The Art of Glitch
Written by Joe Trupiano
Have you ever wanted to make your own glitched out sounds? Today I will dive into a brief overview
of some of the free tools one could use to make a stutter-out effectual
production.
You may be wondering, What exactly is glitch? Glitch is achieved
by
"splicing together small 'cuts' (samples). These cuts are then integrated with the
signature of beats [time
signature] comprised of glitches, clicks, scratches, and otherwise 'erroneously'
produced or sounding noise." Listen
to an example of a glitch rhythm I created for demonstration Listen
There
are a million ways to accomplish glitch. Often times glitch is best
achieved the old fashion way: (by simply taking the time to cut
up chunks of audio by hand: rearranging, copy/pasting, and adding silence,
in a trial and error method. However,
the main focus of this article is to provide a list of our favorite
free tools that pack a powerful punch when it comes to glitch creation.
Free
Tools to achieve glitch
Glitch
by dblue
Our favorite tool for making glitch is a free VST plugin called
"Glitch" by the developer dblue. Unfortunately, as of now this plugin is only available for
PC platform, but is well worth the free download if you are a PC user. As defined by its developer Glitch
"is a highly-adjustable, semi-automated, realtime audio manipulation
system which allows you to alter your music in a variety of different
ways ranging from quite subtle to extremely bizarre." With handle and care this plugin ,hands down, can deliver
a powerful punch.
Buffer
Override by destroyFX
Another free plugin we often use is DestroyFX's
Buffer Override.
"Buffer Override can overcome your host app's audio processing
buffer size and then (unsuccessfully) override that new buffer size
to be a smaller buffer size. It makes a lot more sense if you just
try it out and hear what it does. It can sound like a stuttery vocoder
or a stuck beat shuffler or many other delightful things. In certain
hosts, you can also ÔplayÕ Buffer Override via MIDI notes and even
sync it to song tempo."
The plugin is available for both PC and Mac and can create all sorts
of shuffled, stuttery vocoder-esque sounds. This one takes some handle
and care, but can pump out some pretty unique sounds.
Supatrigga
by SmartElectronix
Available as both a VST and Audio Unit for Mac and PC, Supatrigga
"could be called AutoBreaks, AutoGLitch or whatever. When synchronised
to tempo this plugin will take the incoming audio and re-arrange it in
a musically sensible way. Think of it as a realtime ReCyCle with fun
options."
Livecut
by SmartElectronix
Livecut,
is available as a VST plugin and is a "live beat-slicer that,
instead of manipulating equal chunks of audio like most beatslicers
do, it works on the notion of audio cuts whose length and number of
repetition depends on the context and the cutting procedure. Cuts
are organized in blocks, which then form a phrase.Ó Listen to demo from Livecut's website
Bouncy
by SmartElectronix
Ever wanted
to make your sample bounce like a marble hitting the floor? Although
this plugin is not glitch in its true nature, Bouncy, is an awesome
delay/echo plugin that can create some very usable stutter ramp sounds Listen. Yet another free plugin to add
to your arsenal. Its parameters
of backwards bounce, forwards bounce, envelope, feedback, and speed
of bounce will have you bouncing for hours. It's
good clean fun for the whole family.
Our
General Method
Every creator
has his or her own method to the magic. For
us, when making glitch material to use in a track, we take a more patient
'trial and error' approach. With
all of the software/plugins discussed in this article, we generally
set the sequencer tempo to the tempo of our work in progress, hit record on an audio track, feed the
plugin audio samples, and play with the plugins for several minutes
while recording. Then
we go back and listen to the recorded result cropping, cutting, and
rearranging usable chunks of material. We
take these chunks and mold them together creating our own unique glitched
out loops.
Future
Tools:
Acclaimed
film composer, and electronic producer BT (often refereed to as the
king of glitch and stutter effect) has launched a new software company
called Sonik Architects
He is currently in the process of designing 2 amazing plugins that
will be available for Mac ÒBreak
TweakerÓ and ÒStutter EditÓ. ÒBreak
Tweaker includes a plethora of simple ways to deal with micro-note
informationÓ, he says. ÒA lot of people who are doing this by hand
are going to be blown away because it really simplifies the processÓ.
Stutter Edit will allow DJs and electronic music performers to replicate
and modify the signature BT stutter effect live.
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