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Colour Copy Delay Audio Plug-in
Colour Copy User Guide
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u-he Colour Copy Delay Audio Plug-in Colour Copy User Guide

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Thursday, 22. July 2021
User Guide
Heckmann Audio GmbH • Berlin
Version 1.0.1
Thursday, 22. July 2021
Table of Contents!

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

About Colour Copy

Colour Copy grew out of Lyrebird, the delay unit we built into our Repro synthesizers. We soon
realised that the sound was too good NOT to be developed further. So here it is…!
Two important details
1) Like a real BBD (bucket-brigade delay), Colour Copy’s RATE knob does not affect the number of samples used, but the rate at which the fixed number of "buckets" pass on their content. If you quickly adjust the delay on most digital delays, unmusical glitches appear as the length of the buffer changes. Like a real BBD, this doesn’t happen in Colour Copy: it is smooth.!
2) The tap positions (L, R) don't set the time between repeats, but the time between the dry signal and the first echos, which are then repeated at the rate set by TIME BASE and RATE. The animated graphic clearly shows that the signal always reaches the end of the delay line before reappearing on the left, irrespective of the tap positions.!

Installation

Go to www.u-he.com/colourcopy, download the installer for your system (Mac or PC) and unzip the compressed file. Open the “ColourCopy” folder, start the installer and follow instructions. !
The only demo restriction is a mild crackling at irregular intervals. This disappears after entering a valid serial number. For more information including our terms of use, please refer to the ReadMe file that comes with the installer. !
Colour Copy uses the following directories by default:!
Windows
Presets (local)" C:\Users\YOU\Documents\u-he\ColourCopy.data\Presets\ColourCopy\$ Presets (user)" C:\Users\YOU\Documents\u-he\ColourCopy.data\UserPresets\ColourCopy\$ Preferences" C:\Users\YOU\Documents\u-he\ColourCopy.data\Support\ (*.txt files)$ Alt. skins" C:\Users\YOU\Documents\u-he\ColourCopy.data\Support\Themes\
Paths that contain non-standard characters are not supported. If a previous installation into the VstPlugins folder did not cause file permissions problems, you can safely reinstall there.!
macOS
Presets (local)" Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/ColourCopy/$ Presets (user)" Macintosh HD/Users/YOU/Library/Audio/Presets/u-he/ColourCopy/$ Preferences" Macintosh HD/Users/YOU/Library/AppSupport/u-he/com.u-he.ColourCopy...$ Alt. skins" Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/u-he/Themes/
For more information, including our terms of use, please refer to the text files that came with the installer (click on the u-he badge and select Docs Folder).%
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INTRODUCTION

u-he Online

For downloads, news articles and customer support, go to the u-he website$ For lively discussions about u-he products, go to the KVR u-he forum$ For friendship and informal news updates, go to u-he facebook page$ For video tutorials and more, go to the u-he youtube channel$ For our soundsets and bundles, go to u-he soundsets$ For 3rd party presets, go to Patchlib!

Credits

Colour Copy code by William Rodewald!
Team 2021 (Q3)
Urs Heckmann (boss code, concepts)! Jayney Klimek (office management)! Howard Scarr (user guides, synth presets, necessary grump)! Rob Clifton-Harvey (IT admin, backend development)! Sebastian Greger (GUI design, 3D stuff)! Jan Storm (framework, more code)! Alexandre Bique (all things Linux)! Oddvar Manlig (business development)! Viktor Weimer (support, presets, the voice)! Thomas Binek (QA, bug-hunting, presets)! Henna Gramentz (office supervision, support)! Frank Hoffmann (framework, new browser)! Alf Klimek (tagging, rock-stardom, studio)! Sebastian Hübert (media, synthwave)! David Schornsheim (more code)! Stephan Eckes (yet more code)! Luca Christakopoulos (communication design)!
Special thanks
to all our beta testers for your invaluable help!$ to Brian Rzycki for maintaining the original preset library%
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INTRODUCTION

Overview

!
Click on the numbers to go directly to the appropriate section of this user guide.%
01. BYPASS!
02. Undo / Redo!
03. Data Display!
04. HQ (higher quality)!
05. PRESETS!
06. SAVE!
07. u-he badge!
08. Configuration!
09. INPUT Gain!
10. Delay RATE!
11. REGEN (regeneration)!
12. Left Tap Position!
13. Right Tap Position!
14. Stereo WIDTH!
15. Dry/Wet MIX!
16. OUTPUT Gain!
17. MAKEUP!
18. KEY CONTROL!
19. TIME BASE!
20. PANIC!
21. INPUT Routing!
22. FEEDBACK Routing!
23. Feedback INVERT!
24. Label!
25. Freeze!
26. Ducking Mode!
27. Ducking Target!
28. Ducking THRESHOLD!
29. COLOUR!
30. Noise Floor!
31. BRIGHTNESS!
32. SATURATION!
33. LFO Target!
34. LFO Waveform!
35. LFO FREQUENCY!
36. LFO Freq. DYNAMIC!
37. LFO DEPTH!
38. LFO Depth DYNAMIC!
39. LFO STEREO PHASE%
Basic Signal Flow
All routes in this diagram are stereo. LFO modulation paths are not shown here. The filters and compressor/expander are controlled by the Feedback Colouration parameters.%
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input amp
IN routing lowpass
highpass compressor delay lines
lowpassFB routing expanderregenducking
dry/wet mix output amp
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CONTROLS

Controls
Adjust knob values by clicking and dragging. For fine control, hold a SHIFT key first. Alternatively, hover over any control and roll the mouse wheel. Double-click to reset to the default value.!
The delay tap positions L and R are adjusted by dragging them horizontally, also with fine control via SHIFT. Hold down cmd (Mac) or alt (Win) to force L or R to snap to the nearest note value.!

