BOOM LIBRARY LIFTFX

This concisely-presented new plugin lets you create uplifting or downshifting track effects without a sample in sight

The latest from creatively-minded plugin developers Boom Library is a fully synthesised (no samples) virtual instrument, dedicated to the production of crowd-pleasing tempo-synced (or not) risers, falls, drops, etc.

LiftFX is entirely preset-driven, with the under-the-hood parameters for each of its 275 presets – and their ‘progress’ start and end points – already dialled in, but a degree of adaptability is provided for you by four macros and two filters.

You won’t be designing your own sounds from scratch, then, but the presets are a pretty diverse and reasonably tweakable bunch – see Going up! for more.

Elevator pitch

Sending LiftFX a held MIDI note triggers the loaded preset, which sweeps through its rise or fall (as defined by the aforementioned parameter start and end points) in a manner governed by the Progress section, and the Pitch Range and Duration controls to the right.

The Progress menu gives four options: Forward (the default for all presets bar the ModwheelTools category) and Backward simply move continuously from the start or end point to the end or start point; Automation makes the circular Progress indicator an interactive control for manual or DAW-automated movement; and Modwheel assigns the Progress control to MIDI

CC1, for hands-on manipulation via an attached controller keyboard.

The timing of the Forward and Backward progressions is established using the Duration controls. In Sync mode, you set the number of beats and their value anywhere from 32/1 to 1/64T, while unsynced, the length of the progression ranges from 10ms to 20s. The Pitch Range setting, meanwhile, enables the rise/fall end point of any preset with a tonal component to be set to anywhere between +96 and -96 semitones. Strangely, while the Progress and Duration sections can be locked, for stepping through presets without affecting those fundamental settings, Pitch Range can’t.

The functions of the four macro knobs are set in stone for each preset. You might, for example, be able to tweak a filter, distortion and LFO rate and amount; or mid/side balance, ‘sidechain’ pumping, phaser effect and noise level – you get the idea. Although many of the presets include frequency-altering macros, dedicated Lowcut and Highcut filters are provided, too. Like the Progress control, the macros and filters can be operated manually or made to move of their own accord, each one independently switchable between tracking Progress forwards or in reverse, and the aforementioned Automation and Modwheel modes. It’s mildly hindering that the macro and filter ranges can’t be narrowed down when slaved to Progress, but that can be worked around easily enough when in Automation mode.

Finally, uneditable Delay and Reverb effects can be switched in and out. Depending on the preset, these might be almost imperceptible or very obvious indeed.

Lift me up

LiftFX achieves its stated objective of making energetic transition FX ridiculously easy to generate. While, of course, we’d love a bit more access to the underlying synthesis engine, and more of the Drums&Builds, Boom Library have done a great job with the presets, which cover plenty of ground and offer just enough versatility via the macros and filters. Web timespace.com