Jesusonic Effects Documentation
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Here you find a brief description of some of the pre-programmed effects that are bundled with Jesusonic.
Note: Some may only be bundled with REAPER and are not included in the stand-alone version or DX version.
Contents |
Delays
These are Delay effects. They are located in the Delay directory of the effects folder and those are:
delay: simple digital delay
delay_chfun: stereo bounce delay
delay_chorus: delay with integrated chorus in the delay path
delay_lowres: delay with adjustable resolution of the signal in the delay path
delay_tone: delay with tonal control
delay_varlen: variable length delay
Filters
Filter effects such as EQs. Located in Filters.
bandpass: Bandpass filter
dc_remove: DC offset removal plug-in
FIR_8: 8th tap finite impulse response filter
highpass: Highpass
lowpass: Lowpass
mdct-filter: Mdct-filter
parametric_eq: Parametric EQ
Guitar
Effects for use with guitar. Located in Guitar.
amp-model" Amp Modeler with selectable IRs to simulate various different preamps and combos etc.
chorus: Chorus effect
distort-fuzz: Delivers a fuzzy distortion such as a fuzzbox.
distortion: Digital distortion like modern distortion stomp boxes.
flanger: Flanger effect
Phaser: Phaser effect like heard on many psychedelic records in the 1960s.
Pitch
mdct_shift: Provides a pitch shifting effect based on MDCT shifting.
octavedown: Shifts the signal down by one octave.
octaveup: Shifts the signal up by one octave.
The SStillwell Jesusonic Effects Collection
These are some of the most interesting and versatile plug-ins available in the Jesusonic Collection.
3x3: 3-band eq with harmonic enhancement
4x4: 3-band eq with harmonic enhancement (different style of enhancement)
1175: Fast-attack compressor, similar in style to a UREI 1176.
autoexpand: Downward expander with program-dependent attack/release.
chorus: Chorus effect
chorus_stereo: Stereo chorus effect
delay_pong: Ping-pong delay
delay_tempo: Delay with optional tempo synchronization.
dirtsqueeze: Compressor that adds quite a bit of grit and distortion
drumtrigger: Plugin that generates MIDI trigger from sound input, optionally passing the dry audio signal as well
eventhorizon: non-lookahead limiter that simply rounds off and truncates peaks.
exciter: HF boost/enhancer
expander: Downward expander with manual attack/delay times.
expressbus: Compressor...meant to be used on buss signals.
fairlychildish: Emulation of SOME of the features of a Fairchild 670.
flangebaby: Flanger
hpflpf: steep high-pass & low-pass filters in a single plug
hugebooty: LF frequency enhancer...adds upper harmonics to LF content
louderizer: Psychoacoustic loudness enhancer
louderizer_lpf: Psychoacoustic loudness enhancer (with LPF to choose what frequencies are affected)
majortom: Compressor, ala dbx160 VU (old model) or kinda like an LA2A when in Feedback mode.
mastertom: Same as majortom, different algorithm, slightly different sound.
ozzifier: Multi-voice chorus/delay...you'll recognize it.
randomizer: Randomizes midi input...useful for taking signal from drumtrigger and using multiple reasamplomatic instances to trigger multiple snare samples, avoiding machine-gun triggered snare sound.
rbj4eq: 4-band EQ
rbj7eq: 7-band EQ
rbj1073: 3-band EQ with HPF, same feature choices as Neve 1073.
realoud: Psychoacoustic loudness enhancer, with different algorithm than louderizer.
realoud_lpf: Same relation to realoud as louderizer_lpf is to louderizer. Low Pass Filter.
thunderkick: LF enhancer...adds in subharmonics to enhance lowest octaves. Note: does NOT work well with pitched instruments. Mostly useful for kick drum.
volscale: Think of it as a MIDI compressor...scales output volume range and adds/removes gain.
3x3 and 4x4
The 3x3 harmonic enhancer is very useful for boosting the harmonic content of instruments to help bring them to life in a mix. For example, if you have a hi-hat that was recorded with a cheap, dull sounding mic, you could set the "hi drive %" of the 3x3 to 100, and boost the hi gain until it had the desired amount of sizzle. Or let's say you recorded a bass guitar, but it lacks important bottom end in the mix (sounds thin) and has no definition (sounds dull). You could set the low and hi drive to 100% and start boosting/cutting until it sounds like a bass guitar
Likewise, the 4x4 provides harmonic enhancement, but with slightly different sonic qualities in each of the three bands. The 4x4 is particularly good for putting into an ultra high enhancement mode without crunching the CPU. You can do this by opening it up in the editor and changing the drive % limit on sliders 1, 3, and 5 to 200, or even 1000 - This can let you have more control over how much enhancement you want (especially if you desire a LOT).
