[amo] Sampler Shaper type 4-bit envelope cuts out too soon

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arachnaut
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[amo] Sampler Shaper type 4-bit envelope cuts out too soon

Post by arachnaut » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:08 am

I don't know if this is a bug, but it sounds wrong to me.

I have a Sampler set up to use the Shaper as a filter pre-distortion, with the Shaper type set to a macro.

The device was made in Live 7. When I preview it in Live 8 and use the macro to change the type, the filter cuts off quite a bit earlier using this new type compared to the other 3 types.

Its possible that the 4-bit levels of the shaper are such that low levels of amplitude are just gated. This might sound better if the lower bit is dithered on and off instead of just staying at 0.

Machinate
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Post by Machinate » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:52 am

theoretically it would cut off earlier, due to the missing bits - 4 bits is just 16 possible states, so it would cut off at 1/16th of full volume?
gah, late, my math brain is fried for today.

djsynchro
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Post by djsynchro » Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:28 am

correct 4 bit is ultra lofi so that's probably how it should be - will check tomorrow.

arachnaut
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Post by arachnaut » Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:07 am

Machinate wrote:theoretically it would cut off earlier, due to the missing bits - 4 bits is just 16 possible states, so it would cut off at 1/16th of full volume?
gah, late, my math brain is fried for today.
Yes, that's what I said. but it sounds wrong.

The distortion effect of the 4 bits sounds good, but the sharp cutoff of low levels sounds bad.

That's why I suggested a 1-bit dither.

arachnaut
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Post by arachnaut » Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:09 am

By '1-bit dither' I mean adding a random 1/2 bit value to the cutoff level of incoming data in this mode.

So if the cutoff is -36 db; 1/2 bit may be something like (a guess) -15 db. So values at (-36) plus (-15) db will sometimes get through.

I think this (or something like it) would be audible superior to what we will get in Live 8 for this feature.

Amaury
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Post by Amaury » Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:09 pm

Hi,

It's indeed the nature of the 4 bits shaper mode to be crude. Any dither would add to the cpu load.

Regards,
Amaury
Ableton Product Team

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