D-Coder Manual - TC Electronic
Contents
1. TIP Increasing the Vocoder resonance can increase the intelligibility of the Vocoder signal Bandwidth Controls the width of the synthesis bands Negative values increase the width of the bands while positive values decrease the width The default value of O is recommended for best vocoding results Attack Sets the attack speed of the synthesis bands The higher the value the slower the attack time For classic Vocoder sounds use values between O and 15 Decay Sets the decay rate of the synthesis bands The higher the value the longer the decay time For classic Vocoder sounds use values between 10 and 25 10 D CODER LFO qe Triangle 4 i m a P Shape OTT Lio Hi Mod Speed Syne rT N c The red LED next to the Label indicates the state of the switch On Off When it is red the LFO is operating Lo and Hi Mod These Parameters adjust the amount of LFO modulation for the Lo and Hi Vocoder Band positions The higher the value the wider the modulation width TIP By using the LFO on the band positions you can get a more natural dynamic sound For a more robotic sound do not engage the LFO Speed Adjusts the LFO s speed This parameter has no effect once Sync is active Shape Adjusts the shape of LFO modulation Sync The sync parameter allows you to synchronize the speed to incoming MIDI clock in musically relevant values like 1 bar which would result in o2. on the Vocoder itself Shape Off Sy iit a spasi SHAPE P Triangle The Shape parameter offers different waveforms for the LFO Sine Sync Square Sawtooth The sync parameter allows you to synchronize the speed to incoming MIDI clock in musically relevant values like 1 bar which would result in one full LFO cycle taking exactly 1 bar The functionality of this parameter requires that your host application can provide the clock information to Plug Ins Speed Adjusts the LFO s speed Please note that this has no effect once Sync is active D CODER 13 lt o C Glide The red LED next to the Label indicates the state of the switch On Off When this parameter is engaged a change in pitches played by the oscillator will glide into the next pitch creating interesting pitch scoops Speed Adjusts the speed of the glide effect The behavior of this parameter is different in Poly and Mono Trigger mode In Free Run mode you will hear no difference as the pitch is usually fixed Oscillators D CODER provides tone generation via two oscillators y Semitone Allows you to offset the root key indicated in musical notes e g C2 TIP Properly setting the oscillator tones becomes critical when you are in Free Run mode as this is the only tonal control you have for the pitch of the Vocoder signal output in this mode FM PW Osc 1
3. ee Wee utet Lo Fro Attack 7 Check the Vocoder Filter Bank Settings To be sure make them look like this Lo Offset Hi OF 1 Resonance Bandwidth 8 STILL NOT HEARING ANYTHING Please load factory presets in order to verify if the problem might result in your environment rather than D CODER If there is nothing indicated in the Vocoder s waveform display you have no input signal The display must look similar to the screenshot below D CODER 25
4. the audio to be processed not the main D CODER Plug In The Carrier Plug In doesn t have any user interface UI and will look different in any application or user adjustable parameters Make sure it s active and close the Ul manei Ch insert i D CoderCarrier F3 3 Now bring up the D CODER on the channel that is supposed to control the D CODER s sound the analysis or speech signal 4 Check the settings in the Mixer section Only Vocoder should be up as shown in the screenshot Amalysis Voroder Synth 22 D CODER 5 Select Poly Mono or Free Run in the Amplifier section depending on if you d like to control the D CODER externally or internally To simplify things for now let s set this to Free Run IT o c Lu Poly Free Run 6 Make sure you have selected Carrier 1 in the Routing section as your Vocoder signal Now D CODER will not be using the internal synth but the Carrier signal as sound source Crue 4 Tecoder amp LI EIC 7 Hit Play in your application you re ready to have some fun 8 Depending on your source signal enhance the siblent frequencies to improve intelligibility by adjusting the UV Detector Make sure it s on indicated by the LED and adjust the value to your requirements E Detect D CODER 23 Not hearing anything OK so you picked one of the above setup examples