Control Bar

The narrow bar along the top of the window offers various global tools and options:!
BYPASS
Connects the input directly to the output so that the audio signal is not processed. Although the status of the BYPASS button is not saved with each preset, it can differ per instance.!
Undo / Redo
The curved arrows can be used to fix recent mistakes. Although the number of undo steps is limited to 10, you can even undo a change of preset – so switching presets before saving doesn’t mean losing your work.!
Data display
The display field at the top normally shows the name of the preset. While a parameter is being edited it shows the name and value of that parameter. Simply moving the mouse pointer (“hovering”) over a control also displays its value.!
You can also load presets here: Click on the arrows to step through them or click on the data display to open a drop-down list (for the current folder only). Right-click to load the initialize preset (init). Colour Copy also features a complete Preset Browser.!
Finally: If you drag & drop a preset from elsewhere (e.g. the desktop) onto the data display, it will be loaded but not saved. !
SAVE
Opens a dialog box in which you can enter some helpful text before finally storing the preset with the ‘Apply’ button. If you can’t see your newly saved preset in the currently selected folder, check the status of the preference Save Presets To.!
Right-click on the SAVE button beforehand to specify the format. The standard is .h2p, which has the advantage of being cross-platform compatible. The .h2p extended format is the same but also allows per-line comments. If you have loaded the VST2 version of Colour Copy you will also see the option .nksfx at the bottom of the list – see the NKS chapter.!
PRESETS
Opens the browser (see the Preset Browser chapter).%
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CONTROLS
HQ
Higher quality at the cost of CPU usage (44.1kHz or 48kHz only). Like BYPASS, the HQ status is not saved with each preset, but may differ per instance.!
Note: To ensure phase alignment, the dry signal is delayed with the same latency as the wet signal, and this value depends on the HQ status. Colour Copy reports any change in latency to the host (i.e. your sequencer) on reset, but how the host reacts is beyond Colour Copy’s control. If switching HQ on adds a significant delay, please check the host documentation for details, and contact the host developer if necessary.!
u-he badge
Click on the badge for direct access to our website, to this user guide and other Colour Copy documents, to our user support forum at KVR and to our social network pages.!
At the bottom of the menu is the entry Install Soundset… Unless you are running Linux, you probably won’t need this – see Installing extra presets.!
Configuration
Clicking on the cogwheel icon at the top right opens the configuration pages for access to MIDI control and to several global preferences. See the Configuration chapter.!

Main Panel

The main panel contains the basic elements you will find on most delay units plus a few extras that are unique to Colour Copy:!
INPUT Gain
-24.00dB to +24.00dB. Like a real BBD stomp box, Colour Copy’s delay “circuitry” is sensitive to input levels: Adjust INPUT just like you would your instrument volume before the BBD. The green saturation indicator turns red whenever clipping occurs. See also OUTPUT below.!
RATE
RATE is a bipolar speed factor relative to the selected TIME BASE (see below). The range is 1/4 speed at minimum (-100) to 4x speed at maximum (+100).!
REGEN
Regeneration, the amount of delayed signal that is fed back into the input. Note that values above 70% can cause delays to build up instead of decaying – see PANIC below.!
MAKEUP
Global option: The INPUT knob automatically adjusts OUTPUT gain in the opposite direction.!
KEY CTRL
The delay rate can be modulated by MIDI note: Try setting up very short delays and turning up REGEN (regeneration). For details about how to route MIDI into effect plug-ins such as Colour Copy, please refer to the host (DAW/sequencer) documentation.!
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CONTROLS
TIME BASE
Duration of the delay when RATE is 0.00. The options are absolute times 1s / .1s / .01s / .001s as well as times that are synchronized to the the song (host BPM). The latter are listed as 4/4 bar divisions from 1/32 to 2/1, including dotted notes and triplets.!
PANIC
Immediately stops feedback. Whenever you hear delays building up instead of decaying, click here. Before resuming work, either turn REGEN down a bit or adjust the Colour parameters until the feedback is under control.!
L/R Tap Positions
To reposition the taps, click anywhere along the delay lines or click and drag the L and R pointers horizontally. You can also “hover” anywhere and roll the mouse wheel. Hold down a SHIFT key for fine control. Double-click to set the maximum. To snap to the nearest note value, hold down cmd (Mac) or alt (Windows) before clicking & dragging.!
INPUT Routing
Even the input routing in Colour Copy is flexible, allowing the two channels to be swapped or mixed to either delay channel. In combination with feedback routing (see below), a wide variety of effects is possible, although the differences depend on the audio being processed. !
Click on the INPUT routing icon for the following options: !
Stereo" Inputs are routed to the same delay lines (R to R and L to L).!.................
Cross" Inputs are routed to the other delay lines (R to L and L to R). !..................
Mono" Inputs are summed and routed to both delay lines.!..................
Mono-L" Inputs are summed and sent to the left delay line only.!...............
Mono-R" Inputs are summed and sent to the right delay line only.!..............
FEEDBACK Routing!
Colour Copy offers a similar degree of control over how the signal is fed back: The two channels can be swapped or mixed together. Note that you will only hear a difference between these three options if the left and right channels of the signal being fed back differ in some way, for instance with a stereo input signal or via stereo rate modulation.!
Stereo" Delay outputs are fed back into the same inputs (R to R and L to L).!.................
Cross" Delay outputs are fed back into the other inputs (R to L and L to R). !..................
Mix" Delay outputs are partially summed (70% same channel, 30% other channel) ......................
and fed back into both inputs.%
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STEREO
MONO MONO-L
MONO-R
L
R
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L
R
L
R
L
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CROSS
INPUT
INPUT
INPUT
INPUT
INPUT
STEREO
MIX
L
R
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CROSS
FEEDBACK FEEDBACKFEEDBACK
CONTROLS
WIDTH
Stereo width of the delay signal.!
MIX
Balance between wet and dry signals.!
OUTPUT Gain
-24.00dB to +24.00dB. As Colour Copy’s circuit models are also sensitive to output levels, we decided to include an output gain control. Whenever clipping occurs, the indicator turns red. See INPUT Gain above.!
INVERT
Inverts the feedback signal. Often rather subtle, the effect of activating INVERT is especially noticeable if the TIME BASE is so short that regeneration results in a pitched note (in which case INVERT drops the pitch an octave and often gives the sound a hollow quality).!
Label
Double-click on the “air vent” between the invert and freeze buttons to add a text label (maximum 16 characters). Right-click there to select the background colour. Tip: Use different colours to distinguish between multiple instances of Colour Copy more easily.!
FREEZE
This loops the delay indefinitely. All feedback distortion, filters, gains etc. are ignored, but modulation will still affect the sound. Note: The feedback routing is automatically switched to FREEZE (this is practically the same as STEREO mode).!
IMPORTANT: Cubase has a preference “suspend VST3 plug-in processing when no audio signals are received” which cuts off FREEZE after a few seconds unless you keep sending audio or MIDI. The same option also silences normal regenerating delays after a short while. If you are using VST3 and your host includes such an option, either disable it or load Colour Copy in a format other than VST3 (e.g. VST2)!!

