Voxengo is pleased to introduce the next major version of PC VST plug-in called Soniformer. This plug-in is an innovative mastering tool for DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) that allows the user to form and reform the sonic structure of any sound material.

The main idea behind Soniformer is a spectral balance. A perfectly balanced mix can be seen on a spectrum analyzer as a smooth spectral curve with minimal number of peaks and notches. There can be some deviations from this rule, but generally it always applies. Soniformer uses compression to adjust the spectral balance of any sound material being processed in a way that its spectral curve fulfills the aforementioned rule. Thus, Soniformer could also be called a spectral compressor.

Every parameter of Soniformer is defined by means of a graphic envelope which is freely-modifiable and which may contain up to 32 control points.

Soniformer implements both compression and expansion, which allows a variety of different sound structures to be created, including classical tape compression, unobtrusive bass expansion, and general mix compression. And it all sounds pristine! One could say that Soniformer brings a classical warm analog compression to a digital workstation. This is true, because even at very subtle compression settings, Soniformer brings a strong feel of a professionally balanced mix. In fact, Soniformer allows the user to perform professional sounding mastering in a budget environment. Spectral balance is almost a universal thing, and every mastering engineer has to master it, while Soniformer brings it the easy way. Soniformer's adjustments of the spectral balance actually reveal details of the mix being processed.

Voxengo Soniformer features:

During processing, Soniformer divides incoming audio stream into a large number (32 or more) of equally-spaced bands (this makes Soniformer a rather CPU-consumptive plug-in). The lowest band has a center frequency of 25 Hz; the highest controllable band has a center frequency of 20k Hz. This layout brings about -30 dB around DC attenuation, which is good for a general DC offset removal.

Soniformer is controlled by means of parameter envelopes. Each parameter's envelope is defined across the audible frequency range. Values (in dB) on the left of the envelope editing surface show either the scale of the spectrum analyzer or the scale of the gain change meters, depending on the current monitoring mode selected. Values on the right show the scale of the currently selected parameter envelope.

As for compression settings, Soniformer adopts a rather `raw' compression technique, so if you are familiar with compressors, these settings won't be hard for you to understand. The only difference is that all parameters should be defined in two dimensions, instead of one dimension.

Since lower frequencies have longer oscillation times than higher frequencies, the Attack and Release values for the lower frequencies must be specified at least a magnitude higher than for the higher frequencies. It may be also benefical to use smaller Release values compared to Attack values. This helps to preserve the dynamics for the most part.

Beside normal compression controls, Soniformer has a "Wet mix" parameter, which may look rather strange as a part of a compressor. It was added because this kind of compressor may sit well in a mix blended with the original input signal. The other `non-standard' parameter is the "stereo width" which you can use to apply the mid-side stereo widening/narrowing technique across the audible frequency range. Please note that the Width envelope should first be enabled by adding it into the processing "Order" selector.

Spectral stereo panning can be also used by defining the according envelope and switching it on the "Order" selector.

Soniformer also features a pretty interesting stereo linking approach which is controlled by the means of an envelope. Normally, processing should be whether stereo linked or unlinked. But here you can specify values inbetween. Although specifying various linking values for different frequencies is not a totally correct approach, but still this can be used to add some unique touch to the stereo program material. Please note that if stereo linking envelope stays at 100% Soniformer optimizes compressor performance automatically.

The "MS Mode" switch enables mid/side processing. In MS mode Soniformer encodes L/R stereo signal into mid (mono) and side (stereo) channels which then can be compressed or expanded as needed. After processing is performed M/S signal is converted into L/R signal back. MS processing is only available for stereo audio. The "Mid" option enables mid channel processing while the "Side" option enables side channel processing.

The "Fluffy" control button disables or enables default `fluffy' gain adjustment behavior (Soniformer uses the square of the calculated gain in this mode). In the "Normal" mode Soniformer compresses/expands in a more common and predictable way.

The "Peak"/"Env" switch controls which mode is used for detecting signal's level. The "Peak" mode uses every sample of the sound stream. The "Env" mode uses the signal from the signal envelope follower fed by the sound stream. The "Env" mode--due to its natural inertia--gives a smoother sound.

The "Weighting" selector allows you to apply a weighting function over the spectrum. Such weighting can be helpful when tuning the very low and very high frequencies. The "Internal" weighting option uses idealistic spectrum compensation (by means of a modified parabolic curve centered around 700 Hz). Please note that this option is mostly experimental. "A" applies a pure A-weighting curve. "C" applies a pure C-weighting curve. "A + C" applies the A-weighting curve mixed with the C-weighting curve.

The "CompMode" switch can be used to switch between Soniformer's compression algorithms. In the "Normal" mode Soniformer compresses audio in a standard way - signal above the defined threshold gets compressed or expanded according to the Ratio envelope. In the "Inverted" compression mode signal below the threshold gets affected - it is attenuated or amplified according to the Ratio envelope.

The "Input Slope" parameter adjusts the slope of the spectrum you see on the spectrum analyzer. You should carefully choose the slope value since you may get either too bright or too dark mix if the slope value chosen was unsuitable for the mix you were working on.

