In this review I’m playing with Visco 2.0, the latest plugin release from Swedish devs Forever89 of Ableton and Teenage Engineering fame. Visco was actually their first plugin, even though you may have seen my review of their amp/speaker sim Topos just a few weeks back. But here we are with this crazy little drum/synth plugin that has caused quite a stir in terms of sound processing. New in version 2.0 is the added option of playing a given pad as a synth across the keyboard, still allowing for the deep modulation possibilities that sent the plugin flying the first time around. So now it’s basically a desert island plugin capable of both rhythm and melodics.
Hard hits to the blob
To put it bluntly, Visco 2.0 is really a powerful tool for sound design and playable variation, and I have a hard time imagining I could create sounds like this anywhere else. And even though the visual blob and cheerful rainbow colors may seem gimmicky to an innocent bystander, what it represents in terms of time and pitch is really pretty logical. And the fact that you get to poke the blob around, cut it in half, flip it, reverse it. Lots of fun and creative freedom right there.
I guess I should really start by saying that I’m a huge fan of Ableton’s built in drum kit system. I think it’s one of the best and most versatile ways to do drums, sounds, basically anything you care to put on the 4X4 grid, up to a total of 64 pads. I recently reviewed the drum synth Battalion by Unfiltered Audio, and Visco shares the same setup of “only” 8 pads. This seems rather limited when compared to the bigger possible kits in Ableton, but to be honest, 8 sounds in a kit is closer to a regular, real world drum kit than even 16. I guess once you’ve played a Mad Zach 64-pad kit on a Push, a new bar is set. And while I get that 8 pads may have been the technical limit in these plugins as well, an 8 pad kit is really not that crazy of an idea after all. And when you first hear what Visco can actually do to each pad sound, I don’t think you’ll be capable of additional voices any time soon.
…the way you can stretch, morph, pitch and mangle these kits on a global as well as per pad level is a real thrill.
Loading up Visco for the first time is pretty mind blowing. The sound is smooth but heavy, light but punchy, and I can’t really fully comprehend yet alone explain how the plugin actually accomplishes its drum synthesis under the hood, but the way you can stretch, morph, pitch and mangle these kits on a global as well as per pad level is a real thrill. At the core of each pad is two source sounds, the slider dictating how much or little of each is playing. This means kits actually flowing between 16 sounds, and if you imagine a kick drum on one end and something surprising at the other, you may begin to understand how much potential this thing has.
I just wish that EVERYTHING you can adjust in the plugin would come out on the device level in Ableton for precise modulation assignment and automation. Right now I get some per pad parameters, most of the global ones as well. But I know that Rikard and Svante have had their focus on user friendliness first and foremost, so who knows what a version 2.x might bring. I’m content with what is actually assignable, but I’m still hoping for further updates here.
Loaded kits and even boasting sample import
As for playability out of the box, Forever89 have included a range of nicely varied premade synth sounds and drum kits + accompanying sequenced beats (yes, there’s a sequencer built in as well, and it has drag to midi, one of my gripes with Battalion, which sadly does not as of yet). There’s just one thing you need to know when flipping through presets or hitting randomize while playing a pattern live or via midi or: A new sequence appears in Visco each time, adding that sequenced drum pattern on top of you or your midi clip. So remember to NOT sync the plugin with your DAW and do NOT activate the little playhead (bottom right corner of Visco, in SEQUENCE view). And actually, viewed as a drum pattern creator in isolation, Forever89 have created something that lays down some pretty heavy grooves. You could easily open Visco just to create some random patterns.
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One thing Visco does not translate fully into the exported midi clip, however, is any polyrhythmic elements, like setting the hihat to a ¼ rhythm, while the kick and snare do 4/4. The resulting midi for the hihat comes out, but only as a 4th of the loop length. So you can of course copy from there.
There’s another huge thing setting Visco apart from drum plugins like Microtonic from Sonic Charge, another one of my favorite Swedish developers. And it’s the ability to drop your own samples into Visco. And what is crazy about it is, the samples do not sit there as audio files. Visco recreates them on a spectral level, and more often than not, you will have a hard time telling if you’re hearing the audio file or the resynthesized sample. Create a kit, save it. No serious harddrive space taken. Just remember to make note of the directories from which you drag samples, as there’s no path information whatsoever once the samples hits Visco. Only the sample name remains.
In terms of sound, Visco does have a certain sound to it, which derives from the spectral interpretation going on. The synth part of the plugin is a fun addition, but I’m not going to tell you to go out and trade off Serum or anything, but having said that, Visco does provide a approach to creating sounds and manipulating them on the fly as well. It’s something you would want to try yourself, before deciding if the lack of “proper” synth terminology and patching will prohibit your from entering the Limbo that is Visco.
In the video above I’m showing how I suggest setting up the plugin with controls on the device level for knob / mouse control in Ableton. Doing it like this also makes it easier to undo a knob twist, since Visco actually does not have an undo option for the control knobs, only for edits done on the blob, the representation of each sound.
Creative sound design 2.0
Visco 2.0 is a really creative sound design tool and comes as a free update for owners of the first edition, which follows an admirable direction in customer care seen recently with the likes of Serum 2 as well. It’s a really light weight plugin, coming in at below 5 mb install size and generating a measly 1.5 ms of latency in my mid range Asus laptop setup. You will probably reach your creative limit adding 20 instances of Visco before your system even does a single hiccup. I don’t think I like the idea of not having Visco around, after playing around with it for a few weeks now. I feel it’s an essential tool for generating new types of sounds and sound combinations not easily available elsewhere. And looking at the technology behind the plugin, I wonder if Forever89 have ever thought of creating an insert fx plugin with real time modulation of any incoming sound source. I bet you they have. And I think that would be the plugin of the year, when it comes. For now though, the plugin of the month is Visco 2.0. Go try the free demo.
It’s an exciting time in audio right now, and Forever89 are really killing it with Visco as an unavoidable card in creative sound design.
