FL Manual 22 wav/wav/xy/transient Flashcards

Question

FL STUDIO - Wave Candy - Colors - Hint: Wave Candy has been designed so that tweaking the color targets will create pleasing effects. - -This may make it a little difficult (if you are new to the plugin), to see exactly which color you are working with. - --Turn AO (object opacity), CA (color transparency) and S (saturation) all the way to the right, so that changes to H (hue) will be clearly visible. - ---But its gaudy, so put them back when you are done. - ----We shudder to think what visual disasters you will create once you discover these controls. On second thoughts, perhaps we should hide them.

Answer 1

FL STUDIO - Wave Candy - Colors - Hint: Wave Candy has been designed so that tweaking the color targets will create pleasing effects. - -This may make it a little difficult (if you are new to the plugin), to see exactly which color you are working with. - --Turn AO (object opacity), CA (color transparency) and S (saturation) all the way to the right, so that changes to H (hue) will be clearly visible. - ---But its gaudy, so put them back when you are done. - ----We shudder to think what visual disasters you will create once you discover these controls. On second thoughts, perhaps we should hide them.

Answer 2

Displays the wave form created by the audio signal.

Answer 3

-Restricts the movement of the ends of the waveform (as if they are being 'pinched').

Answer 4

- In short, smooths zoomed waveforms. - -When it's on it will more closely represent what your speakers play, when of the digital data in the waveform.

Answer 5

- Waveform synchronization. - -Right-click to sync to a specific note/frequency. - --Turn to the right to match higher frequencies, left to match lower frequencies.

Answer 6

- Zoom, turn to the left to zoom in on the waveform. - -Turn to the right to zoom out.

Answer 7

-Turn right to separate the L and R channels of a stereo signal.

Answer 8

- Displays a moving trace of the audio signal. - -Color hue represents intensity (level), vertical position represents frequency (20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, bottom to top is represented) and horizontal position represents time.

Answer 9

Scroll speed, right is slower.

Answer 10

Increases the resolution of the analysis at the expense of CPU load.

Answer 11

-Right increases the low frequency detail, left increases the high frequency detail.

Answer 12

- Rotate the knob fully right to see a Piano keyboard to aid in note identification from audio files. - -When looking at a single note, the fundamental/root pitch (note name) will generally be the lowest horizontal line in the group. - --The lines above this are likely to be harmonics. With practice you will be able to recognize the root notes in chords and other complex music.

Answer 13

Changes the intensity scaling.

Answer 14

- Sets the color intensity gradient to better represent the way we hear frequencies. - -Specifically, it changes the brightness weighting from white noise, a linear relationship between frequency and display brightness to pink noise. - --Pink noise decreases the intensity by 3dB/Octave, making it more suitable for musical uses as the higher frequencies no longer dominate the spectral display brightness, which is closer to how we hear those same frequencies.

Answer 15

Displays the audio level as a pair of vertical bars (left and right channels) on a dB scale.

Answer 16

-Zooms the scale range.

Answer 17

- Amount of time the peak indicator remains at its peak. - -NOTE: The peak shown will be the peak of the Mode type selected. - --This won't be the absolute peaks, unless you are in 'Peak' mode.

Answer 18

- Choose a metering algorithm. - -Apart from 'Peak' all the other metering algorithms apply some 'average', 'weighted average' or 'secret squirrel mathematics' to the signal to better represent 'loudness' as perceived by humans. - --The problem is that the ear responds in a complex way to sound pressure level, depending on frequency and duration of the sound, and so various arguments about what method best represents 'loudness' have broken out among audio engineers.

Answer 19

- Displays the precise and instantaneous level of the audio. - -Most useful for spotting clipping problems and seeing absolute maximum peak levels.

Answer 20

-Similar to the 'Peak' meter with a slightly slower response time (~5 ms averaging window) so that transient peaks are ignored and levels are easier to read.

Answer 21

- The RMS calculation is performed over a 300 ms 'time window'. - -This moving average evens out transient peaks, to better represent loudness.