Lower Panel

DUCKING
Regeneration is suppressed by any transients in the input signal that exceed the specified Threshold (see below). Traditionally used to prevent delays from overpowering the direct signal.!
MODE (unlabelled)
Ducking response OFF / FAST / MEDIUM / SLOW. Listen to all these options at various threshold levels (see below) and let your ear decide on the most appropriate mode for the audio you are currently processing.%
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CONTROLS
TARGET (unlabelled)!
AMP" Standard ducking – the amplitude of the entire delay signal is suppressed.!...............
FB! Only the feedback signal is suppressed so that the very first delay remains ..................
unaffected! This unusual method results in a more subtle ducking effect as it preserves the overall stereo space while reducing the sonic mayhem that regeneration can easily cause.
THRESHOLD
Sets the minimum input signal level (-48dB to +24dB) at which ducking occurs.!
FEEDBACK COLOURATION
COLOUR
Morphs smoothly between the 5 colours – different sets of values for a bunch of internal variables (filters, distortion, compression etc.). Note that the dry signal remains 100% clean.!
RESO
" Well-behaved resonant colour with mild distortion and mild lowpass filtering. The ................
compander is set to react quite slowly. Its wide working range but low ceiling helps prevent resonance build-up without adding too much distortion. Although the frequency range only goes up to 5kHz, the strong resonance ensures plenty of highs.!
SPARKLE
" The brightest mode, with early distortion and shallow lowpass / highpass filtering ........
(-6dB filter response at cutoff). The compander has a moderate working range and a slow response. When the regeneration is turned up, feedback noise tends to build up more quickly than it does with the other colours.!
FUZZ
" Very similar to u-he Repro’s Lyrebird effect in dark mode, with quite a strong .................
resonance. This colour has several unique characteristics, for instance that filter cutoff depends on the Rate. To recreate the original Lyrebird sound, adjust the input gain to about +12dB and compensate by turning the output gain down.!
SNAP
" This colour has a wide, flat frequency response with a steep cutoff at both ends ................
of the spectrum. The compander has a narrow working range and reacts rather quickly. The timing offset between the compression and expansion accentuates any transients in the signal.!
DUSK
" With its quite narrow, bass-focussed response, this colour quickly loses high ................
frequencies and has very soft distortion. The compander timing is set up to soften transients, and because its working range starts so low, the noise floor is pushed up whenever the signal gets stronger.!
Depending on the REGEN, MIX and SATURATION settings, the differences between these colours might not be obvious at first… Listening to a 100% wet signal with minimum latency makes their characters clearer: Set both taps to the left (0%) and turn MIX and SATURATION both up to maximum.!
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CONTROLS
FLOOR
Switch this up to VINTAGE to add a BBD-typical constant noise floor, or set it to LOW for the minimum noise floor.!
BRIGHTNESS
Adjusts feedback filter parameters to successively dampen or brighten the delay signal.!
SATURATION
Set to 0% for the cleanest possible delays, or to 100% for maximum analogue colouration.!
Note: Under certain conditions e.g. heavily modulating the tap positions while applying heavy DYN, the compander can cause serious peaks in the delay buffer. If you notice this effect, try turning SATURATION down a little.!
MODULATION
These parameters give the delay some cyclic animation. Modulation is not only essential for chorus or flanger type effects, but is also useful for creating more “lively” spaces.!
TARGET (unlabelled)
RATE" The LFO modulates RATE. The depth depends on the length of the delay so that .................
the modulation depth appears fairly constant, whatever the TIME BASE / RATE.!
RATE +
" The LFO modulates RATE, but this mode always gives you the full modulation .............
range from 4 times slower to 4 times faster.!
TAP POS
" The LFO modulates both tap positions for a chorus effect on top of the delay.!..........
AMP" The LFO modulates the amplitude of both channels for pan or tremolo effects.!..................
WAVEFORM (unlabelled)
Sine or triangle wave modulation.!
FREQUENCY
Controls the speed of the LFO between 0.05Hz and 20Hz (as times: 20s to 50ms).!
DYN (FREQUENCY DYNAMIC)!
How much the input signal (via an envelope follower) modulates LFO Frequency.!
DEPTH
Modulation intensity.!
DYN (DEPTH DYNAMIC)!
How much the input signal (via an envelope follower) modulates LFO depth.!
STEREO PHASE
Controls the phase difference between the left and right LFO signal: At 0°, modulation is the same in both channels, while at 180° it moves in perfect opposition – turn up the DEPTH and watch those indicators!%
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PRESET BROWSER

