Tremolator Rhythmic Amplitube Modulation User’s Guide Version 5 : For Mac and Windows
CONTENTS (continued) PhaseMistress Tremolator — Version 5 THE BASICS / Pg. 3 Attack .............................................................................................................. pg. 10 About Tremolator ......................................................................................... pg. 4 Release . .......................................................................................................... pg. 11 Mode .................................................................
THE BASICS Tremolator — Version 5 Figure 1: Tremolator’s Control Panel and Tweak Menu soundtoys.
THE BASICS - ABOUT TREMOLATOR Tremolator — Version 5 Tremolo, the effect of oscillating a sound’s volume, is one of the most speed, that was it: just two parameters. Tremolator on the other hand popular tricks in the audio world. Tremolo (often used interchangeably allows you to take that characteristic sound but utilize MIDI to lock the to describe vibrato), is a positively ancient effect, first applied to pipe effect into sync with your project.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL Tremolator — Version 5 Figure 2: The Tremolator Control Panel INPUT AND OUTPUT LEVEL These controls are particularly useful in allowing you to control the The Input and Output level controls are used to either boost or amount of saturation and distortion present in Tremolator. attenuate the input or output of Tremolator.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL Tremolator — Version 5 DEPTH amount of Shuffle or Swing dialed in with the knob will be relative to The Depth control defines how much of the incoming signal’s amplitude the currently set Rhythm. Groove settings are imparted on the signal will be modulated. This can range from a very subtle shift in the regardless of the type of modulation used, the rate, or the rhythm amplitude to actual gating of the signal, especially when the modulating setting.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL Tremolator — Version 5 ACCENT SHAPE As with the Groove knob, the Accent knob allows you to add two ad- The Shape control is used to select from the list of available built-in LFO ditional types of rhythmic feel to the tremolo effect: ‘Sync’ and ‘Max’. wave shapes. Tremolator includes all all of the standard LFO shapes Again, setting the knob straight up is the null or ‘zero’ position. you would expect such as sine, triangle, square, etc.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL Tremolator — Version 5 RATE TAP TEMPO The Rate knob determines the basic rate of the modulation and is set in Tap Tempo does what it says; start tapping on the grey button and it will BPM. The range is from 30 BPM to 240 BPM. It is important to note that determine the BPM of your tapping.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 Figure 4: Tremolator’s Powerful Tweak Menu THRESHOLD 1) As long as the level of the input signal is above the Threshold level, the modulation of Rate and Depth will be active.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 THRESHOLD (continued) At fast Attack settings (knob turned fully counter-clockwise) the Rate and Depth Mod will go to their full setting instantaneously. As you turn You can think of Threshold as determining how far the signal must up and increase the Attack time it will take longer for the Rate and pass the the set target before the Rate and Depth settings will have an Depth modulation to reach their full amount, or depth of modulation.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 RELEASE MODE The Release knob works in a similar fashion to the Attack knob but The two Envelope Mode options determine the way the underlying determines how quickly (or slowly) the Rate or Depth Mod will return to envelope follower, Threshold, Attack, and Release settings respond and their ‘normal’ settings once the input signal has dropped below the set interact with each other. There are two Mode settings: ‘Env’ and ‘Gate’.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 RATE MOD Additionally, you can still modulate the rate even if Tremolator is synced The Rate Mod knob allows you to dynamically increase (or decrease) to an incoming MIDI clock. What happens is the rate is driven out of sync the rate of the LFO or Rhythm based on the level of the input signal and sped up or down but once the mod level drops back to the ‘normal’ and the Threshold setting as discussed previously.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 DEPTH MOD (continued) ANALOG STYLE added. As you increase the Depth Mod amount, the basic Depth setting There are 7 different available Analog Style algorithms that determine will be ‘biased’ (scaled back a bit) to allow for the desired increase in the saturation characteristics of Tremolator.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 Figure 5: Tremolator’s Shape Editor Section SHAPE EDITOR It is extremely easy to create entirely new shapes in Tremolator using the built-in Shape Editor. You can use one of the Shape Presets (found on the waveform as you like and use the “grab/move” operation to reposition any of the points. Extremely complex wave shapes can be created using this tool.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 SMOOTHING MODE The Smoothing Mode determines the “shape” of the smoothing that will be used to connect the points. This further increases the variety of waveforms you can create within the LFO Shape Editor. The Smoothing Mode choices are as follows: Linear - Points are connected using straight lines Sine - Produces a sinusoidal-like waveform, which is very smooth.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 Figure 7: Tremolator’s Rhythm Editor Section THE RHYTHM EDITOR The Rhythm Editor section allows you to create completely unique rhythm patterns for Tremolator. The main editor window (with the green pattern lines) works in a very similar manner to a drum machine pattern editor. You will notice the vertical dividing lines in the editor window; these can be selected by clicking on each section to add or remove.
THE TREMOLATOR CONTROL PANEL - TWEAK MENU Tremolator — Version 5 THE RHYTHM EDITOR (continued) There are four modifier menus that are located directly beneath the editor window. The first two (Num Bars and Beats/Bar) can be thought of as setting up your rhythm to match the song as we are determining the number of bars the pattern should entail as well as how many beats per bar.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Tremolator — Version 5 SUPPORT INFORMATION Now that you’ve taken the time to learn all about Tremolator, 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.
Tremolator — 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.
