PLUG-INS FOLDER

Aphex Aural Exciter

Published in SOS October 1999
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Reviews : Software

Lexicon LexiVerb

TDM plug-in for Pro Tools
Reviewed: Mac version

Lexicon's hardware reverb units are among the most sought-after units in professional studios worldwide, so this plug-in version for Digidesign Pro Tools systems has a lot to live up to! The LexiVerb's main window has a large 3D frequency-response graph in the central position which you can drag laterally to view from any perspective -- a useful practical application of Apple's QuickDraw 3D. This graph has three bands which show the reverb's amplitude (loudness) and decay time in the low, mid and high frequency bands, and is a great help when setting your parameters. One word of warning here, though. Quickdraw 3D allocates its memory from the System's allocation, so you will need extra RAM to accomodate this: I have 64Mb installed and still encountered a warning message telling me I was low on system memory.

Immediately below the frequency-response graph is a 'soft' row of pop-up controls for the extended parameters of some of the algorithms, while at the bottom of the window is a diagrammatic representation of the signal flow through the selected processor algorithm, again with pop-up controls to let you set the parameters visually. You can also switch the display to show the Macro Editor; a Macro is a fader that can simultaneously control as many as four parameters, and you can create up to six macros per preset, which will then appear in the 'soft' row of controls.

One of the beauties of TDM plug-ins is the high level of automation which plug-in designers are able to incorporate into their software. The LexiVerb is no exception here, allowing you to apply dynamic automation to virtually all LexiVerb parameters. You choose which of these parameters will be recorded by Pro Tools, enable one of its automation modes, hit Play in Pro Tools to begin recording -- then start making your moves. You can only move the plug-in parameters you have enabled for automation one at a time using a mouse, of course, so you may find yourself wanting to buy a hardware controller of some sort.

Of course, what really matters are the sounds you can get out of the LexiVerb -- and you will not be disappointed here! With careful programming you can get great results, although it could take newcomers quite some time to learn how to use all the parameters to their best effect. Thankfully, then, there is a comprehensive selection of presets. The presets menu has folders for Chambers, Gates, Inverses, Plates and Special Effects, each of which contains 20 to 30 descriptively named presets such as Drum Cave, Vocal Gate, Stutter Echo, Clean Guitar Plate and Chaos Engine. This is a much better selection than you will get with any other reverb plug-in for Pro Tools TDM right now -- I know, I've tried them all! And the great thing about the LexiVerb presets is that so many are usable, just as they are, for a wide variety of applications.

I tried various of the presets one evening on a fairly dry recording of a drumkit to see how the LexiVerb would handle percussive sounds -- always a good test. I immediately found several presets with very usable reverb settings for my dry kit. Then I started on the rest of the presets... and then it was the morning and I realised how much fun I had been having! The only thing I didn't like is that it is too easy to accidentally set any of the pop-up controls to a different value when you click on them, but change your mind about editing them. All in all, however, LexiVerb is the Rolls Royce of reverb plug-ins for Pro Tools TDM systems, with great reverbs and effects to suit most applications. Mike Collins

	£704 including VAT.
	Stirling Audio +44 (0)171 624 6000.
	+44 (0)171 372 6370.
	Click here to email
	www.stirlingaudio.com

Aphex Aural Exciter

TDM plug-in for Pro Tools
Reviewed: Mac version

The Aphex Aural Exciter has become a standard feature in studios around the world since its introduction in 1975, allowing engineers and producers to bring out more detail or add more 'air' to their mixes. Basically, the process recreates missing higher-level harmonics, or adds additional ones, to enhance the natural brightness, clarity, presence and intelligibility of recorded audio. The good news is that this is now available as a Pro Tools TDM plug-in, based on the technology used in the Type III Aural Exciter.

The user interface offers a wide range of controls including faders and switches, along with accurate metering of 'drive' and output levels. You set the Drive switch to control the input sensitivity of the processor, and use the Level fader to avoid clipping. The fader control section is where the real action takes place: here the user can control the bandwidth of the side-chain at the point where the harmonic excitement effect is taking place, using a high-pass filter. The Tune fader lets you choose the range of frequencies in the side-chain which will be enhanced and then mixed in with the original signal at the output. You can adjust the high-pass filter to accentuate the response, and you can also adjust the amount of additional harmonics being generated, and the balance between odd and even harmonics.

In action, the Exciter makes things sound brighter and harmonically more interesting -- and without increasing the peak level of the audio material. I tried the Exciter on a solo electric guitar which was not 'jangling' enough, and, lo and behold, it brought the 'jangle' back like magic! A few minutes's work made the sound even better, the guitar arpeggios 'rippling' much more delicately where they had sounded a little clumsy beforehand. So should you buy the plug-in or the hardware version? Well, according to Aphex, 80 percent of the beta-testers think it sounds as good or better than the hardware version -- and the software version is claimed to handle sibilant frequencies much better. Personally, as a busy Pro Tools user, I reckon I would definitely prefer to use the plug-in, both for its convenience and for the automation possibilities. Mike Collins

	£386.58 including VAT.
	Digidesign UK +44 (0)1753 653322.
	+44 (0)1753 654999.

RBC Voice Tweaker

PC DirectX only

Not all professional-quality plug-ins are developed by large commercial organisations. Robert Bielik Consulting (RBC) sell their Voice Tweaker solely through the Internet, at the bargain price of $59 (about £37). The Voice Tweaker is intended for those who like pitch correction with a little more spice. There is a Correction section, which acts much like the automatic mode of Antares' Auto-Tune, with control over Glide (time in milliseconds to glide to correct note) and Liveliness (amount of nuances left from original signal). A Deviation meter calibrated from +100 to –110 cents shows how much correction is being applied. Along with a drop-down key selection, I also counted 64 different scale options in the drop-down list, including Balinese and Gypsy. Usefully, the notes available in the current scale are shown in a graphic 1-octave keyboard.

The basic pitch correction works well, but is not up to the standard of Auto-Tune, producing some rather grainy background artefacts on exposed sounds like vocals. However, I doubt that most people will be buying Voice Tweaker solely for pitch correction, since it has a lot more tricks up its sleeve when it comes to sonic manipulation. The Transpose section not only lets you shift the pitch of your monophonic melody up or down in semitone intervals over a +/- 2 octave range, but also has formant shifting as well, to change the apparent sex of the singer. Both controls have separate Fine Tune knobs that operate over a +/-50 cent range to fill in the gaps between the semitones. You can link the two controls for quick changes, or vary them separately for more bizarre results. There are loads of useful effects in here, from Orson Welles and Darth Vader at one extreme to instant sex changes and cartoon characters at the other.

The fun doesn't stop there, as MIDI control is also provided -- you can set the pitch-change value using a Note On command, and you can also use this to gate the sound with a user-adjustable Attack/Release envelope if you so desire. Further control of pitch-bend and modulation is also available, along with an LFO for vibrato purposes, offering six different switchable waveforms. With a little practice you could use this section to make your vocalist sing a completely different tune, all triggered from a sequencer or keyboard -- great fun!

I suspect that many even of those who can afford Auto-Tune for professional and transparent treatment of vocals will buy RBC's Voice Tweaker for the many other off-the-wall effects it can produce on both voices and instrumental sounds. A fully-functional demo version can be downloaded from the web site -- the clever restriction is that noise is added at a level of –50dB, so that you wouldn't want to use it in demo form in a real project. At the price, Voice Tweaker deserves to do very well. Martin Walker

	$59 (about £37).
	Robert Bielik, Vöpnargatan 3A, 753 36 Uppsala, Sweden.
	+46 18 257856.
	Click here to email
	www.rbcaudio.com