Glossary

Amplitude Envelope - the shape gotten by tracing the peaks of a sound wave and smoothing it; often used to modulate some aspect of a signal

Amplitude Envelope Flange - effect achieved by modulating the delay of a signal by its amplitude and feeding the resulting signal back to its dry counterpart with feedback less than 100%; an effect available in Centrifuze

AS - see AudioSuite

AudioSuite - effects in Pro Tools that are applied to material, post recording, via software plug-ins

BrainTube - Synaptricity's mascot representing the power of thought encapsulated in a symbol of audio technology: the ever-popular vacuum tube; also the symbol for Synaptricity plug-ins (the BrainTube is a trademark of Synaptricity

Command|8 - 8 channel hardware controller for Pro Tools

cps - cycles per second

Centrifuze - RTAS/AudioSuite plug-in from Synaptricity (Centrifuze)

Chorus - modulation/delay effect caused by combing a dry signal with a slightly delayed, delay-modulated wet signal; an effect available in Centrifuze

Delay Loop - effect where the output of a medium to long (> 250ms or so to many seconds) delay pipeline is fed back into its input 100% that allows for creating seamless repeating sound loops and overdubbing them or accompanying them; an effect available in Centrifuze

Digidesign - company that creates the world's best and most widely used disk-based audio recording and mastering software known as Pro Tools as well as hardware that works with it (www.digidesign.com)

Dry [Signal] - the state of a signal before an effect has been applied to it

Flange - unnatural but very interesting and pleasing effect achieved by, in some manner (e.g., feedback, mixing), combining a delay modulated signal with to its dry signal with either positive or negative polarity

Flan Jello - effect synthesized by Centrifuze by combining flange + tremolo in a 100% synchronized manner with the amplitude and delay modulations' frequencies having an integer relationship and phase between -180 and +180 degrees; an effect available in Centrifuze

Host-based Processing - processing that is done on the Macintosh or PC, as opposed to TDM processing; requires no additional hardware beyond a A-to-D/D-to-A converter such as an Mbox

Hz - Hertz, a unit of frequency measure = cycles per second

iLok - hardware key that is used to protect software against piracy and allows the user to use software he/she is approved to use (www.ilok.com)

Infinite/Decaying Echo - an effect achieved by feeding a delay pipeline signal from its output back to its input with less than 100% feedback, creating a repetitive and exponentially decreasing series of echoes; an effect available in Centrifuze

Mach - Control in Centrifuze that controls the maximum allowed change in delay per unit time, expressed in seconds of delay / seconds of real time (i.e., unitless); the word "Mach" is derived from aerospace terminology that describes speed in terms of the speed of sound

Mbox - two channel A-to-D/D-to-A converter from Digdesign that connects to a Macintosh or PC that allows one to record and playback hard disk recordings and operate within Pro Tools

Mbox2 - newest version of the Mbox from Digdesign that adds MIDI capability and sleek new looks

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface; standard for creating music via series of notes and their corresponding pitches, durations, volumes, etc.

The Onion - the world's finest news source (www.theonion.com)

Pace - company that manufactures the iLok (www.paceap.com)

Plug-in - software product that works within the Pro Tools application that enhances the capabilities of Pro Tools

Polarity - either positive or negative; when used in describing feedback, if positive then the output signal is being directly fed back into its input, if negative, then it is "flipped" before being fed back

Pro Tools - award-winning audio recording and mastering software from Digidesign, the world's leader in disk-based audio recording and mastering

Pro Tools 7.0 - latest incarnation of Pro Tools, released in October of 2005

Rolling Stone - any member of a certain famous British rock band. Also an American icon of rock and roll journalism (www.rollingstone.com)

RTAS - Real-Time AudioSuite (usually pronounced "AR-taz"), the processing of live audio as it is actually happening

Slapback Echo - an effect achieved by mixing a slightly louder dry signal with a wet signal in a delay pipleline that creates a single echo; an effect available in Centrifuze

Synaptricity - the art...also a company

Tremolo - modulation effect caused by modulating amplitude (volume) using a variety of waveforms; an effect available in Centrifuze

TDM - Time Division Multiplexing; method of processing audio that transfers the processing work to a separate piece of hardware, as opposed to host-based processing; requires additional hardware beyond a computer (Macintosh or PC) and an A-to-D/D-to-A converter such as an Mbox

Vibrato - modulation effect caused by modulating delay using a variety of waveforms; an effect available in Centrifuze

Wave Flange - modulation effect achieved by combing a dry signal with it's wet counterpart of a delay modulation via feedback using any number of waveforms; an effect available in Centrifuze

Wet [Signal] - the state of a signal after an effect has been applied to it