How are these EQs different from other EQs? the harmonic enhancement in these two EQs is such that by sliding the virtual faders, you can dial in great tones without much effort at all, which means you won't have to think much about it, which means you can spend more time doing other more important things like installing the latest reaper update :)
1175
The 1175 is a VERY FAST ATTACK compressor reminiscent of the hardware UREI 1176 compressor. The attack slider lets you choose from as fast as 20 microseconds (that's 0.2 miliseconds) for transient killing, and extends as slow as 2000 microseconds (2ms). BUT, if you want to use the 1175 with more run-of-the-mill attack settings, open it up in the editor and change the line
slider4:20<20,2000,10>Attack time (usec.) to slider4:20<20,10000,10>Attack time (usec.)
This will allow to set attack times up to 10ms (1 ms = 1000usec). Setting the attack much longer than 10000 is doable, but you should watch CPU usage of the plug-in after this point. The 1175 is great for vocal, snare, and kick compression as well as mix compression - you can get some wonderful results when you set attack times from 1ms - 10ms and short release times of 50-100ms, then mixing in the results to around 5-10%. (on the 1175, setting an attack of 10ms and 60ms release will work particularly well for beefing up a kick drum along with the rbj1073 - see tips below). One of the coolest features of the 1175 is the "mix" slider, which lets you specify how much of the compressed sound you want to hear in the mix. Setting this to 100 lets all of the compression thorough, while setting it to 0 give you the original uncompressed signal. this is especially useful when you use the ultra fast attack settings, but want to keep some jump in the track (ala New York style vocal compression).
dirtsqueeze
If you want a compressor that gives the impression of a completely overdriven analog circuit, then look no further because dirt squeeze is for you! dirtsqueeze has seemingly innocuous settings for such a unique sounding compressor - threshold, ratio, automakeup gain, and manual gain. But as you raise the ratio and lower the threshold, you will quickly notice an unmistakable analogesque distortion being introduced to the signal along with the compression. Especially electric guitars, you can use dirtsqueeze in replacement of other more gritty and digital sounding distortion plugins to add in extra crunch to your electric guitars while bringing out their inner details with compression all at once! Try it out on the rhythm guitar in the demo that comes with reaper - first normalize the track (right click on the track's event, go to item processing, then normalize). Lower the track volume until it is around the same as before. Then insert dirtsqueeze and dial in the following:
- threshold -12
- ratio - 4:1
- automakeup - no
- manual make-up - 0
Almost like magic, the guitar has a new life to it - a life with much more distortion! dirtsqueeze does have some erratic behavior on very low thresholds, but it depends on how much the singal is going over the threshold. a good rule of thumb is to dial in the settings just until you hear the distortion, then tweak it a few dB until you're satisfied with the tone.
Major Tom
Major tom is an excellent compressor that can be used in a wide variety of ways. Here is a description of the settings: Threshold, Ratio (1:1 to 20:1), Gain (this is the make-up gain), Soft Knee? (you can choose between soft knee or hard knee), Detector Input (choose between normal or sidechain for ducking), Automakeup? (choose between automatic makeup gain or manual makeup gain), Detection - (choose between peak or RMS) - The RMS window is 10ms, and has 2.5 microsecond peak detector), Detection source - Choose between feedforeward (regular compression) or feedback (includes an opto attack of 2ms, release of 200ms)
a good explanation of The difference between Feedforward and Feedback Compression
Major tom works very well in a variety of settings, and you can really hear the ratio at work clamping transients.
FairlyChildish
The adjustable settings on this compressor are
Threshold
Bias
AGC
Time constant
Level Detector RMS window.
There are two non-adjustable settings "current comp ratio" and "gain reduction", which move automatically with the program signal - currently, fairlychildish is the only JS compressor that lets you see how much gain reduction is happening!
Here is a breakdown of the plug-in.
The Bias
When this is set low and the threshold set to catch peaks, you get fairly hard ratios of 30:1 (give or take) - and as you lower the threshold, the ratios goes up a LOT - to around 300:1 (give or take). But with the bias set high and the threshold set to just catch the peaks, you get some gentle compression, with the ratio fluctuating from around 1.1 to 3:1. As you lower the threshold, the ratio goes up ... to around the 15:1 mark give or take.
Time constant
Time constant affects the attack/release times of the compressor. The original Fairchild hardware had some REALLY short attack times (measured in microseconds), and LOOOONG release times (measured in fractions of a MINUTE). The higher the time constant, the longer the attack and release, generally. attack and release times on "fairlychildish" are measured in microseconds, the lowest value being 200 microseconds (0r 0.2 ms) on time constants 1 and 2, AND 5. On time constants 3, 4 and 6, the attack time is 0.4 ms. The release times of time constant 1 is 300ms, time constant 2 is 800ms, time constant 3 is 2000ms, time constant 4 is 5000ms time constant 5 is 10,000ms and time constant 6 is a whopping 25 seconds!
BUT, part of the beauty of the JS plugins is that you can change the default settings by manipulating the code. You may find that an attack setting of 0.1 (100ms) and a release of either 0.2500 (250ms), 0.5000 (500ms) or 1.000 (1000ms/1 seconds) might provide smoother compression (perhaps in replacement of the 25 second release and ultra fast attack of time constant 6). You may also find that setting the attack to 0.0100 (10ms) and release to 0.100 (100ms) might work well for guitar and vocal compression with fairlychildish.
