The Concept
RetroBand models several aspects of the interaction between gain stages and transformers of analogue gear, referred to as intra-modulation (IM), ie. Class A/B gain stage switching distortion. It also features several forms of transient shaping in-between the stages. As opposed to sterile but perfect digital sound, IM is a distortion that can sound good. It happens especially in less than ideal analogue class A/B gain staging, which means it's present in a plenty of vintage gear.
Throw a spanner in the perfect digital engine
The three different bands (the midbands are nearly identical) are all independent designs using the IM process, allowing good range of sound shaping. No particular piece of equipment is simulated in any of them, but the combined flexibility can generate some of the desirable aspects of great sounding analogue gear. It could be said IM is one of the minor missing links to analogue sound in a digital audio workstation.
The Sound
RetroBand is a distortion unit at heart, but this type and concept hasn't been previously available as a digital model. Excuse the use of worn-out terminology, but it goes from warming, sharpening, roughing up, softening and smoothing - or all these combined. It may desirably enrich sterile sound sources. Failing equipment can be easily simulated and this allows plenty of creativity. With some luck, it makes things sound "larger than life". The transient enhanced IM with mid-side stereo control can change or revive a stereo image, too.
The Controls
Retroband is not an easy to use plugin, and you'll likely need the included presets. All the bands feature slightly different processing variations, but the controls work the same for all of them. The naming of the controls may look familiar from dynamic equalisers, but that's where the similarity ends. At all times keep in mind that transient enhanced IM is extremely sensitive to audio dynamics. Often you'll find RetroBand barely reacting to transients while the same setting will completely destroy different type of material.
- Intra-modulation Tip #1: What to do if you're only getting undesirable grinding/warbling/screeching sounds? Find an interesting frequency area, starting with very subtle gains and with the knowledge that cutting gain is usually better than boosting. Gain, Solo and Frequency controls are your best friends. "Keep it subtle, keep it safe." - Gandalf the Grey.
The Individual Bands
- 1. On/Off button. If a band is turned off, it will no longer use any CPU. Remember to turn off any unused bands!
- 2. Solo lets you to listen to each channel individually. A word of advice: listening to a bare IM model does not represent the final combined sound very well. An individual band in conjunction with the original sound is where the magic (or destruction) happens. You might hear something entirely different on soloed bands than the final mixed result.
- 3. Flip mode of the LowBand. This is a slightly more aggressive version mode of the LowBand, generating ring modulation like artifacts. A great practise is to cut slightly with a relatively high frequency value, generating a kind of destructive low cut of the signal, usually with good sounding, or at least interesting results.
- 4. and 5. Emphasis/de-emphasis of the pre-IM transient - the first stage of processing. Click the label to change the mode. This feature is tremendously sensitive to audio dynamics and the same setting will rarely work on two different types of audio sources.
- 6. Gain is the amount of IM. This is the most important control of the plug-in. Positive gain means additive IM, while negative gain is subtractive. Due to the nature of the process negative gain might at some point flip back to half band-mirroring of positive gain producing interesting results. If the explanation just went way over your head, don't worry and just experiment.
- 7. The frequency of the IM band. FAQ #1 This is where 'LowBand' differs to the other bands most, and is generally only suitable to processing low frequencies of audio. 'MidBands' both feature the same model, while 'FlexiBand' is a yet another different model. Due to the somewhat unpreditable reactance to various audio material, experimentation is the key.
- 8. Noise adds pink noise inbetween the IM modulation engine, and depending on the band settings it may generate useful results. It can create a wide range of analog equipment internal hiss, scratch and rumble. This is the kind of noise you might sometimes want to add on your recordings, instead removing it, as it can make things sound hearwarmingly old and worn.
- 9. Q sets the width of the IM frequency band. Generally it should be kept at the default setting.
- 10. Mid/Side lets you process between the middle or the side parts of a stereo signal. This in conjunction with the transient stages may result in very useful stereo imaging tricks. When a band is processing very low frequencies, it's adviceable to set the knob fully to the left side (mono) for more a coherent stereo image.
- 11. Dyn emphasises the post-IM transient. It's sensitivity to source material is bordering on dangerous.
The MasterBus
- 1. On/Off bypasses the plug-in.
- 2. Mono sets all processing to mono, with selectable mono source: stereo sum, left channel and right channel. CPU usage is reduced in all mono modes, which is handy in busy mixdowns.
- 3. 2X set processing to 2X oversampling when needed. The oversampling of RetroBand isn't especially CPU hungry and should always be kept on for better sound quality. With some source material the diffence between the modes can be too subtle, and 1X mode should be used in that case. Auto-mode uses 2X oversampling only during offline exports in hosts that support it.
- 4. Dry sets the level of the original input audio. This control is tremendously handy when homing in on good sounding distortions. Generally it should be kept close to the maximum value, as the IM models very rarely sound good on their own. Remember that the IM models are designed to work only when being mixed to the dry signal.
- 5. Drive is the master control of transient processing in the plug-in, affecting all the bands. It helps when there's excessive transient spikes happening, or when the transient controls are have too little effect. If you can't hear what Emphasis/de-emphasis and Dyn knobs are doing, set the drive higher. Keep in mind this control is highly source material dependant.
- 6. and 7. Controls the amount of non-IM transient emphasis or de-emphasis of the MasterBus dry signal. Click the label to change the mode. Pull is for boosting transients and Push works similarly to plain saturation. It doesn't hurt to always "pull" the audio just a little bit.
- 8. Mid/Side controls the spread of the MasterBus transient processing. Numerous stereo image shaping tricks are possible here and they work especially well on full mixes.
- 9. Presets and additional options. All the presets are designed to work only as starting points. They are generally way too strong for all types of material and a goog tip is to simply turn down the individual Gain knobs of each band. Alternative Noise Mode is a new feature in the 1.5 version. By default the noise behaviour has been completely revised. When you use the noise knobs, you no longer hear any of the actual hiss and rumble, but only the residual effect on the signal. The alternative mode is the old noise behaviour with all the crackles and hum left intact. Alternative Drive Mode has a particularly nasty effect on all distortion of RetroBand. It should be left off most of the time, but sound designers will appreciate the option. -6dB Output is a safety switch that does what it says on the tin. Hi-pass 100Hz is a kind of safety feature as well, for situations when RetroBand is producing too much low frequency rumble. It filters both the input and output of the processed signal, but doesn't touch the original audio. Of course it can be used in sound shaping as well.
Features
- Digital model of interaction between gain stages and transformers of analogue gear (IM)
- Three flexible IM models with noise modulation
- Several forms of transient shaping within the IM models
- Mid-side stereo image control on all signal paths
- Advanced noise mode to imprint effects of noise on signal without the hiss and rumble
- Highly optimised 64-bit internal processing
- Support for OSX Universal Binary or Windows XP/2000
Requirements
- A host with VST plug-in support
- Windows 2000, Windows XP or OSX Tiger (preferably 10.4.8 or newer)
Although there is no AU or RTAS support for RetroBand yet, it has been tested to work well with VST-to-AU and VST-to-RTAS adapters on OSX.