Waves Mondo Mod

Achieving those AM and FM modulation sounds isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. Way back when, I was using my pickups and a wah to act as an antenna to get some sort of sweep recorded in my DAW. That was before I knew about plugins like this. This allows you to get that AM and FM modulation sound like you're tuning a radio. The plugin has adjustments for auto or manual tempo syncing, modulation rate in Hz, modulation rate in BPM, x-factor modulation multiplier, waveform selection between square, saw up, saw down or triangle, AM depth fader, AM module, AM phase, rotation center, rotation range, rotation enabler, FM depth, FM on/off, FM phase, output gain and more. To enable this, simply enable it on whatever buss you want to use it on inside of your DAW. I never read the manual, so I can't comment on that, but they're usually fairly helpful if you have any questions regarding how things work.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I've never experienced a single issue while running these plugins, and I don't really expect to. Waves is pretty famous for being one of the best companies when it comes to overall stability and performance. The plugins are always rock solid. The plugins themselves are cross platform compatible, so both OS X and Windows users alike can utilize these without any issues. It also doesn't take up too much RAM, which is a huge plus. There is one issue, however. This is a 32 bit plugin, and I'm not a huge fan of the way my DAW implements these. My DAW is a 64 bit DAW, and for me to use these, it launches a special bridge application. It's a bit annoying as they disappear while in the background. I'm hoping that Waves updates these in the future so I don't have to keep using this app. I've been using the Waves bundle for the past six or so months, and it's been one of the best purchase decisions I've ever made.

OVERALL OPINION

Using plugins like this sure beats having to do it manually with some makeshift antenna. The uses for this are fairly limited as it's not a common effect, but when you need it, it's a godsend. I find it interesting that more people don't use this effect; they usually opt for something like a flanger instead. I'm guessing it's due to the lack of versatility.

The Waves Ltd. Mondo Mod software is a versatile modulation effects plug-in, compatible with all DAW's that I'm aware of. The plug-in can be purchased individually or within a number of different bundles. I installed the plug-in along with the full compliment of Waves plug-ins, which was an easy enough to do as it's just a simple as installing any piece of software. Learning to use the plug-in doesn't take an incredible amount of experience, but it did take me a few tries to get completely comfortable with the plug-in since it has a good amount of parameters to work with. It has AM, FM & Rotation modulations in here, with the AM and FM modules having depth and phase control and rotation having center and range parameters. The AM is essentially a tremolo, while FM is a vibrato and rotation is for panning purposes. The plug-in also has a tempo synch option, waveform selection, mix level, and gain. As you can probably tell, there's enough control here to give you a wide array of tones, but it's not convoluted in the least. A manual isn't something that should be necessary with this plug-in.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I've currently got the Waves Ltd. Mondo Mod plug-in running on my system at home, but have also used it at the professional studio where I work. My home studio consists of Pro Tools 9, a Digi 002R audio interface, and a Mac Book Pro computer that has 4 GB of RAM and a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. I've only used the plug-in in a limited number of instances (one or two), and this system has been more than enough to handle it...

OVERALL OPINION

I'm a pretty big fan of the Waves Ltd. Mondo Mod plug-in all in all, as there's a whole lot that can be done with it. Between the three main modes of FM, AM, and rotation (vibrato, tremolo and panning respectively) you can get all sorts of different modulation sounds that are great for a variety of purposes. I like using this plug-in for vocals especially as it can give you a nice and spacey vocal effect, but it's useful across the board whenever you might be looking for any sort of modulation effect. I don't know that I would have bought Mondo Mod individually had I not gotten it in a bundle, but it's definitely one worth considering either way if you're looking for something like this.