Foreword Foreword Hint Thank you for purchasing the Waldorf Lector Vocoder plugin. Waldorf Music GmbH is not liable for any erroneous information contained in this manual. The contents of this manual may be updated at any time without prior notice. We made every effort to ensure the information herein is accurate and that the manual contains no contradictory information. Waldorf Music GmbH extends no liabilities in regard to this manual other than those required by local law.
Foreword Lector Development Team Software: Wolfram Franke, Thomas Rehaag User interface: Axel Hartmann Manual: Holger Steinbrink Revision: 1.0, May 2011 Betatest/Sounddesign: Boele Gerkes, Achim Gratz, Till Kopper, Dirk Krause, Jay de Miceli, Dr. Georg Müller, Kai Niggemann, Hermann Seib, Holger Steinbrink, Dr. Stefan Trippler, Dr. Ingo Weidner w Please visit our website www.waldorfmusic.de Maybe you can download a newer version for your Lector.
Content Content Control Elements ........................................................... 12 Preset Management ....................................................... 13 Foreword.............................................................................................2 The Controls in Detail...................................................................... 15 Parameter of the Input Section....................................... 15 Content...............................................
Overview Overview User Interface of Lector a Parameter of the Input section/Carrier signal c Parameter of the Vocoder filterbank b Parameter of the Lector Synthesizer d Effects section 5 Lector User´s Manual
Introduction Introduction Highlighted Control Features and Parameters About this Manual All of the Lector´s buttons, controls and parameters are highlighted in bold letters throughout the manual. This manual was written to help you to become familiar with Lector. It will also aid experienced users with routine tasks. To avoid confusion, the terminology in this manual is based on the Lector parameter names. You will find the various terms explained in a glossary at the end of this manual.
Installation Installation Installation from CD-ROM: 1. Start your computer and launch your operating system. Insert the Lector CD-ROM into your DVD/CD-ROM drive. If you have enabled the Autostart function in Windows, the Installer will start automatically and you can proceed with Step 5 below.
Installation 3. Double click on the Lector Installer icon. This launches a special installation program. w 4. Follow the on-screen instructions. w w After installing Lector you will have to activate the program on your computer. Please refer to the chapter “Activation of Lector”. Please also observe the system requirements of your host application! Lector can be installed under Mac OS X Snow Leopard 64 Bit. Please keep in mind that Lector will run as 32 bit application.
Installation You need to have administrator rights to install and authorize Lector. If your current user account doesn't have administrator rights, please quit the installer, log in as user with administrator rights and start the installer again. Installation of a Downloaded Installer File: 1. Refer to the folder where the downloaded Lector zip archive is located. 2. Double click on the archive file to extraxt it. 3. Double click on the Lector Installer DMG icon.
Installation w w w m Lector is copy-protected by the Soft eLicenser Copy Protection. You do not need an USB key to authorize Lector on a particular computer. However, we strongly recommend to transfer the Lector license to an eLicenser USB Key (i.e. from Steinberg or eLicenser) during or after activation. Please consult the eLicenser Control Center Online Help how to perform this optional step.
Quick Start Tutorial Quick Start Tutorial your host application as also as in Lector to route a desired signal as Carrier into Lector. Here you find a quick start for working with Lector: • Load the Lector plug-in in an insert slot of any audio or instrument track of your host application which contains a suited signal as speech, vocals or drums. • Start the playback of your host application and turn the Speech dial in Lector until you hear the original signal.
Basic Operation Basic Operation Control Elements Using Lector’s controls is simple. There are some different types of control elements: Lector has been optimized for a screen resolution of at least 1024x768 pixels. If the resolution of your screen is lower you will have to scroll your window. Dials Key Combinations • If you hold down the [CTRL] key (PC) or Command key (Mac) on your computer keyboard and click on any control, its value is automatically set to its default value (e.g.
Basic Operation Display Preset Managment The information display shows parameter information and a brief description of the parameter function. In addition, MIDI controller allocations (CTRL) and the current numerical value of the parameter are displayed. To load and save a Preset Program within Lector, please proceed as follows: • Left click on the File menu button to open a popdown menu with the following parameters: • Load Bank opens a window to load a Lector preset bank.
