Fish Fillets Manual.pdf

the fish fillets

channel insert VST plugins package

USER'S MANUAL

Date: 2003-01-12

Author: Sascha Eversmeier, Berlin, Germany

URL: http://www.digitalfishphones.com

Email: sascha@digitalfishphones.com

Subject:

BLOCKFISH, dynamics compressor VST plugin, 'blockfish.dll' (PC version), 'blockfish' (MAC version)

SPITFISH, de-esser VST plugin, 'spitfish.dll' (PC version), 'spitfish' (MAC version)

FLOORFISH, expander/gate VST plugin, 'floorfish.dll' (PC version), 'floorfish' (MAC version)

Current program versions: 1.1

MacOS versions of these plugins compiled by Urs Heckmann (http://www.u-he.com)

This manual describes the concepts behind the fish fillets, the functions of each plugin and the basic steps

on how to use the software.

The 'fish fillets' package is freeware and therefore free of charge. The latest version is always available at

the author's website.

What's in the package?

The fish fillets package consists of three plugins for essential dynamics processing:

1. The BLOCKFISH compressor is a dynamics compressor capable of a compact and dense sound (hence

the name). But unlike a lot of digital compressors, it does not 'squash' your signal that much. The focus

was to keep your music alive and let it breathe. It comes with a typical 'vca' circuit providing modern

compression - best for drums and guitars - and a classical 'opto' unit that recreates the sound of old

photo-electrical gain devices and has been optimised for vocal tracks. The basic parameters are easily

set up but you have access to futher adjustments that can turn BLOCKFISH into a real 'killer' device.

2. SPITFISH serves as an easy-to-use de-esser. If you ever had problems with loud sibilants and s-like

vocals, this device can help to make those nasty sounds much smoother. You can also apply it to other

signals that might need some evening out within the upper frequency range, e.g. cymbals and crashes.

The whole character has been tuned to 'nice' and 'gentle'. It should be almost impossible to make your

recordings sound unnatural within the normal operational range.

3. FLOORFISH is a classical gate/expander unit that was originally designed to make acoustic drum

recording much cleaner. Especially seperately miked snares and toms often unveil a large amount of

'bleeding noise' if you compress them. The FLOORFISH can help to lower this noise floor. Unlike a

typical 'noise gate', the signal is not cut off completely if you do not want it to.

System requirements

Each of the fish fillets is a real-time VST plugin. The package is available for the PC/Windows platform as

well as for MacOS. The requirements in particular:

PC/Windows:

You will need a PC machine equipped with Windows 9x, 2000 or XP, with reasonable speed for real-time

audio applications. The minimum CPU power should be 200Mhz (one instance), more is better as the CPU

power consumption increases with more instances you are willing to open.

A VST-compatible software host is required, such as Steinberg Cubase VST, Emagic Logic Audio, Orion

from Sonic Syndicate/Synapse or hosts that are equipped with VST-to-DirectX adapters like Samplitude 6.

The plugins have been tested with the above applications. There may be others which work as well, but you

will have to find out for yourself.

MacOS (OS 9 and OS X):

In order to run the Mac version of the fish fillets, any modern G3 or G4 machine should work. As with the PC

version, a higher CPU speed generally means a better performance and having more instances at hand.

Any plugin of the fish fillets have been tested with Emagic Logic under MacOS 9 as well as Cubase SX (OS

X). If Problems with other hosts on this platform occur, please let me know.

Installation

That's pretty easy. As you are reading this manual, I assume that you have already extracted the archive

(thereby using WinZip or a similar application on the PC or unstuffed it on the Mac). Its contents are

Three plugin files

PC: 'blockfish.dll', 'spitfish.dll', 'floorfish.dll'

Mac: 'blockfish', 'spitfish', 'floorfish' (either MacOS 9 or MacOS X files, depending on the package)

The user's manual (yes, which you are currently reading).

To install the plugin files, simply locate the folder named '\vstplugins' of your host program and copy the files

right into it. With a lot of host programs, you can create a sub-folder that will be scanned, too.

Mac OS X users should choose the directory ' ~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/'.

That's it.

Now (re-)start the host. It will scan the appropriate folder and collect all plugins. When loading is completed,

you should find each of the fish fillets within the list of available 'insert' plugins.

What are 'inserts'?

Every fish fillet is a dynamics tool, so it makes no sense to pass only a portion of the signal to it. Dynamic

effects devices like this are made to process the entire signal to be as effective as possible.

Each of these plugins comes with its own user interface. You should already be familiar with your host

software so that you know how to open plugins and their interfaces/editors.

BLOCKFISH channel compressor

BLOCKFISH is a versatile dynamics compressor for single signal processing such

as guitars, bass, vocals, drums or seperated drum signals like kick drum or snare.

Unlike some software compressors that offer a large amount of controls and are

difficult to set up appropriately, BLOCKFISH comes with only some basic (visible)

controls but is capable to deliver a broad operational spectrum.

But if you want to, this plugin offers exceptional features usually not found with

ordinary compressors. It is not only 'compressing' the sound; you can use it as a

sound designer's tool in a creative way. For doing so, BLOCKFISH lets you make

adjustments on the circuit board by turning trim pots that control directly certain sub-

function deep down. This is intended to be an 'advanced feature' given into the hands of the more

experienced user. The novice is provided with basic presets to start with. Those contain appropriate settings

of the circuit, accessible via switchable presets.

