bass-foundry/docs/temper/README.md

# Temper

Temper is a distortion that drives every note the same. Current version **0.3.0**.

A distortion with a fixed tone filter acts differently on each note: a lowpass
at 2 kHz lets through 45 harmonics of an F1 but only 22 of an F2, and
a patch that is 6 dB quieter is driven 6 dB less. Across a riddim line that makes
some notes fizzy and others dull. Temper evens out each note's level before the
shaper and moves its tone filters with the pitch, so the character stays the same
on every note.

![Temper](assets/editor.png)

## Install on Windows

Copy `Temper.clap` into `C:\Program Files\Common Files\CLAP\`. In FL Studio
2024.1 or newer, open Options → Manage plugins, enable Verify plugins, and Find
installed plugins. Load Temper in a mixer slot of the bass. Keep the font license
with redistributed packages.

## Work with it

The editor opens on the **MAIN** page with Curve, Drive, Bias, Push, Mix and
Output. The **ADVANCED** switch in the header adds Push at, Floor, Bright,
Normalize and Gate.

1. Choose a **Curve**:
   - **Soft**: tanh, smooth and rounded.
   - **Hard**: clipping with a narrow knee, dense and square-like.
   - **Fold**: the wave folds back on itself; Drive moves the upper harmonics.
   - **Tube**: the negative half clips earlier, adding even harmonics.
2. Set **Drive**. The transfer plot shows the curve over the range a normalised
   note covers; the **Into shaper** meter shows how far past the knee it goes.
3. Add **Bias** for asymmetry and even harmonics.
4. Shape the tone around the shaper, all in multiples of the note:
   - **Floor** is a highpass before the shaper (0.25–2 × the fundamental; 0 is
     off). It keeps sub mud out of the distortion. Put Anvil after Temper to add a
     clean sub back.
   - **Push** boosts or cuts one harmonic (**Push at**, 1–16) before the shaper,
     so the distortion bites in the same place on every note.
   - **Bright** is a lowpass after the shaper at a harmonic number (4–64; 0 is
     off), so the top end stops at the same harmonic on every note.

Other controls:

- **Normalize** is how far each note's level is evened out before Drive. At 100 %
  a quiet and a loud patch distort the same; at 0 % Temper acts like a normal
  distortion.
- **Auto gain** keeps the output at the input's loudness, so turning up Drive
  changes the character, not the level.
- **Gate** is the input level that counts as a note.
- **Mix** blends with the delayed dry signal; **Output** trims the level.

### Pitch source

**Pitch from** in the header chooses where the note comes from: **AUDIO**
detects it, **MIDI** follows MIDI notes sent to Temper, and **NOTE** uses a note
you set. For heavy FM, formant or noise basses, NOTE with the drop's root is the
safest choice. Key lock and Follow bends tune the detection. While detection is unsure of the note, Temper keeps the tuning of the last sure note and the readout shows **?**. See
[Pitch source](../pitch.md).

## Timing and limits

Detection uses about 67 ms of lookahead; the 4× oversampling filters add under
1 ms. Both are reported to the host for delay compensation. Pitch range is
30–500 Hz, one note at a time. Before the first note the tracked filters are off;
between notes they hold the last tuning.

Aliasing stays below −60 dB for bass material (tested with a 2 kHz tone at 24 dB
drive and a 440 Hz tone at full drive, on every curve). High-pitched content at
full drive aliases more: a 5 kHz tone at 36 dB on the Hard curve reaches about
−31 dB.