Basic Operation • If your host application offers a separate Load/Save dialogue you can also use it to load and save sound programs.
The Controls in Detail The Controls in Detail homogeneous audio signal. Both compressors feature the same control elements. The analog user interface offers direct access to the dials on the Lector. Besides the Input/Speech section will find three separate sections: The internal synthesizer for creating a carrier signal, the Vocoder section and at least the Effects section. Compressor Active On / Off Switches the corresponding compressor on or off. The switch lights red when activated.
The Controls in Detail Swap w Off / Swapped Swap inverts the speech and carrier signal by one mouse click. Use this function for experimental purposes. Unvoiced Detector An Unvoiced Detector adds noise to the non tonal vocoder signal to increasee the articulation of speech and ist transients. ✻ You can prelistening the signal of the Unvoiced Detector when turning up the Carrier parameter within the Output section.
The Controls in Detail • Noise selects White Noise which contains all frequencies with the same gain level. It is perfectly suited to increase the articulation of human speech that is used as speech signal source. • Speech selects the speech signal itself as signal source fort he UV detector. It is suited for signals with a high amount of transients as drum loops. • Noise Mix selects also White Noise. Compared to Noise the noise will be mixed with the carrier signal instead of relacing it.
The Controls in Detail Carrier plug-in offers an additional Thru function for the track signal. w w In both cases an active Sidechain function in Lecor will lit in red. Keep in mind that the Lector Carrier plug-in can look different based on your used host application.
The Controls in Detail Parameter of the Lector Synthesizer Triangle / Sine / Pulse / Saw / S & H / Noise / Sidechain /Sampleplayback Oscillator Shape The Lector synthesizer contains a 16 voices syntheiser based on the Waldorf DNA with a lot of useful parameters. Click on a shape symbol of the corresponding oscillator to select the desired waveform. The following shapes are currently available: Lector offers two oscillators that nearly use the same parameters for editing.
The Controls in Detail • • • Noise selects White Noise which contains all frequencies with the same gain level. ✻ Mid-ranged settings are perfect for pads and other fat Sidechain selects an external audio signal as oscillator signal. You have to use the sidechain function of your host application (VST3, AU) or the lector Carrier plug-in (VST2.4). Please read also the chapter „The Carrier Signal of Lector“. ✻ High values will give a strong detune that can be sounding programs.
The Controls in Detail PWM (also FM Env) -100...+100% Filter Active PWM means Pulse Width Modulation. If you have selected Pulse as Oscillator shape this parameter determines the amount of modulation that is applied to the pulsewidth of the oscillator’s square wave by the LFO. If you select any waveform other than Pulse, this parameter controls the amount fort he frequency modulation through the filter envelope. For this purpose the filter doesn´t need to be active. Mod Switches the Filter on or off.
The Controls in Detail • w w The Whitening filter offers an unique function: It removes formant frequencies from choir or voices samples. The vocoder itself creates a formant based signal so that too much formants within the carrier signal can interact. The Whitening filter compensates this effect. To reduce the brillance of the Whitening filtrer the Cutoff parameter controls a downstreamed 6 dB lopass filter. When Whitening is selected, all filter parameters (except Drive) do not have any effect.
The Controls in Detail keyboard the cutoff frequency changes by the same amount. If you want to play the filter in a tempered scale, e.g. for a solo sound with self-oscillation, set the value to +100%. Filter LFO Determines the amount of saturation that is added to the signal. If set to 0, no saturation will be added or, in other words, the signal will remain clean. Increasing the value will add some harmonics to the signal, resulting in a warm character up to complete distortion.
The Controls in Detail When you hit the keys smoothly, only minimal modulation is applied. When you hit them harder, the modulation amount also gets stronger. (e.g. trombone). It is very common on synthesizers and used throughout all music styles. Please note that Glide affects the pitch of all oscillators. w Glide The overall modulation applied to the filter’s cutoff frequency is calculated as the sum of both the Env and Velo parameters.
The Controls in Detail • Portamento is the continuous gliding from one note to another. • Random generates random values and glides to them linearly. • Glissando activates quantizing on the glide steps to allow a glissando effect in semitones like a guitar. • S&H (Sample & Hold) samples a random value and holds it until the next value is generated. If Speed is set to 0, a random value is generated on each new note.
