Decapitator Analog Saturation Effects User’s Guide Version 5 : For Mac and Windows
CONTENTS Decapitator — Version 5 THE BASICS / Pg. 3 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION / Pg. 11 About Decapitator......................................................................................... pg. 4 Support / Contact.......................................................................................... pg. 11 THE DECAPITATOR CONTROL PANEL / Pg. 5 Style ................................................................................................................. pg. 5 Drive ........................
THE BASICS Decapitator — Version 5 Figure 1: The Decapitator Control Panel soundtoys.
THE BASICS - ABOUT DECAPITATOR Decapitator — Version 5 Saturation; it’s the essence of what makes analog hardware sound so The added mix control lets you balance the dry and wet signals musical and pleasing to the ears. The sound of tubes, transistors, and for parallel processing without the need for routing or submixes. circuitry being pushed to their limit has long been the magic mojo Decapitator puts into one plug-in a wide tonal palate of analog behind recordings of the analog-era.
THE DECAPITATOR CONTROL PANEL Decapitator — Version 5 Figure 2: Decapitator’s GUI STYLE allowed us to very closely match the harmonic structure, frequency The Style buttons, located at the bottom of Decapitator’s GUI, may response, and dynamic response of analog gear as it is being pushed seem like an odd place to start the User’s Manual. But the five available beyond its normal limits. styles each represent the different saturation algorithms that make Decapitator such a unique and useful tool.
THE DECAPITATOR CONTROL PANEL Decapitator — Version 5 STYLE (continued) N: A: Modeled after the Neve® 1057 input channel. This is early Neve, and The first style in Decapitator, “A”, was modeled after the Ampex 350 a very unique character compared to the later, and more ubiquitous tape drive preamp. The iconic Ampex 350 tape recorder was a studio 1073.
THE DECAPITATOR CONTROL PANEL Decapitator — Version 5 STYLE (continued) DRIVE P: Since Decapitator was designed to impart the sonic character of analog Modeled after Thermionic Culture® Culture Vulture® pentode setting. gear driven hard, any control labeled “Drive” will probably see a lot of This style models an overdriven Pentode tube, which is commonly use. Why else would we have make the knob so big, right? used in the output stage of guitar and other amplifiers.
THE DECAPITATOR CONTROL PANEL Decapitator — Version 5 THE ATTITUDE METER LOW CUT The Attitude Meter in Decapitator is a highly responsive VU meter Use the Low Cut control to remove low frequencies before they hit the useful as a visual indicator of the audio level in relation to the Drive (virtual) saturation circuit. This is useful to prevent any ‘flabbiness’ that control. The Attitude Meter does not measure output from Decapitator.
THE DECAPITATOR CONTROL PANEL Decapitator — Version 5 HIGH CUT STEEP The High Cut control is in place to remove high frequencies from the The Steep switch alters the slope of the High Cut filter. When it is OFF, distorted sound, and as such it operates AFTER the saturation section. the High Cut filter is a very gentle 6 dB per octave rolloff. When it is ON, This is in contrast to the Low Cut and the Tone controls, which affect a super-steep 30 dB per octave filter is switched in.
THE DECAPITATOR CONTROL PANEL Decapitator — Version 5 MIX The Mix control determines the balance between the original audio and the audio processed by Decapitator. Utilizing the Mix control allows you to blend the original signal in with the saturated version. This is a great trick to restore the transients of your original sound that get chopped off by the saturation stage.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Decapitator — Version 5 SUPPORT INFORMATION Now that you’ve taken the time to learn all about Decapitator, have fun, experiment, and make greatness! If our plug-ins helped you take your production to the next level, let us know, we’d love to hear from you and what you were able to create with our software. If along the way however you should run into any hiccups or anything unexpected, we offer free technical support for all registered users. Our FAQ contains many helpful answers.
Decapitator — Version 5 Wave Mechanics, Soundtoys, Crystallizer, EchoBoy, FilterFreak, PhaseMistress, PitchDoctor, PurePitch, SoundBlender, Speed, Decapitator, PanMan, Tremolator, Devil-Loc, Radiator, MicroShift, PrimalTap, and their respective logos are all trademarks of Soundtoys, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Soundtoys.
