ELYSIA KARACTER
Elysia Karacter Master
Elysia Karacter Mix
INTRODUCTION
The manual describes Karacter as a box full of vibrant colours. It covers a complete spectrum, including mastering-grade saturation, tube-inspired distortion, and glorious destruction. Gone are the days when only racks full of outboard gear could achieve these elusive and highly desirable styles of tonal colouration.
KEY FEATURES
Elysia Karacter provides three types of saturation: mastering-grade symmetrical soft clipping and two variations of tube-inspired asymmetrical soft clipping with the FET and Turbo Boost modes. Karacter provides a mix parameter for parallel signal processing and a Color control for a wide array of saturation possibilities.
The master version of Karacter offers two separate channels that can be set up for dual mono, linked stereo, or linked and unlinked M/S operation. The mix version is a single stereo instance of the plug-in with single-linked stereo control.
M/S MODE
The M/S mode is great for saturating the mid (sum) and side (difference) channels separately. This technique can be particularly interesting in mastering to achieve a little more width by saturating the sides. Alternatively, you can saturate the mid-channel for more density and leave the side channel open.
M/S mode is also interesting in linked-parameter mode; in dual mono and stereo mode, the left and right channel signals are independent, and each channel signal generates its own harmonic series and associated IMD. Conversely, in M/S mode, the sum of the left and right channels and the difference of both channels generate their own harmonic series and associated IMD. This has a significantly different tonal characteristic, try it on the drum bus or on the master bus.
HARMONIC ANALYSIS
Saturation Modes
Saturation
- Gentle, symmetrical soft clipping
- Strong low-order harmonics that are weighted towards the third
FET
- Tube-inspired musical saturation
- Wide ranges of asymmetrical low-noise soft clipping
- Strong low-order harmonics that are weighted towards the second
Turbo Boost
- Turbo Boost shifts the operating point of the distortion circuitry, resulting in a signal structure which is even more asymmetrical than before. This will become most obvious at higher settings of the Drive parameter.
Harmonic Saturation Analysis
100 Hz sine wave at -18 dBFS passed through Karacter at Unity: Harmonic Analysis
Saturation mode generates low-ordered odd and even harmonics (increase Drive for stronger harmonic saturation). In this mode, the harmonic distribution is weighted towards the third, which is a function of symmetrical clipping. Low-order harmonics sound constant and musical; even harmonics add body and weight, and odd harmonics add richness and depth.
*100 Hz sine wave at -18 dBFS passed through Karacter in FET mode: Harmonic Analysis
FET mode generates stronger harmonic saturation, which is weighted towards the second, as expected, with asymmetrical clipping. Low-ordered even harmonics are good for adding body and tone to instruments, as they reinforce the fundamental frequency in the second and third octaves.
*100 Hz sine wave at -18 dBFS passed through Karacter in Turbo Boost mode: Harmonic Analysis
This mode is basically a more agressive version of the FET mode, akin to driving the FET mode or changing the internal operating level of the plug-in. This mode can rapidly produce high-ordered harmonic saturation, which can add edge and bite to percussive sounds; however, not too much, as too much higher order harmonics, particularly past the ninth, can sound unfocused and enharmonic.
Soft Clipping Behaviour
Elysia Karacter Mix Soft Clipping Behaviour: Transfer Curve
Elysia Karacter Mix at Unity: Oscilloscope
Elysia Karacter Mix FET Mode at Unity: Oscilloscope
Elysia Karacter Mix Turbo Boost Mode at Unity: Oscilloscope
The manual describes the soft-clipping behaviour of the three modes well. The mastering-grade saturation is relatively symmetrical (the second line is there for reference from a linear processor). The FET mode generates asymmetrical clipping, which is harder than saturation mode, as can be visualised in the Oscilloscope; look at the squaring of the waveform. Turbo Boost generates even harder clipping behaviour compared to FET mode, which is significantly more asymmetrical, producing even more edgy and agressive tones.
