Review: Morphit from Toneboosters

Headphones – even if you’re not using them to work on your tracks, your listeners are zoning out to them on their earbuds on their daily commute to the office, or while working out at the gym.  Is there a plugin that doesn’t cost the earth that not only helps you mix better on your studio headphones but also check the translation of that mix to average consumer models? That’s where Morphit by ToneBoosters comes in.

“Morphit modifies the audio for your headphones to sound like a neutral, ‘studio reference’ headphones so you can make your mixing decisions quickly and confidently. Moreover, Morphit is the only headphones correction tool available today that can switch and modify target curves, and simulate any of its supported headphones. Last but not least, and in contrast to other correction tools, Morphit corrects for magnitude and phase of your cans.”

Toneboosters

Mixing… on Headphones?

We’ve all heard that mixing on headphones is a bad idea.  The biggest issue is that the frequency response of even a set of headphones designed for studio use is still coloured in such a way that it inevitably throws our mixes off like a drunk guy on a merry-go-round.  And if you’re using consumer headphones (don’t worry, it’s our little secret), then it’s even worse.

Luckily for us, the clever boffins at Harman came up with the Harman curve, which in essence is the same frequency response as good speakers in an ideal room.  Morphit enables us to use any of the almost 600 supported models of headphones or earphones and it will adjust the sound passing through it so it matches either that curve or some other useful targets. 

This, in theory, should lead to better mixes even if the headphones you are using are not the world’s greatest. In practice?  Let’s find out…

Mighty Morphit Power Headphones

Morphit has quite a straightforward interface, all you need to do to get started is pick your headphone model from the list, and corrections will then be applied. 

If your model doesn’t happen to be in the list, there are 3 generic models corresponding to studio and consumer headphones, and generic earbuds that can be used instead.  A graph is also displayed showing the adjusted frequency response curve.

As well as having a gain trim knob, there’s an optional limiter and even a Morph knob which is a dry/wet control (and can be increased above 100% for deliberate over-adjustment).  Simple features, but I notice their absence when using competing products without them.

Morphit has three modes, and the default mode “Correct” is fixed to using what ToneBoosters call a “Generic Studio Reference” target curve.  If you want to use a different target curve or simulate a different set of headphones or earbuds, you’ll need to switch to either “Simulate” or “Custom” mode.

Simulate mode is basically the “Correct” mode with the ability to adjust the target to either another headphone model or a different target curve.  Morphit has 7 different target curves (that aren’t a specific headphone model), but I’ve found I really only use “Generic Studio Reference” for day-to-day and “Generic Harman AE/OE” for checking how my mix will translate to speakers when I’m mastering. But if ever I want to hear what my mix sounds like in an anechoic chamber or during a commute, Morphit has me covered.

Correct mode has one extra feature on top of Simulate mode, that being a simple parametric EQ (with two bell filters and high and low shelves) to further tweak the frequency response.   I haven’t found the need to use this yet, but control freaks will rejoice at its inclusion.

The graphical interface is clean and attractive, and clicking the data visualisation toggle button will enable an extra two plots on the graph, the measured frequency response of the source headphones and the difference between the measured and target response in addition to the target response itself.  As is standard for Toneboosters plugins, there is inbuilt preset management, the ability to select a theme, and A/B functionality to easily compare different configurations.  Bundled presets are not really relevant when the user could be using any of 600 different headphone models. 

As a special bonus for iPhone/iPad owners, there is also an iOS version of Morphit, in addition to the usual Windows and MacOS versions.  Toneboosters licensing allows Morphit to be used on up to 4 devices, so that enables a lot of flexibility.

Hearing those Details

Morphit definitely achieves what it sets out to do, with minimal fuss.  I use both Audio Technica ATH-M50X and Superlux HD-681 EVO headphones, and it adjusts both to be markedly more neutral, and my mixes are more consistent than ever.  I haven’t noticed any significant gain differences when it’s enabled, so you can easily A/B with it disabled, or change target settings without worrying about blowing out your valuable eardrums.

Morphit’s ability to simulate a variety of target consumer headphones and earphones saves you time when mastering – you can take care of the more obvious problems right there in your DAW before the drudgery of copying it to another device to listen, or taking it out to your car. Morphit is the only plugin on the market to have this feature, and Toneboosters are quite rightly proud of it.

I recommend leaving the limiter enabled as a safety precaution, and the convenience of the gain knob means not having to touch your faders or use a second plugin to manage how loud you are monitoring.

The one feature I wish Morphit had is room simulation (which adds artefacts you would normally only hear on studio monitors, such as crosstalk).  It’s no dealbreaker, but it would then take care of all my headphone monitoring needs in just one plugin.

Toneboosters have an extremely generous demo policy for all their software, including Morphit –  no time limit, and full functionality other than a nag screen and the inability to save presets.

Find out more about Morhpit by Toneboosters