Expert Sleepers
Augustus Loop
v1.8.0
User Manual
Copyright 2008 Expert Sleepers. All rights reserved.
This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under licence and may be
used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such licence. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should
not be construed as a commitment by Expert Sleepers. Expert Sleepers assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document.
Contents
Introduction! 8
Installation! 10
Mac OS X, Audio Unit (AU)! 10
Mac OS X, VST! 10
Windows (VST)! 10
System Requirements! 10
Mac OS X! 10
Windows! 10
Registration! 11
Quickstart! 12
Using Augustus Loop! 13
Using the controls! 13
Knobs! 13
Sliders! 13
Dropdown menus! 13
Value edit boxes! 13
Name/value display! 13
Overview! 14
Delay Time! 15
Max Delay! 15
Delay Time! 15
Min! 15
Max! 15
Current delay time! 15
Delay Slider! 15
Delay Taps! 16
Delay Time! 16
Delay Level! 16
Master! 16
Pitch! 17
Pitch! 17
Pitch Slider! 17
'Piano Keys'! 17
Reverse! 17
Stop! 18
LFO Speed! 18
LFO Depth! 18
Filter! 19
Cutoff! 19
Q! 19
Type! 19
LFO Speed! 19
LFO Depth! 19
Saturate! 19
Saturation! 19
Shape! 20
Host Sync! 20
Host Tempo! 20
Beat Divisor & Triplet! 20
Beats! 20
Clock Out! 20
PingPong! 21
Mono-ize & Init Pan! 21
Levels! 21
Dry! 21
Effect! 21
Input! 21
Loop! 21
Tap Rec! 21
Hold Rec! 22
Tap Length & Hold Length! 22
Freeze Loop! 22
Clear Loop! 22
Misc! 22
Fix Delay! 22
Trigger Arm! 23
Fade! 23
Punch In/Out! 23
Punch In Quantize (menu)! 24
Punch Out Quantize (menus)! 24
Punch In and Out (buttons)! 24
Inertia! 24
Pitch Inertia! 24
Delay Inertia! 24
Digital Mode! 25
Augustus Loop Fx Loop! 26
Introduction! 26
Using the Fx Loops! 26
Setting up your DAW for Fx Loops! 27
Ableton Live! 27
Current Limitations! 27
Preferences! 28
MIDI In! 28
MIDI output! 28
Rounded tempos (for Live)! 28
Legacy filter behaviour! 29
MIDI control! 30
CC messages! 30
NRPN messages! 30
Version History! 31
v1.8.0 5th June 2008! 31
v1.7.3, 24th March 2008! 31
v1.7.2, 18th March 2008! 31
v1.7.1, 17th March 2008! 31
v1.7.0, 14th March 2008! 31
v1.6.5, 30th September 2007! 31
v1.6.3, 31st October 2006! 31
v1.6.2, 2nd July 2006! 32
v1.6.1, 20th March 2006! 32
v1.6.0, 9th January 2006! 32
v1.5.1, 5th October 2005! 32
v1.5.0, 29th August 2005! 32
v1.4.3, 13th July 2005! 32
v1.4.2, 11th June 2005! 32
v1.4.1, 13th March 2005! 32
v1.4.0, 27th February 2005! 32
v1.2.0, 3rd January 2005! 33
v1.1.0, 30th August 2004! 33
v1.0, 5th June 2004! 33
Release Notes! 34
Issues with keyboard input! 34
Contact! 35
Introduction
Augustus Loop is an emulation of a tape-based delay effect, with some extra features to
facilitate its use as a looping device. (If you're unfamiliar with the concept/genre of looping, pay a visit to www.loopers-delight.com).
The key features of Augustus Loop that make it more than just a big delay effect are:
Really long maximum delay (3600 seconds - that's one hour).
•
Tap length/tap record. You can set the loop time while recording your first phrase.
•
Virtual tape. The delay simulates an old-style tape delay, meaning you can
•
! change the tape speed (i.e. pitch up and down)
•
! reverse the tape direction
•
! stop the tape
•
! smoothly change the delay time (as if changing the head gap on a tape delay).
•
Multimode filter and saturation in the feedback loop.
•
Four feedback taps (left to left, left to right, right to left and right to right) with inde-
•
pendent delay time and feedback settings, for ping-pong effects, stereo delays etc.
Pitch and filter LFOs.
•
Loop length can be set in terms of the host's tempo setting.
