In May last year, the Minimal Audio team released Rift, a killer distortion plug-in. In 2022, it remains the illest mofo of its kind and a must have for roughing up tracks. I’ve already shared my Rift sentiments in the Gearnews review, so I’ll be heading straight for the news instead of lovebombing the Minimal guys. They just dropped Rift 2.0 with two big additions to an already sophisticated (but brutal) product: multi-band effects and dark mode. Further refinements include UI tweaks and lighter CPU load (always welcome). With that, Rift goes on sale again with its price dropped to USD 75 (down from USD 129). The 2.0 update is free for existing users. ADVERTISEMENT
Minimal Audio Rift 2.0 For the uninitiated, Rift’s secret sauce is called bipolar processing. In other words, the processor distorts the positive (upper) and negative (lower) halves of a waveform separately. It proceeds to mix and modulate them in various ways. Bipolar processing is still rare, and then there are the modulation options (such as MIDI keyboard input) and esoterics (like tuning the filter cutoff frequency to choice musical notes). In short, Rift is to a basic distortion pedal what 100,000 years of progress is to civilization. The bar-raising thinking behind it is only comparable to the likes of BOOM Library and Glitchmachines. The Rift 2.0 update brings flexible multi-band effects to the aforementioned goodness. You can send any combination of distortion, feedback, and filtering through a multi-band crossover to zone in on the effect exactly where you want it in the frequency spectrum. What’s more, Rift’s interface can be switched between a refined Light Mode and the new Dark Mode. Black is beautiful! The third big addition is strongly reduced CPU load. These make for one banger of an update if you ask me!
Rift – Light Mode – Basic View (Multi-Band Scope)
Rift – Dark Mode – Basic View (Multi-Band Scope) Minimal Audio Rift 2.0 features: Multipolar Distortion Engine with 30 Custom Algorithms Pre/Post Distortion Morph Filtering with 24 Custom Stereo Filter Types Physical Modeling Feedback & Delay Effects Powerful Curve Sequencing For Complex Modulation Flexible Multi-Band Effects Routing Midi Tracking for Feedback and Filter 400+ Presets Rift 2.0 – Price and availability Rift 2.0 is on sale for USD / EUR 79 (down from USD / EUR 129). The update is free for existing Rift users. Two free plug-ins – Rift Filter Lite and Rift Feedback Lite – are bundled with the purchase. The plug-ins are available in 64-bit AU, VST, VST3, and AAX formats for macOS 10.9+ and Windows 10. |
