CamelCrusher

CamelCrusher is a simple, easy-to-use but amazing multi-effect plugin. The interface is friendly and straightforward. The plugin offers three effects that can be turned on and off independently. It also has very cool presets and a randomizer, a classic feature in these types of knobby panels. You can save your own setups and add them to the preset library. The sound processing and quality are amazing, and what is even better; it’s free!

CamelCrusher includes a fat distortion, a low-pass filter, and a compressor. Although the plugin was released years ago, it will still blow your mind and is a must for amateur and professional music producers and DJs. The software is light, so you don’t need an ultimate music production machine to use it. CamelCrusher will help you to add color, harmonics, crunch, or a combination of them all to your instruments.

CamelCrusher Operating Instructions

The panel is split into five sections. Below you will find how to use them and how to combine effects to achieve the desired effect on your track.

Patch Panel – Presets

This is the easiest function of the plugin. The plugin comes with 20 factory presets that you can browse by clicking the arrows next to the patch’s name, or you can click over the name to deploy a menu where you can browse the presets and save your own presets. You can also save and load preset banks to have your effects sorted and easy to find when needed.

In the outmost right of this panel, you will find the “Randomize” button. This is an interesting feature that allows you to play with the sound and help you find some inspiration while you are playing. Something cool about this feature is that when you press the button, the only modules that will be randomized are the ones turned on. This allows you to preserve the position of the knobs you don’t want to randomize just by turning that module off before randomizing.

Distortion

This panel has two knobs labeled “Tube” and “Mech”. You can choose to use only one type of distortion or to blend them to create a unique, highly distorted sound.

• Tube Saturation is a classic sound from vintage recordings where amplifiers and studio equipment used vacuum tubes. When vacuum tubes saturate, strong second-order harmonics are created. This type of harmonic is what makes tube amps sound so warm. You can use the tube distortion to make your song’s instruments or voice sound warmer and analog.
• The “Mech” knob unleashes a harsh mechanical-sounding distortion. This type of distortion boosts the low and high ends of the sound. Opposite to the pristine sound that you can get using Tube Saturation, this knob can completely destroy your sound, allowing you to achieve an aggressive thrashy sound ideal for many styles of music.
  Mech stands for “mechanical distortion”, a term that Boss used on many of their distortion pedals and multi-effect processors.

Another interesting feature of Camelcrusher is that you can combine both distortions, enabling you to create really unique and interesting sounds.

Remember that distortion usually amplifies the signal; that’s where the Master Volume knob comes into play, as we will see next.

You can switch distortion on and off just by clicking over the “ON” button in the top left of the panel.

Filter

If you are a fan of classic low pass filters, you will love this panel. CamelCrusher’s programmers added a traditional two-knobbed low pass filter to their fantastic plugin.

• The CUTOFF knob is used to set a threshold frequency. As the name describes it, any frequencies below the selected threshold will pass through, and those above will be cut off.
• The RES knob is an abbreviation for “resonance”. As you turn the knob to the right, some of the filter’s output is sent back to the input, adding a resonance spike just in the frequency you have set the filter. This produces high pitch harmonics and enhances the filter’s response.

It’s interesting how the two functions combine. If you are unfamiliar with this feature, the best way to better understand how it affects sound is to map the knobs in a MIDI controller, assign the plugin to a track in your DAW and start playing with them. It’s very intuitive, and you can get very creative using them.

This module is great for polishing the distorted audio or messing it completely.

On the top left of this panel, you will also find the “ON” button to activate or deactivate the module.

Compressor

Compressors are complex but powerful and very useful tools. However, CamelCrusher creators made it easy. You don’t have to be an expert to use it; despite having only a single knob, it’s ultra-effective. You can think of it as the “loudness” function some head units have.

Turning the “AMOUNT” knob to the right sets the desired compression. The effect is almost immediate; the signal is compressed, enhancing the effects applied over the track. When you twist the knob completely to the right, the dynamic range is wiped out, resulting in an extremely distorted sound.

Besides, this module has a “PHAT MODE” button which boosts the distortion even more, making the low frequencies sound fatter. It’s a good way to make percussion, drums, and synths sound fatter. It’s like setting the “AMOUNT” know to the highest level and multiplying it by two. Depending on how you combine distortion and filter, you can get a wide variety of results, from the hi-fi to the rough sounds.

Master

Last but not least, CamelCrusher has a “Master” section that includes two knobs.

• The “VOLUME” knob allows you to set the overall volume of the track where CamelCrusher is applied. Sometimes, if the sound is too distorted, the channel may clip, and you can solve it by just adjusting the volume.
• The “MIX” knob works like a typical dry/wet knob where dry is the original, unprocessed sound, and wet is the resulting sound after passing through the plugin, the “CamelCrushed” sound.

The “ON” button on the top left of this panel allows you to toggle the effects on and off. You will listen to the track’s original sound if you turn this panel off.

Midi Mapping

CamelCrusher is fully MIDI compatible. You can map all the knobs and controls of the plugin as you want, and it’s very easy to do it no matter what DAW you are using.

This can be of great help for composing and playing live and makes automation very easy.

Some Cool Features

If you right-click a knob (Windows) or use control + click (Mac) over any knob, you will deploy a pop-up menu.

• Midi Learn is for assigning the knob to an external MIDI controller. Just turn the desired knob or fader in your controller after hitting this option, and that’s it. Make sure that CamelCrusher and your controller are set in the same MIDI channel before doing this.
• Linear and Circular set how knobs respond to your mouse.

– Linear is the default configuration for all knobs. Just click on a knob and drag your mouse vertically or horizontally to turn the knob clockwise or counterclockwise.

– Circular mode requires you to move the mouse in a circular motion as if you were turning a hardware knob.

This setting affects all CamelCrusher’s knobs.

Fine Tuning

If you hold the Shift key on your computer keyboard while dragging the mouse, the knob will move much more slowly, ideal for making little adjustments.

Final Thoughts

You can never have enough of CamelCrusher. The plugin is so light on your CPU that you can use it in as many channels as you want. The powerful yet easy-to-use plugin offers endless possibilities to make your tracks sound more professional.

Source : Camel Audio