•
Output of MIDI clock messages to synchronise other applications to the plug-in.
•
Automatic fades up and down to allow smooth transitions in your playing. It can
•
even automatically clear the loop for you once it’s faded out.
Host transport-sync’d punch in and out when recording.
•
‘Inertia free’ mode suppresses the tape-like behaviour when changing delay times to
•
allow seamless transitions between loop lengths. (This is also the route to the popular
‘multiply’ and ‘divide’ features found on some popular looping devices.)
The ‘Fx Loop’ plug-in configuration allows you to route audio through other plug-ins
•
either side of the ‘virtual tape’, allowing you to insert your own effects in the delay
loop. So you can just substitute your own filtering/saturation for Augustus Loop’s
own, or get really creative by inserting any plug-in you like in the delay.
Installation
Mac OS X, Audio Unit (AU)
One file (ExSlAugustusLoop.component) contains all variants of the plug-in.
Simply copy the file to the folder:
Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components
Mac OS X, VST
There is one file per plug-in configuration, named ExSlAugustusLoop.vst and
ExSlAugustusLoopFxLoop.vst.
Simply copy the files to the folder:
Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST
Windows (VST)
There is one file per plug-in configuration, named augustusloop.dll and
augustusloop_fxloop.dll.
Simply copy the files to your VST plug-ins folder.
System Requirements
Mac OS X
Augustus Loop requires at least Mac OS X version 10.2.8. Version 10.4 or higher is recommended.
The plug-ins are Universal Binaries and so will work on PowerPC or Intel Macs.
The Audio Unit version will work in any Audio Unit host.
The VST version requires a “VST 2.4” compatible host.
Windows
Augustus Loop has been developed and tested with Windows XP SP2. It may work with
other versions of Windows (Vista included) but this is by no means guaranteed.
1
The plug-in requires a “VST 2.4” compatible host.
1
VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
Registration
The downloadable version of Augustus Loop stops working after 15 minutes every time
you use it. To stop this happening, you need to buy a registration.
You can buy a registration key online using a credit card or PayPal from the Expert Sleepers Licence Manager application. See here for more information. Note that on Windows
you need at least version 1.0.10 of the Licence Manager.
The e-commerce side of things is handled by eSellerate. If you have any security concerns,
have a look at their website which is pretty informative.
Your registration key allows you to install Augustus Loop on up to 3 different computers
(useful if for example you have a desktop computer in the studio and a laptop for live
use).
You need an internet connection to activate the software, though not necessarily on the
computer on which you want to use it.
Quickstart
Augustus Loop is designed to be used as an insert effect, but you can use it as a send effect
if you wish.
By default, the effect produces a straightforward one second delay, with fairly high feedback. Play a note through it - you should hear it echo once a second for quite some time.
The GUI consists of two sliders, a number of knobs and a smaller number of buttons.
The shorter of the two sliders
and the cluster of edit boxes
around it control the delay time.
By default the slider lets you adjust the delay time between zero
and ten seconds. Try dragging
the slider and see what happens.
The longer slider controls the speed of the virtual tape, or equivalently the pitch of the delayed material. Try playing some notes into the delay, and then adjusting the slider. You
should hear the notes you played at a higher or lower pitch.
Four of the buttons let you set up a delay time
without having to know what you want as a number of seconds. Try clicking on 'Tap Length', waiting
a moment, and then clicking on it again. The delay
time will change to the length of time between your
two clicks. If you use 'Tap Rec' (short for 'Tap Record') the delayed material will be cleared out on
the first click. This is useful when starting afresh on
a new loop.
Other than that, just have a play with the controls, and then dig into the detailed reference
section, below.
Using Augustus Loop
Using the controls
Knobs
Basic use of the knobs is to click on them and drag the mouse up and down.
However you can obtain different results by holding keys as follows:
Shift : Values change more slowly as you move the mouse.
•
Command1 (Mac OS X)/Alt (Windows) : The knob assumes its default
•
position.
Sliders
Sliders behave similarly.
Shift : Values change more slowly as you move the mouse.
•
Command : The slider assumes its default position.
•
Dropdown menus
Clicking on the menu displays the list of options. Move the mouse over the
desired option and release the mouse to select it.
Value edit boxes
These boxes let you enter parameter values directly. Clicking on the value
highlights it in green - you can then type the desired value using the keyboard. Press enter to finish and accept the new value.
