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- Anvil 0.3.0: Ghost harmonics, Phone listen, Kick lock and the offset audition. Anvil now has a Kick sidechain input. - Weld 0.3.0: delay spread display. - Braze 0.1.0: first release. - Mark the released items in docs/ideas.md and add Braze to the release table.
116 lines
6.1 KiB
Markdown
116 lines
6.1 KiB
Markdown
# Weld
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Weld fuses two bass layers so they add up instead of cancelling. Current version
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**0.3.0**.
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Bass patches are layered: a sub, one or more mid growls, a top. Where the layers
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overlap in the mids, they partly cancel. The causes are a polarity difference, a
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small time offset between the layers, and the phase shift of the filters and EQs
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in one chain. The result is a thin, hollow sum that changes with every
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switch-up. Anvil fixes this for the sub band; Weld fixes it for the mids.
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Weld sits on one layer and hears the other one through the sidechain input. It
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measures how the two layers line up, then turns the phase of its own layer with
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a polarity flip and up to four allpass filters. An allpass changes only phase,
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so the layer on its own sounds the same; only the sum changes. Weld adds no
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latency.
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## Install on Windows
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Copy `Weld.clap` into `C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP\`. In FL Studio 2024.1
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or newer, open Options → Manage plugins, enable Verify plugins, and Find installed
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plugins. Keep the font license with redistributed packages.
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## Set up in FL Studio
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1. Put each layer on its own mixer track. Load Weld on the track of one layer,
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the main layer.
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2. Select the other layer's track. Right-click the route arrow under the main
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layer's track and choose **Sidechain to this track**. The other layer still
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goes to the master on its own; the sidechain only lets Weld hear it.
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3. In Weld's plugin wrapper, open the settings (gear icon) and set Weld's
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sidechain input to that track.
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4. Play both layers. The SIDECHAIN meter must move. If the display says "No
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sidechain signal", check step 3.
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## Work with it
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1. Leave **Mode** on **FOLLOW** and play the part where both layers sound. After
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a second or two, Weld shows its alignment: polarity, and the allpass sections
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with their frequency and Q.
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2. Read the display:
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- **Recovered** is how much level the sum gains, as an average per band
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between Low and High. **Cancellation cost** is how much a perfect alignment
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would gain. When the two numbers are close, Weld got nearly everything.
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- The upper plot shows each band against a perfectly aligned sum (0 dB). Red
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is what the unprocessed sum loses to cancellation; pink is the part Weld
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wins back. The white line is the level with Weld.
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- The lower plot shows the phase of this layer against the other one, before
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(grey) and after (pink), and Weld's own phase curve (blue). After alignment
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the pink line sits near 0°.
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- **Delay spread** under the sections is how much Weld's delay changes
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between 500 Hz and 4 kHz. On clicks, listeners hear about 0.6 ms of change
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there (Liski et al. 2021); sustained bass hides much more, and common fits
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reach 0.8–1 ms. Above that threshold Weld adds a note: on a plucky layer,
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compare the attacks in SUM and SUM DRY. Fewer sections usually spread less.
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3. Compare by ear: mute the other layer's own route to the master, set
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**Listen** to **SUM**, then to **SUM DRY**. Set Listen back to **LAYER** and
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unmute the route for the mix.
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4. When the alignment is right, switch to **HOLD**. It is saved with the project
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and comes back when the project opens.
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For one drop or switch-up, use **LEARN**: press it, play the part, then press
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**HOLD** (or LEARN again). Weld measures the whole take with equal weight and
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applies the result when Learn ends.
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## Controls
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- **Mode**:
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- **Follow** keeps measuring and refits only when a new alignment is clearly
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better (at least 0.3 dB on average), so the filter does not wander.
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- **Learn** starts a fresh measurement and applies its result when Learn ends.
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- **Hold** keeps the current alignment. The display keeps measuring.
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- **Sections** (1–4) is the largest number of allpass sections the fit may use.
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Weld uses fewer when fewer are enough.
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- **Response** (0.3–5 s) is the averaging time in Follow. Longer is steadier.
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- **Low** and **High** set the range the fit listens to. Low defaults to 60 Hz,
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leaving the sub to Anvil. The allpass still acts below Low, and the display
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shows that honestly.
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- **Gate** (−70 to −30 dB): moments where either layer is quieter are not
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measured, so tails and silence do not pull the fit.
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- **Listen**: **Layer** outputs this layer, aligned, for the mix. **Sum** outputs
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this layer aligned plus the sidechain layer. **Sum dry** outputs both
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unprocessed.
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- **Output** trims the level; **Bypass** passes this layer unchanged.
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## Limits
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- **A late layer cannot be moved earlier.** An allpass only delays. If the layer
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Weld sits on is the later one, the display shows "This layer is late" and the
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offset in ms. Put Weld on the other layer instead.
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- **Free-running layers cannot be aligned.** Without oscillator retrigger, or
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with detuned unison, the phase between the layers drifts all the time. Weld
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marks those bands as *loose* (hatched) and does not fit them. Enable retrigger
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in the synth if you want Weld to align the layers.
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- **Delays leave a comb.** A time offset between the layers cancels at regular
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frequencies. A few allpass sections cannot follow a delay all the way up, so
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Weld aligns the lower range and moves the higher notches rather than removing
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them. For a large offset, move the layer in time first.
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- **One alignment for the whole patch.** Weld does not change the alignment per
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note. If switch-ups need different alignments, use Follow, or automate Mode.
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- **The sidechain must arrive.** With no sidechain signal Weld changes nothing.
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## How it works
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Every 256 samples the audio thread hands mono copies of both layers to a worker
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thread through a lock-free queue. The worker estimates their cross-spectrum
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(Welch, Hann window, about 11.7 Hz per bin, 50 % overlap) and their coherence.
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It fits polarity plus up to four second-order allpass sections so that
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Σ w(f)·Re(S(f)·H(f)) is largest, with w = 1/f so every octave counts, ignoring
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bins where the layers are not coherent, and with a penalty for any band that
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would lose more than 1 dB. A new fit fades in over 40 ms after its filters have
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settled for 40 ms, so there are no clicks. One fit takes about 15 ms on one
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core, twice per second in Follow.
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