The Excite Audio Evolve hybrid morphing Synthesizer goes in the next round, and the new edition explores the qualities of dark matter.
With Evolve, the British company Excite Audio offers a series of hybrid synthesizer plugins. All of these share a common structure but feature different sound content and themed effects.
Today, Excite Audio released the sixth edition of their Evolve Synthesizer called Dark Matter.
Excite Audio Evolve Dark Matter
Evolve Dark Matter is a new hybrid Synthesizer plugin for macOS and Windows that is built around the heavy, gravitational, and unknown qualities of dark matter.
According to the developers, it’s inspired by artists such as Burial, Jon Hopkins, and Skrillex.
Excite Audio Evolve Dark Matter shares the same Synthesizer engine as the previous Evolve releases but differs in its content and macro effects.
The core consists of a hybrid structure with four morphable sound-source layers, using either sample playback with sample import or subtractive waveforms.
The first, the more interesting, includes 250 newly crafted sample-based sources: acoustic, bass, chords, FX, and more. Each sound source is tweakable with a handful of classic parameters: pitch, tone, pan, velocity, and more.
From here, the output goes into four dark-matter-inspired macro effects that sit right after the oscillators: Quanta, Entropy, Orbit, and Infite.
Quanta is inspired by wave-particle duality, combining wavy modulation with downsampling the audio into discrete packets. Then, Entropy layers heavy distortion, noise, and chaos.
Orbit, on the other side, combines a slow-oscillating phaser with fast flutter-style pitch modulation. Infinite provides an endless delay, mixed with a vast reverb inspired by the depths of space.
Sound Shaping
Similar to the other Excite Audio Evolve instruments, the new Dark Matter edition features a main multi-FX section with dual filters, and 16 effects modules: saturation, feedback, delay, reverb, modulation, phaser, pitch drift, and others.
Modulation is also onboard. It has 12 available modulators, including six ADSR envelopes with delay and hold, two LFOs with retriggering, offset options, velocity, and advanced keytracking. The included X/Y pad also functions as a dual-modulation source.
A drag-and-drop system makes mapping modulations a breeze, and a modulation matrix handles and gives you a perfect overview of all the assignments.
Dark Matter ships with 250 genre-spanning presets that give you sub-rumbling drones, tectonic low-end textures, and ominous soundscapes. They are designed for dark drum and bass, atmospheric techno, and experimental electronic music.
A lite version of the Excite Audio Evolve Dark Matter is also available, which reduces the feature set to the first part of the plugin: the oscillators, morphing, and macro effects. In-depth parameter editing, like the effects or modulation, is not possible here.
First Impression
We have another version of Evolve. As already mentioned in the Evolve Valve article, I’m glad the series continues.
However, I would prefer to install expansions rather than a new plugin each time. The Dark Matter looks like it’s the heaviest and most aggressive-sounding so far.
Excite Audio Evolve Dark Matter is available now for an introductory price of 38,03€ instead of 57,53€. Lite version is on sale for 18,52€ instead of 28,28€. Existing Evolve customers can crossgrade for 28,28€ instead of 38,093€.
They run as VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugins on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.
More information here: Excite Audio
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