LUCID vs PORTAL
With the release of Minimal Audio’s Lucid I am seeing a lot of people ask how it compares to Portal. In the past I’ve done a granular shootout between Portal, Fragments, and Graindad, and I also have a deeper granular shootout on the way. But today I figured I’d pit these two granular effects “head to head”. As with all my shootouts, it is important for me to preface this by saying there is no “winner” or “best” between the two, only the one that is best for you. “More features” doesn’t always mean the right features for your workflow, and sometimes one unique feature can be the reason you want something even if it has less of everything else. Also it is worth mentioning for this shootout that Portal was actually, at least in part, made for Output by members of the Minimal Audio team back before Minimal Audio existed.
WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?
Let’s start with how both overlap. Obviously they are both granular effects processors, they both have a stretch section, some form of modulation, two macros, and some effects. These are both great plugins for creative sound design. Granular processing is one of the most fun ways to process a signal and can completely transform sound into new textures. Both Lucid and Portal have the ability to tempo sync grains for rhythmic sound design, as well as un-synced time for more free flowing sound design. They both have smooth grain windows with the ability to ramped windows for percussive grains. They also both have tempo synced stretch controls fro slowing down audio while keeping it in time with the DAW.
Modulation takes granular effects to the next level, it’s one thing to have a static texture, but applying motion to these textures makes the effect far more interesting and dynamic. Both Portal and Lucid have modulation, though we’ll get into their differences below. Same goes for effects, effects add a nice finishing touch to your granular effect and both Lucid and Portal utilize effects to add polish to your presets. They also share a two macro system which allow syou to make much more expressive presets.
PORTAL
Grain density
0.5 ms - 1 sec
Grain size
1/8 - 4/1
Grain shape
single shape control
Modulation
2 MSEG style LFOs (includes humanize feature)
Effects
2 FX slots can with 7 fx options: bit reducer, chorus, distortion, filter, phaser, reverb, delay
Also includes master section with compressor and hp/lp filters
Macros
large XY grid with lovely particle animation
LUCID
Grain density
1 ms - 1 sec
Grain size
0.05 - 8/1
Grain shape
shape and skew control
Modulation
6 modulation sources can be either LFO, MSEG, or envelope follower
Effects
12 fx slots with 8 fx options:
chorus, compressor, delay, distortion, EQ, filter, reverb, shifter
Macros
much smaller XY grid with animator to provide automatic motion
PORTAL
AS you can see, for the most part Lucid simply offers much more than Portal, more effects, more modulation, motion can be applied to the macros, deeper scale controls, deeper imaging, per-grain filters and more.
I want to take a moment to highlight some of Portal’s unique features, while there are less of them, they are still cool, and if you have both, these might be reasons to break out Portal every once in awhile still.
The biggest is grain delay feedback, I found this control to be capable of some of my favorite sounds from Portal. It can be a bit touchy and “un-musical” but for sound design it is a really cool and powerful tool.
Second is the pitch and size scatter controls. Lucid does not have per grain size randomization. While you can use random modulation to control grain size, this will apply to all grains simultaneously.
I’ll admit, this isn’t nearly as special as feedback, but it’s still worth noting.
More important is the pitch random. While Lucid does have random in the arp mode, it doesn’t quite function the same as Portal. I’ve enjoyed setting “scale” to octaves or fifths, and using the pitch scatter to get random octaves per grain. You can also randomize this scatter depth which can be useful.
Portal also has a “count” control, which can allow you to limit the total number of grains giving you much more control over CPU consumption.
Finally, the phaser effect in Portal is pretty cool, it has a lovely ping when you adjust the stages control. While there’s no phaser in Lucid, it does have the frequency shifter which can be effectively used as a phaser anyways, but you don’t get the fun stages control. In no way is this one single setting meant to change anyone’s mind, it’s just to point out something cool you can find in the older more “replaceable” product.
Portal definitely has a distinct look, and is also one of the first to really establish this type of effect in the way you typically find it. I’m not saying Portal is the first granular effect, just that many design decisions have continued on in other granular effects since.
LUCID
As for Lucid, there’s a LOT to talk about,
More modulation means a wider range of motion available for presets. Also Lucid can do smooth and stepped random modulation. With six instances of randomization you can get some pretty crazy stuff going on. The full effects rack means you can completely polish your presets and round out any rough edges. The three band compressor really helps tame some of the wilder sounds that granular is capable of, while also lifting some of the more subtle sounds.
Having motions on the XY macros is awesome, I always wanted this in Portal. While it is not as pretty as Portal, it allows for longer scale evolutions of presets. I should also note that Lucid’s modulation is deeper, with a full matrix and even curve remapping.
The deeper scale section is probably their main focus, it allows you to set a custom scale with various retune settings. I really enjoy the arp and chord modes.
Arp pitch shifts each grain one after the other with up to four notes, while chord plays back all four pitch shifted values at once. This is also one of Lucid’s more unique features when it comes to granular in general.
The per grain effects are also a standout feature of Lucid giving you control over filter, imaging, and delay.
The filter is incredible, per-grain filtering is basically unheard of. There’s a lot of cool stuff you can do with this feature alone.
The imaging is a lot more powerful as well. Portal basically just offers per-grain random stereo position, where Lucid has a variety of patterns to pick from, as well as random. Add to that the dimension control which smears the signal as well as a “mono lows” setting which can be used to prevent subs from panning.
Finally the grain delay, while Portal’s grain delay offers feedback, which I still think is a solid selling point. Lucid’s delay offers pitch shifting with a variety of patterns as well as a space control which smears the delayed signal.
Speaking of smearing, I should also mention the “blur” control on the main grain section that also does something similar. Between the imager, delay and grains you have three areas where you can apply dispersion to the signal and create softer luscious sounds.
You can read my full Lucid review here: https://www.databroth.com/blog/lucid-review
Over all, Lucid is by far the deeper plugin, covering most of what Portal can do while adding a lot of new ground, more effects, and more modulation. But as you can see, there are still a few edge cases where Portal shines, and sometimes the simpler design can lead to more fun interaction and I love the extra large visual XY grid, though that is quite a bit more subjective. If you are trying to decide between the two, I hope this article can help you. But really I hope this article will give anyone who owns both an excuse to break out Portal every once in awhile.
Also, if you have only looked at these two options, consider checking out my other granular shootout for other alternatives: https://www.databroth.com/blog/portal-vs-fragments-vs-graindad
If this has helped you decide, please consider using one of my affiliate links to make your purchase, this helps support articles like these:
PORTAL:https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/45-Granular-FX/5458-Portal?a_aid=61c378ab215d5
LUCID:https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/2-Effects/45-Granular-FX/17714-Lucid?a_aid=61c378ab215d5
Also, I have preset packs for both plugins available:
COVALENCE for Portal: https://databroth.gumroad.com/l/FOEEu
VORTEX for Lucid: https://databroth.gumroad.com/l/vortex
If you have ANY questions, please feel free to ask.