Soundtoys Crystallizer - Manual (Page 24)

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Gate/Duck
The Gate/Duck knob is a dual-purpose knob that allows you to either "duck" (dynam-
ically lower the level of the effected signal) while the original sound is above the
setting of the Threshold knob, or, Gate the effected signal (dynamically increases the
volume of the effected signal) while the original signal is above the Threshold
setting.
To make it easier to hear how this Gate/Duck works set the Pitch to 1200, Splice to
500, Delay to 500 and Recycle to 11 o’clock. This will create a repeating echo an
octave above the original signal that gets increasingly higher in pitch with each
repeat.
Setting the Gate/Duck knob smack dab at 12 o’clock is the "off" position where no
Gate or Ducking will be employed. As you turn the knob clockwise you will begin to
add "Ducking" to the effected signal, which will decrease the level of the echoes as
long as the input signal is above the Threshold. The more you turn up the Ducking
the more you will decrease the level of the effected signal while the input is above
the Threshold setting. If you turn it all the way up the effect will totally disappear
while you are playing and as soon as the input signal drops below the Threshold the
echo effect will appear again. This is a really cool way to have the effect "move out
of the way" while you are playing and then reappear when you stop.
Turning the knob counter clockwise works in a manner inverse to the Duck. As you
crank the knob counter clockwise you will progressively lower the level of the effect
signal and turning it all the way counter clockwise will set the level of the effect
signal to zero as long as the input signal is below the Threshold.
As the input signal moves above the Threshold the effect signal will reappear and
remain present as long as the input signal is above the Threshold. The effect sound
is "gated" based on the level and dynamic of the input signal. This too can be a
really cool effect as you can be playing notes below the Threshold and creating these
swirly, echo wash effects that will only appear when you hit a loud note.
Since the knob allows you to set the relative level of the effect signal from full on to
full off you can have the effect signal just drop by various amounts in the Duck mode
and in Gate mode you can set the effect to always be heard somewhat but when you
play louder the effect will come full on. There are a lot of creative possibilities for
sure.
Lastly, under the Tweak menu you will find two additional controls: Attack and Decay
that are used to define how fast or slow the Gate/Duck action takes place. These are
discussed in detail under the "Tweak" section.