Is there a general desire for a real Harmonic Exciter effect

[Six String Symphony]

While trying to emulate some 80's clean guitar sounds I found the "Enhancer" effect not to my liking as it effects the tone of the signal in a phase domain way that works pretty well for stereo but not so well for mono.
I have used the Aphex, BBE and the Exciter that was on the Rocktron XTC distortion rack unit.
I really feel that the BBE was the best of the bunch with the Rocktron a close 2nd. I thought that the Aphex sounded kind of harsh.
I hope that this can be implemented at some point into the Axe.

 

[aleclee]

Put me down for "No". The best description I've heard of harmonic exciters is "they make things sound better the way Barbie is pretty". :lol:

Owned a BBE Stinger pedal and that's a great description. Now the Stinger, along with most of my stompboxes, is up for sale. It's cool for hair metal gloss but I haven't really found it useful for much else. :geek:

 

[AlbertA]

Here's a quick recipe for a BBE type effect

Add a Parametric EQ, Set F1 to type shelving, set F5 to type shelving. Set F1 frequency to around 250Hz. Increasing the gain here is like the low countour. Set F5 to around 2500Hz. The gain will act as a "process knob".
Add a filter, set to highpass, set frequency around 2500Hz. Press ENTER on level to assign a modifier select envelope. Adjust the envelope and modifier curve to swing the level around 6 to 10dB (start: 50%, mid 55.1%, end:100%, slope:50%, scale 46.9%, offset: 35.8%, in the envelope use a 60-100ms release)

 

[iaresee]

I don't know much about the Exciter, but an algorithm that mimic'ed the frequency alignment tricks that a BBE Sonic Maximizer does would be cool. The SM time delays by frequency to better align the high, mid and low frequencies coming out of the speaker. Makes it sound more "coherent" for lack of a better term for it. That'd be cool have.

 

[AlbertA]

but an algorithm that mimic'ed the frequency alignment tricks that a BBE Sonic Maximizer does would be cool. The SM time delays by frequency to better align the high, mid and low frequencies coming out of the speaker. Makes it sound more "coherent" for lack of a better term for it. That'd be cool have.

There's no real magic. What I posted above is essentially what the BBE does. IT's a glorifed loudness control.

It controls how much emphasized highs it adds based on the envelope/dynamics of the input signal. The phase shifting is only due to the analog filter band splitting the signal.

 

[iaresee]

but an algorithm that mimic'ed the frequency alignment tricks that a BBE Sonic Maximizer does would be cool. The SM time delays by frequency to better align the high, mid and low frequencies coming out of the speaker. Makes it sound more "coherent" for lack of a better term for it. That'd be cool have.

There's no real magic. What I posted above is essentially what the BBE does. IT's a glorifed loudness control.

It controls how much emphasized highs it adds based on the envelope/dynamics of the input signal. The phase shifting is only due to the analog filter band splitting the signal.

There's an all-pass filter on the input that progressively delays the frequencies as well that you miss with this approach. It's not bad for an approximation, but it ain't the real thing, ya know? There's also that peak detector on the original signal that feeds into the high pass portion of the circuit that helps emphasize high frequency content on louder passages that you mention.

The VCA-controlled high-pass gain piece might be do-able with an envelope controller attached to the high band on the PEQ block to boost the gain on it with the envelope. But I don't know how you'd get the uniform phase delay introduced by the all-pass filter at its input that "conditions" everything going in to the EQ on the unit.

Interesting to think about ways to put it all together with existing blocks for sure. I'll have to give this a try tomorrow night. See how it works out.

 

[Six String Symphony]

Thanks for the tips Albert. I'll give it a try in the near future.
I have done this approximation in Protools on a track using a multiband comp. and eq. It was pretty good - but not exactly as I remembered.

As to the comment about "it sounds like Barbie looks" well - yeah it does, but some times you want arm candy, er, ear candy, and sometimes you don't.

 

[Griffin]

I voted yes purely because I have one and no matter what, an EQ does not sound the same.
That said, I rarely use it now, but if it was in the AxeFx, I probably would. I certainly use the VST plug in.

So yeah, agreed, close-ish with an EQ, but def not the same.

 

[Spartacus]

I'd like to see one. I miss the one from my old Boss SE-70. Great for creating acoustic patches when using a strat. Gives a sizzle to the high end on clean patches.

Some info for anyone who is interested:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_ar ... iters.html

"Aphex was the first company to market enhancers, and they claim that their Aural Exciter was discovered quite by accident, when a stereo valve amplifier kit was wrongly assembled. One channel worked properly, but the other produced only a thin, distorted sound. To their surprise, adding the two channels together produced a result that sounded cleaner and brighter than the original. After they had spent considerable time figuring out why this was, they formed a company to exploit the discovery. The first commercial Aphex processor was shrouded in secrecy, and anyone wanting to use it on record had to hire the unit from Aphex and pay a royalty based on the length of the recording. Today, Aphex exciters may be bought and used just like any other processor."

 

[AlbertA]

but an algorithm that mimic'ed the frequency alignment tricks that a BBE Sonic Maximizer does would be cool. The SM time delays by frequency to better align the high, mid and low frequencies coming out of the speaker. Makes it sound more "coherent" for lack of a better term for it. That'd be cool have.

There's no real magic. What I posted above is essentially what the BBE does. IT's a glorifed loudness control.

It controls how much emphasized highs it adds based on the envelope/dynamics of the input signal. The phase shifting is only due to the analog filter band splitting the signal.

There's an all-pass filter on the input that progressively delays the frequencies as well that you miss with this approach. It's not bad for an approximation, but it ain't the real thing, ya know? There's also that peak detector on the original signal that feeds into the high pass portion of the circuit that helps emphasize high frequency content on louder passages that you mention.

The VCA-controlled high-pass gain piece might be do-able with an envelope controller attached to the high band on the PEQ block to boost the gain on it with the envelope. But I don't know how you'd get the uniform phase delay introduced by the all-pass filter at its input that "conditions" everything going in to the EQ on the unit.

Interesting to think about ways to put it all together with existing blocks for sure. I'll have to give this a try tomorrow night. See how it works out.

Yeah the allpass is missing, You could load an IR to do that... tough it's probably overkill....You could use a phaser, set to LFO1 sync, set the rate to minimum.

 

[jerotas]

I used to have a BBE, and my friend recently had one too. In both cases, turning OFF the damn thing and compensating with EQ sounded better. I have no use for the thing. In final mastering of a mixed song, excitation is cool though.

 

[javajunkie]

I used to have a BBE, and my friend recently had one too. In both cases, turning OFF the damn thing and compensating with EQ sounded better. I have no use for the thing. In final mastering of a mixed song, excitation is cool though.

I still have one. I found the same thing to be true.

any one want to buy one