The Controls in Detail Ringmod Level 0...100% ✻ Ring Modulation can be very interesting when a slow pitch modulation is applied to one oscillator. This creates spacy effect sounds. Volume of the ring modulation between Oscillator 1 and 2. From a technical point of view ring modulation is the multiplication of two oscillators’ signals. The result of this operation is a waveform that contains the sums and the differences of the source frequency components.
The Controls in Detail Selects how incoming MIDI data will trigger the Lector synthesiser: • Normal will respond to incoming MIDI notes to control the synthesizer polyphonically You need to use a MIDI track within your host application to route MIDI data to Lector. • Single will respond to incoming MIDI notes to control the synthesizer monophonically You need to use a MIDI track within your host application to route MIDI data to Lector.
The Controls in Detail Parameter of the Lector Vocoder around 220 Hz. For loops and other signals, the values should be 100 Hz. The Vocoder section of Lector offers a wide range of parameters tro control the analysis and synthesis signals. w Analysis Filter Bank You can also edit the Low parameter by clicking on the L flag within the Filter Bank display. High The Analysis Filter Bank determines which part of the frequency spectrum is being analysed by the Vocoder.
The Controls in Detail Release Clicking between the flag markers and moving the mouse horizontally changes both markers simultaneously. 0...60s Sets the Release time for the Analysis Filter Bank. The higher the value, the longer the release. Lower values will create a more percussive effect, higher values will have more “legato” results. Typically, this should be set to values between 10 - 25. Bands The waveform at the center indicates if there is input signal for processing.
The Controls in Detail Low Offset Synthesis Filter Bank -100...+100% Sets the relative offset of the lowest synthesis band compared to the lowest analysis band. A setting of 0 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.
The Controls in Detail Bandwidth -100...+100% High Modulation -100...+100% 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 0 is recommended for best vocoding results. This parameter adjusts the amount of LFO modulation for the High Offset position. The higher the value, the wider the modulation width. Lower setting adds a negative modulation.
The Controls in Detail • Random generates random values and glides to them linearly. • S&H (Sample & Hold) samples a random value and holds it until the next value is generated. If Speed is set to 0, a random value is generated on each new note. LFO Speed This equalizer doesn´t offer a shelving or peak characteristic, it provides a linear gain increasing or descreasing form the middle band to the lowest and highest band. Equalizer Active Switches the equalizer on or off.
The Controls in Detail w Output Adjusting the EQ levels will change the intelligibility of the vocoded signal. For more female tones, try higher values for Treble, and lower values for Bass. When you set Mid Frequency to 1 and Mid Gain to 0dB you can using Treble to receive a proportional increasing or decreasing of all bands. This is more comfortable as to work with three gain knobs. The Output section allows you to adjust the audio levels of the different sources in Lector. . Speech -∞...
The Controls in Detail Vocoder -∞...0dB 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. Effects Lector offers an effects unit with four independant effects located behind the vocoder. w All effects offers an Active button for switching on or off the corresponding effect. If activated the corresponding button lits red.
The Controls in Detail Overdrive effect and the Drive parameter of the Filter section is that Drive affects one single voice, while this effect type distorts the summed output of the whole output signal. Therefore, the resulting effect is different as soon as you play more than one note and you should consider which is best suited to a particular sound program. Overdrive Type Tone Dampens the high frequency output of the Overdrive effect.
The Controls in Detail Speed 0...20 Hz Mix 0...100% This parameter controls the volume ratio between the original signal and the effect output. If set to 0%, the dry signal is sent to the outputs only so that no effects can be heard. Higher values will increase the effect signal. At maximum setting, the pure effect signal will be heard. Sets the LFO speed of the Chorus effect. Depth Sets the modulation depth of the Chorus effect. Feedback -100...
The Controls in Detail cuts the lower frequencies to produce a more realistic delay effect. High Cut complicated mathematical algorithms are needed to simulate the complexity of a natural reverb. As a result, good reverb processors are very expensive. The Lector’s reverb effects don’t intend to simulate the perfect natural room, rather they are an addition to the sound synthesis to make it more 3 dimensional and expressive 41.18...
