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Table of Contents
Summary of Contents for SoundToys Crystallizer
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
Using Crystallizer Within Pro Tools The Crystallizer Preset Library Compare Button Bypass Using Parameter Automation Locking Crystallizer to Tempo and Down Beat Using the HTDM Version of Crystallizer Optimizing CPU Usage The Crystallizer Control Panel Input and Output Level Pitch... - Page 3 C O N T E N T S (continued) Pitch Offset Splice Offset Delay Offset Attack Release Low Cut High Cut Summary FINAL PAGE Getting Help The UltraFX Product Line The UltraTools Product Line Trademark Info...
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Page 4: Thanks
We take a lot of pride in our work and we sincerely hope that you find Crystallizer inspirational and musically useful. We’d also like to thank all the people that helped in the development of Crystallizer and the whole new SoundToys line of plug-ins: Nick Caiano for his super-cool demo sessions and guitar work. -
Page 5: Intro
(the one that comes before the sequel!) About Crystallizer Crystallizer is the third in a series of totally cool new plug-ins to come out of the SoundToys (formerly Wave Mechanics) plug-in development lab. As with FilterFreak, our Analog Filtering module and PhaseMistress, our killer analog phase shifter, a truly... -
Page 6: What And Who Is Soundtoys
And, it’s our new company name. You see all of us at SoundToys (formerly Wave Mechanics) are a bunch of audio geeks that thirst for new ways to manipulate and mangle sound that are innovative, unique, and with sound quality that is in a class all its own. -
Page 7: Getting Started
S T A R T E D System Requirements Crystallizer is a software plug-in for the Digidesign Pro Tools system. You’ll need to have at least one decent Macintosh computer (G3 or better – faster is always better) running OS 9.2 or later and of course you’ll need a copy of Pro Tools version 5.0 or later. -
Page 8: Registration
NEED to use Crystallizer, we will be able to get you up and running again MUCH MORE QUICKLY. If you haven’t taken the time to do this, we will still try to help you, but we’ll have no easy way of knowing whether you are really you, or some bozo... -
Page 9: Some Information On Pitch Shifting And Other Stuff
Most pitch shifters automatically adjust the size of the slice to keep it constant so that the effected signal is played back with just a little bit of delay. Crystallizer, on the other hand, offers you the ability to take much larger slices of audio, shift the signal up or down (4) octaves (that’s a lot of shifting!), play the pitch shifted signal... -
Page 10: Using Crystallizer
Knobs You can use a mouse to control all of the knobs in Crystallizer and they all work in the same way: To turn a knob up, (to the right, clockwise etc), click on the knob with your mouse and drag the cursor to the right or slide the cursor up (towards the ceil- ing). -
Page 11: Toggle Switches
It will change from where it was to the "other" setting. Click again to change it back. Really simple! LED Displays LED displays on Crystallizer work in a couple of ways: Nudge Buttons Most text readouts also include a pair of nudge buttons next to the display. Clicking on the upper button will increase the value by one and clicking once on lower button will decrease the value by one. -
Page 12: Accessing Crystallizer
As a real-time plug-in, Crystallizer works a lot like a real hardware…umm… Crystallizer! Whatever sound goes into Crystallizer, comes out filtered, and you can hear it as it is happening (in real time!). Keep in mind that using Crystallizer in this manner always chews up some CPU processing power. -
Page 13: Non-Real Time Processing (Audiosuite)
This is done in Pro Tools using the AudioSuite version of Crystallizer. To do this, first select the region of audio you’d like to process from the Edit window of Pro Tools. Then choose Crystallizer from the AudioSuite menu of Pro Tools. -
Page 14: Using Crystallizer Within Pro Tools
Crystallizer, but one of them just might be the ticket you need for your latest hit record or production. They also provide a great starting point for you to tweak and mangle to your hearts content. -
Page 15: Compare Button
The compare button (often called the compare "light” by Pro Tools pros) is a great way to audition the effect of any changes you’ve made to one of the Crystallizer presets. As soon as you change any parameter in Crystallizer, the compare light will come on. - Page 16 Next, in the track you’re working on, select ‘auto-write’ to enable the real-time recording of automation data. Now, press play and fiddle with the Crystallizer controls. Pro Tools should now record any control changes you make. When the transport is stopped, the automation will automatically switch to ‘auto-touch’.
