MANIPULATOR Review

I’m not quite sure how to introduce or describe Polyverse’s Manipulater, I personally have it sorted into my pitch shifter folder, but it does so much more than that. Manipulator is a pitch tracking, formant shifting, FM modulation, octave sequencing experimental sound design tool. There’s not really anything else quite like it. The effect relies on pitch tracking to be able to match the FM harmonics, so it’s best used on monophonic sources. Manipulator can do some wild things to vocals, but can also be a fun tool for basses and leads. And this isn’t to say you can’t use it on drums or polyphonic sources, it just might struggle in some instances, which can be a cool glitch technique as well.

The main pitch shifting is fine, I haven’t ever done a deep dive comparing pitch shifter algorithms, and I’m really fond of the variety of textures each one can produce. The fun part of Manipulator is everything following this pitch shifter. The formant shifting is wild, has a wide range and can really stretch some interesting tones from your source material. Next is the harmonics section, which uses the pitch detection to approximate a modulation frequency. Applying FM and harmonics at different ratios can easily destroy your sound, but can also create some gnarly bass tones. After this is the “Alternator”, a strange effect that applies a sort of stepped pitch modulation to the sound. Its not always useful, but when it is, it’s just magic.

Below the main section is four modulation sources and controls for smear, stereo spread, and detune, which add even more sonic options. Modulation sources include a “sequencer” LFO, envelope follower, ADSR, midi, and macros. They are applied to the main controls using these colorful nodes that encompass each destination. This creates a really unique and fun interface where every detail of information is displayed simultaneously, without being overwhelming. Even without modulation you can get some insane sounds from Manipulator, but being able to sequence out control motions makes it a perfect glitch/experimental sound design tool.

If you play around with Manipulator, you’ll quickly discover that it can transform sounds into unimaginable textures, I’ve used it to transform pianos into watery alien blobs, or add texture and grit to simple basses. I love randomizing the controls in Bitwig as Manipulator is a regular tool when I create glitch material to slice up later. I do wish it had a built in random modulator though, as the internal modulation has a snappier quality when it jumps from one value to another. This one is FUN to play with, but not always the most useful in regular mixing conditions. Manipulator is definitely an experimental sound design tool. Another plugin I suggest resampling, as results are a bit on the unpredictable side, so you’ll want to capture your best takes and save them if you want reproducible results.

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MANIPULATOR: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/35-Pitch-Shifter/5127-Manipulator?a_aid=61c378ab215d5