The Controls in Detail surface. Settings above characteristic even further. Decay 100 change the room Low Damp High pass filter in the feedback loop of the late reverb. Determines how fast the room simulation dampens the lower reverb frequencies. This phenomenon makes a natural echo sound somewhat hollow. Higher values of the Damping parameter mean that more low frequencies will be dampened. 0...100 Feedback of the reverb network. Recommended settings are between 1/4 and half its range.
Appendix Appendix The results will always be complex and interesting, sometimes near to the original signal and sometimes far away. What is a Vocoder? For the Vocoder, you always need two signals, a signal that is analyzed and another signal that is used to be processed by the synthesis filters. The analyzed signal always comes one source, either an audio track or an instrument track.
Appendix 3. Check the settings in the Output section. Only “Vocoder” should be up, as shown in the screenshot. Classic Vocoder controlled by MIDI notes This is the typical setup for using the Vocoder musically, i.e. creating a melodic Vocoder effect, typically using the internal synthesizer. 1. Choose a track where you would like the audio to be processed. Alternatively you can choose a virtual instrument track (e.g. sample player). 4. Select Latch in the Trigger section. 2.
Appendix 5. Make sure that you have selected Synthesizer in the Input section. 1. Choose a track where you would like the audio to be processed. Alternatively you can choose a virtual instrument track (e.g. sample player). Load Lector directly in this channel´s insert slots. 2. Now load the Lector Carrier plug-in on the desired carrier channel (the channel where you would like the audio to be processed. This could also be any audio or instrument track.
Appendix 5. Make sure that you have selected Sidechain in the Input section. If activated, Lector will not using the internal synthesizer, but the Carrier signal as sound source. 6. Start the playback of your host application. 7. Depending on your source signal, enhance the sibilent frequencies to improve intelligibility by adjusting the UV Detector. Make sure it’s on (indicated by the LED) and adjust the values to your requirements.
Appendix Glossary is initiated immediately after a trigger signal is received, i.e. after you play a note on the keyboard. Aliasing Carrier Signal Aliasing is an audible side effect arising in digital systems as soon as a signal contains harmonics higher than half the sampling frequency. The carrier signal is the sound source that carries the analysis sound.
Appendix Decay Filter “Decay” describes the descent rate of an envelope once the Attack phase has reached its zenith and the envelope drops to the level defined for the Sustain value. A filter is a component that allows some of a signal's frequencies to pass through it and dampens other frequencies. The most important aspect of a filter is the filter cutoff frequency. Filters generally come in four categories: low pass, high pass, band pass, and band stop.
Appendix appreciate this by using this manual here and there. We recommend to deposit it in your restroom within reach. receivers. Of course it is desirable for the sender to be able to address each device individually. Consequently, there is a rule which is applied to ensure each device responds accordingly. MIDI The acronym MIDI stands for “musical instrument digital interface.
Appendix Note on / Note off Program Change This is the most important MIDI message. It determines the pitch and velocity of every generated note. The time of arrival is simultaneously the start time of the note. Its pitch is derived from the note number, which lies between 0 and 127. The velocity lies between 1 and 127. A value of 0 for velocity is similar to “Note Off”. These are MIDI messages that switch sound programs. Program numbers 1 through 128 can be changed via program change messages.
Appendix Sibilants Volume Sibilant sounds are characterized by a hissing sound. These include the english pronunciation of such consonants as “f”, “s”, “z”, or “th”. The term describes a sound's output level. Sustain The term “Sustain” describes the level of an envelope that remains constant after it has run through the Attack and Decay phases. Sustain lasts until the trigger is terminated. Trigger A trigger is a signal that activates events. Trigger signals are very diverse.
Appendix Product Support If you have any questions about your Waldorf product, feel free to contact us via one of the four options listed below: 1. Send us an email message. This is the most efficient and fastest way to contact us. Your questions will be forwarded immediately to the resident expert and you will quickly receive an answer. support@waldorfmusic.de 2. Send us a letter. It will take a bit longer, but it is just as dependable as an email. Waldorf Music GmbH Landskroner Str.