Drive Parameter
Elysia Karacter Mix at Unity: Hammerstein
Elysia Karacter Mix with Drive at +3: Hammerstein
The effect of Drive is heavily dependent on source material, input level, and the other parameters of Karacter. That being said, the Drive parameter always increases harmonic saturation and soft clipping behaviour.
Color Parameter
The manual describes this parameter as a filter that does not change the frequency response, rather, it is an essential part of THD generation. It provides a wide range of colouring options and several sweet spots ranging from dubby growl to steely punch.
Elysia Karacter Mix at Unity: Hammerstein
Elysia Karacter Mix with Color at +0.25: Hammerstein
Elysia Karacter Mix with Color at -0.25: Hammerstein
Increase this parameter to drive low-end harmonic saturation and decrease it to focus saturation in the mid and high range. It is a very useful control, try it on a drum loop!
This control is also very effective in mastering, where low-frequency energy can often be oversaturated when utilising non-linear processors like Karacter. This results in audible Inter-modulation distortion (IMD), which can quickly make the mix sound distorted and unfocused.
*Gain Parameter
Thankfully, a wet-only output gain parameter. I never understood why some developers have output gains that affect the dry signal in these kinds of plug-ins.
Mix Parameter
A wet/dry mix control is always welcome on a non-linear plug-in; however, some considerations must be made for optimal processing.
- Where is the parameter within the signal chain? In this case, it is after the wet output gain.
- Will parallel processing cause unwanted phase interactions?
Elysia Karacter Phase Response in all Three Saturation Modes
Elysia Karacter Phase Response at Different Color Settings
All three saturation modes and the Color parameter change the phase response. However, the phase shift from unity is relatively insignificant at reasonable settings. Therefore, for the vast majority of applications, parallel processing will not cause any undesirable phase interactions.
SATURATION CHARACTERISTICS
This section is from the previous article, and although I would not test plug-ins like this now, I have left it in as I believe it is still quite interesting.
For this test, I ran a synth loop through Karacter at various settings. I have compensated for level so that the loop peaks at -1 dBFS for maximum resolution of the waveform in Pro-L.
Synth Loop (no processing)
Saturation Mode at Unity
Smooth soft clip behaviour, but more importantly for this plug-in’s character, take a look at the average level increase. This is why this mode sounds smooth but adds more power and sustain. Sounds amazing on a drum bus, especially in M/S mode.
FET Mode at Unity
More hard clipping behaviour compared to Saturation mode, but it is still smooth, the average level is also louder and more compressed.
Turbo Boost Mode at Unity
More agressive clipping behaviour when compared to FET mode, the average level has also been significantly increased. It reminds me a little of the Culture Vulture in P1 mode driven hard.
Saturation Mode Drive at 3: Hammerstein
Similar soft-clipping behaviour to Saturation mode at unity but with increased average level
FET Mode Drive at 3: Hammerstein
Clipping behaviour is harder when driven, and the average level has increased significantly.
Turbo Boost Mode Drive at 3
The clipping curve is particularly hard in this mode when driven; however, the average level remains relatively similar, the crest-factor was already small in this mode,
AUDIO EXAMPLES
Audio Karacter Synth Drive3.aif (1.3 MB)
Audio Karacter Synth Dry.aif (1.3 MB)
Audio Karacter Synth FET Drive3.aif (1.3 MB)
Audio Karacter Synth FET Unity.aif (1.3 MB)
Audio Karacter Synth Turbo Drive3.aif (1.3 MB)
Audio Karacter Synth Turbo Unity.aif (1.3 MB)
Audio Karacter Synth Unity.aif (1.3 MB)
CONCLUSION
There is a lot of interaction between the parameters on this plug-in, and a wide variety of tones can be achieved. In most real-world applications, I have found that a little bit of Drive was more than enough for pleasing saturation,
How does it compare to the hardware? The hardware can be pushed a lot harder with a bigger sweet spot. However, the plug-in does sound fantastic and oozes the erm Karacter of the hardware.