Preset Browser
“You will only recognize the beauty of a preset if you run the ‘right’ audio through it”
As mentioned above you can load presets by clicking on the data display, or step through them by clicking on the arrow symbols. However, Colour Copy also includes a powerful preset browser. Click on the PRESETS button and select the DIRECTORY tab to open this view:!
Folders appear on the left, presets are listed in the centre and information about the currently loaded preset will appear on the right (PRESET INFO: the path, author, description etc.. won’t appear until a preset is selected).!
The ‘Local’ root contains a small selection of presets copied from the subfolders. After loading a preset (by clicking on its name) you can step through all the others using the cursor keys.!
If no presets appear in the central area, click on ‘Local’ or one of its subfolders. If you don’t see a ‘PRESET INFO’ label on the right, click on the [≡] button (top right) and select Show Preset Info.!
that’s all you need to know for now…
If you would like to dig deeper, however, Colour Copy’s browser offers several interesting features including a powerful search engine. For details, read the rest of this chapter.!
Default preset
Whenever a new instance of Colour Copy is started it checks whether the Local root directory contains a preset called ‘default’. If this file exists it is loaded, replacing the demo preset. Note that default will not appear in the browser.!
If you want Colour Copy to start with personalized settings, right-click on the data display and select init (initialize). Check that the ‘Local’ root directory is currently open then [SAVE] under the name ‘default’. If a fresh instance of Colour Copy does not automatically load your new default preset, it probably landed in the ‘User’ folder – see the Save Presets To preference.%
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PRESET BROWSER

Directory Panel

If DIRECTORY is selected you will see a list of folders. This is the default view (top level only):!
Local
The factory presets are sorted into 7 subfolders in ‘Local’. It’s worth finding out where the ‘Local’ folder resides on your computer: Right-click on ‘Local’ and select Open in Finder / Explorer. Tip: It is best not to touch the contents of ‘Local’, but to put all your own creations and third party presets in the ‘User’ folder.!
MIDI Programs
The ‘Local’ root also contains a folder called ‘MIDI Programs’ which is normally empty. When the first instance of Colour Copy starts, all presets (up to 128) in this folder are loaded into memory so they can be selected via MIDI “Program Change”.!
Note: Some hosts (e.g. Reaper) route all received MIDI data directly into effect plug-ins by default, while others expect you to set this up yourself. For information on how to do this, please refer to the documentation of your host application / DAW.!
As the presets in MIDI Programs are accessed in alphabetical order it is best to rename them, prefixing each one with an index. For instance “000 rest-of-name” to “127 rest-of-name”.!
Unlike regular presets, MIDI Programs cannot be added, removed or renamed on the fly. Any changes are only updated after the host application has been restarted.!
MIDI Programs can contain up to 127 sub-folders (of 128 presets each), switchable by a MIDI ‘Bank Select’ message (CC#0) before the Program Change message. ‘MIDI Programs’ is bank 0, while any sub-folders are addressed in alphabetical order starting with bank 1.!
When Colour Copy receives a MIDI Program Change message, it will display the bank and program numbers to the left of the preset name (e.g. “0:0” for the first preset in the first bank). In certain hosts, however, the first bank / preset is designated “1” instead of the correct “0”.!
To avoid another possible source of confusion, please make sure that there are no junked presets in the MIDI Programs folder: All files there are addressed, even those that are hidden.%
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PRESET BROWSER
User
The best address for your own creations as well as presets from other sources. You can either select ‘User’ immediately before saving, or set a global preference ensuring that it will always be saved to this folder (or a sub-folder) – see the preference Save Presets To. Tip: It’s worth finding out where the ‘User’ folder resides: Right-click on ‘User’ and select Open in Finder / Explorer.!
Smart Folders
The other folders do not contain files, but display the results of querying a database of presets. The content is therefore dynamic i.e. it will change whenever the underlying data changes.!
Search History
Click on this folder to display the results of past searches (maximum 10). If you want the search results to be more permanent, right-click and select Save Search... – see below. To remove all searches from the list, right-click on the ‘Search History’ folder and select Clear.
Saved Searches
This folder contains searches that have been saved via right click from the Search History. To remove individual saved searches, right-click on the search and select Delete.!
Banks
These smart folders reference metadata about preset origin – the version of the factory or third party library with which the preset was installed. See Preset Info a few pages down. Banks are predefined for factory presets.!
You can create your own banks: Drag & drop one or more presets onto the ‘Bank’ folder then enter a suitable name into the dialogue box.!
To remove Bank attributes from selected presets, either drag & drop them onto the ‘no Bank’ folder you will see at the bottom of the Bank list, or right-click on the Bank and select Remove Presets from Bank. Empty Banks will disappear.!
Favourites
8 smart folders, one for each Favourite colour (1-8). See Presets Context Menu a few pages down. Presets dropped onto one of the ‘Favourites’ folders will be marked as such. Only one Favourite colour/number can be set per preset. The Favourite status can be removed from all presets of one particular colour / index by right-clicking on the ‘Favourite’ folder and selecting Remove All Favourite (n) Marks.!
Junk
A smart folder pointing to all junked presets. See Presets Context Menu on the next page. Presets dropped here will disappear from the rest of the browser unless made visible (see Show junk in the Presets context menu).!
Like Favourites, Junk can be exported/imported (as Junk.uhe-fav). See External Drag & Drop.
!
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You can drag & drop any smart folder content onto e.g. ‘User’ or the desktop (see External
Drag & Drop) to create folders containing real copies of those presets!
PRESET BROWSER
Tags
Smart folders for each Category, Application and Character tag. Presets dropped onto these folders will inherit the corresponding tag. Presets dropped onto the ‘[no Tags]’ smart folder will have all Category, Application and Character tags removed.!
Author
Smart folders for each preset author. Tip: Instead of signing each of your creations individually you could sign just one of them then select and drag-drop them all onto your own author folder. As the process cannot be undone, please use this feature with caution!!
Directory Context Menu
Right-clicking on any folder within ‘Local’ or ‘User’ will open a menu: !
Refresh
Update the browser contents (necessary for Windows users after altering any files in Explorer).!
Create New…
Insert an empty subdirectory. !
Rename…
Edit a folder’s name. !
Open in Finder / Explorer
Open a system window for the selected folder. Hold option (Mac) or ctrl (Windows) to switch this to Show in Finder / Explorer, which highlights the folder instead of opening it.!
On Open Expand to
These options determine how deeply the browser will open subdirectories whenever the GUI is reopened or Refresh is called.!
Show Folder Icons
Deselect this option if you find the folder icons distracting.%
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Refresh Create New… Rename… Open in Finder *
Move to Trash
On Open Expand to
Show Folder Icons
PRESET BROWSER

