# Shaperbox 2 alternatives



## Trancer (Apr 11, 2021)

Hello,

Alternatives to Shaperbox 2.

Do you have any ideas, suggestions?


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## Dirtgrain (Apr 11, 2021)

What don't you like about Shaperbox? What do you like about it? Anything in it you would be fine doing without?

Maybe not one that has all the effects Shaperbox has that also has a similar MSEG editor. LFOTool has fewer effects. UVI Shade is only filters (of many types). I wonder if MXXX has an MSEG device that works with all of its effects. That would be nifty. There are other multi-effects tools without MSEGs: Soundtoys effect rack, Uhbik, Effectrix (and others from Sugar Bytes), Excalibur (sort of). Serum, Rapid, and Zebra have effects versions that might compare.


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## Trancer (Apr 11, 2021)

Thank you for your reply.

Shaperbox 2 looks very interesting it is true, the videos give an overview of the effectiveness of the modules.

I was just wondering, if there weren't more specific plugins with more possibilities than those of Shaperbox 2.

For example, more modulations, filters, etc ...


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## doctoremmet (Apr 11, 2021)

Meldaproduction Mxxx


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## R. Soul (Apr 12, 2021)

Byome/Triad, Kilohearts Toolbox pro and Soundtoys effects rack are all good multi-fx.
But they don't offer the MSEG editor, as Dirtgrain mentioned.

Only plugins that do that AFAIK are LFO Tool, Duck by Devious machines and Kickstart by Nicky Romero. But these are mostly meant for sidechaining and don't offer things like distortion, panner, bit crusher etc.

Just noticed your name is Trancer. Are you perhaps looking for a more advanced Trance gate?
Maybe try Gatekeeper by Infected mushroom.
If you're using Logic, take a look at Step-FX, which is basically the old CamelSpace.

Tantra by Dmitry Sches is also worth looking at. Actually, for Trance, it might be the best choice.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 12, 2021)

R. Soul said:


> Just noticed your name is Trancer. Are you perhaps looking for a more advanced Trance gate?


Trancer very recently purchased MRythmizerMB  but I do like your suggestions. UA TRIAD may be a great addition - its modulation options are great.


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## Crossroads (Apr 12, 2021)

Reason Rack plugin has all that goodness and more. Some DAWs (like Cubase) even support capability to couple it's MSEGs to CC, which basically makes movement options infinite within Rack itself and other instruments and effects outside of it.

To make it clear, you could modulate your Cubase compressor's threshold with an MSEG from Reason if you would want to. Not sure why anyone would, but you can.


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## Markrs (Apr 12, 2021)

Initially thought Trash 2 but it might be a bit to limited as it is mainly distortion and doesn't have MSEG, only basic modulation.


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## Markrs (Apr 12, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> UA TRIAD may be a great addition - its modulation options are great.


I agree that either Triad or Byome might be a good idea for extensive modulation. Either can often be bought quite cheap as Plugin Alliance often do go sales with discount code on top. For example I believe I got Triad for only $20.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 12, 2021)

Markrs said:


> I agree that either Triad or Byome might be a good idea for extensive modulation. Either can often be bought quite cheap as Plugin Alliance often do go sales with discount code on top. For example I believe I got Triad for only $20.


Yes, one has to abide by the Three Laws of Plugin Dynamics, aka @el-bo ‘s Law. I do think I have even @mentioned Trancer during the last sales weekend and may have mentioned Byome, Triad and G8  $20 is incredible really, given how much I like Unfiltered Audio’s stuff. The fact that grand wizard @Empty Vessel spends time with it, speaks volumes really...


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## doctoremmet (Apr 12, 2021)




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## ghobii (Apr 12, 2021)

Bitwig!


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## emptyvessel (Apr 12, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Yes, one has to abide by the Three Laws of Plugin Dynamics, aka @el-bo ‘s Law. I do think I have even @mentioned Trancer during the last sales weekend and may have mentioned Byome, Triad and G8  $20 is incredible really, given how much I like Unfiltered Audio’s stuff. The fact that grand wizard @Empty Vessel spends time with it, speaks volumes really...


heh thank you, I am not worthy of such a tag! 