5. value the more audible the effect If you select e g Lo Pass and move the parameter up very far the filter will start resonating thus the name Drive D CODER provides an integrated distortion circuit for the filter This way you can create really extreme synth sounds without requiring external effects Type The synthesizer provides an extensive filter section with the following filter types e ow Pass 24 12 dB e Band Pass 24 12 dB e Lo Pass Band Pass 24 dB e Hi Pass 12 24 dB e Notch 24 12 dB Modulation The Synthesizer s Envelope Keyboard Velocity or LFO can modulate the filter The higher the value set the more extreme the modulation of the filter by the corresponding source D CODER 15 lt o c c Key Track If set to higher values such as 100 far right the overtone structure of the filter Will be identical across the entire keyboard range and will generally result in a brighter sound across the entire range of the keyboard If set to lower values such as 100 far left the higher the pitch of the note the less overtones will be present in the filtered signal This results in a softer or darker sound the higher the note you play on the keyboard Amplifier Attack Adjusts the amplifier envelope s Attack rate The higher the value the slower the Attack phase Short values will provide a percussive synth sound while higher values will be more legato or string like Rel
6. Analysis Filter Bank The higher the value the longer the release Low values will create a more percussive effect higher values will have more legato results Typically this should be set to values between 10 25 D CODER 9 lt o C Bands Sets the number of Filter Bands Please note that this parameter affects both the Analysis and Vocoder Banks Both sections always have AU matching amount of filters The higher the number the finer the a uc resulting resolution i e the more intelligible the results when used rose Bonds speech signals This Vocoder can have from 3 to 100 bands TIP For classic Vocoder effects you should set the number of bands to values between 13 and 22 If you take it further beyond 40 it can sound increasingly harsh Vocoder Filter Bank Fal Lo Offset Hi Resonance Bandwidth Lo Offset and Hi Offset Sets the relative offset of the lowest and highest synthesis band compared to the lowest or highest analysis band A setting of O indicates that analysis and synthesis bands are exactly matching Negative values indicate that the synthesis bands have been moved below the analysis bands while positive values indicate that the highest synthesis band has been moved higher than the highest analysis band Resonance Sets the steepness of the Vocoder filter the higher the value the more the Vocoder bands will resonate
7. NTHESIZER SECTION 13 Kl pw CT 13 Up EE 14 5 audere bite eed eibi Edu 14 VIDERER E TIED EMT 15 dll PER tarsi estan ed nah read Bed haw cana ee aio meant eaten 15 Soci TL 16 Envelope 16 EFFECTS ERE wea mis SENE 17 i MT 17 UV oe bitis 17 rr 18 TUTORIAL boot iran ea dea wart aUud n dent 19 Setup Examples uuuuuueusesesseee III 19 Not hearing anything 24 D CODER 3 CONTACT DETAILS If you would like to get in touch with us please e mail to info tcworks de contact our local distribution partner or write to TC WORKS Soft amp Hardware GmbH Customer Support Flughafenstrasse 52B 22335 Hamburg Germany lt o c c www tcworks de e mail info tcworks de USA TC Electronic Inc TC Works Customer Support 742 A Hampshire Rd Westlake Village CA 91361 www tcworks de e mail us tcworks de 4 D CODER INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase order of D CODER the Synthesizer Vocoder for POWERCORE Waldorf is a world renowned Synthesizer maker with classic hardware products like the Microwave and innovative software products like the Attack It s natural that Waldorf were amo
8. POWERCORE R 0 USER MANUAL ULTIMATE SOFTWARE MACHINES WORKS DISTRIBUTED BY je mH an ed jnre md My Bv TC WORKS Sort amp HARDWARE GMBH 2002 ALL PRODUCT AND COMPANY NAMES ARE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS D CODER IS A TRADEMARK OF WALDORF ELECTRONICS GMBH ALL SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TABLE OF CONTENTS I CONTAGTE DEIMES 4 2 INTRODUCTION coco cora RA eae Pu n n a 5 GETTING STARTED 6 System Requirements 6 Important Note about 6 Vocoding 1 6 What to use it 7 Glossary of TOMS oss sos ew x Ege bos aro alata don Ra d 7 GENERALS 8 Information Panel 8 VOGODER SECTION og EXE ER ERE EEN NNA OR ato add be ite sn 8 rues ea eibi cae dna Ro ur Ren nba io d 9 Analysis Filter Bank 9 Vocoder Filter Bank 10 Wl TW UT 11 RF Eb rb pleno pe pu Pp o EE 12 SY
9. Sets the amount of Frequency Modulation FM When Square is selected as the Oscillator Shape this parameter will control the Pulse Width PW Detune 05 2 This parameter will detune Oscillator 2 relative to Oscillator 1 FM Env PW Mod Osc 2 only PW Mod Sets the amount of FM or PW modulation In the case of FM it sets the amount of modulation by the ENV envelope below the Amplifier Pitch Mod Adjusts the Pitch Modulation amount Shape Sets the Oscillator s waveform shape For the best vocoding effects you should have a continuous waveform with many harmonics such as Pulse Sawtooth or Noise Sine has few harmonics and will create a much more subtle effect 14 D CODER Adjusts the level of Oscillator 1 Ring Mod Adjusts the amount of Ring Modulation between Oscillator 1 and 2 Both Oscillators must have some amount of level setting for RingMod to function properly lt o c 05 2 Adjusts the level of Oscillator 2 Filter Cutoff Adjusts the filter s Cutoff Depending on the selected filter type the position has different meaning If Hi Pass is selected the left most position is neutral if Lo Pass Is selected the right most position is neutral We suggest you try the different filter types and then adjust the cutoff parameter in order to find out how to best use this Resonance The position of this parameter sets the steepness of the selected filter type the higher the
