########################################## ###########==-- ABOUT --==################ ########################################## Flaser Box v1.0 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Mark Turner (Rymix) email: coder@rymix.net www: www.rymix.net A combo flanger/48 stage phaser Similar to... well... i dunno =) 8.6% max cpu on pIII/850 ########################################## ##########==-- CONTROLS --==############## ########################################## ---------------------------------- Parameters: ---------------------------------- * Gain (0 - 200%) - Increases/decreases the output gain. * Mode (0 - 12) - Changes the machine mode: 0: Flanger In --> [Flanger] +-> In --> Out 1: Tape Flanger In --> [Flanger] +-> TapeIn --> Out 2: Phaser In --> [Phaser] +-> In --> Out 3: F->P In --> [Flanger] --> [Phaser] +-> In --> Out 4: TF->P In --> [Flanger] --> [Phaser] +-> TapeIn --> Out 5: P->F In --> [Phaser] --> [Flanger] +-> In --> Out 6: P->TF In --> [Phaser] --> [Flanger] +-> TapeIn --> Out 7: [F]->P In --> [Flanger] +-> In -> [Phaser] +-> In --> Out 8: [TF]->P In --> [Flanger] +-> TapeIn -> [Phaser] +-> In --> Out 9: [P]->F In --> [Phaser] +-> In -> [Flanger] +-> In --> Out a: [P]->TF In --> [Phaser] +-> In -> [Flanger] +-> TapeIn --> Out b: F||P [In --> [Flanger]] +-> [In --> [Phaser]] +-> In --> Out c: F||P [TapeIn --> [Flanger]] +-> [In --> [Phaser]] +-> In --> Out (LEGEND, LEFTSIDE) F : Flanger (simulates most digital flangers) TF : Tape Flanger (simulates an analog tape flanger) P : Phaser [F] : enclosed flanger (has input mixing) [TF] : enclosed tape flanger (has input mixing) [P] : enclosed phaser (has input mixing) -> : units are in series (one unit passes its signal into the other) || : units are parallel (each unit operates on original input) (LEGEND, RIGHTSIDE) --> : direct routing (one signal is fed into a unit or output) +-> : mixed routing (one signal is mixed with another signal) [] : a unit block In : Original Input TapeIn : Delayed original input. This simulates an analog tape flanger where the flange unit can have positive and negative delay Out : Output, multiplied by the output Gain. This goes to the next machine. [Flanger] : a flanger unit, complete with gain and feedback [Phaser] : a phaser unit, complete with gain and feedback * Link (0 - 128) - Links the params of the phaser to the flanger's sliders. Behavior depends on the "LinkType" attribute (see below). Setting the link is easy. Just add together the numbers besides the phaser's parameters to obtain the link value. EX: linking Feedback, Rate, and Manual would give 4+8+32 = 44. The display will read "__fr_m_:44". 'f', 'r', and 'm' are 'feedback', 'rate', and 'manual' in this case. Also, to link the flanger and phaser levels, change LINK to 128 (slider full right = 80 hex). The display will read "mrfrsmp+L" *FLANGER/PHASER UNIT CONTROLS: * Level (LVL) (-100% - 100%) - Level control for the unit. Does not affect feedback or input mixing. * Stages (0 - 48) - Number of filter stages the phaser unit uses. '0' turns the phaser off. (phaser only) * Minimum (0ms - 40ms) - Minimum delay time within the flanger, and minimum filter internal modulation time of the phaser. Also, in tape flanger modes, this will offset the tape flange centerpoint (see below). * Range (0ms - 40ms) - LFO modulation range. The LFO will modulate the flanger/phaser unit with millisecond time values between Minimum and Minimum+Range. * Feedback (-100% - 100%) - How much of the flanger/phaser will be fed back into itself. This increases the strength of the unit. *NOTE: Be careful with values at or approaching -100% or 100%. * Rate ("FREEZE", 0.25 ticks - 512 ticks) - How fast the lfo completes one cycle. If rate = 0, then the lfo will be in "freeze mode" and will not oscillate (this is useful for manual control below) * Step (0 (off) - 32 ticks) - The LFO step size. If step is 0 (off) then the lfo will change gradually over time. If step is >0, then the lfo will affect the unit every 'step' ticks. I.E, if step = 2, then the lfo will change every 2 ticks. *NOTE: This does not control the lfo speed, but only how often the internal LFO is applied to the flanger or phaser. It is applied internally after the LFO. * Manual LFO (0% - 100%) - Manually set the LFO. This actually changes the position (or phase) of the LFO. I.E., 0% = start of lfo cycle (reset), 50% = middle of lfo cycle. This is useful when Rate is set to 'FREEZE', but it can be used while the lfo is in motion for cool effects. *NOTE: unlike some manual controls, this does not set the flanger or phaser itself linearly. Setting Manual will make the unit follow its lfo, not the actual control setting. See considerations below * Phase Separation (0% - 100%) - Sets the difference in phase/position of the lfo between the left and right channels for a good stereo effect. * LFO Type F:P (0 - 35) - Sets the LFO shape for both the flanger and the phaser. This control selects two LFO shapes, one for the flanger, and one for the phaser. The shapes are Sine (Sin, #0), Triangle (Tri, #1), Square (Sqr, #2), Saw Up (SawUp, #3), Saw Down (SawDn, #4), and Noise/Random (Noiz, #5). In the pattern editor, the parameter value is the phaser LFO shape times six, and add the flanger (Phaser * 6 + Flanger). * HiPass/LoPass (0hz - 20000hz) - The Highpass and Lowpass filters are applied to the wet sound before adding it to the dry sound. In other words, they allow the effect to only be applied to the frequency range above the Hipass value and below the Lopass value. *NOTE: setting the lopass value lower than the hipass value will cause the effect not to