Electro-Harmonix HOLIEST GRAIL, Manual

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HOLIEST GRAIL
- DESCRIPTION -
The Holiest Grail is built around a high quality stereo reverb algorithm coupled with a
painstakingly developed simulation of spring reverb as found in guitar amps and dedicated
reverb tanks. The decay time, damping and diffusion parameters of the reverb can be
freely tweaked to design an infinite array of natural and unnatural sounding spaces. A
versatile pre-delay can be applied to the reverb, and a feedback control has been added to
the pre-delay to provide even greater sound-sculpting capabilities for spatial simulation
and/or experimentation.
As an aid to both live performance and recording, the box is able to store 8 user presets
and can be remotely controlled via MIDI. A standard expression footpedal can be used to
control the amount of signal sent to the reverb, a performance tool that can help
personalize the sound.
- CONTROLS/INDICATORS -
INPUT
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INPUT GAIN Slider –
A control for setting optimal analog signal level into the A/D
Converter. The green LED lights when there is sufficient level. The red LED will light when
clipping occurs. The position of the INPUT GAIN Slider is not saved with the user
presets.
WARNING: Use only the 9VDC/500mA AC adapter the Holiest Grail comes
supplied with. Do not use any other AC adapters. Using other AC adapters, even
those made by Electro-Harmonix, could cause harm to the unit, the adapter or you.
The Holiest Grail does not use batteries.
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Signal LED – Green LED above INPUT GAIN Slider. The Signal LED varies in brightness
depending on the strength of the input signal. The louder the signal the brighter this LED
will be.
Clip LED – Red LED above INPUT GAIN Slider. The Clip LED lights when the signal clips
the A/D Converter. Ideally you want the largest possible signal entering the A/D Converter
without clipping. One way to achieve the ideal signal level is to raise the INPUT GAIN Slider
until the CLIP LED starts to blink and then lower the INPUT GAIN Slider slowly until the
CLIP LED stops lighting.
REVERB Design
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Pre-delay Controls
TIME Slider – Controls the length of time between striking a note on your
instrument and the start of the reverb. For maximum usability, the slider has
two ranges of usage: between 0% and 50%, the predelay time can be adjusted
from 0 to 100 ms with an accuracy of approximately 1.5 ms. From 50% to
100%, the time ranges from 100ms to 440ms in 5 ms increments.
FEEDBACK Slider – Controls the amount of feedback that is re-circulated in the
pre-delay before the reverb. At its maximum setting an infinite loop will be
created. At the lowest level the pre-delay simply delays the sound of the reverb
without any special effects. When the FEEDBACK Slider is set somewhere in the
middle, your original note will enter the Reverb a number of times.
Reverb Controls
DECAY Slider – Controls the length of the reverb time. This affects the
apparent size of space. At maximum setting an infinite reverb may occur,
depending on the other settings.
DAMPING Slider – Affects the frequency response of the reverb over time. A
setting of 0% has more damping and thus the reverb is muted. As the slider is
pushed up, the reverb sounds more bright and ‘open’. Higher settings (less
damping) also yield a longer reverb time.
DIFFUSION Slider – Works in conjunction with the other parameters to
provide a density control to make subtle variations in the quality of the reverb