New Software Review: CrushStation by Eventide

Ported over from the H9 platform, Eventide introduces the CrushStation distortion plugin to your DAW.

Saturation. At this stage of my mixing game, I’m not quite sure what I’d do without it.

As it has become further and further engrained in my go-to mix processes, I wonder why, in my short-lived stint studying music production in college, it was not given the same attention as, say EQ or compression.

In some cases, applying saturation to a signal can even substitute the need for EQ and/or compression—or at least get you some of the way there… and in style.

Eventide, purveyors of some of the most widely-used effects in music, have recently ported their CrushStation overdrive/distortion algorithm from their H9 platform (and later iOS app) to Mac and PC as an AudioUnit v3 plugin, or Inter-App Audio effect. CrushStation is among several algorithms that Eventide are now bringing to your DAW as part of the H9 Plugin Series.

I was excited to pull this module into my DAW and see what brand of trash it could offer my ever-growing arsenal of distortion tools.

Features

CrushStation is a distortion algorithm capable of accepting and outputting both mono and stereo signals. Vertical sliders on either side of the GUI control the input and output gains, which offer a range of -60dBfs to +12dBfs. Seen above each slider are small vertical meters which display levels before and after the distortion is applied. In the signal chain, these reside after the “in” and “out” controls, respectively.

To the immediate right of the input meter is a gate meter which displays the amount of gating being applied to your signal (more on that later).

At the heart of CrushStation are 11 rotary dials: Mix, Drive, Sustain, Sag, Octaves, Grit, the aforementioned Threshold for the gate, and also controls for Bass, Mids & Freq, and Treble.

The Mix knob is a simple wet/dry control, with 100% dry fully counter-clockwise, and 100% wet clockwise. The Drive control is your main source of overdrive, while you can use the Grit and Sustain controls to push CrushStation into even more punishing territory.

The Sustain control here is quite interesting. It was designed to—with a single knob—mimic the overall effect a compressor would have on your signal. The manual specifies that controls such as ratio, attack, release, and makeup gain were considered here. This control, when turned left of 12 o’clock is located pre-distortion in the signal chain, whereas when turned right of 12 o’clock is then located post-distortion.

The Sag control emulates failing gear of times past, injecting a “sputtery, crushed, and broken” quality to your signal (says the manual), as a result of failing tubes or a power rail sag. Yes, please.

The Octaves control, which is placed before the distortion and compression blocks in CrushStation, mixes in and out lower and higher pitch-shifted octaves. More on this later… but just know this a very cool control, which pushes CrushStation far past just a saturation tool.

The Grit control adds more low end to your signal, pre-distortion, to drive it in such a way to add a “chugginess” quality to the overdrive.

The controls for Bass, Mids & Freq, and Treble are just that, and though the EQ here does sound good, it lacks some key information I would typically want/need from an EQ. I’ll get to that in a bit…

There’s a switch labeled “Active” which functions as a simple on/off control for the effect; this can be controlled via MIDI if you so desire.

There is a gate which is accessible via an on/off switch in the lower left corner of the GUI; the dial for Threshold is located directly to its right (the dial can also toggle the gate from off to on).

Regarding the gate: as you drive a signal dirtier and dirtier within CrushStation, you are also driving up its noise—so in an effort to mitigate the relationship, Eventide has included a gate here. There is also a two-way switch to control the attack of the gate, located directly above the on/off switch; the controls here are simply “slow” or “fast”. The gate is the last stop in CrushStation’s signal chain, however it is triggered by the cleaner input-stage signal to provide optimal performance.

The “Ribbon” is a great feature that is seen across a wide variety of Eventide’s plugin offerings. A very creative development, this feature enables the plugin to allow multiple parameters to be adjusted at once, as you could on a real piece of hardware. By choosing a parameter and dragging the white dot at the tip of its knob to your setting of choice, followed by the blue dot, you can define the extremities of these parameters’ ranges. This can be done in either direction for inverted functionality. You can apply this to multiple controls on the plugin. Then, by dragging the ribbon horizontally in either direction, these parameters now move in tandem. To clear your ribbon settings, right-click the white and blue dots on any associated parameters, or move the dots to be back on top of each other.

If that’s a bit too much technical jargon to wrap your head around, check out Eventide’s video demo of the ribbon—and the rest of CrushStation—in action.

The Ribbon can be an extremely effective way to conjure up some unique and inspiring tones that would otherwise require lots of tedious automation and likely dull your creativity as you sink deeper into mousing around your DAW.

Also on offer here is a Hotswitch, which acts as an A/B between two settings—a helpful feature to audition sounds with ease and efficiency. To program the Hotswitch, simply click and hold it until the ring of light around it begins to blink. While it’s blinking, program in your new settings; when you’re done, clicking on the Hotswitch will take the unit out of programming mode. Clicking it will then alternate between your two settings; a simple right-click will reset the Hotswitch, which is indicated by a quick blinking light around the button.