10. al characteristic of a narrow frequency band such as the 44 m1 1277 177 7 vowel sounds a e 1 o Unvoiced Unvoiced signals have the tonal characteristic of the full frequency band such as the consonant sounds that cover almost the entire frequency spectrum such as f s t and so forth D CODER 7 GENERAL Information Panel The blue information panel under the analysis and vocoder meters is an active window that will always display the name and value of the parameter that your mouse is rolling over lt o C VOCODER SECTION D CODER consists of 2 Plug Ins in one a Vocoder and a Synthesizer First let s have a look at the Vocoder section s imie bay Peet 4 ra E a ris F ra lle Bly EM M M rar ur TER 2 E Tr ipee LEN Ian wed lowe Bi Display The upper half of the display shows the Analysis Band range the lower half indicates the settings for the Vocoder Filter Band range By clicking on the L or H handles you can move the parameters directly in the display The waveform at the center indicates if there is input signal for processing It should look similar to the screenshot The blue information display is a multi function display that always indicates the currently selected parameter and its value 8 D CODER Routing Vocoder Signal Deter
11. and you aren t hearing anything Let s check the most likely pilot errors the D CODER is very powerful tool and considering that there s a Vocoder and a synthesizer integrated into this cute little window we re talking high integration lt o C 1 Check Input Routing s Vocoder Signal if you want to use the internal synth this should not read Carrier 1 or Carrier 2 When using Setup 3 it should read Carrier 1 gut fader i SEEN saber 2 Check the Trigger mode in the amplifier section if using no external MIDI control it should be set to Free Run so you d instantly be hearing something when you hit Play If using an external MIDI track to control the Vocoder it should be set to Poly or Mono Be aware that you ll then only hear something when MIDI events are coming in from the assigned MIDI track t ra dittock Raleose Val lano Free Run 3 Check the Vocoder s Mixer section If you d like to only hear the Vocoder Output signal it should look exactly as it is pictured here Vecader Sy 24 D CODER 4 Check the Synthesizer s mixer section if using the synth Of course one of the Oscillators should be up at least IT o c Lu 5 Check the Filter and Amplifier section if Cutoff or Attack and Release have unusual settings 6 Check the Analysis Filter Bank Settings To be sure make them look like this
12. default this parameter is in the UnVoiced position By increasing the value of this parameter you will add a small amount of noise to the signal Improving the intelligibility of the sibilant frequencies The red LED next to the label indicates the state of the switch On Off Detect D CODER 7 Chorus The red LED next to the Label indicates the state of the switch On Off Red indicates that Chorus is active The integrated Chorus effect is the last stage in the signal chain and is applied to all of the three sources in the Mixer section TIP Chorusing may reduce the Vocoder s intelligibility If your Vocoder sounds mushy try disabling the Chorus lt o C Speed Adjusts the speed of the chorusing effect gi id id IIT Depth Phot Depth Adjusts the amount of the chorusing effect Phat Boosts the chorusing effect and creates extra rich chorusing 18 D CODER TUTORIAL Setup Examples In this section we would like to give you a couple setup examples Essentially D CODER can be used in three fundamentally different situations rT N c 1 As Free Vocoder effect using the internal synthesizer no MIDI input 2 As classic Vocoder with MIDI controlling the pitch and using the internal synthesizer 3 As Vocoder effect for an external carrier i e not using the internal synth 1 Free Run Vocoder This mode is great for quickly a
13. ease Adjusts the amplifier envelope s Release rate The higher the value the longer the Release time Trigger Poly Mono Free Run Poly and Mono will respond to incoming MIDI notes to control the synthesizer Free run will simply set the Oscillator s amplifier to run continuously Vel This switch activates or deactivates keyboard velocity for the amplifier stage Envelope This envelope is assignable to Oscillator 1 s FM modulation and the Filter modulation Attack Adjusts the Attack rate The higher the value the slower the Attack time Decay Adjusts the amplifier envelope s Decay rate The higher the value the longer the Decay time 16 D CODER EFFECTS EQ 3 lt o c 4 F ki Lo Leval Mid Eoad Mid Lavel Hi Laval EQ Low and Hi Band Level Controls the overall balance of all synthesis bands by 18 dB Identical values will result in equal filter volume across the range different values will change the lo hi balance All filters in between are scaled proportionally EQ Mid Selects the band to be controlled by Mid Level The surrounding bands are scaled to match the level of the mid EQ Mid Level Cuts or boosts the selected mid band by 18 dB TIP Adjusting the EQ levels will change the intelligibility of the vocoded signal For more female tones try higher values for the Hi Level and lower values for the Lo Level UV Detector UV is short for Un Voiced By