Answer 22

- Originally developed in 1939 by Bell Labs, CBS and NBC for measuring and standardizing the speech levels in telephone lines, Vu was one of the first methods used to represent perceived loudness of audio signals by metering. - -Rather than showing peaks Vu has an intentionally slow and logarithmic response to changes in input to better represent loudness. - --The main shortcoming of Vu is that the fluctuations in the metering are greater than the changes in volume the ear perceives. - --This problem is addressed by the next two methods: Leq(A) and ITU-R BS.1770

Answer 23

- Another attempt to 'more accurately' represent loudness. - -The Leq(A) metering algorithm is essentially an A-weighted average of the audio signal. - --The A-weighting takes into account the changing sensitivity of the human ear as a function of audio frequency. - ---Leq(A) is reputed to be useful for matching speech levels across different tracks.

Answer 24

- Yet another algorithm (developed by the International Telecommunications Union, published 2006) to 'more accurately' measure perceived loudness of lengthy sections of program material (particularly for multi-channel 'surround' audio). - -This algorithm measures a frequency-weighted' average over a long time-window (several seconds) and is probably best suited to the 'Mastering' stage when you need to match the perceived loudness of a number of different songs.

Answer 25

FL STUDIO - Wave Candy - Meter - Advice: Use a Peak mode to watch for clipping and your ears to make adjustments to loudness, not so difficult after all. - -The art of metering is really most important for audio engineers in the broadcast industry, where they need to match the volume of a wide-range of source material so that we don't have to keep adjusting the volume on our TVs & Radios. - --If only they would agree to use Leq(A) or ITU-R BS.1770 to match the volume of advertising to the surrounding program material!

Answer 26

-Rate at which the metering bar falls.

Answer 27

-The Vectorscope measures the differences between the left and right channels of a stereo input and can provide information about stereo content, panning and phase.

Answer 28

- follows the positive and negative amplitude oscillations of the left and right input waveforms. - -The stereo channels share the spot by having their amplitude axes orthogonal to each other, so 'vectors' are created between the two channels, hence the name Vectorscope. - --It sounds a bit complex but is really quite simple, think of the display as an oscilloscope-style graph where one axis (+R/-R) represents the right channel amplitude and the other axis (+L/-L) is the left channel amplitude. - ---The technical name for the visual display on a Vectorscope is a Lissajous figure (as shown left).

Answer 29

- When fed a lone left or right channel input, a straight line is generated as the spot bounces up and down along the input axis (the dotted +L/-L or +R/-R grid). - -A left channel input will generate a line sloping to the left, while a right channel input generates a line to sloping to the right. - --A mono input, panned to center, will generate a vertical line. - ---This is the 'vector' between the left and right channels. By observing the orientation of the line OR general orientation of a 'Lissajous figure', the display will give a visual indication of the average pan position. - ----NOTE: The background grid shows center pan, 50% pan and 100% pan for left and right).

Answer 30

- Stereo is created by amplitude differences between the left and right channels, so stereo signals cause the display to deviate from the vertical line, creating a 'Lissajous figure '. - -The more 'stereo' content the signal has, the more complex and 'fatter' the Lissajous figure will be. - --Thin figures mean there is low stereo content (lines mean there is no 'stereo' effect and indicate pan position).

Answer 31

- If a straight line, or Lissajous figure, appears oriented along the horizontal axis this indicates that left and right channels are 180? out of phase. - -Note that the more stereo content the signal has the more difficult it will be to see the orientation of the 'Lissajous figure'.

Answer 32

-Display update speed, right is slower.

Answer 33

-Thickness of the Lissajous figure's flying-spot.

Answer 34

-Menu with several 'flying-spot' options

Answer 35

-Additive blending (improves visibility).

Answer 36

FL STUDIO - Wave Candy - Options NOTE: If you want to use the plugin to create visual effects, try sine-wave sounds (Sytrus 'Default' for example) with phasing or flanging added. Two note chords will add another layer of complexity. Generally, keep the input simple and you will be rewarded with the most coherent and beautiful Lissajous figures. But it's not a toy, get back to work and improve your mix!

Answer 37

- Right-click any of the above output display to open this menu. - -Note that the appearance setting 'solid' must be on for the mouse action to be effective.

Answer 38

-Turns the display window on or off.

Answer 39

-Selects an alternative smaller display.

Answer 40

-Shows/hides the display window background.

Answer 41

- Changes the display type based on the size and shape of the window. - -For example, making the display tall and narrow will select 'Peak meter' mode while making it short and wide will select 'Oscilloscope" mode.

Answer 42

-Displays the wave form created by the audio signal.

