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Wave Destroyer is my new go-to VST for making drums hot!

3 min read

I don’t normally review products before they launch. Recently though I was beta-testing the latest plugin from GMH audio, Wave Destroyer, and was so impressed that I thought I’d give you a preview of what’s to come.

Note: This plugin is still in Beta so the following information may be subject to change. This article is very positive, but not sponsored. I did however receive a free copy of the VST for Beta-testing purposes.

UPDATE: The plugin has now been published and is available here. It allows you to decide the pricing you think is fair.

What is Wave Destroyer?

Wave Destroyer is an audio distortion plugin with a huge amount of sound control, from subtle warmth, to all-out decimation.

It is centred around three stages of sound design, with an EQ on input and output, and a distortion control in the middle of the chain. It also features the much-coveted Dry/Wet knob that is so simple, yet something so many developers neglect to include.

Developer Greg Hendler, Founder and Engineer at GMH audio, described it to me: “It was initially inspired by a mix tip I saw somewhere years ago, that involved EQing before and after a distortion to shape tone in unique ways.”

READ MORE: Learn how to program a VST in JUCE with Alex Rycroft

How does Wave Destroyer work?

Designed to be a “character tool” and “not too much of a channel strip”, it excels at firing up drum busses and dynamic elements.

The key to using this well, I found, was exploring the input EQ’s effect as it fed different frequencies into the distortion.

Having the option to do this in a single plugin makes life a lot easier and the level of control you have is great.

I found the ability to boost the lows to increase their saturation was a great way to bring out kicks and 808s on small speakers, and dull drum tracks could be livened with a hi-mid boost and toying with the highs.

Of course, distortion adds a lot of new sounds to a musical element and so having the same style of EQ on the output allowed me to tame the beast and get a carefully sculpted sound.

One of the key elements that makes this stand out from other distortion plugins is the visualisation of Bias and Asym controls.

Under the hood, it is designed with fuzz pedals in mind. And with three levels of distortion available (Saturate, Distort, and “DESTROY”), it has a huge amount of depth.

“The Bias and Asym controls are inspired by guitar fuzz pedals that have bias adjustment to give spurty, gated, lofi fuzz,” Greg explained.

“I haven’t seen that in a plugin before so wanted that to be an aspect of it. I especially like how the gates sounds work with drums.”

My new drum-bus

Up until now, I have been using the Supercharger GT plugin from Native Instruments on my drum bus (I personally like my drums to be hot).

Doing side-by-side comparisons, I can tell you that Wave Destroyer does a better job – even without the compressor knob.

Supercharger GT was my former drum-bus magic wand. Now I’ll have to rethink my chain

The reason for my affinity to Supercharger GT was because of its input saturation and output tone controls allowing for fat, warm, or bright sounds.

Well, with the Wave Destroyer, you get them – but with even more control options.

Given the fact that (and I say this very cautiously) distortion is a type of compression, Wave Destroyer can actually tame a lot of transients and fatten the audio up while still keeping the saturation silky smooth.

For this reason, all my future projects will have the dilemma of picking between my traditional choice, or this new one.

When will Wave Destroyer release?

GMH audio’s Wave Destroyer is still in the Beta-testing phase right now, however Greg told me to expect a release some time in July.

It will be available at GMH audio, alongside their other plugins.

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