User manual ARBORETUM HYPERPRISM 2

[. . . ] Hyperprism 2 Manual Table of Contents Copyright ©1999 by Arboretum Systems, Inc. This documentation may not, in whole or in part, be copied, reproduced or translated without prior written consent of Arboretum Systems. Hyperprism 2 Real Time Dynamic Audio Effects Processing Software Version 2. 1 Hyperprism copyright ©1991-1999 by Arboretum Systems, Inc. This Documentation may not, in whole or in part, be copied, reproduced or translated without prior written consent of Arboretum Systems. New in Hyperprism 2: q New Vocoder, Frequency Shifter, HyperVerb, Doppler, Z-Morph and Vari-Speed effects. q Now HyperEngine provides the stand-alone framework for Hyperprism, offering "on-the-fly" live audio processing, sound file editing and more. Improved Compressor includes new soft knee setting plus clearer, smoother compression Filters now sound even better, work easier. . . plus new Lo/Hi Shelf and Parametric EQ. [. . . ] Instead of simply boosting frequencies already present, as occurs with EQ, the Harmonic Exciter generates new high frequency harmonics, thereby extending the bandwidth and increasing the liveliness of the original audio. A problem with many exciter algorithms, including the Aphex Aural Exciter(TM), is that the harmonic generator either does not add a significantly high level of audible harmonics or adds very unpleasant artifacts, such as harsh and gritty distortion to the signal path. With Arboretum's Harmonic Exciter great care has been taken to maximize the amount of harmonic generation, yet greatly minimize the amount of artifacts. Also, the Harmonic Exciter's phase compensated side chain avoids any phasing and frequency notching problems commonly associated with most exciter algorithms. In addition the Exciter algorithm avoids most of the aliasing artifacts that are problematic with most digitally based exciters. This is done by substantially raising the internal sampling rate of the plug-in. Effect Usage: The most important thing to remember when using the Harmonic Exciter is that the quality of the results are highly signal dependent. For example, certain settings may sound great on a drum track, but harsh and distorted on an acoustic guitar track. Often a fair amount of experimentation is required to achieve good results, especially because the parameters interact considerably. A general guideline to setting the effect, is to adjust the Dynamics to around 70% and the Crossover between 2000 to 4000 Hz. For the Harmonics Type set it to "Odd and Even" for a warmer sound or "Odd" for a brighter sound. Then raise the Harmonics slider towards the maximum level, but if any unpleasant distortion is heard, then stop and back down the slider just a bit. Then adjust the Spectral Mix so the high and low frequencies are well balanced. Generally the more harmonics added the lower the Spectral Mix should be set. For something with a delicate harmonic structure such as an acoustic guitar, it may be a good idea to set the harmonics fairly low (e. g. On the other hand, for audio such as a rock drum kit, it maybe more important to maximize the harmonic generation, by setting the Harmonics very high (e. g. Also, for speech lowering the Dynamics slider may help minimize the exaggeration of sibilance. The Quality Level control within the Harmonic Exciter allows the user to adjust the amount of internal sample rate increase. Settings of "Good", "Better" and "Best" correspond to successively higher internal sample rates and therefore higher levels of quality. The difference in sound quality between "Good" and "Best" range from barely noticeable to fairly obvious depending upon the sound being processed. Sounds with little high frequency content may have little problem with aliasing, whereas sounds with lots of high frequency content could have lots of aliasing artifacts. Since increasing the Quality Level also greatly increases the CPU usage, it is not worth setting the Quality Level higher than needed. [. . . ] HyperEngine's dither algorithm can also be used for 24 or 16-bit sound file processing. Here's why: HyperEngine does all its effect processing using 32-bit floating point calculations. This has much greater resolution than 24 or 16-bit linear digital audio sound files provide. However, the output of the effect must be converted to a 24 or 16-bit sound file. [. . . ]