While you’re typing the value, the box goes red to indicate that the value you
see has not yet been accepted.
Name/value display
As you move the mouse around the interface, the name
and current value of the control currently under the
mouse is displayed in the top right of the window. This
area also provides tooltips for buttons.
1
The ‘Command’ key is also known as the ‘Apple’ key - the one next to the spacebar.
Overview
Here's a block diagram of the 'circuitry' of Augustus Loop. It can help to visualise this
when understanding the effect of some settings, particularly the delay time settings.
Delay Time
The delay time controls consist
of a slider and four text boxes.
Max Delay
This field sets the maximum delay time the plug-in is capable of
using. The highest value that
you can enter here is '3600', which is an hour (60 minutes times 60 seconds).
NB Changing this value causes the plug-in to reallocate its delay buffers. This can be a
slow operation, especially if the value entered is large. So don't do it when there's actually
audio flowing through the plug-in, as you'll most likely get an ugly stutter or momentary
silence.
Also NB You'll want a lot of RAM to use high values for the delay time! At 44.1kHz, you'll
need about 20MB per minute. If you ask for the maximum 3600 seconds, that's about
1.2GB of RAM you're asking the plug-in to use.
Delay Time
This field reflects the current delay time, in seconds. You can enter a value here directly, or
use the delay slider or tap buttons to set it indirectly.
Min
This field sets the value corresponding to the leftmost position of the delay slider.
Max
This field sets the value corresponding to the rightmost position of the delay slider.
Current delay time
This field (immediately below the delay slider) shows one of the following:
The current delay time in use, as set by the delay slider/text box.
•
The current delay time in use, as set by the host tempo settings, if 'host tempo' is ac-
•
tive.
The time since tap recording began, during tap recording.
•
The time is shown in seconds and in bars/beats/480ths (if the host application supports
the concept of bars/beats etc.).
Delay Slider
This slider lets you adjust the delay time between the two values set in 'Min' and 'Max'.
Delay Taps
A total of nine knobs make up this section.
Eight of these are in pairs, giving you control of delay time and feedback level for each of
the four taps.
Delay Time
Sets the delay time for the tap, expressed as
a percentage of the master delay time set in
the delay time section.
Delay Level
Sets the feedback level for the tap. This is
the same as the actual output level of the tap
in our architecture.
The four taps let you feedback sound between the two stereo channels. The left-toleft and right-to-right taps give you a normal
stereo delay. The left-to-right and right-to-left taps allow you create ping-pong style delays. By mixing all four, you can get some spacious stereo spread effects.
Master
The last control in this group, 'Feedback', sets the overall feedback level.
Effectively it scales the four tap level controls.
Pitch
Pitch
This text field simply reflects the current pitch value. You can type numbers directly in
here. The values represent semitones (12 semitones is an octave).
Pitch Slider
The slider controls the speed of the virtual tape, over a range of two octaves i.e. you can go
from half-speed up to double-speed.
If you hold the Option (Mac OS X)/Ctrl (Windows) key while dragging the slider, it will
only move to whole number values.
If you hold the Command (Mac OS X)/Alt (Windows) key and click on the slider, it will
return to zero.
'Piano Keys'
The many small buttons above and below the pitch slider are laid out in a black and white
pattern like a piano keyboard. These buttons let you set the pitch slider directly to whole
semitone values.
The upper set of buttons just change the pitch. The lower set of buttons also reverses the
tape direction. NB This means that if the tape is already reversed, they will change the direction to forwards.
Reverse
Reverses the direction of the virtual tape.
Of itself, this is fairly straightforward. However it has a slightly non-intuitive
relationship with the tap delay times. In order that changing the tape direction does not
produce any nasty artefacts, the position of the tap tape heads has to remain constant. This
means that their order is reversed.
For example, say in the simplest case you have the L-L and R-R taps set to 100% time and
level, and the other taps set to 0% level, with the master delay time set to 1s. In this scenario, reversing the tape gives you the same result, that is a delay of 1s.
In a more complex example, say the tap times are set to 100%, 75%, 50% and 25%. When
the tape is reversed, the tap times become 100%, 125%, 150% and 175%. Note that the display of the tap times values does not change, only their internal interpretation.
Because in reverse delay times can reach 200%, you should try to make sure that the
maximum (allocated) delay time is set to at least twice the actual delay time.
Note that the speed at which the tape reverses is controlled by the inertia setting (below).