Answer 43

-Displays a moving trace of the audio signal. Color hue represents intensity (level), vertical position represents frequency (20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, bottom to top is represented) and horizontal position represents time

Answer 44

-Displays the audio level as a pair of vertical bars (left and right channels) on a dB scale.

Answer 45

-Displays information about the differences between the left and right audio channels (stereo effect).

Answer 46

-Opens the Wave Candy control panel.

Answer 47

- Hold your mouse pointer over the display allows you to inspect the levels under the pointer. - -The middle mouse button freezes the display (same as HOLD). - --CPU load: In general, CPU increases with increasing display size.

Answer 48

-Fruity WaveShaper is a wave distortion effect which maps input (horizontal axis) to output (vertical axis) values using flexible spline-based graph.

Answer 49

-In Unipolar mode, the bottom of the graph corresponds to 0db input and the top corresponds to 100% and the Waveshaper shape is applied equally to waveforms above and below 0 dB (the zero-crossing). In Bipolar mode the graph changes to allow you to independently shape the waveforms above and below 0 dB.

Answer 50

-Preamplifies the input signal (volume).

Answer 51

-Balance between the dry input and processed signal. Turning to right mixes more signal from the processed version.

Answer 52

-Postamplification of the sound (volume).

Answer 53

-Eliminates noises associated with fast modulation of the Pre, Mix and Post controls.

Answer 54

- Oversamples the input to the factor specified, applies the distortion and downsamples. - -Oversampling helps to avoid aliasing artifacts, if any.

Answer 55

- HQ deactivates CPU saving that disables WaveShapers output when it falls below -85 dB. - -This can be audible if the output of the plugin is boosted by other effects in the chain. - --When HQ is enabled WaveShaper processes inputs to silence.

Answer 56

- Remove DC offset from the final output. - -That is, a case where the average output of the waveform is above or below the zero line.

Answer 57

- Enable this switch to lock the map curve to its current setup. - -This feature is helpful after you finish with the changes to the shape and you want to protect it from accidental edits (it also hides the handles providing a clear view of the shape).

Answer 58

- Enable this option to set the editor in step editing mode - drag in the editor to create a "free hand" curve where a new control point is defined for every step in the timeline. - -Hold SHIFT key while dragging to draw "pulse" lines (straight vertical/horizontal lines only). - --Note that each new segment created this way uses the last tension set while adding a segment.

Answer 59

-Enable this option if you want the control points to snap to the nearest step in the graph while dragging.

Answer 60

- Position your cursor over the line until the add point cursor appears. - -Right-click and a new point will be added.

Answer 61

- You can drag the control points with your left mouse button. - -Hold SHIFT while dragging to lock vertical position or CTRL to lock horizontal position.

Answer 62

- Right-click a control point and select Delete. - -Alternatively hold ALT and Left-click.

Answer 63

- WaveShaper offers three types of spline segments to select from. - -Right-click a control point and you will see three spline type options (the affected segment is the one preceding the control point): Single Curve - the default mode which allows you to create linear, ease in and ease out curves (depending on the tension); Double Curve - allows linear, ease in-out and ease out-in curves (depending on the tension); Hold - creates "hold" or "pulse" curves which are handy for creating abrupt value changes in your envelope.

Answer 64

- You can drag the tension handle of each spline up/down to change the spline appearance. - -Right-click the handle to reset to a straight line. - --Hold CTRL during adjustment to fine tune.

Answer 65

Fruity X-Y Controller is an internal controller plugin that allows you to use your mouse (or joystick) to generate two smooth controller inputs. It has the following inputs: X-Y Ctrl - X - The value of this controller depends on the X (horizontal) position of a target (small circle with a cross) in a 2D grid. X-Y Ctrl - Y - The value of this controller depends on the Y (vertical) position of the target.

Answer 66

Contains options for the X/Y axis interpretation and goal position.

Answer 67

- If you select X, the rest of the controls in that section will control the behavior of the X axis. - -If you select Y, they will control the behavior of the Y axis.

Answer 68

Sets the X or Y (depending on the X/Y switch) goal position the target is moving towards.

Answer 69

-Sets the value of the X or Y (depending on the X/Y switch) controller when the X/Y coordinate of the target is at its minimum.

Answer 70

-Sets the value of the X or Y (depending on the X/Y switch) controller when the X/Y coordinate of the target is at its maximum.