sound. - Inertia (0 [off] - 512 ticks) - Inertia allows the Manual and Filter parameters to glide gradually instead of jumping immediately to the value. The inertia amount is the number of ticks it takes for the setting to slide from the previous setting to the new setting. The Manual and Filter params are marked with an '*' in the machine view to let you know those parameters are affected by inertia setting. - Wet/Dry (0:100 [Wet] - 100:0 [Dry]) - Sets the balance between full wet (100% effect) and full dry (0% effect). ---------------------------------- Attributes: ---------------------------------- * Sub-Tick resolution - Determines how often (in samples) the anticlick routine is triggered. Lower values = finer resolution = much more CPU. This also affects interia. *Default is every 128 samples. * Anticlick strength - Value to reduce clicking on parameter changes. Parameters will slide quickly from the old value to the new value on every subtick (define above). The strength value defines a maximum percentage of change the value can make on each subtick until it reaches the target value. Higher values = better anticlick = longer sliding = more cpu. *Default is 80. * Interpolate - Determines the type of interpolation for the flanger. 0 = None (fastest, more aliasing & clicks) 1 = Linear (fast, and good quality... faint aliasing & clicks) *Default 2 = Cubic (slow, but best quality of the three) - Link Type - Determines how linking operates. 0 = int1 (Internal linking. Phaser param changes will override link.) 1 = int2 (Internal linking, Phaser param changes are ignored.) 2 = slider1 (Slider follows. Phaser param changes will override link.) 3 = slider2 (slider follows. Phaser param changes are ignored.) *Default *NOTE: on slider1 and slider2 modes, the slider actually follows one tick late. Although internally the parameter is updated correctly, when recording live movement, the late phaser slider movement will be recorded as well. This may affect slider1 mode (Link Type=2), as the recorded phaser movement upon playback will cause the parameter to change as well. When recording live movement, I recommend Link Type=3 (silder2 mode). ########################################## ############==-- USAGE --==############### ########################################## To use this effect, simply plug a sound into it, and plug the flaserbox into another effect or Master. Sidechaining (using the effectin parallel with the source sound) is usually not done. Flangers usually operate with timings of 1ms to 10ms. You can use the flanger as a chorus by using timings of 20ms to 30ms (see considerations below). Instead of explaining how a flanger and phaser works, I will give these links: http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Articles/Flanging/ http://www.harmony-central.com/Effects/Articles/Phase_Shifting/ ########################################## ####==-- SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS --==###### ########################################## * Lowering CPU Usage - This machine can hog cpu, especially when using a lot of phaser stages. SOme tips to lower CPU: 1) Reduce phaser stages if not needed. 2) Turning off the Hipass or Lopass filters saves cpu. 3) Using a step value lowers cpu, since internal values do not have to be updated as often. 4) If you only need a flanger or phaser, dont choose a mode containing both. Turning phaser stages to zero will save cpu, but chaging the mode to flanger or tape flanger (without phaser) saves more. 5) Dont turn the anticlick or (especially) the subtick attribute values to unnecessary settigns. * Clicks - Clicks are produced usually when the flanger's delay value is changed too rapidly. This usually happens with Square, SawUp, SawDn, and Noize LFO settings, step mode, and Manual adjustments w/o intertia settings. Some ways to elminate clicks: 1) Modify subtick and/or anticlick attributes (this does not affect the lfo shapes) 2) Set the Hipass filter, so that clicks in the bass range are minimized 3) Set intertia (this only affects manual control) - Noise LFO shape - The Noise LFO (Noiz) is periodic with the rate value. A noise lfo with a rate of 64 and a step value of 4 will produce 16 "random" values. If used without a step value, it will be rather chaotic. This is not a bug =) - Manual - Remember, manual control via the Manual LFO parameter does *not* just sweet the flanger and phaser from low to hi. It sweeps it along the LFO "curve". So, if the lfo shape is Square, changing Manual will only produce two values. If the lfo shape is triange, the moving manual from left to right will sweep from low to high, then high to low. For old-fashioned results, set the LFO Type to "SawUp". Manual control also is governed by the Range parameter. If Range is zero, then manual, as well as the lfo, will not have any effect. Also, the lfo does not have to be in "freeze" mode to be manually set. If the LFO Type is "SawDn", and you set manual to 50%, then the lfo will jump to the middle of the range and continue to sweep down. Finally, manual will change in step timing if the step parameter is set. - Step - When using the flanger as a chorus, do not use step values. Chorusing relies on "detuning" the input, which happens by "dopplar effect" when the flanger modulates the delay on the input. Step valuesdefeat this effect. Also, remember that the step value is applied after the lfo, thereby affecting manual lfo control. ########################################## #######==-- VERSION HISTORY --==########## ########################################## 1.0 - Initial release ##########################################