Stop
Stops the virtual tape.
Note that the speed at which the tape stops, and starts, is controlled by the inertia setting (below).
LFO Speed
Controls the speed of the pitch LFO (in Hz).
LFO Depth
Controls the depth of the pitch LFO.
Filter
Cutoff
Controls the filter cut-off frequency (in Hz).
Q
Controls the filter resonance.
Type
Allows you to smoothly change between the following filter types:
Thru - no filtering
•
Low - lowpass filter
•
Band - bandpass filter
•
High - highpass filter
•
LFO Speed
Controls the speed of the filter LFO (in Hz), which modulates the cutoff frequency.
LFO Depth
Controls the depth of the filter LFO. The value is a number of octaves to sweep the cutoff
frequency by.
Saturate
The button below the 'Saturation' control (where the knob’s label would normally be)
turns the saturation effect on and off. NB when this is turned off, the signal in the loop can
reach very high levels which may cause problems further down the line.
Saturation
Controls the level of saturation (overdrive) applied to the signal (before being fed into the
filter).
Shape
Controls the shape of the saturation. At '1.0' the effect is that of soft saturation and clipping. At '0.0' the effect is of hard digital clipping. Note that at shape settings other than
'0.0', some alteration is applied to the signal even if the Saturation level is zero.
Host Sync
The 4 controls to the right of the delay slider controls allow you
to sync the delay time to the tempo of the host application. (NB
not all plug-in hosts provide tempo information.)
Host Tempo
This button activates the host tempo mode.
Beat Divisor & Triplet
The 'Beat Divisor' drop-down menu lets you set the units in which you want to control the
loop length. '1/4' corresponds to quarter notes, '1/8' to eighth notes etc. The 'Triplet' button turns the selected value to triplets.
Beats
This is where you set the number of beats you want for the loop length. NB this can be a
non-integer value e.g. if the beat divisor is '1/8' then setting 'Beats' to 1.5 will give you a
dotted eighth note loop length.
Clock Out
These controls set how the plug-in generates MIDI
clock out. NB these controls have no effect if the
MIDI output has been disabled in the 'Prefs' dialogue.
The tempo of the clock signal produced is set by the
loop length and the beats settings in the host tempo section. The tempo is displayed in the
top left corner of this control group.
In this version of the plug-in this functionality is tied to the 'Tap Record' feature. Essentially the clock is started and stopped by the end and beginning respectively of the recording. However using the three drop-down menus you can control exactly what MIDI messages are sent.
The 'Pause Clock' button lets you manually stop and resume the MIDI clock once it's running.
PingPong
Mono-ize & Init Pan
These controls let you convert a stereo input signal into a mono
one, which is useful when you have the delay taps configured as
a ping-pong effect. 'Mono-ize' controls the degree to which the
signal is converted to mono (from 0.0 meaning no conversion to
1.0 meaning fully mono). 'Init Pan' controls the position in the
stereo field of the mono signal.
Levels
Dry
Controls the amount of the input signal that is
fed directly to the plug-in's output.
The level meter to the left of the ‘Dry’ knob
shows the level of the signal entering the plug-in.
The slider to the left of the meter sets the trigger
level (see below). The small button at the bottom right of the meter increases the meter
sensitivity, which can be useful when setting the trigger level on signals with a low noise
floor.
Effect
Controls the amount of the effect signal that is output from the plug-in.
The level meter to the right of the ‘Effect’ knob shows the level of the signal after the filter
section, but before the effect level has been applied (see the overview diagram).
Input
Controls the amount of the input signal that is fed into the delay loop.
Loop
Tap Rec
When first clicked,
silences the effect output
•
sets the pitch to 0.0
•
turns off the 'reverse' feature
•
When clicked again, sets the delay time to the interval between the two clicks, and immediately begins playback of the signal recorded in that time.
Hold Rec
Same as 'Tap Rec', except the delay time is set by the length of time the button is held
down.
Tap Length & Hold Length
Similar to 'Tap Rec' and 'Hold Rec' except that the only effect is to change the delay time.
Freeze Loop
Similar in effect to setting the 'Input' control to zero (so no input signal is passed into the
loop) and setting the feedback to 100% (so the loop doesn't decay). In fact though the behaviour is different because the loop is completely locked down so e.g. the filter is not applied in the feedback loop.