Lastly, CrushStation features Preset Load/Save functionality, a “Compare” button for additional A/Bing, and a “Mix Lock” control which enables a global value for the Mix control to be applied to any preset that is loaded. This is helpful in applications where CrushStation is set as an effect return, thus calling for a 100% wet setting.

But enough with the details. How does it sound?

In Use

I opened my first instance of CrushStation on a drum bus and was immediately transported to SansAmp territory. The original Bomb Factory PSA-1 plugin was a staple in my mix arsenal for quite some time way back when, in the pre-Soundtoys days (which incidentally took my use of and addiction to saturation to the next level). The PSA-1 was what I would consider a versatile one-trick pony in the sense that you can tailor most aspects of the sound as needed in order to make it fit into a mix, however the character of the distortion always lives in the same realm.

The kind of distortion heard in a new instance of CrushStation has got that same garage-y type of quality as that of the SansAmp, however I quickly learned you can do far more with CrushStation than with the PSA-1.

The Sustain control provides a really great way of tailoring the transients in drum applications. This also applies to bass, which is helpful because when I overdrive bass, that typically involves sacrificing some dynamic definition (and maybe having to bring it out later some other way). Here, I didn’t have to go digging with EQ or other processing to push the finger articulation forward in the bass.

I found the Octaves control to be interesting on a full drum submix; when you feature the lower octaves, it will generate sub frequency information across things that shouldn’t necessarily highlight this. But it could make for some super cool effects when applied otherwise.

For example, if you were to apply CrushStation to a vocal, and set it to feature either the low or high octaves (or a mix of both), this “distortion” plugin begins to function like a pitch manipulation tool. Tons of modern pop producers apply creative moves to their vocal tracks that can be easily achieved right here in CrushStation.

I encourage anyone to experiment with this very versatile control; it can open up the top end of your signal in a super nice way, adding a nice, slick sheen over your newly-gnarled aesthetic. Or conversely, dialing a more mixed setting between the lower and higher octaves can generate some really cool aesthetic textures that are difficult to describe with words.

Tweaking the Sag will bring your signal further into the analog realm—a quality I always welcome and outwardly seek in distortion plugins. Turn this control further and further clockwise and things start to feel a bit… bit-crushy. Given the right application, this treatment can really take an overdriven bass to some cool new ground.

Overall it was fun and inspiring to run all types of signal through CrushStation, and I can say with confidence that it will be finding its way into my next mixes.

To Be Critical

CrushStation’s aesthetic has everything I romanticize about my early days of discovering the power of distortion and the PSA-1, while enabling me to go way further than the tools of yore would ever allow.

I wouldn’t necessarily say that this plugin would live on my drum bus, but it would certainly be helpful in an effected section of a tune where you’re really going for a shift in vibe. I also wouldn’t hesitate to put it on individual drum tracks like kick (those sub octaves would help!), snare, or room mics. And further, I would be pleased to use it on bass, an effected vocal, or as a means of adding some dimension to keys or synthesizers.

One thing that was slightly off-putting to me in particular (which may not bother everyone) is the lack of actual decibel values in the EQ section. As the numbers here only go from 0 to 100/-100, not knowing exactly how much I’m adding or subtracting feels odd. That said, there’s merit in “mixing with your ears and not your eyes”.

The other critique I had was a bit more esoteric. The quality of distortion that CrushStation delivers kind of puts a “blanket of distortion” over your entire sound, rather than say, having its character surface when signal begins to hit it a bit harder. I wouldn’t characterize CrushStation as a dynamically reactive distortion.

What I mean by this is, you know, that kind of thing you start to hear when a drummer really digs into the kick or snare and drives the input of a preamp that extra couple dB, or when a guitar amp begins to break up a bit more simply by the player playing harder. I suppose what I’m saying is, CrushStation doesn’t quite offer a sense of “natural breakup”.

But something tells me that wasn’t necessarily the goal here, and if that’s what you’re going for, it’s likely you’ll get better results elsewhere.

Summing it Up

CrushStation brought far more to the table than I expected from a “distortion” plugin. I can 100% see myself using this on an upcoming mix as either a main contributor to the bass tone, a tasty effect on a drum kit or vocal, or perhaps some other unforeseen application that I’m sure will surface with further experimentation.

It’s also cool to see that an algorithm originally developed for use in a guitar rig can extend so nicely to virtually any other instrument you’ll come across in a mix session.

What CrushStation won’t deliver is the feeling of that true analog, highly-reactive sort of dynamic grit that you’d get from something like Soundtoys’ Decapitator, or overdriving a preamp using a UAD emulation. But that doesn’t mean CrushStation can’t be a valuable addition to your saturation toolkit in its very own way.

CrushStation is available now at a special introductory promo price of $39, while otherwise priced at $99. To see for yourself what this versatile and inventive tool can do for you, request a free demo from Eventide here.

Dan Gluszak is a producer, mixer, and engineer based in Los Angeles, California. He also doubles as a touring and session drummer.

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