Spectral effect · VST3 · AU · AAX · macOS · Windows · iPad
Make a pad out of the track itself
- Use it on a track, a bus, or even the master. The drums fade away, but the chord continues to resonate.
- With just a few parameters, you can transform a song into an evolving pad.
- The pad stays in the song’s key: it follows the song through every chord change.
One licence, macOS and Windows · hear it on a loop
Now on iPad, as an AUv3
75 % · The harmony of the last few seconds continues to linger in the air.
Listen
One track, one preset,
one minute.
Press play, then switch between the dry and the preset. The track keeps running, so the ear compares the same bar.
Echoes of the Past
1 min · dry
- Atavism
- 0 %
- Pulsation
- 0 %
- Shimmer
- 0 %
- Mix
- 0 %
- Low cut
- off
- High cut
- off
The track, untouched.
The controls
A few controls for a sublime
cinematic sound.
The big knob.
From the track to its pad.
At 25%, the attacks are gone. At 100%, only the harmony remains. Try it: the caption below describes what you hear.
75 % · The harmony of the last few seconds continues to linger in the air.
Three smaller knobs.
Movement, octave, mix.
Pulsation
A slow, irregular modulation of the pad’s volume that brings the atmosphere to life.
Shimmer
Adds the upper octave to the pad while keeping it in the key of the original track.
Mix
From “dry” to “wet,” always in sync with the track. Set it to 100% to hear only the pad, or between 35% and 60% to enrich the track, bus, or master it’s derived from.
Two filters,
which affect only the pad.
The low cut removes rumble from the pad, while the high cut attenuates high frequencies if unwanted noise interferes with listening. The source itself never passes through the filters.
Eight presets, plus your own.
Eight starting points, ranging from a subtle background blur to a cinematic soundscape. Save your own presets for your next sessions: compatible with VST3, AU, and AAX. Each knob is MIDI-learnable and can be assigned to a MIDI controller with a simple right-click.
What it isn’t
It erases the timing of a sound while preserving its harmony. Nothing more.
Not a reverb
It isn’t reverb: there’s no space or fading tail. When the source stops, the pad continues to build in intensity for a moment, then stops on its own.
Not a delay
It’s not a delay; nothing is repeated. There’s no echo and no rhythm of its own.
Not a freeze
It’s not a freeze; nothing is frozen. As the track progresses, the pad continues to follow the harmony.
Not a stretcher
This isn’t a time stretcher; nothing is stretched. The pad retains the source’s duration and its place on the timeline.
Not a synth
This isn’t a synth; nothing is tracked or triggered. The pad consists of the sound’s inherent spectral harmonics.
What is it used for?
Under a track, in place of a track, or on any sound that resonates.
Designed for film and video game composers, producers, and anyone who performs live via a send.
Under a track
With the mix at 40%, the pad blends into the background of the mix, adding a harmonic layer. On the master bus, it fills the space between the drum hits with the track’s signature harmony. A cinematic take on a cue, created with a single gesture.
In place of a track
Automate the knob over the last bar, and the drums blend into the chord. Use it for an intro, or throughout an entire track to create an ambient or cinematic sound.
On any sound that resonates
It transforms any sound source, a chord, a voice, a melody, into a floating cloud made up of its own harmonics. Just turn the big knob all the way up.
How does the spectral effect work?
There is nothing before the note and nothing after.
The sound spreads in one direction: a note begins when it is played, and its harmony spreads immediately afterward. When the source stops playing, the pad continues to build for a few seconds, then stops.
Separation
What resonates lingers, and what hits is set aside; no attack is perceived as such.
Preserving the lines
The underlying harmony remains, while the background noise fades away; this works just as well on a single track as it does on a master bus.
Spreading
Each moment spreads out over the seconds that follow: a reverb convolution without decay.
Spreading again
Starting at 75% on the big knob, a second stage spreads the result once more; at 100%, only the persistent lines remain.
One purchase
Yours for good.
$39
Key and installers by email within a minute.
The demo is the full plug-in: try it first.
- Formats
- VST3, AU and AAX on macOS 11 or later, universal. VST3 and AAX on Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit. Pro Tools 2025.6 or later.
- Latency
- Around 300 ms, compensated by your DAW; 170 ms in Short mode. Playing live, put it on a send: the dry stays direct.
- Automation
- Nine parameters, and MIDI learn on every knob.
- Presets
- Eight factory presets. Yours follow you into every format.
- Licence
- One key, macOS and Windows. No account, no internet needed. Updates within the major version.
- Demo
- The full plug-in, muting for two seconds every minute until you enter a key.
In the press
“Atavism’s strongest idea is also its simplest”
“The result Atavism creates is impeccable”
Questions
What people ask before they buy.
In what formats is Atavism available?
VST3, AU, and AAX on macOS; VST3 and AAX on Windows. The AAX version is supported by Pro Tools 2025.6 or later. On iPad, Atavism is an AUv3, sold on the App Store. The App Store purchase does not unlock the desktop plug-in, and a desktop key does not unlock the iPad app.
Why does the plug-in introduce latency, and how much?
The effect needs to listen to a segment of the track in order to transform it: approximately 300 ms, or 170 ms in “Short” mode. Your DAW can compensate for this latency to keep everything in sync. To use it live, place the plug-in on a send bus and switch to “Short” mode.
What is limited in the demo version?
A two-second silence triggers at the end of every minute; all controls, presets, and formats work as long as you like.
How does activation work? Do I need an account?
No account or internet connection is required. Open the plug-in’s Settings (click the logo), enter the email address used during your purchase, and paste the licence key you received via email.
I lost my licence key.
Send us an email at info@parallel-minds.studio from the email address used for your order, and we’ll resend it to you within two business days at most.
Is a “bounce” identical from one run to the next?
Yes, with the same settings, two “bounces” from the same session are identical, including Pulsation.
On Windows 10, the Atavism window is blank.
This does not affect the sound: only the display window requires Microsoft WebView2, a free component already included in Windows 11 that the installer adds when the computer is connected to the Internet. If the installer fails, download the “Evergreen Standalone Installer” (x64) from developer.microsoft.com/microsoft-edge/webview2 on any computer, run it on the studio machine, and then reopen the Atavism window.
On macOS 11, the Atavism window does not display its knobs.
Updating to Atavism 1.1.1 or later fixes the window display on all macOS 11 systems.
How do I uninstall the plug-in?
On macOS: Run the “Uninstall Atavism.command” script located in /Library/Documentation/Atavism. On Windows: Settings → Apps → Atavism → Uninstall. Both methods preserve your licence key and presets; thus, upon a future reinstallation, the plug-in will already be activated. The macOS script also offers the option to delete them.
