Hello,
I create a wide range of electronica (from trance to electropop to chillout and downtempo...).

What plugins (effects or vst instruments) help in achieving unique/fresh sounds?
I mean plugins which maybe have some unique, innovative features which, in turn, help you create sounds which stand out from the standards...

Can you recommend such plugins?

(During recent a few years I didn't update my awareness of what's hot/creative on the plugins market...)

 

Melodyne Studio 4 has me experimenting all the time with harmonic boost and filters and formant, among other things you can do in there. Tinkering with harmonics on keyboards can change them in interesting ways.

 

Actually every plug in for me sets up a feedback loop that brings me too that place of quietude, where conscious thought takes a backseat to the immediacy of the moment. Every second is the best tick of the clock, and the next is is still better yet. Without art I am less than I am.

 

Sugar Bytes Egoist!
Throw anything rhythmic or evolving at it, slice it, wildly hit buttons and move sliders and rest surprised

Some synths have a randomize function that sometimes creates interesting new and sometimes inspiring sounds too.

 

Pick 2 synths, a sampler, an eq, a compressor, a gate, a reverb, a delay and up to 4 of your favourite creative FX (Soundtoys or whatever similar) and make a track with these. Obviously you can use as many instances as you like from any of the above. This is the only way to boost your actual creativity (in short: limitation) as opposed to browse the presets of a new "innovative" plug-in.

 

I've said this on here before, but a plugin that has been particularly helpful in my creative process lately is u-he Bazille. Working in that modular patch-cable framework forces me to use critical thinking and sort of turns sound design into a logic puzzle, which in turn stimulates my creativity.

It's probably not for everybody, and it's definitely not suitable for every circumstance, as it doesn't immediately allow you to just breeze through everything like you might with other synths, but it has obvious advantages IMO.

 

Tantra! Or as jayxflash said: limit yourself and squeeze your brain

 

Glitch 2

 

Any and all things by GlitchMachines.

And Cableguys.

My motherboard fried recently and I've been relegated to using a dual-core with 4 gigs of RAM until I build my new PC. Despite the limitations, I've found that it's only increased my productivity as having to commit to ideas moves things along as opposed to leaving things open-ended and undecided.

This speaks more about me and my character than anything else but it was an enlightening moment and a testament to how there is a lesson and a blessing to be found in even the most trying of times.

Non-working computer components = first-world problems, y'all.

 

Last edited: Oct 1, 2016

Not a long time ago, I enjoyed messing with Alchemy's default presets... without actually never really composing anything!

 

I like this! I've experienced similar stuff. I've recently started bouncing things to audio more and more, not because I need the processor freed up, but because editing things as audio instead of midi comes with its own set of possibilities that are not otherwise available, and theres a tidiness to working with audio that's not there with midi. And of course what I discovered as a side effect is exactly what you described. Bouncing to audio forces you to just get on with it instead of procrastinating by tweaking everything to death.