While the loop is locked you can still change the pitch, and the filter is applied to the loop
output. The audio on the virtual tape remains unchanged however until the freeze is released.
Because in this mode the same bit of recorded audio is simply being replayed, you may
notice slight discontinuities if you record your loop with the LFOs in operation.
You will also experience slight anomalies if the delay time is set to more than half the
maximum (allocated) delay time (see also 'reverse' above).
Clear Loop
Wipes the virtual 'tape'. Because this can be a lengthy operation (especially when the max
delay time is large) you should not expect to press this button and immediately be able to
begin recording again. During the clear operation, the Clear Loop button remains lit, and
the output level meters show a decreasing level to indicate progress.
Misc
Fix Delay
Normally when you change the pitch the delay time is changed as well. E.g. if
you change the pitch an octave up, the delay time effectively halves. If you
turn on 'Fix Delay', the delay time is changed automatically as the pitch
changes, so the effective delay time remains the same as the pitch is altered.
Trigger Arm
Arms the auto-record trigger.
In this mode the plug-in will watch for an input signal, and when it detects
one it will effectively press 'Tap Rec' on your behalf.
You can adjust the trigger level using the small slider to the left of the input level meter.
The small button below and to the right of the input level meter controls the sensitivity of
the meter. When pressed, the range of the trigger level slider matches that of the meter.
Fade
The auto-fade controls allow you to
smoothly and automatically fade
the loop in and out, effectively turning the 'Effect' level control for you.
The 'Fade' button activates the fade
operation. Press to fade out; press again to fade back in.
The 'Fade Override' button quickly completes the fade operation, in either direction.
The 'Fade In' and 'Fade Out' knobs set the corresponding fade times, in seconds (up to
30s).
The indicator to the left of the 'Fade' button shows the current level of the fade envelope
(0.0 being fully faded out, 1.0 being fully faded in).
The menu below the indicator allows you to automatically clear the loop (i.e. as if you
pressed the 'Clear Loop' button) when the fade out is complete. There are two settings
(plus 'No Clear'):
AutoClear - simply activates loop clearing after a fade out.
•
AutoClr2 - activates loop clearing after a fade out, then does an instant fade-in after
•
the loop is clear.
Punch In/Out
These controls are used in conjunction with Tap Record, and affect the exact time that the start and end
of recording take place. This can be useful when
creating loops in sync with other material playing
in the host application.
Note that most of these features rely on the host application's concept of tempo and meter.
Some hosts may support none or only some of these features.
The indicator in the centre of the group turns red when a punch in or out is pending.
Punch In Quantize (menu)
When set to 'None', tap recording starts immediately you press the 'Tap Rec' button. Otherwise, the start of recording is delayed until a time quantized by the setting of this menu.
E.g. if set to '1/4' the recording will not start until the next full beat (quarter note) arrives.
Punch Out Quantize (menus)
When set to 'None', tap recording ends immediately you press the 'Tap Rec' button. Otherwise the settings have the following meaning:
Length - recording ends automatically once the loop has reached the length it had
•
before you started recording.
LengthQ - recording ends at a time quantized such that the loop has a length that is a
•
multiple of the value selected. E.g. if you select a quantization of '1 Bar', when you
press Tap Rec to stop recording, recording will continue until the loop length is a
whole number of bars long.
PositionQ - similar to Punch In Quantize, in that the time of the end of recording is
•
quantized. Please note the difference between quantizing the time of the beginning
and end of recording and quantizing the length of the recording.
Punch In and Out (buttons)
These buttons allow the loop input level (the 'Input' knob) to be automatically set by the
beginning and end of recording. The input level is set to 1.0 at the start of recording if
Punch In is activated; it is set to 0.0 at the end of recording if Punch Out is activated.
Inertia
Pitch Inertia
The ‘Inertia’ knob controls how long the tape speed
takes to react to changes in pitch (including reversing
and stopping the tape). Low inertia settings cause the
pitch to change more quickly.
Delay Inertia
The 'Inertia Free' button controls how Augustus Loop behaves when a delay time is
changed. (This includes a change to the overall delay time setting, or to one or more of the
delay tap times.)
When the button is turned off, the behaviour is most like a tape delay, in that the play
heads slide along the tape to their new positions. This will inevitably produce some odd
sounds if the tape is not empty (which may of course be exactly what you want).
With the button on, the play heads move instantly, which is not how a physical tape delay
works, but allows you to change the delay time without the unusual sounds.
