, Math processors, Oscillators and
loads more); simple Effects, MIDI functions (MIDI Echo,
Note Splitter, Quantizer…), Mixers, Routing, all sorts
of Utilities, and of course, all your own plugins. It’s a
hellishly comprehensive system that leaves no stone
unturned, and its implications to what you can do are
only limited by your imagination and dedication. Add
LFOs to plugins that don’t have them, create complex
MIDI processors to use time and time again, build your
own sampler… it’s all here! The one drawback: the lack
of a dedicated effects-only plugin version, although
Bidule can run standalone.
plogue.com
VERDICT 9.1
Blue Cat’s
PatchWork
€99
Blue Cat have made a name for
themselves in the plugin-
hosting sector, turning the art
of the VST-in-a-VST into several
useful applications, such as
their Axiom amp sim (add
plugins into the virtual studio
signal flow) MB-7 Mixer (create
multiband setups with your
own plugins) and Late Replies
(add plugins before or after a
delay line, or even within the
feedback loop).
PatchWork takes that basic
functionality and focuses on it,
serving as a rack hosting up to
six parallel chains of up to
eight effects each, plus Pre
and Post sections, for a
possible total of 64 running
within one instance. What
effects? There are 30 built-in,
and you can load VST, VST3
and AU plugins of your own as
well. There are macros
onboard, with parameters
mappable (or learnable) to
single knobs on the front end,
which are then automatable in
your DAW.
PatchWork may be one of
the more expensive options
here, but Blue Cat’s pedigree
in the plugin formats world
makes it feel slightly more
reliable, and that’s not to
mention the 30 effects that
come with it, although these
are only available within
PatchWork. This host can feel
a bit more like a utility than a
creative workbench, but for
professionals needing reliability
in the studio and on-stage, it’s
a good choice. Note that in
comparison to the other entries
in this round-up, PatchWork
doesn’t have an instrument-
hosting version, although it can
work standalone.
bluecataudio.com
VERDICT 7.8
FM
|
STUDIO ESSENTIAL!
Plugin-Hosting Plugins | Roundup
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