14. inal signal as closely as possible the synthesis signal used should consist of continuous unfiltered noise For spoken or sung voice a waveform with a lot of harmonics should be used such as a sawtooth the melody and pitch are then controlled by the oscillator s frequency If the oscillator is being modulated by a slow sine LFO spoken voice will sound especially natural as the LFO simulates emphasis lt o C c Glossary of Terms Analysis The analysis channel of the D CODER is the signal that is being analyzed Typically the signal being analyzed will be speech or a vocal performance Carrier The carrier signal is the sound source that carries the analysis sound In the case of the D CODER the carrier will either be the built in synthesizer or an external channel when the Carrier Plug In is used Intelligibility This relates to how well the vocoded signal is understood The ability to hear the sibilant frequencies will have a tremendous impact on the overall clarity of the vocoded signal Sibilance Sibilant sounds are characterized by a hissing sound These include the english pronunciation of such consonants as f s z or th Vocoder Vocoder is an abbreviation of Voice Operated Recorder A Vocoder is an audio processor that captures the characteristic elements of an audio signal and then uses this characteristic signal to affect other audio signals Voiced Voiced signals have the ton
15. mines the source of the signal being vocoded By default this Is set to the internal synthesizer Alternatively this can be set to either Carrier 1 or Carrier 2 Please note that setting the Signal to either Carrier 1 or Carrier 2 will only have an effect when the corresponding Carrier Plug In is loaded and active o c ES ni 5 ULL IE L TL III Swap Signals Swaps the Carrier and Analysis Sources Analysis Filter Bank The Analysis Filter Bank determines which part of the frequency spectrum is being analysed by the Vocoder Also it includes the critical Bands parameter that sets the resolution of the whole Vocoding section This parameter effects both the Analysis and Vocoder Banks e eee lo Fra Hi Fra Release Bands Lo Frq and Hi Frq 20Hz 20 kHz These parameters set the frequency range of the analysis band For voice analysis Lo should be set to around 220 Hz and Hi to 14 kHz For loops and other signals the values should be 100 Hz and 16 kHz The bands in between the set lowest and highest bands are equally spread across the adjusted range the resolution depending on the selected number of bands Attack Sets the Attack speed for the Analysis Filter Bank The lower the value the faster the Attack The higher the value the slower thus softer the Attack Typically this should be set to values between O 15 Release Sets the Release Time for the
16. nd effectively altering the sound of a voice especially robot voices or percussion as the pitch would not be tracked or controlled externally 1 Select a track where you would like the audio to be processed 2 Insert the D CODER directly on the channel 3 Check the settings in the Mixer section Only Vocoder should be up as shown in the screenshot p EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREEEEEEREI Yotoder a Attack Ralense Free Fun Trigger D CODER 19 5 Make sure you have selected Synth as your Vocoder signal in the Routing section a o c z Baath Ander ee 6 Hit Play in your application you re ready to have some fun 7 Depending on your source signal enhance the siblent frequencies to improve intelligibility by adjusting the UV Detector Make sure it s on indicated by the LED and adjust the value to your requirements un 3 Delect 2 MIDI controlled Vocoder This is the typical setup for using the Vocoder musically i e creating a melodic Vocoder effect typically using the internal synthesizer If you would like to process an external sound source that is of course also possible but then you need to use setup 3 with Poly or Mono mode 1 Select a track where you would like the audio to be processed 2 Insert the D CODER directly on the channel 3 Check the settings in the Mixer section Only Vocoder should be up as sh
