Audio Damage Discord 2 review

When the first version of Audio Damage´s Discord was released, it prompted a great deal of reminiscing from, er, 'more mature' musicians. Certain veteran engineers haven´t been completely satisfied with the pristine perfection of modern processing, and if the nurse forgets to give them their medication, they´re liable to wax lyrical about the good old days, when mono was monarch and ‘8-bit´ was a mark of quality.

Needless to say, Audio Damage´s lovingly crafted recreations of some of the quirkiest products from the dawn of the digital era resonated strongly with these more 'experienced' users, and Discord was a firm favourite.

Modelled on a certain famous rackmounted pitchshifter, Discord has always been perfect for recreating that special, grainy chorusing and pitching effect that was so very popular in the late 70s and early 80s. Think of Bowie´s Fame and you won´t be too far wide of the mark. What´s more, it also makes for a very nifty vintage chorus plug-in.

Double the fun

The second edition of Discord contains everything that was great about the first one, but this time there are twin signal paths. Yep, you get two of everything, and there are individual controls for each path.

Like all chorus effects, the processing is based on delays, and these delays can be synced to the host tempo before you shuttle them through a pair of high- and low-pass filters. There are also two tempo-synced LFOs, each offering four variable wave shapes, and these can be sent to a variety of destinations using the GUI´s central knob-strip.

As with all Audio Damage plug-ins, the design is elegant and to the point - you´re unlikely to get lost as you make your sound-sculpting journey. And as always, the AD boys have allowed for extensive MIDI control - best of all, you can use MIDI notes to determine the pitch played.

It doesn´t seem to matter what type of material you put through Discord 2, the results are always interesting, inspirational and, very often, downright bizarre. Whether creating subtle thickening or twisting, pitchshifted, filtered echoes, Discord 2 invariably sounds fantastic and can be oddly addictive.

For $49, Discord 2 is an utter bargain, and Discord owners can upgrade for just $10. It rocks.