A Happy Accident: Using Synerator to Create Audio FX Presets

Synerator FX randomizaton workaround // Official FX version coming soon

I built Synerator to randomize synth VST3s. Load a synth, hit randomize, and it throws new values at every parameter the synth exposes - a fast way to stumble into patches you'd never program by hand. That's the whole idea: happy accidents on demand.

But while I was testing recently, a thought occurred to me. Synerator doesn't actually care what kind of plugin it's hosting. It randomizes exposed parameters. A synth exposes parameters. So does an effect. So what happens if you load an effect plugin into Synerator instead of a synth?

The obvious problem: Synerator doesn't pass audio. It was built to randomize and manage synth patches, not to sit in an audio signal path. So if you load a reverb into it, you can randomize all you want, but you won't hear a thing.

Then it clicked - you don't need to hear it inside Synerator. You just need to save what it makes.

Here's the trick

Load an effect plugin into Synerator. Randomize its parameters until you get something you want to try. Save that as a preset using the effect plugin's own preset save function. Then drop that same effect onto an audio track in your DAW and recall the preset. Suddenly you're hearing a randomized effect patch - one you never would have dialed in manually - running on live audio.

I tested it with Valhalla Supermassive, which felt like the perfect candidate. It's free, it's everywhere, and its delay-and-reverb engine loves to be pushed into extremes. I made six presets in a couple of minutes. Loaded them onto a track. And they sounded genuinely great - huge, lush, strange spaces that I'd never have thought to build from scratch. The kind of thing you hear and immediately want to write a track around.

How to do it yourself

1. Load your effect plugin into Synerator. I used Valhalla Supermassive.

2. Hit randomize until you land on a parameter set worth trying. Use the lock buttons to hold anything you want to keep fixed.

3. Save the result as a preset using the effect plugin's own save function.

4. Repeat to build up a batch. Six in a few minutes is easy.

5. Drop the same effect onto an audio track in your DAW and recall your saved presets.

6. Listen. Your randomized settings are now running on live audio.

A few things to know

This works on effects that expose their parameters to the host and support their own preset save/load. That covers a lot of plugins, but not all - anything that hides its parameters from the host will only randomize partway, the same way some synths do.

And to be clear, this is an experimental, unsupported side-use. Synerator wasn't designed for it. It's a save-and-reload loop, not real-time tweaking, so think of it as a batch generator for sound-design happy accidents rather than a live-tweaking tool. You randomize, save, and audition in your DAW - not exactly elegant, but the results speak for themselves.

Where this is headed

I'll be honest - discovering this made me want to build the real thing. A proper audio-passing FX version of Synerator, where you drop it straight onto a track and hear the randomization happen in real time, is on the roadmap. This little trick is a preview of that idea, something you can play with today while the full version takes shape.

Give it a shot. Load up Supermassive, or whatever effect you've got, and see what falls out. If you make something you love, I'd like to hear about it.

Wanna give it a try? Check out Synerator HERE.