Answer 71

FL STUDIO - Fruity X-Y Controller Parameters: X/Y Setup Section Tension (TNS) - Drag up and down to alter the shape of the curve used to map the coordinate values to the controller values. This parameter is like a controller 'tension' setting.

Answer 72

-Drag up and down to alter the shape of the curve used to map the coordinate values to the controller values. This parameter is like a controller 'tension' setting.

Answer 73

-Turn to the right to speed up the target's movement toward the goal position. Turn to the left to slow the target down.

Answer 74

- Sets the acceleration of the target when the goal position changes. - -Turn to the right for greater acceleration, or to the left for less acceleration.

Answer 75

-Turn on this switch if you want to use your joystick to control the target.

Answer 76

-Click to launch menus where you can choose which joystick properties will control the X and Y axes.

Answer 77

-Sets the speed of the joystick.

Answer 78

- The Fruity X-Y-Z Controller is an internal controller plugin that allows you to use your mouse or touch to generate three control sources for controls in FL Studio and plugins. - -In multi-touch mode, pinch controls the Z-axis.

Answer 79

- Outputs from the plugin for X (horizontal), Y (vertical) and Z (depth) are controlled by the cursor. - -Z is controlled by the mouse-wheel or pinch-zoom on multi-touch displays. - --To use the XYZ plugin, place an instance of it in any effects track. - ---Drag in the grid to change the cursor position and the target will follow.

Answer 80

FL STUDIO - Fruity X-Y-Z Controller NOTE: Once this plugin is loaded it will appear as an 'Internal controller' link option in the 'Link to controller' Right-click dialog on automatable controls.

Answer 81

FL STUDIO - Fruity X-Y-Z Controller Display Menu: Coordinates - XYZ controller position Input mapping - Scale control values received from a click-n-drag or touch. The input mapping is applied before the speed or smoothing parameters. Output mapping - Scale control values sent out from the plugin. Both Input and Output mappings show the input on the horizontal axis and output on the vertical axis.

Answer 82

FL STUDIO - Fruity X-Y-Z Controller SPEED - Speed at which the axis will change. Absolute mode - ON: The Control will jump directly to the position you click or touch. OFF: Control will start from its current position when clicked or touched and move relatively. (Right-click) inverts this mode. ACC - Acceleration rate to reach maximum speed. Global Speed - Global multiplier for the speed of all X, Y & Z axes.

Answer 83

-Soundgoodizer is a stereo 'maximizer-enhancer' plugin based on the Maximus soundprocess engine.

Answer 84

- Blends from left to right from Soungoodizing 0% (bad) to 100% (good). - -Turn the knob to the level that sounds goodest.

Answer 85

- Click the switches to select one of 4 carefully chosen, hand crafted phase-locked hyper-calibrated Bit-polished Maximus presets. - -Select the preset to match your music by clicking and listening for the good stuff to happen. - --To learn more about what makes the Soundgoodizer sound good, open the Maximus presets A, B, C and D and examine the settings associated with them. - ---The Soundgoodizer 'big knob' controls the same parameter as the LMH mix knob on Maximus, that is, the mix between plugin input & LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH compressor output.

Answer 86

- Transient Processor is a dynamics processing plugin. - -Use it with high Attack settings to give extra snap or punch to drum sounds or with high Release settings to increase the apparent loudness or weight of percussion, vocals or any other sound where you would normally use a compressor. - --Unlike a compressor there are no thresholds or compression ratios to set, so Transient Processor is more forgiving and you will find it easier to achieve the sound you desire. - ---Alternatively, use low Release settings to suppress unwanted noise or reverb in the tail of a sound. - ----Transient Processor works dynamically with the input signal, processing only the attack and or release as you choose and will quickly become your indispensable go-to dynamics processing tool. - ------Experimentation is key and abuse of the plugin is encouraged. Reap the sonic rewards! Related plugins are Fruity Limiter and Maximus.

Answer 87

- The Transient Process operates by using Input Envelope Followers (IEF) to make a series of multiplications to the signal level. - -These multiplications are closely correlated with the input signal itself. - --Where there are transient peaks, they can be amplified or suppressed. - ---The decay of transients can also be sustained or suppressed. - ----Transient Processor responds to the slope of the transient attack and decay, rather than the peak or RMS level. - -----So, unlike with a compressor or expander, there is no threshold or ratio setting and you can choose to boost or cut the attack and decay parts of transients independently.

