BOOM Library are well known for their amazing sound libraries, and have been putting out awesome VST Plugins for a while now.
Their latest offering, EnRage, is one of our new favorite ways to use FX in our music. While it can be a lot, we’ll try to run you through what EnRage does, what it offers, and how to work with it.
So to not mince any more words, let’s get right into our Boom Library Enrage Review.
BOOM Library’s ENRAGE, is easily one of the best Multi-FX VST Plugins you can get right now. With over 40 devices and modulation sources, the possibilities are almost limitless with EnRage!
- 40 different effect modules you can open up to change your sound and create weird creations with.
- Possibility to modulate with 10 different sources allowing endless possibilities for sound design.
- Fantastic user-interface that makes a lot of sense and is extremely beautiful
- A huge range of 250 presets to give you a starting point for your sound design sessions.
- Large range of 8 macros you can apply to any parameter to control it over time with automation or map it to a MIDI controller.
- Difficult to understand its true power until you learn the steep learning curve.
- Quite expensive for an effects suite and CPU intensive.
Contents
What is BOOM Library ENRAGE?
Boom Library have been hitting home runs with each new release. From the awesome Turbine and Enforcer, to SoundWeaver, and most recently, EnRage.
They are mostly known for their stellar, cinematic, foley and SFX sound libraries, but have recently been venturing into the plugin market, with some exceptionally interesting sound design tools for specifically game, film & TV.
(The plugins are certainly not limited to that & are fantastic for music making sessions too)
Boom Library’s latest plugin, EnRage, is an incredibly ambitious modular multi-effect tool. With over 40 devices on offer, EnRage has pretty much all the sonic possibilities you might want out of a Multi-FX unit, and more!
And these FX are seriously mind-blowing by themselves, but what really brings them alive is the 10 total modulation sources you get with EnRage, which can be used to add movement and make your FX feel more organic.
EnRage is meticulously designed and engineered, to the point where you have so many possibilities and such extended flexibility that you could do nearly anything with EnRage.
That being said, it is certainly not the most beginner-friendly plugin, and will require time, to properly get acclimatized to how EnRage functions.
Devices
As we already mentioned previously, Boom Library’s EnRage comes with over 40 devices and effects to use on your patches.
These devices are clearly separated into 11 Categories, let’s go through these one by one!
- In/Out – Stereo In, Stereo Out, Sidechain In and Tap Source
- Delay – Tape Delay, Shift Delay, Fixed Delay, Multitap Delay,Grain Delay and Repeater
- Distortion – Distortion, Decimator, VariDrive and WaveShaper
- Modulation – Phase, Chorus, Vocoder, Ring Mod and Flanger
- Generator – Sine, Saw/Square, Noise and Crackle
- Pitch – Pitch Shift, Voice Shift, Freq Shift, Sub Octaver, Spectral Warp
- Filter – MultiFilter, param EQ, Splash Filter, Vowel Filter, 2-band Split, 3,4,6-band Split.
- Imaging – Panning, MS Split, MS Merge, MS Encode, MS Decode, Stereo Split and Stereo Merge
- Reverb – Basic Verb and Convolution Reverb.
- Gain & Dynamics – Gain Lin, Gain dB, Compressor and Gate
- Analyzer – Analyzer
These Devices will serve like individual Effects modules, that you can build your EnRage FX Racks with.
Starting with Stereo In and ending with Stereo Out, but we’ll talk about workflow in a little bit!
Modulation
Adding modulation to FX instantly creates another layer of dimension in your music, and is perfect for creating sound effects.
With over 10 different MOD sources to choose from in EnRage, you get a serious amount of control and variation.
You get 10 Modulation sources to work with in EnRage, which are:
- Curve
- ADSR
- Envelope Follower
- LFO
- Mapping
- Delay
- Transient Follower
- Change Analyzer
- Pitch Tracker
- Formula
For example, you could use the transient follower, to create your own transient shaper utility, however, think about all the other different types of paths you could use for treating your transients. Anything from softening snare attack, to adding bespoke reverbs, that respond to your audio.
And this is just one of the devices you have on offer. Some Modulation sources such as the Change Analyzer and Formula are really complex, and is honestly beyond us how to work them!
That being said, we’ve had tons of fun exploring the different routing paths for our modulation sources and effects.
Additionally, you can also route your modulation sources to control other Mod sources, for even more complex movement in your sound.
While it’s not the most streamlined and easy process in the world, designing an FX patch on EnRage is all the rage… Sorry!
User Interface
The User Interface of Boom Library’s EnRage can be quite intimidating. It looks awesome, and it’s very easy to understand, however, EnRage puts all of it’s features in a single screen.
