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Tremolo

(See the Tremolo properties below.)

The Tremolo plug-in modulates the amplitude of the input signal with an unipolar carrier signal. The carrier's characteristics, like frequency and waveform type, are defined in the "LFO" section of the plug-in's properties.

The amount of modulation, or "depth", can also be specified. The figure below illustrates a signal modulated by a rectangle waveform carrier with two different amounts of modulation.

Some carrier waveforms have intrinsic second order discontinuities (triangle), first order discontinuities (rectangle), or both (sawtooth). The discontinuities may produce undesirable artifacts in the resulting signal, especially at higher frequencies. You can smooth these discontinuities by using the LFO section's smoothing parameter. It applies a low-pass filter to the LFO signal, mapped from 0 to 100% by an exponential function from Nyquist to the LFO's fundamental frequency. The following figure shows a rectangle carrier signal with different smoothing.

Tremolo properties

The Tremolo plug-in contains a series of properties, many of which can be edited in real-time and can be mapped to specific Game Parameters using RTPCs. Other properties may be changed using RTPCs, but are only relevant when the Effect starts processing, like the initial phase for example.

The initial phase properties are used to slide the carrier signal in time. You can also specify phase for channels relative to each other, using the spread and spread mode properties. For example, with a 180 degree spread and a Left-Right spread mode, you can transform the Tremolo plug-in into an auto-pan Effect.

Typical frequencies used with a tremolo are in the sub audio range (0.02 to 20 Hz). However, the plug-in also allows using audio frequencies, producing an effect that is akin to ring modulation.

Interface Element

Description

Name

The name of the Effect instance.

Effect instances are a group of effect property settings. They can be one of two types: custom instances or ShareSets. Custom instances can be used by only one object, whereas ShareSets can be shared across several objects.

(Object Color)

Displays the object's color. Clicking the icon opens the color selector.

Select a color to apply it to the object. When you choose a color for an object, a palette icon appears on the selected square, as well as a yellow triangle in the lower-right corner, as shown.

To inherit the parent object's color, select the square at the far left of the color selector.

Inclusion

Determines whether the element is included in the SoundBanks when they are generated. When selected, the element is included. When unselected, the element is not included.

To optimize your sound design for each platform, you might want to exclude certain elements on certain platforms. By default, this check box applies across all platforms. Use the Link indicator to the left of the check box to unlink the element. Then you can customize the state of the check box per platform.

When this option is unselected, the property and behavior options in the editor become unavailable.

Default value: true

(Show references)

Indicates the number of elements in your project that contain direct references to the object. The icon is displayed in orange when references to the object exist, and in gray when no references exist.

Selecting the button opens the Reference View with the object's name in the References to: field.

Notes

Additional information about the Effect.

Metering

Indicates the name of the object currently being metered.

Allows you to browse for other objects to meter.

[Note]Note

The metering interface elements only appear in the Effect Editor for Effects that include VU meters.

Sets the display of the Effect Editor's selected tabs. By default, there is one panel displaying only one selected tab. You can, however, click a splitter button to split the panel into two, either side by side or one on top of the other, for two different tabs. The currently selected option is highlighted with a background color.

[Note]Note

You cannot display the same tab in both panels. If you select the tab that is currently displayed in the other panel, then the other panel will automatically display another tab.

LFO Section

LFO Depth

Amount of amplitude modulation applied to the input signal, in percentage. At 0%, the input signal passes through unchanged. At 100%, the signal is modulated to its full range.

Default value: 100

Range: 0 to 100

Units: %

LFO Frequency

Frequency of the modulating signal.

Default value: 1

Range: 0.02 to 20000

Units: Hz

LFO Waveform

Shape of the modulating signal.

[Note]Note

Although this parameter can be changed at run-time via RTPC, the signal is not guaranteed to be continuous.

Values: Sine, Square, Triangle, Upward sawtooth, Downward sawtooth.

Default value: Sine

LFO Smoothing

Amount of smoothing applied to the modulating signal. It is low-pass filtered by a certain value, mapped from 0 to 100%. At 0%, the signal comes out intact. With higher values, edges and discontinuities are smoothed.

[Note]Note

This setting has no effect on the sine waveform.

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 100

Units: %

PWM (Pulse Width Modulation)

Applies to the square waveform only. Modulates the width of the pulse during one cycle. At 50%, the signal is at its full amplitude for half of the cycle, and is 0 for the other half. Near 100%, the signal is at its full amplitude for almost all the cycle, while it drops to 0 for a very short amount of time.

Default value: 50

Range: 0 to 100

Units: %

Initial Phase Section

Offset

Offsets phase of the modulating signal of all channels by a specific value.

[Note]Note

Although this parameter can be changed at run-time using RTPCs, it has no effect when it is set after the instance of this effect has started playing.

Default value: 0

Range: -180 to 180

Units: °

LFO Spread Mode

Defines how initial phase spread (see parameter “Spread”) is applied across channels. For example, with spread mode set to “Front-Rear”, all front channels start playing with a phase equal to 0, and all rear channels start playing with a phase equal to “Spread”. If present (and processed), the LFE channel is always synchronized with the Front Left channel.

Values:

  • Left-Right: Front and rear left channels start with an offset of 0, front and rear right channels start with an offset of “Spread”. If present, the center channel starts with an offset of “Spread”/2.

  • Front-Rear: Front and center channels start with an offset of 0, and rear channels start with an offset of “Spread”.

  • Circular: This mode applies a spreading dipole between the left and right channels on 1.x, 2.x and 3.x configurations, and between the front left and rear right channel on 4.x and 5.x configurations. For example, a 3.0 signal would start with the following phases: L=0, C=”Spread”/2, R=”Spread”. A 5.0 signal would start with the following phases: FL=0, C=”Spread”/4, FR=”Spread”/2, RL=”Spread”/2, RR=”Spread”.

  • Random: Each channel starts with a random phase uniformly distributed between 0 and “Spread”.

[Note]Note

Although this parameter can be changed at run-time via RTPC, it has no effect when it is set after the instance of this effect has started playing.

Default value: Left-Right

LFO Phase Spread

Amount of divergence in initial phase spread across channels. The way in which this value affects each channel depends on the spread mode.

[Note]Note

Although this parameter can be changed at run-time using RTPCs, it has no effect when it is set after the instance of this effect has started playing.

Default value: 0

Range: 0 to 180

Units: °

Output section

Output Gain

Gain to apply to modulated signal.

Default value: 0

Range: -24 to 24

Units: dB

Process Center

Indicates whether the center channel (if present) is modulated or passed through. The center channel is only present in 3.x and 5.x configurations.

Default value: true

Process LFE

Indicates whether the LFE channel (if present) is modulated or passed through. The LFE channel is only present in X.1 configurations.

Default value: true


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