BLEASS Dragonfly

What it does

A tremolo whose rate does not have to come from a dial. Four modes run down the side: manual, MIDI where note pitch sets the rate, self where velocity or playing dynamics set it, and side chain where another track drives it. Rate, factor, smoothing, stereo spread, attack, release, gain, wet mix and an amplitude amount shape the result, with simple and wild characters, a wilderness control and a dice button that randomizes everything. An animated dragonfly beats its wings at the current rate as a readout.

In the demo

Jade sets it manually on a wavetable pad, then plays the rate from an Arturia KeyStep in MIDI mode and from pick attack on guitar in self mode. She wires the side chain to a Hammerhead drum track in AUM to duck a bass line, repeats it on vocals, and ends by chaining several instances into one another.

Worth knowing

BLEASS points at the bass-modulated vocal in Billie Eilish’s Xanny as the reference for the side chain mode. Wild mode adds its own distortion, so it doubles as dirt. Anyone wanting a plain steady tremolo is paying for modes they will not open.