Heavyocity's Affordable and Convenient MicroFX Series

As someone who primarily does music mixing, I tend to use plugins that provide relatively more 'transparent' and natural effects. Preamp, saturator, and analog emulation products often give a warm and rich feel.

However, there are moments when extreme effects are needed. In music genres like rock or hip-hop, there are cases where a lot of distortion and sound changes need to be created. For example, even if they serve the same saturator role, plugins used in pop should function very differently from those used in rock.

Heavyocity is a brand that mainly sells virtual instruments and effect products specialized for film music and sound design. Today, Heavyocity released three new MicroFX series plugins.

I was able to do a pre-release test with an NFR license provided by Plugin Boutique. (I declare that there is no affiliate code in the link and this article is not a sponsored review.)

Affordable and Convenient Plugins

The three products released this time are MicroFX Filter, MicroFX Obscene, and MicroFX Shimmer. All of them were useful for clear and creative sound production, as expected from Heavyocity products.

These products are sold at a regular price of $49 each (currently on sale for $39 to celebrate the launch), which is very affordable compared to the prices of Heavyocity's main products.

True to the name 'MicroFX', the functionality also aims to allow users to use the plugins quickly and conveniently.

Therefore, it seems that MicroFX products are targeting beginners or producers who dislike complex functions, with the advantages of low price and convenient features. If they gain popularity, we might see other products under the MicroFX title in the future.

Dynamic Effects Using XY Pad

Basically, the three products have the same interface. They all have mod, playb, speed, and mode parameters on the left and right of the XY pad, which make the effects work dynamically. These create effects as if filter, distortion, and reverb settings are moving in time with the beat.

It's also possible to use it statically if you don't press the power button of mod. Or you can set the node of the XY pad to automation to make it move directly.

When the mod function is on, double-clicking on an empty space creates a new node and connects between nodes. In this way, you can create almost infinite movements to implement rich dynamic effects.

Product-Specific Features

Each plugin allows you to set two parameters from 0 to 100 on the X and Y axes.

Type	X	Y
MicroFX Filter	cutoff	reason
MicroFX Obscene	drive	freq
MicroFX Shimmer	bleed	tone

If you position the node at the bottom left, both parameters are 0, so no effect is applied. Conversely, if the node is at the top right, you can create the most maximized effect with both parameter values at 100.

At the bottom, there are three knobs that differ for each plugin, and there are additional mode selection buttons or sliders.

In MicroFX Filter, you can create filtering effects using OFFSET and ENV FOLLOW. Increasing DRIVE adds distortion, allowing you to create distortion effects as well. Pressing the DIRTY button can give very extreme distortion.

It uses two filter effects that can be combined in Series, Parallel, L/R, or M/S modes. Especially when setting different filters for stereo effects, I could get an interesting sense of depth. You can select lowpass, bandpass, comb filter, highpass notch methods for each, and it's also possible to bypass without applying a filter.

While MicroFX Filter can give quite effective distortion effects on its own, MicroFX Obscene is a plugin designed to create powerful distortion in earnest.

At the bottom, you can select Blast, Crusher, or Nuke mode. Blaster creates strong distortion in the high frequency range, while Crusher and Nuke have darker tones. The distortion gets stronger and the dynamic range narrows in the order of Blast, Crusher, and Nuke.

There are also MOVEMENT and FEEDBACK functions that can adjust internal effects. As you raise TONE, the sound gets brighter. Especially when strong distortion effects are applied, a unique effect occurs where the sound seems to be modulated, but this can be prevented by turning off RINGMOD.

MicroFX Obscene can also give dynamic effects, but it's relatively static compared to MicroFX Filter as it doesn't change the filtering. If you need moving and diverse distortion effects, you might use MicroFX Filter, and if you need static and strong distortion effects, you might use MicroFX Obscene.

MicroFX Shimmer creates a long and majestic reverb effect called 'Shimmer'. You can adjust reverb values with SIZE and DECAY, and add chorus effects with MOD.

Using the DYNAMIC slider, you can flatten the signal response of the reverb. Reducing the dynamic range in this way can give you a longer and more consistent reverb effect.

You can select from three modes: octave down, down+up, and up. This also showcases the aim of MicroFX products by allowing you to select Shimmer reverb effects with just a simple button click.

Sound Examples

Overall Review

Personally, I tend to avoid 'cheap and convenient' plugins. This is because I think it's better to use products with verified and definite quality, even if it takes time, rather than using products with mediocre performance for more reliable results.

However, I quite liked MicroFX. I think it could easily and clearly implement the user's intentions when extreme effects are occasionally needed or creative effects are required.

Also, the fact that all plugins have Mix, In, and Out controls increases their usability. When used with the XY pad, it allows for even more precise and subtle effects.

Speaking of price, $49 per plugin is quite reasonable even for people who don't do this kind of work often. And this type of easy-to-use and inexpensive plugin often goes on sale, and there's a high possibility that they'll bundle the MicroFX series in the future to sell at an even lower price.