Waves Audio Enigma User Guide
Enigma
Enigma Manual
Chapter 1..............................................Quick Start....2
Chapter 2.............................General Introduction.... 5
Chapter 3............................Controls and Interface.... 6
Chapter 4.............................Tempo Sync in V5.0.... 17
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Chapter 1 - Quick Start
Well, how can you have a quickstart guide to a mystery? We’ll try! This entirely new-idea processor really deserves
some deeper study to fully explore the amazing sounds and outside-the-box processes it can provide.
EPTH
If you want a quickstart, then we have one quickwarning to give you: be careful with the D
under some circumstances, if you make sudden changes in the value (by dragging fast or typing in numbers) can
ery loud signals. It’s not a bug, but instead is a function of the very complex filter in the Enigma process-
cause v
ing network. To make it stop doing this would be like deciding that a ball shouldn’t be round because it keeps
rolling away. Just treat it like your main monitor volume: carefully and slowly. Just like any powerful tool, you’ll
soon learn which controls you can move quickly on, and which to be a little careful with.
What is the Enigma for? Vocal or instrumental leads, re-mixing and extensive re-processing, sound design, subtle
ghosting of effects, treatment of reverb sends, and more, but certainly not for purist audio! This is a processor
that will give you some “how did they do that” power.
Basic Operation
Firstly, all Waves processors have a central set of controls and functions called the WaveSystem. This gives you real
power-use advantages not found in any other processors in the world, whether hardware or software. If you’re
not familiar with WaveSystem, refer to the manual of WaveSystem so that you can take advantage of these
amazing user-interface features. Once you learn them, they are available in every Waves software processor.
The Engimatic Processor
control because
Enigma can create notches in the signal, somewhat as flangers and phasers do, but with some added twists: there
is a reverb-type processor, a feedback loop, an LFO, filters in various places, and some hard-to-describe interactive controls (sometimes they work very differently, depending on the setup). That’s why we gave it the name
Enigma.
You can think of it as a very complex phaser/flanger with a reverb/feedback network with complex filtering, plus
some modulation. All of these are optional, and of course this is what gives you so much flexibility.
New feature
For many native platforms, the Enigma can now be used with 88.2/96kHz sessions. This is dependent on your
platform (application you are using) and your hardware (sound card).
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Enigma interface
Signal flow quickie
There are 2 parts of the Enigma, separated into the upper and lower window sections. On top is the Notch
section, and the lower part is the the Feedback section.
In the Notch section you’ll see the moving notch line which is modulated by the little control section in the right
top corner. On the left edge are controls for the notches themselves, the previously mentioned Depth control
(adjust slowly!!) which affects the depth of the notches, and the Stereo control. The Notch section also includes a
filtering function which operates very much like the filter options in the lower window, described in the next
paragraph.
After the notch section, the signal goes to the Feedback section (lower part of the window), which is not a
traditional delay line or reverb, but more of an echo/reflection generator. It intentionally has a rough-edged
sound so that you may get individual echos and the like, as opposed to a smooth reverb structure. The controls
are in the lower left corner, including Delay, Decay Time, Phase, and Density.
Within the Feedback block is another, independent filter window (on the bottom) which sends signal back to the
input of the notch section again.
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In the bottom right corner are output controls, with Gain, Mix, and Wet Predelay controls, plus a simple and
flexible button for making the wet signal (1)stereo, (2)mono or (3)mono with reversed phase on one channel. It
is possible to have no output at all with some settings of these buttons, but that’s true even with a volume control!
Therefore, if you don’t hear any sound, check carefully before turning up your monitors a lot. (This is sage
advice).
Try this first
The basic default setting for the Enigma allows a lot of experimentation. It has feedback, modulated notches;
nearly anything you click will make a difference in the sound, so it’s a good place to start. If you play with Width,
you get either more feedback (so you might then play with the feedback window), or you get more sweeping, (so
you might play with the notches).
It has a great little ambient sound, plus a very nice stereoization effect on any sound, whether high or low
sustained instruments, voices, or percussion.
Working with the default setting (same as “Enigma #1” preset in the Load menu):
• Adjust the Width control for more or less Feedback (and less or more Notches).
• Adjust the Modulation variables to process the range and speed you wish.
• Set the Decay time and Delay to change the ringing character.
• Adjust the filter settings in the Feedback section to shape the EQ of the ringing.
arefully and slowly adjust the Depth and Stereo for stereoization effects.
•C
• Try the Wet button for stronger cancellation effects (mono, or mono+ phase).
• The number of notches and their phase will change the basic flavor of the setup.
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QuickTips
• Be a little careful with the Depth and Decay Time controls. Enigma can produce extreme effects and there is
a great range of creative areas to explore. But as with any processor that has complex feedback loops,
making slow adjustments is the best way to avoid sudden loud sounds.
• Work from the factory presets to explore new “corners”.
• Save new discoveries quickly because they may be very hard to find again!
• Experiment with just the feedback loop (Reverb) and filters by stopping the modulation. You can “stop” the
Modulation in 2 ways: the Pause button at the top right corner, and also “trapping” the range by making the
Minfreq and Maxfreq settings in the Modulation section have the same value.
• Don’t forget the mono and phase buttons. They are excellent for stereo sources where you want a mono
effect to be centered, or want a stronger effect.
• Give a bit of time to reading the remainder of this manual so we can share with you what we’ve found out
so far about this rather unique processor.
Chapter 2 - General introduction
A little diagram
Enigma signal flow, simplified.
You might notice that several controls are missing. They are inside the ‘enigma processor’ block, which we can’t
show you, as it is a secret. However, the upper window filter, the LFO modulator, Rotation, Width, and Notch
controls are all contained there.
The enigma processor could be lessened in effect, or eliminated completely (by stopping the modulation, or
reducing Notches to zero width), and use only the reflection/reverb section for ringing feedback, such as the
Spring Reverb factory preset.
There are many idiosyncracies about this processr that can only be covered by describing each control (which we
do later in this manual) and then for you to take time to explore each of them.
About the processors
Although originally developed during research for flanging- and phasing- type devices, the Enigma processor
combined several unique smaller processing sections that gave fresh sounds, most of which were previously
unheard of. By using a special network that produced notches (somewhat similar to phasers or flangers) and a
low-fi reverb/reflection/feedback loop, plus a modulator on the network, some sounds were produced that were
very reminiscent of complex feedback loops using reverbs, very short delays, and filter banks used in a classic
electronic music studio. Such studios had come from composers’ developments in the 1950’s and were literally
patched together for every sound. (An excellent book on the subject is Joel Chadabe’s E
and Promise of Electronic Music, see www.emf.org).
Such classic electronic music setups were extremely flexible, but could also be a little dangerous in feedback and
other ways. And so it is also true with the Enigma, and that’s why we advise you to take time and slowly adjust the
controls!
lectric Sound: The Past
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