Presets Panel

The central, unlabelled area of the browser is where you click to load presets...!
Presets Context Menu
Right-click to open a menu containing functions that can be applied to individual presets.!
Mark as Favourite
Choose one of 8 Favourite marks. The selected entry will be replaced with Unmark as Favourite.!
Mark as Junk / Show Junk
Instead of deleting unloved presets, mark them as ‘junk’ so that they disappear from the browser. Activate Show Junk to display junked files instead, marking them with a STOP symbol.!
Select All, Deselect
See ‘Multiple selection’ on the next page.!
Rename
Change the name of a preset using this function.!
Duplicate / Copy to User Folder
This entry depends on the status of the preference Save Presets To and whether the source presets are in the Local or User folder. Selected presets are copied with an index appended to the name (like the Auto Versioning preference).!
Show in Finder / Explorer
Opens a system window for the right-clicked file. In smart folders only, holding down an option key (Mac) or ctrl key (Windows) replaces this entry with Show in Browser, which shows the currently selected file in its original location within Colour Copy’s browser.!
Convert to native / h2p / h2p extended / nksfx
Converts the selected preset(s) to the format previously selected via right-click on the SAVE button. The nksfx option is only available in the VST2 version – see the NKS chapter.!
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Mark as Favourite 1
Select All
Deselect
Show Junk
Rename… Copy to User Folder * Show in Finder * Convert to h2p *
Move to Trash *
Mark as Junk
Mark as Favourite 2 Mark as Favourite 3 Mark as Favourite 4 Mark as Favourite 5 Mark as Favourite 6 Mark as Favourite 7 Mark as Favourite 8
PRESET BROWSER
Move to Trash / Recycle Bin
This function moves all selected preset(s) to the system trash. Caution: This also works on files in
smart folders i.e. the originals will land in the system trash.!
Restore
While in the browser you can audition as many presets as you like without losing track of the one that was previously loaded: Clicking RESTORE will always get you back to where you started. !
Multiple Selection
A block of adjacent presets can be selected via shift+click, and individual presets can be added to the selection via cmd+click (Mac) / alt+click (Windows). Presets can be moved to a different folder via drag & drop. To deselect, either click on a deselected preset or choose Deselect from the context menu.!
Internal Drag & Drop
You can drag and drop single or multiple files from the preset panel onto any folders in the directory panel. Files dragged onto regular folders will be moved unless you hold opt (macOS) or ctrl (Windows), in which case they will be copied instead. Files dropped onto smart folders will adopt the attribute of that folder: For instance, you can set the Author or Favourite status of several presets at once.!
External Drag & Drop
To manage your preset library externally you can drag presets and folders between Colour Copy’s browser and your desktop (or any system window). On the Mac most Finder operations will automatically update the browser. Updating might not be immediate when using multiple formats or multiple host applications, but all it usually takes is a click on the GUI or in the directory tree (sets focus to the clicked instance of Colour Copy). On Windows systems, a manual Refresh (see
Directory context menu) will be required before changes to the contents of the browser appear.!
Another little helper: If you drag a Colour Copy preset from e.g. your desktop and drop it onto the Data Display, that preset will be loaded (but not automatically saved).!
Exporting smart folders
Drag any smart folder onto the desktop to create a new folder containing those presets. Drag an entry from your Search History, or the Category ‘Comb’, Favourites or one of the Authors.!
Exporting favourite / junk status
You can export Favourite status, all at once or individually: Shift+click and drag the ‘Favourites’ folder onto the desktop to create a file called Favourites.uhe-fav. Similar for sub-folders: If you shift+click and drag e.g. ‘Favourites 5’, this will create a file called Favourite 5.uhe-fav.!
The same method works for Junk status, creating a file called Junk.uhe-fav. Such files can be imported into Colour Copy’s browser on a different computer (for instance), via drag & drop onto or anywhere within the Favourites folder, or to the Junk folder.!
Note that importing .uhe-fav files from another computer will only work 100% correctly if all preset names and locations are identical on both computers!!
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PRESET BROWSER