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Page 17: Locking Crystallizer To Tempo And Down Beat
Locking Crystallizer to Tempo and Down Beat One of the coolest features of Crystallizer is its ability to synchronize its sweep to the tempo (BPM) and downbeat (the ‘1’ of 1, 2, 3, and 4) in your music. This is a total-... - Page 18 If you are using Pro Tools 6.2 or later simply click on the - Page 18, 1st p ‘Midi’ switch on the front panel of Crystallizer. If you are MIDI Beat Cloc using an earlier version of Pro Tools, you’ll also need to do...
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Page 19: Using The Htdm Version Of Crystallizer
Selecting Audio. Using the HTDM version of Crystallizer If you are a Pro Tools TDM user, Crystallizer is also available as an HTDM plug-in, and will appear in the TDM inserts menu of Pro Tools. The HTDM version is available because RTAS plug-ins cannot be used on aux tracks and cannot have real-time monitoring when used within Pro Tools TDM systems. -
Page 20: Optimizing Cpu Usage
Here are some tips to reduce the processing: • If you’re running multiple tracks through the same effect, use Crystallizer on an aux track and use sends to route the audio through Crystallizer. -
Page 21: The Crystallizer Control Panel
100% and use the fader on the return to control the amount of the effected sound. If you are using it "in-line" and sending the signal right through Crystallizer you probably want to set the Mix knob at 50% or less depending on the type of shifted effect being used. -
Page 22: Pitch
Pitch The Pitch control allows you to adjust to pitch of the effect signal up or down (4) octaves, (8 octave total range) with the maximum values being +4800/-4800. The readout is in "cents" and the values increment in (1) cent intervals. This allows you to get slight detuning effects by setting the Pitch value to say + or –... -
Page 23: Delay
(percussive, sustaining, etc) and what type of effect you want to achieve. Experimenting with the Threshold knob along with the Gate/Duck (described below) can yield some very dynamic and cool effects especially with the long echo washes that Crystallizer is capable of producing. -
Page 24: Gate/Duck
Gate/Duck The Gate/Duck knob is a dual-purpose knob that allows you to either "duck" (dynam- ically lower the level of the effected signal) while the original sound is above the setting of the Threshold knob, or, Gate the effected signal (dynamically increases the volume of the effected signal) while the original signal is above the Threshold setting. -
Page 25: Forward/Reverse
MIDI Sync Switching the Midi Sync button to “on” locks Crystallizer to incoming midi clock. You will also notice that the Splice and Delay control readouts will change from millisec- onds to note values. This allows you to select specific note lengths and have the effect stay in sync with the midi clock. -
Page 26: Pitch Offset
Pitch Offset The Pitch offset control allows you to add additional detune to the signal but will detune the left channel down and the right channel up by the selected amount. So, whatever the setting of the main Pitch control, the value set on the Pitch Offset will subtract the selected amount from the pitch of the left channel and add the selected amount to the pitch of the right channel. -
Page 27: Attack
Attack The Attack control is used in conjunction with the Gate/Duck control and allows you to adjust how quickly or slowly the effected signal is gated or ducked when the input level passes the setting of the Threshold knob. With Ducking, the Attack time determines how quickly or slowly the effect signal will be ducked once the input signal passes above the Threshold setting. -
Page 28: High Cut
High Cut The High Cut knob controls a 12db per octave lowpass filter and allows you to reduce the high frequencies of the effect signal based on the frequency setting of the knob. The range of the knob is from 20 kiloHertz at the highest setting and to 500 Hertz at the lowest setting. -
Page 29: Summary
S U M M A R Y As we stated way back at the beginning of this story, Crystallizer is one tough puppy to describe. It is really a highly powerful and creative sound mangling tool and can create a wide range of unique effects on just about every kind of input signal. The best way to learn how it works is to fire it up with a session filled with different types of sounds and try it on different tracks and with different settings. -
Page 30: Final Page
• Your computer type and operating system version number (e.g. System 9.1, OS X, etc.) • A detailed description of the problem The e-mail address for support is: support@soundtoys.com If you don’t have e-mail, you can call us at 1-802-951-9700. Sound Toys... -
Page 31: The Ultrafx Product Line
S O U N D T O Y S P R O D U C T S The UltraFX Product Line SoundToys offers a complete line of great-sounding, easy to use plug-ins. When you need your sound to make a statement, use SoundToys! FilterFreak™... -
Page 32: The Ultratools Product Line
The UltraTools Product Line SoundToys continues to make its UltraTools line of plug-ins for Pro Tools TDM systems. UltraTools is the most complete package of advanced audio manipulation tools for Pro Tools, giving you complete power over time and pitch.
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