In fact, it is a little more complex than just described - the play heads don't move instantly.
Rather, new play heads are created at the new positions and the sound from these is faded
in as the sounds from the old heads are faded out. The duration of this crossfade is controlled by the 'Inertia Fade' knob (set in milliseconds).
Digital Mode
'Digital Mode' is activated using the button so labelled (in the Misc group).
In this mode, some of the tape simulation processing is disabled, allowing for
perfectly clean, 'digital' looping, with no colouration/degradation of the
sound as it loops.
Even with the digital mode button pressed, other settings have to be right for the mode to
actually be active. The indicator above the button will turn green when digital mode is in
fact active. These settings are as follows:
The pitch control must be at zero (i.e. centred).
•
The pitch LFO depth must be zero.
•
If delay inertia is active, digital mode will also be inactive for a while around delay time
changes, while the delay times settle down.
It's worth noting that CPU load is fairly dramatically reduced in digital mode.
Also note that if you want a totally clean loop, you should also set the filter to 'Thru' and
turn off the saturation. NB setting the saturation knob to zero is not the same as turning it
off (by pressing the button).
Augustus Loop Fx Loop
Introduction
The normal Augustus Loop configuration is a stereo or mono-to-stereo plug-in. As of version 1.8.0, another configuration is also available; known as Augustus Loop Fx Loop, it’s a
6-in 6-out plug-in.
The 6 inputs and output are arranged as 3 stereo pairs. (At this point it may help to refer to
the overview diagram earlier in this manual.)
The first stereo pairs (inputs 1&2 and outputs 1&2) are the regular inputs and outputs that
the stereo plug-in configuration has. The remaining pairs are “effects loops” (aka fx loops).
Inputs/outputs 3&4 are the “Pre-Write Fx Loop”. This lets you process the audio just before it’s written to the tape.
Inputs/outputs 5&6 are the “Pre-Sat Fx Loop”. This lets you process the audio after it’s
been played back from the tape, just before it enters the saturation and filtering section.
Using the Fx Loops
The fx loops are disabled by default. To access the controls to
enable them, click on the little ‘Fx Loops’ button just above the
Delay Time controls.
This hides the central Delay Time and Delay Level sections and
replaces them with controls for the fx loops.
There are two identical sets of controls,
one for each fx loop.
The ‘Enable’ button
enables the fx loop i.e. audio will be
sent out to and received from the relevant inputs and outputs only when this button is pressed.
The remaining two controls relate to the compensation for the fx loop latency in the loop
delay time. When the audio is routed through the fx loops it usually encounters a slight
delay, simply because of how digital audio applications work. This therefore affects the
time between when a signal enters the plug-in, and when it (after coming off the tape)
leaves it - i.e. it affects the delay time. The compensation controls allow you to make up
for this, so the delay time you specify is the one you actually get.
Note this is not the same as the latency usually meant by “plug-in latency” in DAWs,
which refers to the internal latency introduced by a given plug-in. In the case of Augustus
Loop’s fx loops, the latency is introduced by the host’s buffering of plug-in inputs and
outputs. This latency will typically be small, and is not worth worrying about overly unless you need exact tempo-synced delay times. Often it is an amount that you can specify
in your DAW - e.g. in Ableton Live, the setting is under the CPU section of the Preferences.
The menu to the right of the Enable button offers three choices for the latency compensation:
Auto: The plug-in uses a latency figure guessed from information supplied by the
•
host app.
Off: No latency compensation is applied.
•
Manual: You can specify exactly the compensation you want via the ‘Latency’ knob.
•
Setting up your DAW for Fx Loops
Ableton Live
The image to the right shows how to configure the routing in Ableton Live to use
Augustus Loop’s fx loops.
The track named ‘Augustus’ is the track on
which the plug-in is inserted. The regular
inputs and outputs (1&2) operate on this
track.
The other two tracks are the fx loop tracks.
By inserting plug-ins onto these tracks, you
can apply processing to the audio within
Augustus Loop.
Current Limitations
Unfortunately using the fx loops with the following features will most likely result in
audio glitches, unless the input to the plug-in is silence:
Reverse
•
Tap Record
•
These issues may be resolvable in a future update. As ever, the more people we hear from
who say this is important to them, the higher priority will be assigned to it.
Preferences
Pressing the ‘Prefs’ button brings up a dialogue where various preferences
are set. These global settings are shared by all instances of Augustus Loop,
and are not stored with presets.