AGC
There are two options for this - Lat/Vert and Left/Right. the Lat/Vert setting on the Fairchild was used when cutting actual masters for vinyl. What it does is switch the level detection and compression from normal stereo to L+R and L-R, reconstituting the normal signals after compression. This allows you to separately compress the center signal (typically bass) from the side signals...a form of Mid/Side compression. The reason it was used on vinyl was to keep the grooves from being cut too wide (lateral) or too deep (vertical).
The level detector rms window slider
The RMS window acts in a similar fashion to the RMS slider in Reacomp. When this is set to very low values, the compression follows the curves of the waveform more closely. As you move the value higher, you get a smoother compression and less gain reduction.
Making the Settings work Together
With "fairlychildish", there is a direct correlation between threshold and ratio - i.e. the higher the signal goes over the threshold, the higher the ratio will be (you can actually visualize the gain reduction and release times by watching the automatic sliders move). With High threshold situations where you want to work mostly on peaks, you may want to set the time constant and level detector RMS window values lower, which should result in gain reductions of between 1 and 4dB. With lower threshold settings, you should set the time constant and RMS window values a little higher - just know that setting a time constant of 6 will give an EXTREMELY LONG release of 25 seconds. The bias works as a pseudo ratio control - and it will really squash peaks when it is set very low. Even though you can set the threshold very low, threshold settings below -15dB (on hot signals) will produce pumping, due to the nature of its fast attack, so higher, peak-cathcing thresholds seem to be where the sweet spots are for "fairlychildish" using the default settings.
rbj1073
the RGB1073 is a great EQ reminiscent of the Hardware 1073 by Neve. The high shelf of this EQ is a frequent go-to option on the hardware 1073. It has a fixed frequency of 12k, but the wide Q of the slope affects the signal lower down the spectrum.
This slope has been emulated beautifully in the JS version of the 1073, which gives anything you run through it a really nice "sheen" due to the broad-spread lift it can generate. It will also really tame the harsh high end of some percussion. The rbj1073 works quite like the original in that you can crank it right up and still get pleasing tones out of it (if you need it to).
Tips
If the high shelf sounds like it's getting brittle, but you like the smooth top it's giving you, you can try dialing in a few db cut at 3.2k on the mid frequency filter. Similar complimentary boosts/cuts can be made with the mid range filters.
Another trick you can do with the original neve hardware which you can also do on the 1073 fx (!!) is to cut the bottom off with the HP filter and boost at the same time. For example, you can make quite a nice change to the timbre of a bass sound by selecting the low cut filter (say to 50 hz) and boosting the low shelf at 60 hz. You get clean, punchy bass with no unwanted "woof".
rbj4
the rbj4 is a semi-parametric EQ that has selectable frequencies via drop down boxes. The choice of frequencies might seem a little odd at first, but there is a definite method to the madness. The Q on the rjb4 is 0.8 for all bands.
Band 1 - choose between 40, 80, 160, 315 and 500hz
Band 2 - Choose between 125, 250, 500, 1k and 2k
Band 3 - 315, 630, 1.2, 2.5 and 5khz
Band 4 - 1.6, 3.2, 6.4, 9 and 12khz
Since the Q of the rbj4 is 0.8, this EQ works very well as a sweetner. The options in Band 1 are suitable for low end shelving, and also sweetening a vocal track (315hz is an often overlooked, yet somewhat magical area for vocals), Band 2 has the go-to options for mid-band sweetening up to 500hz. Band 3 gives you a variety of choices between adding lower harmonic sweetness, upper harmonics (1.2khz is a bit of a magic bullet for bass attack and a small boost 2.5khz can sometimes do wonders for an electric guitar) and 5khz presence options. Band 4 starts you off at 1.6khz (try a boost here, and a cut at 2.5khz on a guitar track), and lets you choose between some key frequencies in the high end of the spectrum. Again, don't let the wide Q fool you, as this EQ can work some magic and is quite versatile. This puppy is yet another go-to EQ available only in reaper!
Utitily
bitred: A bit reduction effect with setable dithering.
KanakaMS5: M/S decoder.
KanakaMS5Encoder1: M/S encoder.
Utility Tips
First insert the KanakMS5Encoder1, then insert Reacomp as the next plug-in of the chain, and finish off the sequence with KanakaMS5. Set the LP filter in reacomp to 20hz, and set the detector imput to Main L. Set the ratio to around 4:1, attack to 2ms, and release of 60-100ms. Lower the threshold until you see no more than 2dB of gain reduction. This will help glue the kick into your mix. Try mixing "into this" from the start - you might be pleasantly surprised at the results. Play with the LP filter to vary the amount of kick compression you get - i.e. setting the LP to 60 can give you a HUGE sounding kick.