The "Out" knob controls the output signal gain. A special button near the Out knob label turns red when three sequential clip incidents were detected on any output channel. Click this button to reset it to its normal state.

A counter near the "In/Out Diff" label shows the difference (in decibels) between the input and output signals. This counter can be helpful when you are adjusting the Out knob in order to accomodate level difference between the input and output signals introduced by the processing. Positive values mean that the output signal is louder than the input signal. You can click this counter to reset it.

You can engage the Narrow band sweeping function by clicking the left mouse button on the control surface while holding the CTRL key. This function allows you to listen to a selectable narrow band in order to detect various sonic artifacts which then can be tamed by Soniformer.

Envelopes in Soniformer can be also adjusted in a knob mode which can be engaged by pressing the "Knob" button. Please note that switching to the knob mode may destroy the original envelope information. Knob mode works with 3 control points in each envelope and so original envelopes will be converted to contain 3 control points only. This conversion cannot be undone (if you have not saved a preset)! However, if your envelopes already have 3 knobs in each envelope switching to the "Knob mode" would not change the original envelopes.

A set of special "Order" selectors can be used to switch various parts of the Soniformer on and off, and to change processing sequence. For example, by excluding the "Comp" (compressor) block from the sequence you may turn Soniformer's compression algorithm off. This can be useful when you only need to apply Stereo Width ("Width") and/or Panning ("Pan") envelopes to the program material. "O.Gain" processing block corresponds to the "Out Gain" envelope meaning you may apply it before or after compression, stereo width or panning processing is applied.

Order mode buttons can be switched to Off state and back with the right mouse button.

You can use the "Preset..." menu button to perform basic FXP/FXB preset/bank management tasks. The "Set as default" menu option of the "Presets..." menu allows you to assign the currently loaded program to the default preset program. This default program will be loaded whenever you enable a new instance of the plug-in or reset the current program. You can use the "Reset default" option to restore the default factory preset.

By pressing the "A|B" button, you can exchange the current and shadow (or, alternatively, "A" and "B") programs. The "Copy" button copies the current program to a shadow one.

Since only a single shadow program is used for the whole program bank, you can use "A|B" button to copy programs. To do so, you first need to switch to a program you want to copy and press the "Copy" button. Next, switch to a program where you want to put the first program and press the "A|B" button.

The "Reset" button can be used to reset the current program. All parameters will return to their default states.

The "Overlay" selector button allows you to change the envelope displayed as an overlay envelope. The overlayed envelope is displayed in red color.

The "Copy" (copy to) button allows you to copy the current envelope to another envelope.

The "Invert" button inverts the current envelope.

The "Arrow Down" button can be used to attenuate the parameter envelope. The "Arrow Up" button amplifies the parameter envelope, doing the opposite of what the "Arrow Down" does.

After every change of the parameter envelope, with the help of the "Undo" and the "Redo" buttons, you have an opportunity to undo changes made. The parameter envelope change starts when the left mouse button is pressed and ends when the left mouse button is released. You can also undo some operations like control point insertion and deletion.

The "Reset" button resets the envelope. You can undo the reset later.

This picture shows the control points which can be dragged with the left mouse button to adjust the current envelope. Double-clicking on a control point removes it. The first and last points return to default vertical position when double-clicked. To add a new control point, double-click the control surface at the desired position.

If several points are selected and you double-click any of the existing points, all selected points will be either deleted or reset.

Dragging the envelope line selects two points, adjacent to this line, and enables you to move these points, vertically constrained.

You can hold the ALT key to enable fine-tuning. In this mode you can specify position of the control point with ten times more precision. By holding the CTRL key and left-clicking the point you can reset this point to the default value (0 dB in the case of the Out Gain envelope).

You can also edit groups of control points by selecting them in a very convenient manner. Just hold down the left mouse button and start dragging the control surface. In response to your dragging, a box will appear showing the selection area. All control points that enter this area become selected. By dragging any single point within the selection you can then move a group of selected points the way you would move a single point, vertically constrained. When you are dragging the segment (link) between any two selected nodes, you can move all selected nodes, horizontally constrained.

To add points to the current selection, press the SHIFT key before starting to drag the control surface. To deselect the currently selected points, simply click the control surface anywhere.

You can press the right mouse button on the control surface to select all control points.

To change a knob control's value, drag it with the left mouse button and move it up or down. For finer adjustment, press the right mouse button while dragging. Double-clicking on the knob with the left mouse button will return the knob to its default position.

Pressing this button will display the plug-in's info screen. This screen shows copyright and registration information, and contains the "Help" button which opens the bundled HTML help file you are reading now.

This screen also contains the following global settings. A global setting is one that affects all plug-in instances in all audio host applications.

The "Spectrum Speed" selector enables you to choose the speed (inertia) of the spectrum.

When the "Snapping" option is enabled, envelope nodes will be snapped to centers of the spectral bands.

The "Auto Overlay" switch enables the automatic switching of the overlay envelope when you choose another envelope to edit.

The "Pre Out Gain" switch enables `pre output gain' monitoring for all monitoring modes. This is useful to evaluate the gain adjustment made by the compression/expansion itself, without taking the main Out Gain and the Out Gain parameter envelope into account.