Preset Info Panel

The panel to the right displays information about the selected preset:!
If you can’t see this panel, click on the button in the top right corner and tick Show Preset Info.!
Below the preset name you should see its path (from /Local or /User), the Bank and the Author (which also appear as Smart Folders).!
DESCRIPTION and USAGE text is entered immediately before saving a patch. CATEGORIES, APPLICATION and CHARACTER are the tags for the current preset. You can remove or add tags directly – see ‘Tagging via PRESET INFO’ a few pages down.!
If you prefer to see less information, hide the tags only or the entire PRESET INFO panel.%
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Show Tags in Preset Info
Show Preset Info
PRESET BROWSER

Installing Presets

Any extra presets we distribute ourselves will be available in .uhe-soundset format. Third parties are also encouraged to use this package format for their own commercial presets (for details please contact our support team).!
Standard Method
To install, drag & drop the .uhe-soundset file into Colour Copy – anywhere will work. The soundset should appear in the ‘User’ folder. If a soundset with the same name already exists there, any modified files will be backed up and the location of the backup file will be displayed.!
Alternative Method
Soundsets in .uhe-soundset format can also be installed by clicking on the u-he badge, selecting Install Soundset... from the menu and navigating to the .uhe-soundset file. This option is
especially useful for Linux, as the browser version for that platform does not support drag & drop.!
Regular Folders
Folders containing Colour Copy presets can be manually copied or moved into the ‘User’ folder. You might have to refresh the browser (see Directory context menu) before they appear there. A refresh is generally necessary in Windows but not in macOS.!
Note: As .uhe-soundset files are basically ZIP-compressed folders, you can rename them i.e. replace the long file extension with ’zip’, then extract the presets and documentation.%
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PRESET BROWSER

Preset Tagging

“Tags” are bits of metadata, information you can add to presets so that they can be found according to certain attributes.!
The Tagging Window
Right-click on the [SAVE] button and select Tag this Patch:!
In Colour Copy, the Category tags describe a preset according to the type of effect, Application tags describe typical usage, and Character tags are pairs of more or less opposite attributes from which you can choose just one.!
Tagging via PRESET INFO
In the PRESET INFO panel, right-click on CATEGORIES, APPLICATION or CHARACTER and select or deselect tags from the menu. Tip: If you right-click on an existing tag, the first option in the menu becomes Remove Tag...!
The function Create Search from Tags looks for presets with all the same tags.!
Tagging via smart folder
You can also tag presets by dragging & dropping them onto one of the ‘Tags’ smart folders. To remove all tags, drag them onto the ‘[no Tags]’ smart folder. !
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Category
Drums
Application
Bright
Character
Subtle
Dark
Chorus
Vibrato
Templates
Bass
Guitar
Vocal
Synth
Pad
Winds
Slow
Wide
Fixed
Extreme
Fast
Narrow
FX
Mix
Delay
Keys
Modulated
Tremolo
Panner
Short LongRoom
Tone
Comb
Flanger
Pitch FX
IMPORTANT
Tags are updated automatically – clicking on the [SAVE] button isn’t required! The main advantage is that presets don’t have to be saved every time you edit a tag. The main caveat is that you should only edit tags after saving your preset.!
For instance, if you decide to edit tags while creating a 2nd version of an existing preset, please remember that you are actually changing the tags in the original preset!
PRESET BROWSER

