TC Works ASSIMILATOR User manual
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USER MANUAL
ASSIMILATOR
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BUILT FOR POWERCORE
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INTRODUCTION
Did you ever ask yourself “Why doesn’t my mix sound like THAT?” If you have asked
yourself this question, then ASSIMILATOR is your Plug-In. With ASSIMILATOR, you
can learn the frequency curve of your favorite mix or solo instrument track and apply
that frequency curve to your mix or track; sort of like an “automatic equalizer”.
Simply put, ASSIMILATOR is an equalization tool that delivers excellent results while
removing the tedious work from equalizing and fine tuning your mix. What’s more,
ASSIMILATOR is a phase linear equalization tool, freeing you from needless worries
about artifacts related to phase distortion. Without such phase interference, you get
the most transparent and musical processing possible. Best of all, ASSIMILATOR is a
Plug-In that demonstrates the most significant benefit of the POWERCORE platform:
Extreme processing, without bogging your host CPU down.
Enjoy!
The TC WORKS Team
ATTENTION!
THIS IS A POWERCORE PLUG-IN AND REQUIRES POWERCORE TO BE INSTALLED
IN THE COMPUTER! THIS PLUG-IN WILL NOT RUN WITHOUT POWERCORE.
ATTENTION!
ASSIMILATOR is a Hybrid POWERCORE and Native Plug-In. To maximize the
performance of this Plug-In while maintaining the best sound quality, the limiter will
run ”Native” on your host CPU. This will not place a heavy load on your host CPU
and will reduce ASSIMILATOR’s DSP use for non-critical tasks such as gain staging.
© BY TC WORKS SOFT & HARDWARE GMBH 2002. ALL PRODUCT AND COMPANY NAMES ARE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
ALL SPECIFICATIONS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
is a TC Group company.
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GETTING STARTED
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows
•POWERCORE running system 1.6.5 or later
•Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP
•PIII 500 or faster
•128 MB RAM
•VST compatible host application
•System must meet requirements of the host application
Mac OS
•POWERCORE running system 1.6.5 or later
•Mac OS 9.04 or higher (including Mac OS X)
•G3/300 or faster
•128 MB RAM
•VST or MAS compatible host application
•System must meet requirements of the host application
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ASSIMILATOR BASICS
The ASSIMILATOR is an extremely powerful equalization tool for POWERCORE and
it is unlike anything else. The idea is simple: you “learn”the frequency curve of one
piece of audio and apply it to another audio file. It is best to think of it in terms of
sampling:
•You “sample”the frequency curve of the audio that you want your audio to sound
like. (Learn the “reference”audio.)
•You “sample”the frequency curve of the audio that you want to process.
(Learn the “target”audio.)
•You “apply”the “reference”curve to the “target”curve to meet your needs.
Simple, isn’t it? The ASSIMILATOR compares the frequency curves of the two audio
sources and interpolates between the two to generate the ideal EQ curve for the target
audio.
ASSIMILATOR APPLICATIONS
The ASSIMILATOR is perfectly suited for:
•Matching a live mix to a studio mix (…or vice versa.)
•Matching tracks on an album to “even out”the overall EQ across the entire
project.
•Applying the frequency curve of your favorite song to your song.
•Applying the frequency curve of your favorite track to your track, i.e. vocals, a
snare, etc.
•Matching the sound of multiple environments and morphing between them, as an
audio post effect for film or video.
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GLOSSARY OF TERMS
Analysis Curve: The “analysis curve”is based on a frequency analysis –or spectral
snap-shot –of any audio source, such as a complete mix or an
individual audio track. The “analysis curve”can be stored for later
use.
Assimilation: The process of making the overall spectral information –or
equalization –of one piece of audio similar to another.
EQ Curve: The “EQ curve”is the calculated equalization applied to the target
curve. The EQ curve is an interpolation between the reference
analysis curve and the target analysis curve.
Learn: The “Learn”function is how you can sample (or grab) the spectral
curve of any audio file or source.
Reference: This is the desired analysis curve or the audio you want to sound
like.
Target: This analysis curve is based on your audio; or, the audio you want to
process with the “reference”analysis curve.
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WHY LEARN TWO CURVES?
Learning just one curve would be insufficient for proper assimilation. Consider the
concept as a whole: how else does the ASSIMILATOR Plug-In know how to make your
“target”sound like the “reference”? Here are two examples that show the value of
learning two curves.
ONE CURVE IS INSUFFICIENT FOR PROPER ASSIMILATION
1. “Learn”the analysis curve of the audio that you want your audio to sound like
(“reference”).
2. “Apply”the analysis curve to the “target”audio.
What are the results? In this example, there is the risk that the results will not meet
your expectations. Consider what happens when we process our target audio using the
method from the example above. If the “reference curve”has a level of +12dB at 100
Hz and then you apply that to your target, which already has +6 db at 100 Hz, then
the total boost at 100 Hz would be +18dB. The conclusion is that if we apply the
reference curve to the target without also learning the target, then there will be a 6dB
difference at 100 Hz and the two pieces of audio will not share a common frequency
response!
