Harmonic exciters can give a sparkle or shine to the upper frequencies of a mix. They can also be used in mid and even low frequencies to add a boost or presence to tracks and busses. Alloy’s Harmonic Scaling technology is designed to emulate the subtle effects of tube, tape and other analog hardware by emphasizing even and odd harmonics in varying amounts.
Key Features:
• Unique XY pad lets you adjust the harmonics being emphasized by the exciter, letting you vary between even and odd harmonics and more or less harmonics
• A multiband mode for adding varied excitation across different frequencies
• Harmonics Graph and Exciter Spectrum show how the process is affecting your audio
Drive: Controls the amount of the harmonic excitation.
Mix: Allows you to control the mix of the excited signal with the original mix.
XY Pad: Controls the type and slope (number) of harmonics.
Width: This control sets the amount of stereo widening for each band. Higher amounts provide more widening: -1.0 (mono) to 1.0 (full widening)
Working with the XY Pad:
When adjusting the XY pad, the vertical Y axis will give you control over the specific amount and distribution of your harmonics, while the horizontal X axis will control the amount of even and odd harmonics that are present in the excitation. In general, odd harmonics are reminiscent of transistor or tape distortion and tend to be a bit more abrasive to the ear. Even harmonics however are often less noticeable and can sound very warm and subtle.
Therefore, depending on the effect you are going for, you can move anywhere in between these options. For very subtle excitation that just adds a bit of color to your mix gravitate more towards even harmonics with a steeper slope (bottom left corner of the XY pad). For more angular excitation bordering on transistor guitar distortion either as an effect or to add some sheen and aggressiveness to your sound, use predominantly odd harmonics with a shallower slope (upper right corner of the XY pad).
Harmonics Graph
The Harmonics Graph shows a representation of the harmonics being generated by the exciter. By left clicking or right-clicking (cmd-click for Mac) on this harmonics display, you can also cycle through preset excitation patterns:
Transistor: This mode emphasizes odd harmonics similar to transistor distortion resulting in a sharp, somewhat aggressive sound.
Tape: Tape mode emphasizes odd harmonics but with a shorter harmonic slope than transistor, and emulates the sound of analog tape when pushed to saturation.
Tube: Tube mode emulates the sound of tube saturation with a mix of even and odd harmonics. It is characterized by its clear "tonal" excitation.
Warm: The Warm excitation mode generates only even harmonics with a short slope and, as such, may be used as a subtle warming effect.
Bright: Bright excitation, similar to Warm excitation, is characterized by even harmonics however with a greater high frequency harmonic presence.
Like the controls on other screens, you can use arrow keys to adjust a selected slider, or the wheel of a wheel mouse, or double-click on the numeric label and directly enter a value with the keyboard. You can reset a slider by double clicking on it.