I guess the overuse of the multi effect step sequencer such as dblue glitch has been rendered obsolete in favor of manually controlling macros because it allows for more creative freedom… or am I wrong?
Probably also because a lot of people…at least in Dubstep and DnB considered dBlue Glitch “cheating”.
I think there are also plenty of sequenced fx units that have per step automation within the software itself.
There are so so many multieffect plugins with internal modulation even released over the last year, the stuff by UA comes to mind for instance, that it’s hard to imagine people suddenly stopped using all of that stuff. It’s more a matter of how you use it. You can automate and manually control stuff within those plugins, too. Then there are the sequenced multieffects that you can play with MIDI input while using your own complex settings and patterns. You don’t necessarily recognize it if people use effects like that with customized settings. Many DAWs allow for complex multieffect racks including sequencers, like building your own multieffect in a rack. Or you can put all kinds of parameters directly into your MPE setup so you play your glitch, repeat or LFO effects directly while playing in your original melodies and drum patterns even without an additional macro control. So many options nowadays. Many people record stuff like that and then microedit it like you would with the original audio.
I don’t believe anybody quit using multi-FX. We just all have sequencers and many FX units already inside of our DAWs, so it’s kind of redundant. Just link them together, and use some macros from your own DAW to control them. That’s $0 extra spent to create your own stuff.
As a poor music maker I’ve used plenty of units in the past (like the digitech RP series) in order to add distortion, amp modeling and cabinet modeling to my guitars and things like that. Adding in some flangers or phasers was no problem either, and it felt like a godsend.
Db glitch was basically just a sequencer and multi FX in one… yet even the basic versions of FL studio and Ableton are literally just that and so much more. It was kind of strange that they even managed to sell this kind of stuff to people to begin with. “It’s a VST, you’ll love it!”
All in all, I never really understood it. Maybe there’s a reason for it, but it’s all just so elementary. You can do this stuff with your DAW and so much more, IMO. If they ever got fazed out, it was for the best.
I do that all the time, too, mostly just by letting effect chains grow naturally, but I haven’t found a good way to replicate something like StutterEdit or even Shaperbox with the Timeshper and great automation painting options. Sure, you can do unlimited glitch effects with stock plugins or just microedit everything without using any effect module whatsoever or put lots of effects into some effect rack chains and control the chain selector with a MIDI fader, but at the time I have a setup as complex as what I do in a few minutes in StutterEdit, playing different modulated effect combinations with my keyboard, chances are I forgot what it was that I wanted to do with that glitch setup in the first place ^^
I think Dblue just went out of fashion as a ‘plugin’ not as an effect. Like a few years ago everyone was talking about Ohmforce all the time while now it’s hardly mentioned. Not saying it is no longer used, just not on everyone’s mind.
Tbh I just use it to automate stuff I couldn’t normally automate in my daw like timestretch… I suppose I could use harmor for that if I had it…
Pretty much this. DBlue Glitch is just outdated.
The goal is movement in sound.
Whatever gets you there is fine, whether its skills or tools or both.
they are not dead. look at the new roland mc 101.