Yeah BYOME is a great start, I also worked with Dmitry Sches Tantra which takes the ducking, shaping, bending, cake-making (not really that one) effects about as far as they can go. +1 for the Kilohearts stuff, I work with KHs so yeah I'm biased but they're lovely guys and their stuff is cool, some devious fx chains can be built using Snapheap and Multipass containers. Personally for me now, as @ghobii mentioned, Bitwig modulators kinda render a lot of plugins redundant.
Dmitry is working on Tantra 2 and I don't think it's far from release.





Tantra


Dmitry Sches audio software - virtual synthesizers and effects




dmitrysches.com


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## el-bo (Apr 12, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> I also worked with Dmitry Sches Tantra


Was actually ready to put Tantra up for sale, last week (Financial issue, rather than a plugin issue). Even contacted Dmitry about the license transfer. But upon listening once again to your Tantra demo tracks I was persuaded to hold onto it...at least as long as I can. What you seem to have managed to wrangle from it goes way above and beyond it's trance-gate roots. One day I'll get my hands on that set, if only to try and learn by reverse-engineering. 

The BYOME and Thorn sets also seem fantastic. On my 'Someday' list, also


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## emptyvessel (Apr 12, 2021)

el-bo said:


> Was actually ready to put Tantra up for sale, last week (Financial issue, rather than a plugin issue). Even contacted Dmitry about the license transfer. But upon listening once again to your Tantra demo tracks I was persuaded to hold onto it...at least as long as I can. What you seem to have managed to wrangle from it goes way above and beyond it's trance-gate roots. One day I'll get my hands on that set, if only to try and learn by reverse-engineering.
> 
> The BYOME and Thorn sets also seem fantastic. On my 'Someday' list, also


Thank you so much, I really appreciate the kind words!
I kinda did everything I could do avoid the trance-gate stuff, no disrespect to anything trance-related it's just not my thing sound design-wise. It was fun to see what I could get Tantra to do when it was forced away from what it wants to do  
Maybe DM me an email address and lemme see what I can do for you


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## el-bo (Apr 12, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> Thank you so much, I really appreciate the kind words!
> I kinda did everything I could do avoid the trance-gate stuff, no disrespect to anything trance-related it's just not my thing sound design-wise. It was fun to see what I could get Tantra to do when it was forced away from what it wants to do


Absolutely nothing wrong with the T-gate stuff, Though I'm not a trance producer, i definitely got it for the sync'd gating, albeit i wanted to get something a little more mellow from it. Something a little like this track that I did, a decade (  ) ago. I used a free plugin called StormGate1 and the pattern was the default, and i believe I ran it through Supatrigga (?) to get that random reversing.
Track doesn't really go anywhere, and I wish I'd thought to change patterns





Anyway...You certainly achieved your goal. Turned expectations right on their head.




Empty Vessel said:


> Maybe DM me an email address and lemme see what I can do for you


Wow! Not often you get to compliment a developer on products you have yet to even try. but you definitely have a solid fanbase here, which is well-deserved.

Will definitely contact you, though.


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## Trancer (Apr 13, 2021)

Many thanks for your answers.

Indeed, the Mrythmizer, magnificent.

Thank you again for your wise advice and wisdom doctoremmet 👍

The Trash 2 seems like a very interesting choice as well.

Regarding Triad and Byome, I did not buy it, because I hesitate between the two. I will dig deeper into the subject. But a preference for Triad.

Tantra also pleases me as well, although a little off topic the vst Thorn from the same editor and designer. Mr. Sches is really talented two products which are certainly excellent. I narrowly missed the promo for the Thorn, it will be for next time 😊

Regarding Trance gate plug ins, there are plenty of them.

Stormgate 1 offers a lot of possibilities.

There is also another plugin worth noting.

A1TriggerGate, a very good plugin too.

