The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

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gzifcak
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by gzifcak »

Thinking some more about it, my ideal version might be 2 mono boards, linkable for stereo. But would summing the audio or CV like a typical stereo compressor make sense in this case?
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mediatechnology
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by mediatechnology »

Thanks for the feedback!

The stereo version has dual mono signal and sidechain paths with ganged ratio controls.

What we might consider is making the threshold, ratio and make-up gains on CH-1 be dual-acting whose CH-2 control would be switched in and out dependent on channels 1&2 being coupled or not.
CH-2 for independent mono would have its own control set and, when "coupled," would have CH-1 as overall control.

Threshold and Make-up gain are DC levels so the only the ratio control would actually need to be two sections and IIRC only the wiper would need to be switched.

The sidechain modulates the input so it's not possible to share them among channels.
Wave bending also doesn't work with EQ in the sidechain due to phase shift.
gzifcak
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by gzifcak »

Sounds like a great way to do it, thanks for the explanation!
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mediatechnology
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by mediatechnology »

One other feature I would like to add is a control which switches the effect from odd to even-order.

The control would "pan" from negative polarity at counter-clockwise, to both polarities in the center of rotation, to positive polarity at full clockwise.
This permits compression/expansion of one polarity or both.

For overall mixes I preferred compressive odd-order distortion which adds a thickness and compressive-like effect.
I know odd-order distortion defies musical theory - the thought being even-order is more musical - but for broadband material odd-order intermodulates less and is less harsh.
Odd-order compressive is more like power amplifier/transformer saturated distortion.

For single/simple tonal structure even-order can be nice.

For expansive distortion a little goes a very long way.
You can sure put a point on a drum with it.
gzifcak
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by gzifcak »

Very cool, I'd love to hear this pan control in action
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mediatechnology
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by mediatechnology »

The control would "pan" from negative polarity at counter-clockwise, to both polarities in the center of rotation, to positive polarity at full clockwise.
I corrected the above to eliminate the "double-negative."
I think I figured out an easy way to accomplish the above feat using a single section control per channel.
emrr
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by emrr »

Glad to see this back. I would be interested in a stereo version for mixing, likely something I’d consider for live broadcast use in the field. I’ve given in to the idea most digital console limiters sound bad as peak-stop devices, and instead go with a slow attack/release safety that will still occasionally let digital overs occur. I’m usually then feeding analog out to various broadcast and capture paths, and can see this in use there.
Best,

Doug Williams
Electromagnetic Radiation Recorders
plantylife
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by plantylife »

Indeed very nice so see movement on this.
I was planning on starting with this but so many projects haha.. so im def up for a set!

If I may give a suggestion. Dual mono (with link maybe) would be very nice, personally I also use
a lot of 'clippers' in the production stage / sound design so pre mixage or master. For that reason, but i dunno if its possible, it would
be nice to have two controls, one for adding a odd amount and one for adding even amount.
Did study the schema a bit (a while ago) and if this odd even split is not possible maybe there can be an optional
routing by adding a extra board for even / odd split.

Also I would use it in a mid/side config. So dual channel would be it i guess.

(be a bit extra / futuristisch) depending on everyone's workflow i think it would make a great value to have CV inputs for every
stage so you can use it in a compositional matter, while tracking once a curve and sending it to the device
and then recording stuff in that line. \(but maybe this is not a very wide used approach.)

Again! great to see some movement on this, would love to build one :)
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mediatechnology
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Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by mediatechnology »

plantylife wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 8:44 am Indeed very nice so see movement on this.
I was planning on starting with this but so many projects haha.. so im def up for a set!

If I may give a suggestion. Dual mono (with link maybe) would be very nice, personally I also use
a lot of 'clippers' in the production stage / sound design so pre mixage or master. For that reason, but i dunno if its possible, it would
be nice to have two controls, one for adding a odd amount and one for adding even amount.
Did study the schema a bit (a while ago) and if this odd even split is not possible maybe there can be an optional
routing by adding a extra board for even / odd split.

Also I would use it in a mid/side config. So dual channel would be it i guess.

(be a bit extra / futuristisch) depending on everyone's workflow i think it would make a great value to have CV inputs for every
stage so you can use it in a compositional matter, while tracking once a curve and sending it to the device
and then recording stuff in that line. \(but maybe this is not a very wide used approach.)

Again! great to see some movement on this, would love to build one :)
Thank you! You may have missed this post. The current design doesn't have the odd/even control but I have a way to add it.
mediatechnology wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 6:41 pm One other feature I would like to add is a control which switches the effect from odd to even-order.

The control would "pan" from negative polarity at counter-clockwise, to both polarities in the center of rotation, to positive polarity at full clockwise.
This permits compression/expansion of one polarity or both.

For overall mixes I preferred compressive odd-order distortion which adds a thickness and compressive-like effect.
I know odd-order distortion defies musical theory - the thought being even-order is more musical - but for broadband material odd-order intermodulates less and is less harsh.
Odd-order compressive is more like power amplifier/transformer saturated distortion.

For single/simple tonal structure even-order can be nice.

For expansive distortion a little goes a very long way.
You can sure put a point on a drum with it.
plantylife
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Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 2:20 pm

Re: The Waveulator: Two VCA-based Clipper Saturators

Post by plantylife »

I see!.. I thought that I saw somewhere that you've did both odd/even separate in the past.. my bad.

If I understand correctly you planning on crossfading between odd/even with a pan pot. Is there a reason for this?
Im curious why because the option to have both separate (like for instance the VSM-3) makes also sense, at least i think.

Looking forward Wayne!
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