buzz forums

Everyone's welcome to give this little thing a whirl:
http://buzz.robotplanet.dk/machineinfo.php?id=8203

Explanation: If you don't use the "drive" parameter, it behaves like a normal EQ. But the more you use the "drive", the more effect the boost will have when there's not a lot of the frequency you're boosting. However, if you boost at a frequency where there's already a lot of action, it shouldn't get too exaggerated, so it's sort of adaptive.

Be aware that if you use too much "drive" in the bass you might lose bass entirely. This is a known behavior. Be conservative about the amount of drive when working with bass.

If anyone loaded the file yesterday, please reload it again. MantraTronic reported a bug that I just fixed. Also, more features.

PS: Don't use this in song yet, it's beta.

havent tried yet.. is the boost/drive limited via some kind of tube limit/compression emulation? cause that's what i'm imagining.. with an eq to boot to tweak those wonderful tube driven harmonics..

silly to ask before trying, but hey

is the tube based on anything particular?

The specific way i emulate tubes is actually fairly crude in this version. The new thing is the odd way I've made the "tubeness" affect what each individual band does, instead of the usual approach many other plugins often have. Typically they're like:

input --> equalizer bands (boost/cut) --> tube simulation --> output

But this one is more like:

input --> eq band 1 (boost/cut & tube drive) --> eq band 2 (same) --> eq band 3 (same) --> output

The difference is that the bigger the EQ boost and the more "drive" you use, the more each band will add coloration to the sound around the chosen frequency (and upwards unless you enable the filter).

Edit: Changed again at 19:10 UTC (whatever that is in your timezones out there). Now the two modes sound much more differently.

mute: The new tube/valve mode is closer to the way tubes behave now than it was earlier. It has the same non-linear transfer curve that tubes have. I guess you inspired me to yet get a bit closer to the real thing (even though I realize I'm probably still way off a real tube EQ here.)

Also fixed another init bug where it could say "BLEEP!" at bmx file load.

PS: I still haven't measured if all the various units are showing the correct values. I have a feeling the bandwidth is more narrow than indicated, and that the boost in dB might also be too far off (which it shouldn't be at least when drive is at 0%).

so each band is in parallel after the first tube/eq band? that's dope. this is why i love buzz. you don't catch multiple approaches to things like this in other places...at least not so often. i'm certain you can make any distortion growl how you want with this in the chain...among other things. will play with very soon.

No no, the arrows in this:
are meant as a signal path. This is serial. The new thing is that instead of first EQ'ing something and then applying some sort of "tube" to the whole sound, this plugin only behaves tube-like within the EQ boost/cut itself. This weird strategy works best for boosting stuff, so if you wanna cut frequencies, you might wanna leave the "Drive" very low, perhaps even at zero for it to behave in a predictable way.

Basically I think most digital EQs are best at ducking frequencies. I wanted to create something that's good at boosting frequencies, even if it means down-prioritizing how well the ducking works. Lots of other EQs do this really well. (E.g. Sony Oxford to name one that really excels in this.)

PS: I just did another tiny update (fine-tuning of the "filter"). I'll let this rest for a few days, and if I don't get any bug reports I'm gonna release it the usual place.

Very nice, I just tested it with Qsamo, and it seems very effective, easy to find the color you want, great harmonics and fine distortions, it will be cool for guitars, thanks for this new moon, Enceladus works fine here. A successful analog sound simulation.

Alright. Thanks to everyone who tested and helped coming with feedback. I might see if I can figure out how to make the number of EQ bands adjustable if I find out how to do this.

For now you'll have to settle with three bands, which seemed like a useful amount.

http://buzz.robotplanet.dk/machineinfo.php?id=8203

I think there is a problem with the last version, when I move the boost parameter (other than zero), it cut frequencies, very strange, so I use the previous version, because I have bmx with it.
OOps, re-test, not a bug, just a momentary dysfunction, some buzz (or windows) mysteries..

Hmm... i've also seen a few odd things happen.
If you get weird results, try loading the bmx again, or re-inserting the EQ.

Let's consider this a beta for now.

I've fixed a potential bug that might have caused weird behaviors when inserting a new instance of the EQ.

Please download v1.1 from the link in the first post.

(Edit a few days later) I still haven't had any weird things happen since the update. Please test if you can. Highly appreciated.

Tested yesterday with my not soo good headphones and could hear great sound changes, even with this not so optimal headphone. Thanks a lot for this effect, respects, very fine and powerful changes in the sound. If it sounded even with those headphones so impressive, it will be phenomenal with better speakers I am sure! Great! Tube + warm was my favourite, in my quick test. Great for sweeping, but sounding phenomenal.

1.2
Yes, it was still buggy. But this time I really (no seriously, really!) think I nailed it.

Please re-download.

A new update (1.3), cool 2 new tubes, great effect, I use it a lot, a killer machine.