Audiority Tube Modulator

A warbling movement plugin with all the right vibes. James Russell peers through vintage glass at Audiority’s latest effect

Tube Modulator never oversteps its remit, paying the ultimate respect to 10 vintage effects

Audiority have been hard at work recreating iconic effects recently. November’s Echoes T7E took on the Binson Echorec delay, and now Tube Modulator brings even more Pink Floydian tones to your DAW, stuffing in analogue emulations of classic tremolo and vibrato effects.

To start with, Tube Modulator lays down seven vintage-style tremolo and vibe effects, based on those found in amps and pedals from the ’50s and ’60s. Uni-Vibe tones are the order of the day, then, and they’ve all been modelled from the original gear.

Not content with these magnificent seven, there’s also a selection of three more classic spatial effects: choose from Panner, Leslie and Wow Flutter to emulate some more heavy-duty warbles. With some Leslie-only emulation plugins coming in with a far higher price tag, Tube Modulator is immediately a decent deal.

Both sets of effects are controlled with LFO waveshape selection, Rate and Amount dials. When it comes to deep, undulating effects, you can really conjure up any colour you like. On guitar, the tones you can wring out of Tube Modulator range from absorbing to frenetic, while on synths the effects really help to bring atmosphere and depth to static tones. These aren’t just workaday digital modulation effects – the subtle analogue character is completely evident.

The oscilloscope sits in the centre of the interface, with suitably retro visuals to match the sonics that Tube Modulator kicks out. The trace moves vertically with the movement of your choice of the seven effects, and horizontally with the Leslie/Panner modulator, and the two add together to create a compelling Lissajous-style visual that you can’t tear your eyes away from. Our single-frame screengrabs don’t do it justice.

Tube Modulator’s Mix knob is almost missable at the bottom, but since it’s a rare thing to employ any less than the default 100% in an effect such as this, that’s about right. Flanking this are Tube Modulator’s Sync and Link switches – Sync ties the Rate controls to your DAW’s project tempo, while Link ensures that the two Rate parameters and Amount parameters share the same value when tweaked.

For the future? How about a ‘relative link’ switch here, so different values can be automated by their relative amounts? But, in fact, here we encounter the essential strength of this plugin. Every time I think, “This needs a control for…”, I immediately realise that that’s not the point: Tube Modulator never oversteps its remit, paying the ultimate respect to 10 vintage effects. And it both looks and sounds stunning while doing it.