Kilohearts seems to offer some really interesting products, the pro bundle isn't bad. Simple and efficient.

Gatekeeper, I have been viewing it on the net and it sounds really great, with a really surprising result.

On the other hand, the Shaperbox 2, can do the same, even better in view of the effects it offers, so the Gatekeeper may not be relevant as a purchase?


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## R. Soul (Apr 14, 2021)

Empty Vessel said:


> Dmitry is working on Tantra 2 and I don't think it's far from release.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's interesting. 
After listening to your preset pack, I realised why I never bothered picking up Tantra.
It seems like it's mostly aimed at Psy Trance or IDM, which is fine if that's what you do. 
But for more commercial genres it seems a bit over the top. Perhaps v2 will improve in that regard.
As it is now though, Soundtoys Rack is by far my favorite multi-fx even if it doesn't have a MSEG editor.


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## Markrs (Apr 14, 2021)

I have never tested this (@doctoremmet might know) but as Voltage Modular can work as a host, could it be used for modulating different parameters? I think PluginGuru Unify as now has some modulation that can be used.


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## doctoremmet (Apr 14, 2021)

Markrs said:


> I have never tested this (@doctoremmet might know) but as Voltage Modular can work as a host, could it be used for modulating different parameters? I think PluginGuru Unify as now has some modulation that can be used.


Basically, VM allows you to host any VST and use its audio as a source. Off the top of my head you get to modulate up to 12 parameters with CV (control voltages). So the "mangling" potential is pretty huge.

Slightly related.... it is also great fun to load (random) samples from one of your string collections into one of the native sampler modules of Voltage Modular and create generative patches with them.


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## Markrs (Apr 14, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> Basically, VM allows you to host any VST and use its audio as a source. Off the top of my head you get to modulate up to 12 parameters with CV (control voltages). So the "mangling" potential is pretty huge.
> 
> Slightly related.... it is also great fun to load (random) samples from one of your string collections into one of the native sampler modules of Voltage Modular and create generative patches with them.



This is something I _really _need to start playing around with!


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## doctoremmet (Apr 14, 2021)

Markrs said:


> This is something I _really _need to start playing around with!


I guarantee it is a lot of fun. It is also a rabbithole


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## emptyvessel (Apr 14, 2021)

R. Soul said:


> That's interesting.
> After listening to your preset pack, I realised why I never bothered picking up Tantra.
> It seems like it's mostly aimed at Psy Trance or IDM, which is fine if that's what you do.
> But for more commercial genres it seems a bit over the top. Perhaps v2 will improve in that regard.
> As it is now though, Soundtoys Rack is by far my favorite multi-fx even if it doesn't have a MSEG editor.


yeah I totally understand, I made that pack at Dmitry's request and it was a challenge. Sometimes there is just no point in struggling with an fx or instrument when it fundamentally keeps trying to follow the wishes of its maker rather than yours, opinionated plugins can be good as long as your opinions align. I've felt that with quite a few plugins and hardware instruments over the years, in the end it's just better to leave them to their intended audience, there are *always* other options.


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## ryst (Apr 15, 2021)

Trancer said:


> Hello,
> 
> Alternatives to Shaperbox 2.
> 
> Do you have any ideas, suggestions?


I don't think there are any real alternatives. Shapebox is indispensable for me. I use other plugins that do similar things. But they are all different enough to where I wouldn't replace one with another. I would just keep buying all the different ones until another one came out.


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## Trancer (Apr 19, 2021)

Thank you again for your answers.

Shaperbox 2 is still a benchmark in the field.

Triad and Tantra remains a nice alternative, see, complementary.

We will see when Tantra 2 is released, what features it will offer.


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## vitocorleone123 (Dec 15, 2021)

Trancer said:


> Thank you again for your answers.
> 
> Shaperbox 2 is still a benchmark in the field.
> 
> ...


Shaperbox 2 has now been updated with VST3 plugins for Windows and Mac, v2.4.4.

Cableguys originally weren't keen on adding VST3, but listened to their customers on several forums requesting it (including myself).


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