Search Functions

Search By Tags
In the preset browser, click on the [TAGS] tab. The buttons let you set up search criteria according to existing tags with just a few mouse clicks. !
There are four sets of buttons: The first three correspond to the tags in the tagging window (see the previous page), while the bottom row lets you find any presets tagged as Favourites. Clicking on the [^] icon to the right of each label hides the options for that set of tags.!
Practically…
Click on the [DIRECTORY] tab, right-click on the ‘Search History’ folder and select Clear. Double­click on ‘Local’ to restrict the scope to that folder (presets in the ‘User’ folder will not appear in the search results now). The selected path appears immediately below the Search field. To exit the “restriction” folder again, click on the [^] symbol to the left.!
Click on the [TAGS] tab and select the [Chorus] and [Panner] categories. Presets tagged with either will appear in the presets panel. Click on the DIRECTORY tab again: “#Modulation:Chorus #Dynamics:Panner” appears in the Search field as well as in ‘Search History’. Adventurous souls can try editing the contents of the Search field now – the results will be updated accordingly.!
Note: Unlike selecting multiple Categories tags, which expands the scope of the search, selecting APPLICATION, CHARACTER or FAVOURITES tags refines the search – you will get fewer hits.%
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DIRECTORY
TAGS
Search
CATEGORIES
APPLICATION
CHARACTER
FAVOURITES
Delay Room Chorus Flanger Vibrato
Tremolo Panner Templates
SynthGuitar VocalDrums Bass Keys WindsPad FX Mix
Bright Dark Short Long Subtle Extreme Slow Fast Wide Narrow
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Fixed Modulated
Comb Tone Pitch FX
PRESET BROWSER
Search by Text
The Search field lets you find presets according to a string of text. Here’s an easy example: If you remember that the preset you’re looking for has the word “space” in either its name or the description, simply enter “space” into the Search field and hit [Return].!
The search routine normally looks into the preset name, the author, the DESCRIPTION and USAGE (see the PRESET INFO panel). Searches are not case-sensitive, and quotes are not required unless you need to include spaces between multiple words.!
Search Path
To restrict the search to a particular search path, double click on a folder. The path will appear below the Search field. The [^] button to the left moves the search path up one level, while the [X] button to the right resets the search path to the default (i.e. all Colour Copy presets). Alternatively, you can navigate directly to any higher level by right-clicking on the search path.!
Try it: Enter three or four characters then hit Return. For instance, “sta” will find all files containing the text string “sta” (e.g. “instant” or “custard”). Entering "star wars" (including the quotes) would find e.g. “Battlestar Warship”, if such a preset existed.!
Scope
You can limit the scope of the search to just the preset name or specific parts of PRESET INFO by using name (preset name), author, desc (description) or use (usage) followed by a colon. For instance, “author:the” finds all presets by sound designers whose author names contain “the”. Similarly, “desc:space” will find all presets with the word “space” in the description.!
Logic
The following logical operators can be used between text strings, but not between tags:!
AND requires that presets contain both words. It can be written explicitly or simply left out. For example, “star AND wars” or “star wars” will find presets that contain both “star” and “wars”. !
OR means that presets can contain just one of the words… or both. For example, “star OR wars” will find presets that contain “star” as well as presets that contain “wars”.!
NOT excludes presets containing the specified word. To find all presets that do contain “star” but don’t contain “wars”, enter “star NOT wars”.!
Including Tags in Text Searches
Tags can be entered into the Search field if preceded by a ‘#’. For example, “name:int #Delay” will find all presets with "int" as part of the name that are also tagged with the [Delay] category. !
In the current version of the browser, text items must appear before any tags. For technical reasons, tags appear in the form #type:category (the type is invisible in the TAGS panel).%
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CONFIGURATION

Configuration
The cogwheel at the top right is your entrance to the global configuration pages. You can adjust the window size and brightness as well as Colour Copy parameters via MIDI remote control…!
Click on the cogwheel and select Close [X], MIDI Learn [L], MIDI Table [≡] or Preferences [tools].!

MIDI Remote Control

For instructions on how to route MIDI into effect plug-ins, please refer to the documentation of your host application.
Please note that MIDI assignments are truly global. They apply not only to all instances of Colour Copy in the current project, but to ALL instances in ALL of your projects!!
MIDI Learn
This page lets you assign MIDI CC (‘control change’) to individual parameters. The CC data can be generated by hardware knobs / sliders or by tracks in the host application.!
To open the MIDI Learn page, click on the [L] button. It should look something like this:!
This window shows all MIDI-learnable elements as selectable outlines. Those that are already assigned will appear filled (like INPUT and PANIC in the above image), and the currently active control i.e. the one ready to be MIDI-learned is highlighted (like RATE here).!
Try it: Click on the RATE knob then send Colour Copy some MIDI CC data: Wiggle a knob or slider on your MIDI controller to make the assignment. !
If you don’t want to keep the new CC connection, double-click on the knob to remove it.%
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CONFIGURATION
MIDI Table
The MIDI Table page lets you review and edit the MIDI assignments created using MIDI Learn (see the previous page). If a few assignments have already been made, it will look something like this:!
The Parameter field shows the assigned target. Click to select a different one.!
An experimental feature: Select Last Clicked Control, enter the number of an unused controller your hardware can send and exit the config pages. The most recently clicked knob / switch will respond to that CC. The Fine option is similar, but with a significantly reduced range.!
The Channel and Controller fields specify the MIDI channel (1 to 16) and CC number (0-127). !
The Mode setting specifies the range and/or resolution of values...!
normal
" full range, continuous!...............................
integer" full range, whole numbers only!...............................
fine" 0.01 steps between the two integers closest to the current value!......................................
The Type setting specifies the kind of hardware used (the most common is Continuous 7-bit)!
Encoder127
" ‘relative mode’ endless rotary controls that repeatedly send the CC .....................
value 1 when turned in the positive direction, or 127 (interpreted as -1) when turned in the negative direction!
Encoder64" ‘relative mode’ endless rotary controls that repeatedly send the CC .......................
value 65 when turned in the positive direction, or 63 when turned in the negative direction!
Continuous7bit" 7-bit MIDI CC (normal resolution, common)!...............
Continuous14bit" 14-bit MIDI CC (high resolution, rare)!............
Adding more assignments
You can either MIDI-learn them as described above, or click on the [Add] button at the bottom of the window then select Parameter, Channel etc. from the options lists.!
Removing assignments
Individual assignments can be removed by clicking on the small [x] to the right of each line. To remove all assignments at once, click on the [Delete All] button at the bottom of the window.!
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Delay:Input Gain
Delay:Panic
-not assigned-
1
1
1
2
11
1
normal
normal
normal
continuous7bit
continuous7bit
continuous7bit
MIDI Table
Parameter Channel Controller
Mode Type
1
2
3
Add Delete All
CONFIGURATION

