Euterpe Synthesizer Laboratories Vertice, User Manual

Page: 58 / 70

[ 58 ] VERTICE as a compression/expansion unit
pot. When, with an increased VCA level value, you can obtain a principle of distortion in your timbre, if further
pushed up by the EG output the distortion will naturally grow so you may turn down the VCA level a bit in order
to compensate. But now a doubt arises: if we are in inverted mode shouldn’t we obtain a decrease of the VCA
level instead of any further amplification? Are we try to compress this BD or what?
Yes, we are about to compress it but we must understand the full mechanism: when in inverted mode, if no one
GATE signal flow to force the EG to work, the EG apparently will still work , especially if we had set Sustain to max,
as we suggest, giving a continuous control signal. So in this case the VCA level is always subject to the EG out
level positive signal except when EG is triggered and still solves its time algorithm . This is the point. GATE triggers
the EG so it, in inverted mode, decreases the VCA level. On the contrary when the EG is not triggered and Release
function reach the end of its time window (0V) the whole machine level will reach the value that Sustain and EG
Lev together force it to be, so level grow.
It’s a bit tricky but this is the only way you can use to obtain compression from VERTICE. It can be a very silent
compression and still remains strongly effective on a wide range of input levels and audio materials, just be
prepared to experiment a bit with STACCATO/CONTINUO and EG Level potentiometers together.
Brief tip
Pretend that the Eg Lev pot + STACCATO/CONTINUO pot together (summed values) are like the Threshold
and Make-up commands (separately) of a common compressor. Due to this primitive analog side-chain
structure when you raise up the EG lev you should turn down the Staccato/Continuo Lev simultaneously to
avoid intense distortions.
Ratio
Having historical and practical importance Dbx’s device are very well known and recognizable by a pair
of trained ears. Although this facilitation being entirely devoid of visual references on VERTICE makes
the recognition of the value of Ratio very difficult. Our ears seem to indicate a very squared compression
behavior like the one you can find in a 10:1 or more intense limiting ratio settings. But this is an unsure
conclusion because this value is very related to both Staccato/Continuo and EG Lev positions, besides the
obvious impact of the injected signal level value.
Base settings to obtain clean (or not) Compressions
STEREO COUPLE
AUDIO IN EG IN