Answer 88

- The left meter shows the input level, the right meter the output level. - -This information can also be displayed in the lower trace as a time-graph.

Answer 89

- The cutoff frequency for the Lowpass (unprocessed) and Highpass (processed) signals. - -The control range is 5 Hz to 1000 Hz. - --The default setting (260 Hz) is designed to filter low frequencies that can interfere with the transient processing algorithm, causing a distorted or rough sound. - ---The sharper sounding transients are generally above 250 Hz. However, you can set this control below the default to add more bottom end 'thump'. If so, you may also need to use the Soft Attack Shape to maintain a smooth sound. When adjusting Split Frequency it can be useful to set the Split Balance to 100% wet, to more clearly hear the signal passing through the transient process. The split filter uses a fairly gentle cutoff slope to minimize artifacts which is why you may hear some low level, but higher frequencies when it is set to 5 Hz. Don't panic!

Answer 90

- Balance between the Lowpass (unprocessed) and Highpass (processed) parts of the signal. - -The default setting is 100% Dry / 100% Wet so all input frequencies are recombined at the output. - --The Lowpass signal (Dry) is sent straight to the Split Balance control while the Highpass signal (Wet) is sent through the Transient Process and Saturation stages - ---When setting the Attack, Release, Shape or Split Frequency, it can be useful to set Split Balance to 0% Dry / 100% Wet so you can more clearly hear what is happening to the affected frequencies.

Answer 91

- Use this control to either increase or decrease the attack of input sounds. - -Boosting the attack will add extra snap or punch to sounds while reducing them will smooth or dull an over-snappy one. - --NOTE: Transient processing works only when there are transients in the signal, that is sudden changes in level. A smooth sustained sound will not respond readily to the attack control. - ---NOTE: Increasing the Attack level can dramatically increase the peak levels of the sound. Be mindful of this as it can interact/conflict with compressor settings later in the FX chain.

Answer 92

- Normally Mid and Soft work best with complex, continuous sounds such as a complete mix or complex drum-loop. - -Sharp will work best with single-hit percussion such as kicks, hats and snares. - --More specifically, the underlying function is the window over which transients are detected, Sharp uses a narrow window while Soft is the widest window. - ---Sharp settings result in faster/stronger transient processing, but with higher signal distortion. Soft settings result in slower/weaker transient processing, with less signal distortion. Set by ear, similar to a compressor 'release'.

Answer 93

- Boost or cut the decay of transients. - -This control has the biggest impact on overall perceived loudness. - --Similar to compression, increasing the sustain will increase the apparent fullness and fatness of sounds. - ---Decreasing it will leave mainly the attack portion, similar to a noise gate, but with a much more transparent and pleasing process.

Answer 94

- Normally Mid and Soft work best with complex, continuous sounds such as a complete mix or complex drum-loop. - -Sharp will work best with single-hit percussion such as kicks, hats and snares. - --More specifically, the underlying function is the window over which transients are detected, Sharp uses a narrow window while Soft is the widest window. - --Sharp settings result in faster/stronger transient processing, but with higher signal distortion. - ----Soft settings result in slower/weaker transient processing, with less signal distortion. - Set by ear, similar to a compressor 'release'.

Answer 95

-Overall plugin output level.

Answer 96

- Simulates analog-style saturation distortion. - -That is, a rounding and distorting of the waveform peaks. - --The LED will light to indicate when saturation is being applied. - ---With high Drive settings you may need to increase the Gain of the plugin to compensate.

Answer 97

-Switch Transient Processor in and out of the signal chain.

Answer 98

-Link to the online manual.

Answer 99

- The visualization controls become visible when you mouse-over the visualization window. - Drag the lower edge of the plugin to show and hide the visualization window.

Answer 100

-(green) - Visual trace of the right peak meter.

Answer 101

- (purple) - -Visual trace of the left peak meter.

Answer 102

- This line shows the effect of the Transient Processing algorithm in isolation from all other settings. - -Above the zero (middle line) shows a boost in levels - --Below the zero line shows a cut in levels relative to the original signal. - ---Notice how Attack affects the attack transients and release the release portion (later parts) of the sound. - ----When this line is flat, there is no transient processing.

Answer 103

- Increase the scroll speed to better visualize details. - -You can click on the display to pause the motion and examine waveforms at leisure. - --NOTE: Where input and output peaks overlap the display will show grey.