The top section shows the product version.
The Windows version also shows which SSE
variant has been detected (there are optimised versions of the core processing routines for systems with SSE2).
The central section will show your serial
number once you’ve bought a registration.
MIDI In
This menu controls how the plug-in responds
to incoming MIDI CC messages (see below).
MIDI output
This checkbox enables or disables the output
of MIDI clock messages (see above).
The Windows version also has a drop-down
menu for choosing which MIDI output port
to send the MIDI clock on.
Rounded tempos (for
Live)
Essentially this is a workaround for a limitation in Ableton Live, in that Live reports
rounded tempo values to hosted plug-ins
when externally synced by MIDI clock. For
example, if Live receives clocks at a tempo of
114.6bpm, it will tell its hosted plug-ins that
the tempo is 115bpm. Why it does this remains something of a mystery.
This is a problem if you are using multiple instances of Augustus Loop in a Live song,
with one AL set to generate MIDI clock, Live synced to that clock, and the other ALs set to
'Host Tempo' mode. When you use Tap Record to record your loop in the master AL, the
other ALs will be given a slightly wrong tempo by Live and the loops will be out of sync.
Turning on 'rounded tempo' in AL solves this problem by only ever generating MIDI clock
at rounded values. The downside is that the loop length will not be quite what you
wanted, but it may be good enough, depending largely on your musical style and whether
you record the first loop 'silent' simply to set the tempo.
With this mode turned on, when you use Tap Record the loop end will be slightly later
than when you tap to close the loop. E.g. if you record a loop that would have a tempo of
122.3bpm, AL actually keeps recording until the loop length matches a tempo of 122bpm.
Legacy filter behaviour
This checkbox causes the filter to revert to its behaviour in versions of the plug-in before
1.7.0 (see the version history).
MIDI control
NB this section applies to the Audio Unit version only.
Most of Augustus Loop's controls can be controlled via MIDI.
There is a preference setting in the 'Prefs' dialog that controls whether Augustus Loop responds to MIDI events on all channels, or just on channels 1&2.
In the latter case, the plug-in responds to MIDI controller messages on channel 1 (see table
below) and to note on messages (to alter the pitch setting) on channel 2. This can make it
more convenient to play a soft-synth and control Augustus Loop from the same keyboard.
Some parameters are controlled by NRPN messages rather than CC messages because
they require the extra (14 bit) resolution. NB the 'Delay Slider' has both a CC and NRPN
assigned to it.
CC messages
5 Master Feedback
12 Delay Slider
14 Mono-ize Input
15 Initial Pan
18 Pitch
19 Pitch Inertia
20 Dry Level
21 Effect Level
22 Input Level
23 L-L Time
24 L-R Time
25 R-L Time
26 R-R Time
27 Filter LFO Speed
28 Filter LFO Depth
29 Pitch LFO Depth
31 Host Tempo
32 Triplet
33 Beats
34 Beat Divisor
70 R-L Feedback
71 Filter Q
72 R-R Feedback
73 L-L Feedback
74 Filter Cutoff
75 L-R Feedback
76 Pitch LFO Speed
78 Trigger Arm
79 Saturation
80 Saturation Shape
81 Saturation On/Off
85 Filter Type
86 Freeze Loop
87 Tap Length
88 Pause Clock
89 Tape Reverse
92 Tap Record
96 Fade In Time
97 Fade Out Time
100 Clear Loop
101 Punch In Quantize
102 Punch Out Quantize
103 Punch Out Type
104 Punch In Set Input Level
105 Punch Out Set Input Level
106 Auto Clear After Fade
107 Fade
108 Fade Override
109 Delay Inertia Mode
110 Delay Inertia Fade Time
111 Digital Mode
112 Tape Stop
NRPN messages
128 Delay Slider Min
129 Delay Slider Max
130 Master Delay Time
131 Delay Slider
Version History
v1.8.0 5th June 2008
New 6-in 6-out configuration of the plug-in, allowing audio to be routed through ex-
•
ternal processing either side of the virtual tape.
Fixed an issue that could cause a crash in Logic 8 when opening a song containing
•
multiple instances of Augustus Loop with their GUIs open.
v1.7.3, 24th March 2008
(Windows version only updated) Plug-in no longer requires SSE2, though it is still
•
optimised for systems that have it.
v1.7.2, 18th March 2008
Mac OS X versions only updated.
