Electrix Warp Factory - Manual (Page 7)

2. UNDERSTANDING THE PRODUCT
N ote that there are no input or output level controls on the front panel. WarpFactory has been
designed to give you Unity Gain when in Bypass mode or when the Effect Mix control is at
0%. Audio signals passing through WarpFactory are not boosted or reduced in gain. When
using a line level input (as opposed to a turntable) set the output level from the mixer or source so
that WarpFactorys Input Level LED does not remain in “red”. Note: it is best to keep all input levels
in the “orange”, if possible, as this is the optimum WarpFactory operating level.
" Mic Input: You can connect a microphone to this XLR input to control the formant . There is
also a line input on the back panel that can control the formant.
" Mic Gain: Use the Mic Gain control to set the proper level for your microphone input. Talk
into the mic and set the mic gain to where the Optimum LED lights when you talk. Your signal
should only clip occassionally. The Formant Input LEDs will also light when a Line Input is used.
Robot Pitch: We have included an oscillator to make it easy to get a Vocoder effect without
having to supply a synthesizer into the source input. To use this feature, talk into your microphone
while having the Mic or Line input selected. Set the Robot pitch to the desired frequency and talk
away.
" Formant Input Select:
Mic: Uses the front panel microphone input as the formant
source.
Line (Ess on): Uses the line input for Formant
control. Ess enhances articulation for better intelligibility. This
is best for vocal based formant signals.
Line (Ess off): Best for non-vocal inputs.
Auto: Routes the source input to the formant input, so that
the music is ‘warping’ itself.
Band High/Low: This control has the effect of favoring the
upper or lower harmonics of the source. Select "Low” for Drum
and Bass types of sound. Use “High” for keyboard pads and
full range source material.
" Gender control: The Gender control moves the
harmonic content of the formant up or down without
affecting the fundamental pitch of the musical source. When
using the microphone formant input, the Gender control will
make the formants deeper (left) or thinner (right).
" Q control: This controls the width of the Warp filters.
Lower settings will smooth the effect out so much that it may
not be audible. A higher Q setting will give a much more
pronounced “tubular” effect. A good place to start is with this
control in the far left position.
" Order: This sets the resolution of the filter algorithm. Lower
Order settings will give a more “granular” Warp effect,
especially when combined with higher settings of the Q control.
The maximum position (24) offers the highest resolution,
(or intelligibility) when speaking into the microphone.
Speech incorporates many
types of sounds. One
type of sound common to
both speech and singing
is Sibilance.
Sibilance is the S in ‘this’
or the CH in ‘check’.
WarpFactory deals with
sibilance differently than
traditional analog
vocoders.
With ‘Ess on’,
WarpFactory will preserve
speech intelligibility even
over the most complex of
music signals. This is the
normal operation of
WarpFactory.
Ess off turns that feature
off and disregards
sibilance. This is useful for
driving the Formant input
with signals other than
voice.
• WHAT IS ESS:
FRONT PANEL 2.1