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FEATURED PRODUCTS
VTube 6th : a Vacuum power amplifier saturation simulation using 6th order harmonic method.
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About VTube. (check our VTube FAQ for more information of general Tube definitions)
This device is the state of the art Vacuum tube simulation. To be honest we have never heard something similar ever. It uses the latest technology improvements and patents to implement a very powerful and delightful warm simulator. You can use it together with any existing compressor, filter, synthesizer and it will transform your sound in an amazing way.
What you say (from pulsarz forums):
"This
version 3 has very nice sound and now this is the most important processor on
this platform,very nice done, congratulation.
This will be my first investment very soon.
Good job.
Deneb"
"Very
good warm sound, absolutely nice! 
What an energetic sound comes out of it!
Simply fantastic!
Nestor"
What differences between a digital signal and a Vtube(tm) processed signal?
In order to re-create the vintage tube & valve warm sound you can't just use some filters. Most "tube mastering compressors" or "tube simulators" are just a distortion with several filters. The reality is a bit more complicated.
a)
First you must simulate how amplifier works. Most amplifier designers
knows the formulas used to design a professional power amplifier. These formulas are
calculating the AMP distortion from the 3 components : the Ohms, Volts, mAmp. By
changing these 3 components you can design most of the power amplifiers,
and calculate their resulting power (in Watts). We are using these
equations in order to create artificially the Distortion made by an
amplifier (from Class A to C)
- b) What is happening into the Valve to have this very known warm sound?
- Sorry to stay (too) simple but the idea here is just to show you a figure not to do a mathematical demonstration :, the electrons are rushing to the plate and the negative ones are absorbed by the plate, the positive ones are ejected and bouncing in the valve, generating several harmonic distortions. Depending on the Tube model you can have more or less number of harmonics generated in this operation.
- As you can see, Vacuum Tubes are ADDING these harmonics to the signal. But this is very a subtle process. It has nothing to do with a guitar distortion or any waveshaper! The sound is more rounded, and warm and the distortion so smooth that you can't name it a distortion.
What VTube really does?
I have programmed 2 specialized DSP component that are doing :
- 1 - the amplifier distortion.
- 2 - a variable 6th order level harmonic distortion.
Here is the distortion done by VTube on a simple cos(x) waveform. This sample if working for the "worse case" : using 6th harmonic distortion.
Here is a perfect sinuoïdal digital signal. a y=cos(x).
No filter can do this result. The mathematics behind are quite heavy and thanks to the Creamware sound card, it can be done in real time.
How do I use it?
VTube is a sound enhancer. You can use
it on your old mix, or on any sound work you have done in order to make
it sounding more warm.
For the techno scene it can boost your dynamics in a way that your mix will sound very much more club.
For the producers in the rock and folk fields, this devices will remove the metallic sound from your guitars, and reshape them in a warmer way.
The best is to try the demo.
Short Manual : (from the left to the right on the picture)
1 - The old fashioned vu-meter mix the left and right signal and display the result. Be sure that the level never goes in the red.
2 - Presets : click on this button to display the list of presets in a popup window.
3 - Harmonics ON/OFF : this button turn on or off the additional harmonics. These harmonics are a 6th level distortion generated by the Vacuum Tube DSP component.
4 - Harmonics Tone : you can use this button to change the tone of the distortion. If you turn the button on the right the tone will be bright, if you turn it on the left it will be dark. The natural Vacuum tube distortion is very dark, if you add too much bright distortion the result will be close to an old Vinyl record.
5 - Harmonics Gain : this button is used to add more or less Vacuum Tube harmonics. It is better to add only a few harmonics otherwise the distortion will be too much noticeable.
6 - Tube Mix : The 2 potentiometers here are used to mix the Dry signal and the VTube signal. it is very important to carefully use these two button in order to enhance the sound and not destroy it. Too much distortion can alter the quality of the sound.
7 - Limiter Attack : this button define attract time of the Vtube distortion. It can be used to keep a clean beginning (for example on drums) and keep the original punch.
8 - Limiter Limit : this limiter will limit the level of the Vtube result. By using the two Limiters buttons together, you can apply the Vtube only on the low level part of your sound leaving the highest level Dry.
9 - Saturation High : these two buttons will filter the signal using a smooth shelving filter. The KHz button will define the frequency you want to add, and the Gain will decide the amount you will add. If you leave the gain button in the middle, the Saturation High will be at 0 and will have no effect. On the left you will remove 30db on the right you will add 30db.
10 - Saturation Low : works exactly like the Saturation high but only on low frequencies.
11 - The 3 BIG buttons. These 3 ones controls the amplifier's saturation simulator. Of course we will not amplify the sound (it is not a power amplifier simulator) but we will recreate the saturation of the transistors and the components used in the amplifiers. Moving these buttons is better than a long mathematic explanation, but this is the heart of the VTube system. A Vacuum tube is nothing by itself. The saturation here can be from Class C to Class A depending on the setup you use. Class A means low saturation while Class C means more saturation (to make it simple).
