Every time you think that every old piece of analog gear has been digitally replicated, yet another obscure one comes out of the woodwork. This time it’s an emulation of the old Publison Infernal Machine. a very cool but unreliable processor that was way ahead of its time. This has finally been reproduced by Savant Audio Labs with their new IM90 plugin.
The Publison was a very rare effects processor released in 1984 and was used on records by Prince, Brian Eno, Frank Zappa, and Pink Floyd, among many others. It was expensive, not many were made, and if it broke (which inevitably happened), it had to be sent back to France to get fixed. But what a sound!
It was a sampler, pitch shifter, time stretcher, delay and reverb, all controllable via MIDI, built into one box. Savant Audio Labs is the first company that I’m aware of that has replicated the processor in a plugin form.
This is a very deep processor in terms of parameter control, so it’s best to refer to the video below to get a full feel for its capabilities. That said, the IM90 is consists of four modules: Delay, Time, Pitch, and Reverb. The Pitch Shift module is available on the Delay and Time stretch modules, and is adjustable in a range from 2 octaves below to 1 above, or in a micro-shift mode, which was used back in the day for tuning vocals.
Every module of the IM90 is probably deeper than anything you’ve encountered, but there are plenty of great sounding presets to get you going. This processor is that hidden sound you’ve been looking for when it comes to reproducing some of the effects on 80s/90s hits, as you’ll hear in the video below.
The IM90 is currently available for an introductory price of $79 (normally $179). It works on current versions of Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, Ableton, and Reason (VST/AU/AAX) and at sample rates up to 192kHz.
You can find out more here, or watch the comprehensive walkthrough video below.