While this is awesome for workflow, it can feel too cluttered for a first-time user.
That being said, once you get to grips with how EnRage functions, working with it is a breeze.
At the very top of the plugin, you’ll see the Preset selection window, Undo/Redo buttons as well as a CPU Load indicator.
The main user Interface is divided into 4 main sections:
- Control,
- Mod Sources,
- Devices
- and Macros.
The Control section hosts the tools that you need to control your modulation triggering. These can be audio samples, or MIDI, depending on the type of modulation you’re using.
To the right of this, you’ll find the Modulation section, where you can add and organize every modulation source in your patch.
On the very far right of the plugin, you’ll find your Macro knobs. These are freely assignable by you, and pre-loaded in presets. Macros are super useful, when you want to make an even more interesting and changing sound.
The bottom section of EnRage, is where all of your devices and routing will happen. On the far left, you’ll have a list of categories you can choose from, to add devices to your Rack.
Once you have a device loaded onto the Rack, and selected it, you’ll be able to see the device controls on your right. Here you can adjust your Filters, Reverbs, assign Modulation and more!
Lastly, the very bottom of the plugin has an Oversampling option, as well as Autoroute, a Dry/Wet control and an Output Gain knob.
Workflow
Working with EnRage can be quite tough when you start out, but becomes intuitive and fun when you get used to it.
Essentially what you’re doing every time you use EnRage is building your own FX rack from scratch. Anything from where the Input goes, to which Devices feed into each other, to how your Output works.
It’s essentially as in-depth as you can go, without having to code your own plugins.
That being said, actually designing a patch from the ground-up, utilizing EnRage to it’s full potential, can be quite a lengthy and intricate process.
We personally enjoy the workflow of EnRage, however, it’s undeniable that it might seem intimidating and scary to producers, who aren’t as well acquainted with the intricacies of audio FX.
With that in mind, considering how much EnRage accomplishes, you can’t help but be impressed as to how Boom Library managed to fit all of that functionality in a single, comprehensive screen.
Presets
If you’re not that big into super intricate, custom-made FX chains, you might be happy to see that there are quite a few factory presets on offer with EnRage.
In fact, you get over 250 different factory presets, with full Macros, ready to be tweaked, twisted and mangled.
Additionally, creating your own EnRage presets will be something you’ll do a lot, and thankfully, saving and recalling your own EnRage presets is a piece of cake.
Once you open the Preset menu, on the very bottom, you’ll find a section, where you can name, Save and Load your current preset, so you can recall it at a later time.
With that in mind, if you’re getting EnRage just for the presets, you should look at other options. EnRage is incredibly powerful, and also quite expensive, so just using EnRage as a preset loader can be a bit wasteful.
On the flip side though, these presets sound nothing short of phenomenal.
Do You Need ENRAGE?
Lastly, the real question at hand. Do you even need EnRage?
Long story short, no you do not NEED EnRage, but one thing is for sure, we’ve been using it a lot since we got it, and we’ve been enjoying it tons.
EnRage is like a wet dream for a sound designer, with seemingly limitless options and modulation, EnRage can be the perfect FX suite for all music producers.
That being said, if you’re just starting out in music production, we’d suggest you try to start small. Start with single effects and processing units, before you move to something as intricate and in-depth as EnRage.
If you have been getting bored, just adding audio plugins to channels, without having much say in terms of routing and modulation, EnRage might just be the perfect thing for you.
Using EnRage makes us approach creative audio effects in a completely different manner, which has lead us to some awesome new sounds and discoveries. The point still stands… EnRage is an incredible plugin, but way too deep and intricate for a beginner producer to feel at home with.
Finishing Up
Boom Library’s EnRage is easily one of the best Multi-FX VST Plugins you can get right now. With over 40 devices and modulation sources, you’ll never run out of new things to do with EnRage.
Whether you make sound effects, work as a sound designer or music producer, Boom Library’s EnRage will be a great addition to your sound design toolkit.
Toms is a music producer & DJ, born and raised in Post Soviet Latvia. Currently based in Brighton, Toms has had over 6 years of experience with all things production and in that time, he’s done a tonne of cool stuff! He’s played multiple festivals, had experience in the field with mixing & mastering and even become a freelance journalist in the music industry.
Toms currently creates music under the alias Sovereign. Producing music that’s intimate and subtle, while full of edge and energy, the young producer combines the artistic sounds of Trip Hop artists like Massive Attack, with the energy and youthfulness of producers like Flume, Jamie XX and Yaeji. You can check his stuff on Soundcloud.
