106, arranged in 12 modules. Each module is a family of effects: delays, reverbs, distortion, filters and so on. Each one holds between 5 and 19 effects you can swap in. Switch on the modules you want, pick an effect in each and drag them into any order. You’re not so much loading a plugin as building one.

Anything that comes out of a speaker. Collage is most at home wherever sound is meant to move and change, from ambient soundscapes and immersive film scores to patinaed garage rock and trunk-rattling hip-hop. But it’s just as happy being a tidy vocal chain.

If the idea of designing your own interface feels overwhelming, don’t worry. There are over 1,500 unique presets to explore from the get-go, so you can discover the sonic possibilities Collage has to offer.

It deals you a whole new effect: new modules, new effects within them, new settings. Some rolls are instantly useful, some are glorious accidents. Found something you love? Lock it (Cmd-click on Mac, Ctrl-click on Windows) and keep rolling everything around it.

Our shortlist:

• Lorenz, a delay driven by a chaos equation.
• Clone, cutting-edge neural-network saturation and dynamics.
• Oracle, a predictive glitch machine.
• Willow, an epic reverb that blooms into ambient drones.
• Copycat, which makes imperfect loops of whatever you feed it.
• Portis, a degraded filter modeled on classic sampler workstations.
• Bloom, an envelope shaper that turns transients into gentle swells.

They react to your sound in ways that are unpredictable while staying musical, perfect for catching lightning-in-a-bottle moments.

Yes. On the Design page, place knobs, sliders and XY pads anywhere on the canvas. Link each control to as many parameters as you like, set its range and curve, and give it a name. Pick a backdrop and a control style, and it becomes your Play page: a one-of-a-kind instrument with only the controls you care about.

The Morph pad lets you glide between different versions of your sound by dragging a single point. Switch on Wander and it drifts by itself. Morph changes the character of the sound, never your levels or your delay timing, so nothing jumps out of the mix or off the beat.

Yes. Twenty macros are exposed to your DAW, ready to map to a MIDI controller or automate, and so are the Morph pad’s two axes. Ride one knob and the whole effect transforms.

Right-click any control to give it its own LFO, or an envelope follower that reacts to how loud you play. There are four global LFOs as well, and many of the effects carry their own motion. Most of the movement you’ll want is there before you reach for DAW automation.

Yes. There’s a whole range of tonal shapers that add anything from a subtle to an extreme analog veneer. Use the master Blend control to mix the effect in with the dry signal, or experiment with how hard you push the input to find the sweet spot.

Only the modules you switch on use any processing power. Oversampling (Off, 2x or 4x) trades CPU for cleaner distortion; set it to Off in big sessions.

Yes. Collage 3.0 is a massive overhaul of its predecessor, but it has been carefully built to retain the best elements of the original.

Collage is made by Kalide, a music technology company founded in 2019 by composer and sound artist Hays Holladay. Kalide makes tools that do two things for composers: smooth the path from idea to finished piece, and knock it sideways now and then, so there’s always room for serendipity and inspiration.

14 days, with everything unlocked. You need a free Kalide account, and each computer gets one trial.

The plugin carries on in demo mode: everything works, but the sound goes quiet for 2 seconds every 45 seconds. Your sessions and presets are safe. Buy at any time and it unlocks again.

Only to activate. After that the plugin checks in about once a day, and keeps working offline for up to 28 days between check-ins.

Up to three per license. To move to a new computer, deactivate the old one in the plugin’s Settings, or remove it from your account at kalide.moonbase.sh.

You pay $9.99 a month. After 12 payments the plugin is yours to keep, with no more charges. You can cancel any time from your account; payments you’ve already made aren’t refunded, and the plugin goes back to demo mode when the last paid month runs out.

Purchases are made through Moonbase, Kalide’s store and reseller, and refunds follow Moonbase’s terms for buyers.

Mac: macOS 10.15 or later on Intel, macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon. Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. AAX for Pro Tools is Mac only for now.

No. The same download is the trial, the demo and the full version.