•
Fixed a problem where the VST version would crash if the AU version were not also
•
installed.
Further enhanced the plug-ins’ resilience to font installation issues.
•
v1.7.1, 17th March 2008
(Mac OS X versions only) Fixed a possible crash if a system font is not installed in the
•
expected location.
v1.7.0, 14th March 2008
First Windows version.
•
First Mac OS X VST version.
•
New GUI.
•
Fixed various filter problems. In particular, the filter cutoff was being limited to
•
about 2kHz - now the full range up to 8kHz is usable. Therefore, this version may
sound different to previous versions at the same settings. A preferences setting is
provided to revert to the previous behaviour, which may be useful if you have to revisit an old mix after upgrading.
Added ‘Tape Stop’ feature.
•
v1.6.5, 30th September 2007
Now responds properly to AudioUnitReset(), so in e.g. Logic the delay buffer will be
•
cleared when song playback is started etc.
v1.6.3, 31st October 2006
Added rounded tempos option.
•
v1.6.2, 2nd July 2006
Fixed a GUI issue with certain hosts (notably Plogue Bidule on Intel).
•
v1.6.1, 20th March 2006
First 'Universal Binary' version for Intel and PowerPC Macs.
•
v1.6.0, 9th January 2006
Added 'digital mode'.
•
Fixed bug which could result in orphaned threads being created.
•
v1.5.1, 5th October 2005
Added wider range of values for punch in/out drop-down menus.
•
v1.5.0, 29th August 2005
Added new 'delay intertia-free' mode.
•
v1.4.3, 13th July 2005
Tempo is calculated and displayed even if MIDI clock output is disabled.
•
MIDI clock generation is completely rewritten internally, and is generally more com-
•
patible with host apps.
Once tap recording has been performed, changing the beats/beat divisor/triplet con-
•
trols changes the delay time accordingly to maintain the tempo calculated at the end
of tap recording.
v1.4.2, 11th June 2005
Fixed some potential issues with Logic's AU validation.
•
v1.4.1, 13th March 2005
Added MIDI control of delay time.
•
v1.4.0, 27th February 2005
Added 'clear loop' function to wipe the tape.
•
Added auto fade-in/out envelope, with override and optional auto-clear of loop on
•
fade-out completion.
Current loop length now displayed in host's bar/beat units as well as seconds.
•
Added auto punch in/out, quantized to loop length (seconds or host units) or host
•
transport position.
Loop input level can be controlled by punch in/out.
•
Extensive CPU efficiency improvements.
•
Now correctly reports silent output to downstream processing, resulting in further
•
efficiency improvements in hosts that support this feature.
Fixed potential crash when using Freeze Loop and Host Tempo.
•
Improved behaviour of Freeze Loop in conjunction with Reverse.
•
Maximum delay time is now limited according to installed system RAM.
•
v1.2.0, 3rd January 2005
MIDI output ports now uniquely named.
•
Added option to disable MIDI output ports.
•
Added option for MIDI receive channel.
•
Added display of current loop length (when sync'd) and while using 'tap record'.
•
Added saturation shape control.
•
CPU efficiency improvements.
•
v1.1.0, 30th August 2004
Added host tempo mode.
•
Added ability to output MIDI clock messages.
•
Added audio triggered recording.
•
'Tap tempo' renamed 'Tap length'.
•
Fixed issue with 48kHz operation.
•
Fixed behaviour of MIDI remote control of pitch parameter.
•
Fixed problem with Freeze Loop button staying on after tap record.
•
Rebuilt with Core Audio SDK 1.3.1.
•
v1.0, 5th June 2004
First release.
•
!
Release Notes
Issues with keyboard input
There are known issues with some hosts, in particular Ableton Live, and all plug-ins that
require keyboard input. (Augustus Loop is such a plug-in.) Ableton have done something
to address this issue in Live 7.0.2.
See
http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=84434
•
http://www.ableton.com/pages/faq/options_text
•
Basically you can enable keyboard presses in plug-ins by creating or editing a file called
Options.txt
which lives here:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Ableton\Live
7.0.2\Preferences
The file needs to contain the line:
-_EnsureKeyMessagesForPlugins
Contact
The Expert Sleepers website is here:
http://www.expert-sleepers.co.uk/
Or you can email
info@expertsleepers.co.uk
Or you can use the forum, which is here:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=85
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