French developers BLEASS have announced Phase Mutant, a new plugin that applies frequency modulation to any source material.

BLEASS are no newcomers to FM synthesis. Having built a powerful engine for Omega, a synth in their catalogue, BLEASS has now reworked it into a new effect plug-in: Phase Mutant.

The team worked to solve the question ‘how to apply frequency modulation to any source material? FM synthesis is best known via the beloved 80s heroes the Yamaha DX series, but also Teenage Engineering’s OP-1, u-he Bazille, Massive FM8 (obvs) and so on.

Where existing phase distortion plugins create their effect by using an audio input signal to modulate itself, Phase Mutant progresses the concept with the addition of an oscillator that can modulate the input signal or be modulated by the OSC. In turn, the plug-in can create complex harmonic distortion, tonal variations and interesting sonic soundscapes.

The oscillator tracks the input signal’s pitch and can be set to a factor of that input pitch. It can also produce a range of different waveforms, all of which can be spread across the stereo field by offsetting the phase of the left and right channels.

BLEASS Phase Mutant
The sequencer

Phase Mutant utilises three modulation algorithms:

  • The OSC modulates the input modulating through the input signal
  • The Input modulates the oscillator modulator signal coming from a secondary oscillator
  • The input modulates itself

The effect plugin also includes four modulation sources that have the ability to automatically modify the plugin’s parameters. While its frequency modulation processing allows for processed signals to run through low-pass filters, and additional modulation sources include two LFOs available, an envelope and a step sequencer.

BLEASS Phase Mutant

The full feature list includes:

  • Three Algorithms
  • Two Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs)
  • The Envelope
  • Sequencer
  • Plugin Latency Compensation
  • Real Time Pitch Tracking

Phase Mutant in 64-bit VST3 and AU formats for macOS 10.9 and Windows 8 or later retails at $39 but is currently on offer for $29 until 18/04/22.

The iOS version costs $6.99 and requires an Apple device running iOS 11 or better.

The is a free demo version also available from the manufacturer’s website.

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Author Britney Young
14th April, 2022

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