17. ne full LFO cycle taking exactly 1 bar The functionality of this parameter requires that your host application can provide the clock information to the Plug In D CODER Mixer The Mixer section allows you to adjust the audio levels of the different sources in D CODER Se T IEEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEREIE Analysis This fader will set the dry level of your analysis material Typically you will want to set the level to zero for classic vocoding sounds Vocoder This fader adjusts the level of your vocoding output Typically you will want to set this parameter close to a maximum level for those pure classic vocoding sounds Synth This fader allows you to mix the dry synthesizer sound in with the other two sources Depending on the gain settings of the amplifier in the synth section you will want to set this fader to maximum comfortable level when using D CODER as a synthesizer For classic Vocoder use it should be set to zero 12 D CODER SYNTHESIZER SECTION The D CODER offers a fully featured polyphonic synthesizer that can also be used independently of the Vocoding section and be played just like any other virtual VST synth And as this is a true WALDORF synthesizer expect something nice IT o c Lu The synthesizer s LFO Section is independent of the LFO in the p Vocoder section it is only for the synthesizer and has no effect
18. ngst the first to come on board to develop a POWERCORE Plug In T N C D CODER includes a polyphonic synthesizer in the Waldorf tradition and a powerful Vocoder that can modulate an external sound source or the synthesizer Thanks to free run mode the Vocoder works even with no MIDI input and the number of bands can be adjusted to up to 100 bands for an extremely rich and smooth resolution The sound creation possibilities and the quality turn this into a new virtual classic courtesy of the Waldorf engineering team Enjoy The TC WORKS Team ATTENTION THIS IS A POWERCORE PLUG IN AND REQUIRES TC POWERCORE TO BE INSTALLED IN THE COMPUTER THIS PLUG IN WILL NOT RUN WITHOUT POWERCORE D CODER 5 GETTING STARTED System Requirements Windows POWERCORE PCI or FIREWIRE running system 1 7 or later Windows XP e PIII 1 GHz or faster 256 MB RAM VST compatible host application System must meet requirements of the host application Mac OS POWERCORE or FIREWIRE running system 1 7 or later e Mac OS X 10 2 4 or higher e G4 800 MHz or faster 256 MB RAM VST or Audio Unit compatible host application System must meet requirements of the host application POWERCORE REQUIRED The D CODER Plug In requires a POWERCORE PCI or POWERCORE FIREWIRE to be available in your system D CODER requires the DSP power of POWERCORE Important Note about D CODER The Waldo
19. own in the screenshot Amolysis Vecader Sy 20 D CODER 4 Select Poly or Mono in the Amplifier section depending on if you d like the Vocoder to be monophonic or polyphonic ai e E Raleose Ya Poly Mona Free Run 5 Make sure you have selected Synth as your Vocoder signal in the Routing section eh TT TET T ee 6 Hit Play in your application you re ready to have some fun but you won t be hearing anything yet First you need to assign a MIDI track in your sequencer to the D CODER MIDI input How this is handled depends on your sequencer s VST instrument handling In the following you will find a Cubase setup example D CODER 21 7 Depending on your source signal enhance the siblent frequencies to improve intelligibility by adjusting the UV Detector Make sure it s on indicated by the LED and adjust the value to your requirements lt o C Delect 3 Vocoding an external Carrier This setup is great for processing the envelope of one track onto another For best results you should be using pad like continuous sounds as carrier and percussive Signals as analysis signal 1 Select a track where you would like the audio to be processed 2 Now load the second Plug In that comes with D CODER as an insert the D CODER Carrier on the CARRIER channel the channel where you d like
20. rf D CODER is a Hybrid POWERCORE and Native Plug In To maximize the performance of this Plug In on your system while maintaining the best sound quality the vocoder portion of the Plug In will run on the TC POWERCORE and the synthesizer will run Native on your host CPU Under normal operating circumstances the CPU load of the D CODER synthesizer will be minimal As a general rule the more voices you play on the synthesizer the greater the CPU use of the host application Vocoding Basics A Vocoder processes the frequency content of one signal with the frequency content of another signal This is why a Vocoder always needs two signals to function one for analysis and one to be processed The key ingredients of a Vocoder are matching banks of Analysis and Processing Filters The analysis filter bank splits the analysis signal also referred to as Speech signal into several frequency bands Each band has an envelope follower to analyze the band s volume The resulting envelope controls the volume of the corresponding bandpass filter in the Processing Filter Bank which then processes the synthesis signal also referred to as Carrier signal Each analysis filter has its counterpart in the synthesis filter bank 6 DCODER What to use it for A Vocoder is typically applied to speech to generate robot voices but can be used just as well to process rhythmic material such as loops and drum sounds If your goal is to recreate the orig
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