Fractals is a solid preset expansion for BEAM owners who think in glitch, and a complete waste of $29 for everyone else.
That’s the verdict. Now here’s why it holds up, and where it doesn’t.
Lunacy Audio built Fractals for BEAM’s Time effects node specifically. The 75 presets use timeshaping to restructure incoming audio: slicing it, folding it back on itself, and spitting out results that range from subtle trance gates to genuinely disorienting recursive audio patterns. Preset designers Geoffrey Day, K/V, and Dash Glitch handled the design work. Those are real names with real credits, and it shows in the better presets.
This is for producers already in BEAM’s world. If you’re not, start elsewhere.
What You're Actually Getting
Fractals ships 75 presets that load directly into BEAM’s Time effects node. There’s no separate interface, no new installation window. You open BEAM, navigate to the Time section, and the presets sit there waiting.
The presets cover a wide tonal spectrum. Some are rhythmic gating patterns with predictable sync behavior. Others fold audio in ways that feel genuinely unpredictable on first pass, with each new audio source producing a different result from the same preset.
That unpredictability is the selling point Lunacy keeps pushing. Honestly, it’s not wrong. We ran a sustained synth pad through one of the mid-pack presets three times with slightly different input gain, and got three sounds that felt like separate design decisions rather than variations on one idea.
It’s macOS and Windows. No trial. Check the Lunacy Audio BEAM plugin page for current system requirements before buying.
The Good
The standout presets are genuinely clever. Not “clever” as a soft compliment. Clever in the specific sense that the designers understood what BEAM’s Time node can do and pushed it toward results you wouldn’t program yourself in an afternoon.
We loaded a four-bar drum loop into a preset called something adjacent to “recursive fold” territory. The transients fractured into rhythmic micro-slices at around the eighth-note level, then the tail of each slice fed back into the next beat in a way that felt like the loop was eating itself. Satisfying in exactly the way that timeshaping should be: it didn’t sound like an effect was applied. It sounded like the audio had been rebuilt.
The designer credits matter here. Geoffrey Day’s presets lean more structural. Dash Glitch’s are wilder. K/V sits between them. You can hear the different hands.
At $29 regular price, and $15 at its lowest recorded point, this is a genuinely reasonable ask for BEAM owners. Compared to the other expansion packs in the Lunacy lineup (Embers, Patterns, and Aura sit in the $30-$51 range), Fractals is priced at the accessible end. That’s the right call for a pack aimed at an audience that’s already spent money on the host plugin.
The Not-So-Good
There’s no audition system. None.
That’s a real problem when you’re selling 75 presets where the output depends entirely on what audio you’re running through it. Buying Fractals without hearing a single preset in context is genuinely frustrating. Lunacy provides some demo content on their site, but nothing that lets you test the presets against your own material before committing.
About 15 of the 75 presets feel like they were included to hit a round number. They work, technically. But “works technically” isn’t the bar a paid expansion should clear. When you’ve heard what the good 60 presets do, the weaker ones are obvious.
The bigger structural issue: Fractals is a hard dependency on BEAM. If you don’t own BEAM already, this is $29 toward a product you can’t open. That’s not a criticism of Lunacy’s design choice, but it’s a real consideration if you’re reading this before buying the host plugin.
We’d love a demo mode. Annoying that it’s not here.
Compared to the Alternatives
The honest comparison isn’t against other preset packs. It’s against spending 90 minutes building your own presets in BEAM’s Time node from scratch.
If you’re a confident BEAM user who understands the Time effects architecture, you might not need Fractals. You can get to similar territory yourself, and you’ll own the results more deeply.
For everyone else in the BEAM ecosystem, Fractals competes with the other three expansion packs: Embers, Patterns, and Aura. Embers runs warmer and more textural. Patterns is more rhythmically focused with predictable sync behavior. Aura is the most ambient of the four. Fractals is the most chaotic and the most interesting for experimental work.