Preferences

Click on the ‘tools’ button to open the ‘Preferences’ page, where you can set several global defaults to suit your mouse and monitor:!
Controls
Mouse Wheel Raster
If your mouse wheel is rastered (you can feel it clicking slightly as you roll the wheel), set this to on so that each click increments / decrements in sensible value steps.!
Switch Behaviour
The ‘drag’ option lets you drag switches up/down while ‘toggle’ lets you click anywhere on the 2-way switches. In these modes you can also switch over by clicking directly on the position you want. The ‘iterate’ option steps to the next position down, but clicking directly on a position no longer works in this mode. Note: Like the knobs, switches respond to rolling the mouse wheel – no clicks required!!
Appearance
Default Size
Sets the default GUI size for each new instance. You can temporarily change the GUI size without entering the Preferences – simply right-click in the background.!
Gamma
Determines GUI brightness.!
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on
Preferences
Mouse Wheel Raster
toggle
CONTROLS
Switch Behaviour
APPEARANCE
100%
Default Size
neutral
Gamma
fast
Scope Effect
on
Text Antialiasing
PRESETS
on
Auto Versioning
user folder
Save Presets To
on
Scan On Startup
OTHERS
16 Samples
* Base Latency
CONFIGURATION
Scope Effect
Affects how the waveform appears: eco, fast, glow, fire or wind (in order of CPU usage).!
Text Antialiasing
Switches the smoothing of labels and values on / off. Only in certain cases will switching it off improve readability.!
Presets
Auto-Versioning
If ‘on’, an index is automatically appended to the name and incremented each time it is saved. Saving ‘Space’ 3 times in a row would give you 3 files: ‘Space’, ‘Space 2’ and ‘Space 3’.!
Save Presets To
Choose the ‘user folder’ option if you want all saved presets to land in the User folder instead of the currently selected one.!
Scan On Startup
Determines whether the preset library should be scanned and the database recreated when the first instance of Colour Copy is started, e.g. when you reopen a project.!
Others
Base Latency
If you are sure that your audio system – hardware and software – uses buffers that are a multiple of 16 samples in size (refer to the respective documentation), you can safely disable this. Otherwise leave it set to the default ‘16 samples’ to prevent crackles.!
Note that the new Base Latency only takes effect when the host allows, e.g. on playback or after the sample rate is switched. Reloading Colour Copy will always update Base Latency.%
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MORE ABOUT BUFFERS
Internally, Colour Copy processes audio in chunks of n x 16 samples. The ‘block processing’ method reduces the CPU load and memory usage of all our plug-ins.!
For example. if the number of samples to be processed is 41, Colour Copy will process the first 32 and keep the remaining 9 in a buffer (16 samples is enough). Those 9 samples are then processed at the start of the next call... and so on.!
The extra buffer is only necessary if the host application or audio driver processes ‘unusual’ audio buffer sizes. Many hosts process buffers of 64, 128, 256 or 512 samples (all multiples of 16), in which case you could try switching off Base Latency so that Colour Copy can work latency-free.
NKS
NKS
Colour Copy supports Native Instruments NKSFX format so that it can be integrated into the Komplete Kontrol software or Maschine environments. Colour Copy’s factory presets are optionally also installed as tagged .nksfx files. A few pages of performance controls mapped to common parameters are automatically generated and saved together with each .nksfx preset.!
Saving in NKS format
While the native, h2p and h2p extended options cause Colour Copy to save presets into the currently selected preset directory, .nksfx files go directly into the preset location used for Komplete Kontrol or Maschine, so they do not appear in Colour Copy’s preset browser. To make them visible in Komplete Kontrol, open its preferences and rescan the preset locations.!
Batch conversion
First, right-click the [save] button and set the target format to nksfx. Via cmd-click (Mac) or alt­click (Win), select all presets in the current folder you want to convert, then right-click any of the selected presets and choose convert to nksfx. Note: The original files are not affected.!
What to do if Colour Copy doesn't show up in Komplete Kontrol / Maschine.
First of all, make sure your NKS software is up to date: Komplete Kontrol V1.5+ or Maschine V2.4 are the minimum requirements for u-he. In Windows, Komplete Kontrol must know the Vstplugins folder containing Colour Copy: Open Komplete Kontrol preferences, go to Locations and add your Vstplugins directory if necessary, hit Rescan and check whether Colour Copy appears. Maybe the NKS preset folder is empty? If so, please reinstall Colour Copy with the correct VST path and the NKS-option checked. Here are the preset folder locations:!
Mac" Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/u-he/ColourCopy/NKS/ColourCopy/! Win" C:\Users\YOU\Documents\u-he\ColourCopy.data\NKS\ColourCopy\
Perhaps the XML-File is missing from this location:!
Mac" Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Native Instruments/Service Center/" ! u-he-ColourCopy.xml!
Win" C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\Service Center\u-he-ColourCopy.xml
A re-install with the NKS-option checked should also remedy this issue.!
What to do if Komplete Kontrol / Maschine is unable to load Colour Copy
Either Colour Copy wasn't installed as VST2, or it wasn’t installed with the correct path. The default VST path is fixed in MacOSX, but in Windows it can be freely assigned during installation:!
Mac" Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/u-he/ Win" <User VST Folder> / (path for the VST plug-in set during installation)!
If Colour Copy’s VST plug-in cannot be found in one of these locations, run the installer again making sure that you set the correct path and have activated ‘VST’ as installation option.
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Saving as .nksfx is only possible in the VST2 version
Mac owners can use – temporarily if necessary – any host application that supports VST2
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