There's a certain philosophy behind the BLOCKFISH: don't sound like others; offer variation.

I didn't have a good compressor for vocals. All the ones were reacting much too 'digital', making the singer's

voice sound squashed and lifeless. I wanted the BLOCKFISH to be able to keep the perceived level under

control as well as to let the signal cut through in the mixdown. This is often a property I miss with a lot of

digital compressors.

Here's a brief overview on the features of BLOCKFISH:

'one-knob compression': a single knob adjusts the

amount of compression as well as the signal intensity

for easy setting up. Compared to standard

compressors, this dial means 'threshold' as well as

'ratio'. Both parameters are not exactly defined with this

design. We'll come to this topic later on...

Furthermore, the 'compression' knob automatically sets

the amount of makeup gain that is to be expected with

the dialled-in compression.

Easy adjustment of the compression envelope (attack &

sustain): from fast to slow response, one knob does the entire job.

Two compression models taken from the analog realm: vca and opto-eletric circuits. The vca mode

delivers that typical modern type of deep compression while following a soft transition curve from

'uncompressed' to 'fully compressed'. The opto mode has a transition that follows the response of

classical opto-electric devices like a vactrol element. Compared with the vca setting, it is able to sound

more 'open', but includes a small overshoot on loud signals. As with the old vintage gear, this mode is

less perfect, but usually a very musical setting.

Adaptive envelope adjustment (opto mode). In this mode, the 'response' time of the circuit is partly

controlled by the signal itself. This is originally an 'artifact' of a photo-electrical element as such a device

has a natural 'lag' with fast transients and stores the signal energy for some time. This has the effect of a

very natural compression since the action is not static. The opto-electrical element's 'time lag' can be

controlled via the 'memory' trim pot on the circuit board view.

Low-cut filter for the detection circuit. Often with complex sources like a drum track or a bus signal, a

compressor reacts mainly to the low-frequency content and produces a 'pumping' sound; the bass

controls the whole spectrum. The filter cuts off that bass and helps to achieve a clean tracking and

obtain maximum transparency. The circuit board view lets you alter the cutoff frequency.

'air' mode. Sometimes, heavy compression can make a

signal sound dull. The air switch activates a circuit that

adds dynamically a slight treble boost by the amount of

the current gain reduction. This technique can help to

refresh a signal. Doing heavy compression, the circuit

adds slightly more treble than originally existed. This can

sound very pleasent with vocals and is often referred as

'gloss'.

Variable makeup-/output stage. Although the

compression of BLOCKFISH includes an 'auto-makeup'

feature, the output lets you compensate for any volume

loss or just boost the level by up to 6dB of loudness. The

unit will never clip. An analog-style saturation stage takes care of it while adding extra harmonics with

loud output settings.

Variable saturation stage. You can choose how much of analog-style saturation is introduced to the

signal. The frequency response and the type of saturation can also be adjusted (on the circuit board via

trim pots).

'Complex mode'. The 'complex' switch on the interface is a unique feature, though the concept behind it

is not: this serializes two compressor stages (with saturation stage in-between). Running two

compressors in series is a common engineers' trick to achieve deep compression while avoiding the

typical negative artifacts usually associated with the same amount of compression on a single-

compressor device.

The BLOCKFISH topology

Consider the plugin as two seperate compressing units:

One is an opto-electrical device which was modelled after the early compressors that consisted of a photo

resistor and a light source that - when coupled - formed a regulating circuit if the light source was driven by

the incoming signal in some way. Usually, the input for the light source was taken from the output of the

compressor stage. This is known as 'feed-back' design and a simple and efficient approach to keeping the

circuit in a stabilized state. It sounds very natural with vocals and instruments, but the feedback structure

and the inertia of the opto-electrical gain control element does forbid a fast reaction.

The other unit is functioning in the same way like today's VCA (Voltage Controlled Amplifier) gear. Here,

the gain control element consists of a circuit that follows the 'feed-forward' design: a 'detector' takes a part of

the incoming signal, rectifies the waveform and calculates some sort of average level.

Common VCAs are very fast in their response behaviour and usually deliver a much deeper compression

than an opto compressor, partly because of the missing feedback structure.

You might ask 'What should I use for what type of signal?'. For fast response, I'd recommend the vca

setting, as well as for compression that should be very audible.

If you'd like to have a more open and smooth sound, disregarding a quick 'attack', consider using the opto

setting. It's mainly been designed and optimised for vocals but might also suit basses and guitars.

The compressor circuit is followed by a saturator stage that can handle more than one task at a time:

increasing the overall loudness

introducing analog-style saturation products by means of harmonic distortion. This is similar to driving a

tape into the 'red' region

compensating some part of the current gain reduction by turning the 'dynamic sat' knob

limiting transients. The more saturation, the more 'natural' limiting occurs

The 'real' topology of BLOCKFISH is much more complicated and highly interactive to the adjustments as

well as the signals influencing each other. But the basic operation is just that easy. Don't make math, make

music ;)

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