Permute
Buffer Modulation Matrix
Part of Studies
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Description
Permute records your sound into a short buffer and loops small pieces of it. While it plays, four modulators move the start of the loop, its length, a filter and the dry/wet mix, all in time with your track. Drive, delay and reverb come after, and the loops keep changing as they play.
We laid it out as a matrix. Each column has a fader that sets a value, a SPEED knob for its modulator and an AMT knob for how far the modulator pulls the value down. Turn up PLACE AMT and the loop wanders back through the last few seconds of your sound. Turn up WINDOW AMT and the loop changes length at random.
Your input is recorded into a buffer of about three seconds. The loop window plays from it, then goes through the band-pass filter, the drive, the delay and the reverb. MIX and BLEND bring your dry sound back in.
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Modulation matrix
- FILTER
- Sets the center of a band-pass filter on the loop, from 80 Hz to 10 kHz. The band is 2 kHz wide.
- PLACEMENT
- Sets where in the buffer the loop starts.
- WINDOW
- Sets the length of the loop, from 80 ms to 1 second. Short windows stutter; long ones replay whole phrases.
- MIX
- Crossfades your dry input with the processed loop. Unlike BLEND, this mix has its own modulator.
- FILTER SPEED
- Sets the rate of the triangle modulator on FILTER, from 0 to 8 cycles per beat in half steps, in time with your host tempo.
- PLACE SPEED
- Sets the rate of the triangle modulator on PLACEMENT, from 0 to 8 cycles per beat.
- WINDOW SPEED
- Sets the rate of the random modulator on WINDOW, from 0 to 8 cycles per beat.
- MIX SPEED
- Sets the rate of the sawtooth modulator on MIX, from 0 to 8 cycles per beat.
- FILTER AMT
- Sets how far the modulator pulls FILTER down from its fader setting.
- PLACE AMT
- Sets how far the modulator pulls PLACEMENT back, which moves the loop through the buffer.
- WINDOW AMT
- Sets how far the random modulator shortens WINDOW, so the loop changes length unpredictably.
- MIX AMT
- Sets how far the modulator pulls MIX toward the dry signal, for rhythmic dry/wet pulses.
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Drive & delay
- DRIVE
- Drives the filtered loop like an analog stage. Low settings add some warmth; high settings saturate it.
- DELAY
- Picks one of eight delay times linked to your host tempo. The echoes cross between the left and right channels.
- FEEDBK
- Sets the delay feedback, up to 70%, so the echoes repeat and build.
- SPACE
- Sets how much of the delayed loop goes into a large reverb.
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Master
- BLEND
- Sets the mix between your dry sound and the effect, after MIX. Fully right, the default, leaves MIX in charge.
- GAIN
- Sets the output level, from silent up to double. Noon is unity.
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Try this
- ONE AT A TIME
- Set every SPEED to zero, so each column holds still at its fader. Then bring up PLACE SPEED and PLACE AMT, and add the other columns one by one.
- STUTTER
- Pull WINDOW down low and turn up WINDOW SPEED and WINDOW AMT. The loop jumps between lengths in time with your track.
In Studies
Permute is in Studies Effects, under Glitch and Granular.
Standalone
The standalone plugin, shown further down the page, lets you choose the filter type (low-pass, high-pass or band-pass) and each column's modulation shape. It also has a waveform display and a Jumble button that randomizes the controls. In Studies the filter is a band-pass and the shapes are set: triangle on FILTER and PLACEMENT, random on WINDOW and sawtooth on MIX.
Bundle
The standalone plugin is also part of the Microsplice Tools bundle.
- Formats
- Studies: Audio Units, VST2 and VST3 on Mac, VST3 on Windows · Apple silicon native
- Systems
- Current macOS and Windows 10/11 x64
Standalone version
The original plugin with its own interface, as a one-time purchase.
AU · VST2 · VST3 · macOS · Windows