User Manual

14
Glottal Pulse Width
This control allows you to select the pulse width
of the modeled glottal waveform. If you are at all
familiar with analog synthesizers, you can think of
this as being vaguely similar to the variable pulse
width control on a square wave oscillator (and if
you’re not familiar with analog synthesizers, don’t
worry, just move the slider and listen to what
happens).
You will find that the most dramatic timbral
changes are usually found at the extreme ends of
this control’s range. If you’re looking for realistic,
stay in the middle 80% of the range.
ImpOrTaNT NOTE: Keep in mind that
this control interacts with the Glottal
Voice Type control above. Each Voice
Type sets a default Pulse Width that is associated
with it. So if you set this control and then select
a new Voice Type, the value of this control will
change to the new voice type’s associated pulse
width default. For that reason, it is usually best to
select the Glottal Voice Type first and then make
any desired adjustments to the pulse width.
Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to
reset it to its default value of 64.
GRAPHIC THROAT DISPLAY
Okay, here’s where the fun really starts. The
Graphic Throat Display allows detailed tweaking of
the model throat. For the purpose of this control,
the model throat is divided into four sections
defined by five boundary points. For reference,
these sections and boundary points are illustrated
on the head graphic to the left of the Throat
Shaping display. Point (1) starts at the vocal chords
and the sections progress through the throat and
the mouth out to the lips, which are at point (5).
The Throat Shaping display itself consists of two
elements: the original throat plot and the model
throat plot. The original throat plot is colored
blue and is not user-changeable. It represents
the original length and width of the four throat
sections and serves as a reference relative to
which changes to the model throat are made.
The model throat plot is colored red and includes
five control points that can be grabbed and
moved, effectively adjusting the length and width
of individual sections of the throat.
Additionally, the background of the display is
divided into two sections by color. The lighter
grey central area represents the range of
adjustments that are consistent with typical
human anatomy. As long as all control points
and plot lines fall in this area, the results of your
model will be more or less “realistic.” The darker
grey area represents the range of adjustments
that exceed the dimensions of typical human
vocal tracts. When any control point or plot line
falls in this area, the result may or may not sound
like something that you might recognize as a
human voice. The more points and/or plot lines
fall in this area, the more extreme the effect.
When you open a new instance of THROAT Evo,
the default state of the Throat Shaping display is
with the original and model throat plots exactly
superimposed, indicating no difference.
If you adjust the Throat Length and/or Throat
Width sliders, you will see the entire red model
plot move to reflect the changes. Length changes
are self-evident. For width changes, any part of
the model plot that lies above the original plot
indicates a widening of the throat while any part of
the model plot below the original plot indicates a
narrowing of the throat.