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Author
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Mikko Apo (apo@iki.fi)
Check out my pages for more buzz stuff and music.
Excellent skin made by Hymax.
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Short description
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"cheapo protection" is designed to prevent loud bursts of sound from destroying
your ears and your equipment. It can also be used as a distortion effect and
a gapper. It has also signal analysis code which analyses the maximum
amplitude of your signal and can suggest the best values for volume sliders to
prevent signal from clipping.
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Parameters
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| Name | Min. | Max. | Default | Description |
| Mode | 0 | 6 | 1 | Modes: 0 Analyse, 1 Ana + Prot, 2 Ana + ASR, 3 Ana + AuxbusASR, 4 AuxbusASR, 5 ASR, 6 Prot |
| Threshold | 0 | 65534 | 32768 | Threshold: 0dB=0x8000(32768), +14dB=0xFFFE(65534) |
| Delta | 0 | 65534 | 40960 | Max difference: 100%=0xA000(40960), 249%=0xFFFE(65534) |
| Level | 0 | 65534 | 32768 | Sustain level: 0dB=0x8000(32768), +19.1dB=0xFFFE(65534) |
| Attack | 0 | 65534 | 1 | Attack time in units |
| Sustain | 0 | 65534 | 1 | Sustain time in units |
| Release | 0 | 65534 | 1 | Release time in units |
| Attack Unit | 0 | 65534 | 1 | Attack Unit: 0=tick (default), 1 ticks/256, 2 samples, 3=ms, 4=seconds |
| Sustain Unit | 0 | 65534 | 1 | Sustain Unit: 0=tick (default), 1 ticks/256, 2 samples, 3=ms, 4=seconds |
| Release Unit | 0 | 65534 | 1 | Release Unit: 0=tick (default), 1 ticks/256, 2 samples, 3=ms, 4=seconds |
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Modes
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| 0 Analyse | Only analyse code is used.
Parameters in use: None |
| 1 Ana + Prot | Analyse code is used and a simple burst protection which clips the signal to zero when a burst is detected for the duration of time which is defined by Attack parameters.
Parameters in use: Threshold, Max Delta, Attack, Attack Unit |
| 2 Ana + ASR | Analyse and all the parameters of the ASR-envelope. This allows fine control over the triggered envelope so that it can be used as a musical effect.
Parameters in use: All |
| 3 Ana + AuxbusASR | Analyse and the all ASR-controls. First ASR-envelope is controlled by the AUXBUS signal and the following are controlled by the main signal.
Parameters in use: All |
| 4 AuxbusASR | Same as Mode 3 but without the analyse code. |
| 5 ASR | Same as Mode 2 but without the analyse code. |
| 6 Prot | Same as Mode 1 but without the analyse code. |
With modes 2-5 you can use multiple ASR-envelopes by adding tracks. When using Auxbus modes the first track will be controlled by the Auxbus signal and the following tracks will be controlled by the main signal.
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Sound analysis
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| Detected amplitude levels |
The maximum and minimum values are shown as absolute and in decibel values.
Average dc offset is calculated and shown.
"In" means the signal that comes in "cheapo protection" and "Out" means signal that has been processed by "cheapo dc".
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| Clipping limits |
Buzz handles musical data as floats instead of more limited int format.
When the signal is outputed from Buzz it has to be limited to the normal range of sound data. If the signal is louder then the limits then it is clipped which means that the sound is altered.
Limits for 16bit sound data are: -32768 minimum and 32767 maximum. |
| Suggested volume slider settings |
"cheapo protection" calculates and shows the best values for the input volume slider of the next machine and the master volume output slider.
Please note that if you connect anything else to the master/next machine the calculation is not correct. Some machines behave sometimes randomly so it is better to leave some "room" on your volume settings.
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Usage
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- Connect "cheapo protection" as a normal effect.
- Select the mode you wish to use.
- If you are using AUXBUS modes you must set the used channel from the machine menu and you must connect some auxsend machine.
- Play your song.
- When you want to check the analysis just select "Show analysis" from the machine menu.
- You can reset the analysis from "Reset analysis"
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Detection methods
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"cheapo protection" detects bursts with two simple algorithms:
When a signal that is louder then threshold is detected the envelope is triggered.
In pseudo-code:
if fabs(sample) > threshold // we have a burst
The "Max Delta" settings means that "cheapo protection" compares the current sample to the previous one and if the difference is bigger then "Max Delta" setting it is considered a burst.
In pseudo-code:
if fabs(sample - Previous_sample) > maxDelta // yep, a burst
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Tips
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When finetuning your envelope settings you can get different results by if move the values just a little bit.
Use always a limitter after "cheapo protection" if you use small timing values in envelope or small detection thresholds because they can cause very loud peaks (+80dB for example).
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