Saturators – Audio Damage Ronin User Manual
Page 15
15
High pass: signals whose frequency is above the center frequency are passed unmodified, signals
whose frequency is below the center frequency are attenuated.
Band pass: signals whose frequency is near the center frequency are passed unmodified, signals
whose frequency is further away from the center frequency are attenuated.
Band reject: signals whose frequency is near the center frequency are attenuated, signals whose
frequency is further away from the center frequency are passed unmodified.
The
Resonance
control causes the response mode of the filter to be sharper or more pronounced. For the low
pass and high pass modes, turning up the resonance emphasizes signals whose frequency is near the center
frequency. In the band pass mode, turning up the resonance narrows the band of frequencies that are passed
without attenuation. In the notch mode turning up the resonance narrows the band of frequencies that are
attenuated. This means, somewhat paradoxically, that the effect of the notch mode is most apparent when
the resonance is turned all the way down, because this makes the notch widest.
Note that a resonant filter has greater than unity gain: it amplifies signals near the center
frequency. This is what creates its unique sonic character, but it can have a tricky consequence
within Ronin. If you set up the signal routing in the signal matrix such that the filter is included
in a feedback loop, the entire loop will eventually start to oscillate and generate extremely loud
signals. If you connect the output of a filter to its own input, or connect the two filters together
so that the outputs of each are sent to the other’s input, you will almost certainly be rewarded by a loud and
potentially piercing noise. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
The
Mode
slider sets the frequency response mode of the filter. Rather than clicking between the four modes,
the slider moves freely, providing response modes that are in between two modes. When the indicator mark
points at one of the reference marks on the panel, the filter’s response corresponds to that mode. The modes
are abbreviated on the panel to save space: lp for Low Pass, bp for Band Pass, hp for High Pass, and br for
Band Reject. For example, if you set the slider to halfway between LP and BP, the filter’s response will be a
blend of the low pass and band pass modes, and pass more low-frequency signals than the simple band pass
mode.
Saturators
Ronin’s saturators distort signals that pass through them, somewhat like a guitarist’s distortion pedal or an
overdriven tube pre-amp. The saturators distort the signal by amplifying it and flattening the peaks of the
loud signals using a process known as soft clipping. The saturators have a number of potential uses within
Ronin, such as distorting the original signal to give it a brighter, punchier, and more aggressive sound,