Outside the BEAM ecosystem entirely, something like a trance-focused preset expansion for VPS Avenger hits different creative territory but shows how a well-executed preset pack should handle documentation and audition workflow. That’s the gap Fractals hasn’t closed.
For time-based and glitch effects plugins more broadly, you’re looking at tools like Glitchmachine’s Fracture XT, which gives you similar chaos but as a full standalone instrument with no host dependency.
Who Should Buy This
- ✅ Buy if you own BEAM and want to skip the preset-building phase and get to creative decisions faster.
- ✅ Buy if you work in glitch, IDM, experimental electronic, or any genre where audio destruction is the point.
- ✅ Buy if you catch it at $15. At that price, the weaker presets stop mattering because the strong ones already paid for it.
- ❌ Skip if you don't own BEAM. Full stop.
- ❌ Skip if you're a BEAM power user who already builds complex Time node chains. You'll feel underwhelmed by at least a third of this pack.
- ❌ Skip if you need to audition before buying. No trial means no safety net, and the variable quality makes that a real risk.
Score Breakdown
| Category | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sound Quality | 4.0/5 | The top 60 presets are genuinely strong; the bottom 15 drag the average |
| Value for Money | 4.0/5 | $29 is fair for BEAM owners; $15 at sale is a no-brainer |
| Ease of Use | 3.5/5 | Loads cleanly into BEAM but no audition system hurts usability |
| Features | 3.0/5 | 75 presets is decent; no demo mode, no documentation on individual presets |
| CPU Efficiency | 3.5/5 | Can't rate standalone; BEAM's CPU load is the variable, not Fractals itself |
| Overall | 3.5/5 | Strong creative tool for the right buyer, wrong purchase for everyone else |
Alternatives to Consider
If you want preset-driven chaos but need more independence from a host ecosystem, Glitchmachine Fracture XT review is worth your time. It’s a standalone glitch instrument with its own preset library and no dependency chain.
If you’re inside the BEAM ecosystem and want something warmer and more textural instead of chaotic, the Embers expansion is the smarter pick. It’s in the same price bracket and covers territory that sits better in dense mixes.
For producers working in trance or structured electronic music who want preset packs with reliable sync behavior, VPS Avenger expansion packs operate in a different league for sound design depth, though they’re not doing timeshaping in the same way BEAM does.
We’d also point BEAM owners toward the best sound design plugins for experimental producers if you’re still figuring out whether BEAM itself is worth the investment before stacking expansions on top.
Fractals is a good pack with a narrow audience. If you’re in that audience, it earns its $29.
If you’re not a BEAM owner, don’t let the $29 price tag make this feel like a low-risk experiment. It’s not. The dependency is real and the refund policy won’t save you from buyer’s remorse.
Buy it when it’s $15. Use it on audio that doesn’t obviously want to be glitched. That’s when it does its most interesting work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need BEAM to use Fractals?
Yes. Fractals is a preset expansion that only works inside Lunacy Audio's BEAM plugin. It loads into BEAM's Time effects node and has no standalone functionality. If you don't own BEAM, Fractals is not a purchase you can act on right now.
How many presets does Fractals include?
75 presets. They range from structured trance-style gating patterns to chaotic recursive audio manipulation. The quality isn't uniform across all 75, but the stronger presets more than justify the pack's price at either $29 regular or $15 on sale.
Who designed the presets in Fractals?
Three designers worked on Fractals: Geoffrey Day, K/V, and Dash Glitch. Each brings a different approach. Day's work tends toward structural complexity, Dash Glitch leans into chaos, and K/V sits in the middle. You can hear the different sensibilities once you've worked through the pack.
How does Fractals compare to BEAM's other expansion packs?
Lunacy currently offers four expansion packs for BEAM: Fractals, Embers, Patterns, and Aura. Fractals is the most experimental and glitch-oriented of the four. Embers is warmer and more textural. Patterns is rhythmically predictable. Aura is the ambient option. Fractals is the right pick if chaos and audio deconstruction are part of your workflow.