PROPER ASSIMILATION REQUIRES TWO CURVES
With the additional step of learning the analysis curve of your “target”audio, or the
audio you want to process with the “reference”analysis curve, then there is the ability
to do a highly accurate comparison between the two curves and interpolate an ideal EQ
curve.
Let’s expand on our previous example adding only one step to correctly use the
ASSIMILATOR.
1. “Learn”the analysis curve of the audio that you want your audio to sound like
(“reference”).
2. “Learn”the analysis curve of the audio that you want to process (“target”).
3. “Apply”the interpolated “EQ curve”to the “target”audio.
Now what are the results? Quite good! If we process our “target”audio from the
example above, we have an interpolation process that compares the two curves prior
to processing. If the reference curve has a level of +12 dB at 100 Hz, and then you
apply that to your target, which already has +6db at 100 Hz, then the total boost
would be +6dB at 100 Hz. 6dB is the difference between the two curves, so the sum
will result in something extremely different –and much more useful –than in the first
example.
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PRESET MANAGEMENT
Unlike other Plug-Ins, ASSIMILATOR has two types of presets.
CURVE
After you have learned the audio spectrum of one piece of audio, you can save it
as an analysis curve. Once the analysis curve is saved, it can be loaded as either a
“reference”or “target”curve from one of the File menus.
PRESET
The preset is the global setting of the entire Plug-In. Saving a preset will store the
reference and target curves for both the A and B views of the Plug-In, as well as any
settings made in the Morph view. This global type preset is similar to those handled by
your host application, the difference is that using ASSIMILATORs preset manager will
ensure that you can share your presets with other users, regardless of host application
or platform.
ASSIMILATOR’s comprehensive file based preset architecture makes archiving presets
and curves a breeze. This allows you to organize your presets the way you find most
comfortable for your workflow, and to exchange presets and curves with other users, no
matter what platform or application they are using.
Presets are saved as discrete files on your hard drive. Once a preset is saved into the
default location, it will automatically appear in the “File”menu every time you use the
Plug-In. The files can then be arranged in subfolders, which will also be recognized by
the Plug-In.
FILE
Pressing the “File”button will open the File menu. The following options are available
from the File menu.
LOAD PRESET / CURVE
By selecting “Load”, you can navigate to any folder on the system, including any
“Shared”folder. By default, these will be loaded from the default location for
ASSIMILATOR presets.
Only presets located in the default file location will appear in ASSIMILATOR’s pop-up
preset menu.
SAVE PRESET / CURVE
By selecting “Save”, you can save your preset to any folder on the system, including
any shared folder. By default, presets will be saved to the default location for
ASSIMILATOR presets.
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ASSIMILATOR can arrange presets and
analysis curves into different subfolders. These
subfolders are sorted into basic music genres
and applications such as Classical, Jazz,
Psychedelic Pop etc.
You can delete, rearrange or create your own
folders to accommodate your needs. You could,
for example, create preset folders for projects,
customers or by genre.
This figure demonstrates various analysis curves that can be used either as reference
or target curves.
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DEFAULT PRESET LOCATIONS:
The following locations will describe where you can find your ASSIMILATOR analysis
curves and presets, which are stored in different folders.
Mac OS Classic: Files are stored in the System folder.
System Folder: Application Support: TCWorks: ASSIMILATOR: Presets
System Folder: Application Support: TCWorks: ASSIMILATOR: Curves
Mac OS X: Files are stored in your user folder.
Users: Your Name: Library: Application Support: TCWorks: ASSIMILATOR: Presets
Users: Your Name: Library: Application Support: TCWorks: ASSIMILATOR: Curves
Windows: Files are stored on the Windows OS hard drive.
System Hard Drive:\Program Files\TCWorks\System\Application Support\ASSIMILATOR\
Presets
System Hard Drive:\Program Files\TCWorks\System\Application Support\ASSIMILATOR\
Curves
•To delete a file, simply move it to the “Trash”or “Recycle bin”.
•To create a new subfolder that appears in the Plug-In menu, simply create a new
folder in the Plug-In folder that resides in the PRESETS folder of the
ASSIMILATOR default preset location.
ACCESS PRIVILEGES IN Mac OS X
If you want to share your files with another user, it is advised that you copy your
presets to the “Shared” folder before the other user logs in.
If you save files into the System folder, make sure that you have the appropriate
Administrator rights.
Preset subfolders will not appear in the File menu unless there is at least one file in
that subfolder.
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OVERVIEW
1. Analysis Display
2. Preset Handling
3. Input Gain and Meter
4. Low Frequency Resolution Size
5. Output Gain and Meter
6. Limiter Enable and Limiter Activity Indicator
7. Reference Analysis Curve Section
8. Target Analysis Curve Section
9. Apply EQ Curve Fader
10. Level Calibration Fader
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