iZotope’s Trash has been around for 10 years. First released in 2003, it has gone on to stand the test of time, being used on various dancefloor hits. It gained favour as it was useful on any audio source and could be applied with a deft touch to create subtle sound changes, or walloped on like a gargantuan beast to totally mash up a sound. Ten years on, and iZotope have finally released Trash 2, but far from being just a simple update, Trash 2 is a completely new plugin altogether.
It looks good, with its redesigned visual display, and sounds amazing. It consists of a collection of individual audio processors, with six modules – Distortion, which is aptly named, Trash, delay, Dynamics, Impulse Response Filters iZotope call Convolve, and two separate filters. It really is a complete sound design tool.
All these elements of Trash 2 can be combined to make merry mischief on sounds, or can be used on their own. In fact, they can be routed to wherever the user wants them to be. This makes for some serious sound mangling, from delicate fuzz to serious ear-bleeding FX. Trash (and now Trash 2) has found fans with a wide range of artists – Nine Inch Nails, Noisia, Garbage, Korn and Sigur Ros to name a few. Anyone looks to add grit, grime and character to their tracks needs to jump onboard the Trash 2 revolution. There is also an expansion pack available offering even more presets to mess with. All in all, a great plugin for many varied uses.