Articulate - Speaker EVENTIDE - Free user manual and instructions

USER MANUAL Articulate EVENTIDE

NEWFANGLED AUDIO

Copyright 2025, Newfangled Audio

P/N: ???????, Rev 1

Newfangled Audio and Articulate are trademarks of Orthogonal Art and Science, LLC.

AAX and Pro Tools are trademarks of Avid Technology. Names and logos are used with permission.

Audio Units is a trademark of Apple, Inc.

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Newfangled Audio

www.newfangledaudio.com

Contents

1 Newfangled Audio Articulate 1

2 Installation and Instantiation 3

2.1 Registering Your Plug-in 3
2.2 Activating Your License 4
2.3 Installing Your Plug-In 4
2.4 Moving or Removing an Activation 4
2.5 Removing or Uninstalling your Plug-In 5

3 Navigation Bar 6

3.1 UNDO/REDO 6
3.2 A/B COMPARE 6
3.3 LIBRARY 7
3.3.1 SEARCH and FILTERS 7
3.3.2 PRESET LIST 8
3.3.3 PRESET INFO 8
3.3.4 PLUGIN UI 8

3.4 PRESET SELECTOR 8

3.5 SAVE 9

3.5.1 PRESET NAME 10
3.5.2 SET AS DEFAULT 10
3.5.3 HEART ICON 10
3.5.4 SAVE BUTTON 10
3.5.5 EXPORT BUTTON 10
3.5.6 PLUGIN UI and DESCRIPTION 10
3.5.7 CATEGORY 10
3.5.8 AUTHOR 10
3.5.9 TAGS 11
3.5.10 DESCRIPTION 11

3.6 SETTINGS 11

3.6.1 INSTALLED VERSION 12
3.6.2 USER GUIDE 12
3.6.3 SHOW METERS 12
3.6.4 BRIGHTNESS 13
3.6.5 OPENGL GRAPHICS RENDERING 13
3.6.6 COLOR SCHEME 13
3.6.7 PRESETS FOLDER 13

3.6.8 DEFAULT SETTINGS 13

3.7 Resize 13

4 Parameters and Metering 14

4.1 Controls 14

4.2 Global Parameters 15

4.2.1 INPUT AND OUTPUT LEVEL AND BAR METERS ..... 15

4.2.2 ACTIVE 16

4.3 ADSR LEVELS 16

4.3.1 FADERS 17

4.3.2 ON/OFF, SOLO, and MUTE 17

4.4 SEPARATION 17

4.5 SIDECHAIN 18

4.6 LIMITER 18

5 Conclusion 19

6 About Newfangled Audio 20

Chapter 1

Newfangled Audio Articulate

Dynamics processors like compressors, gates, and transient shapers are primarily meant to give you control over the envelope of your signal. How come none of them are as easy to use as an EQ?

That was the question that led to the development of Articulate: an envelope shaper that's as easy to use as a 4 band graphic EQ. Articulate uses cutting edge dynamics processing to separate your audio into attack, decay, sustain, and release bands and gives you instant, direct control over the level of each. It's a new way of thinking about dynamics that won't break your brain.

Chapter 2

Installation and Instantiation

Newfangled Audio plug-ins are distributed by Eventide and like other plug-ins Eventide distributes, Articulate uses PACE's ilok.com licensing system, with or without and iLok hardware dongle. Each license provides two activations which can reside on either your computer or on an iLok license dongle. Once you've purchased your plug-in, you'll need to register it on Eventide's website, activate your license, and install the plug-in on to your computer

2.1 Registering Your Plug-in

When you purchase Articulate, you'll receive a Serial Number and License Key. The Serial Number will be two letters followed by 6 numbers. If you have an individual Articulate license, the Serial Number will start with NQ (i.e. NQ-######). The License Key will be 3 sets of 4 characters, a letter or a number, each; like XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.

Once you've received these codes, you can register your plug-in on the Eventide website. To do so, please log in to http://www.eventideaudio.com, navigate to My Account in the top right corner, and select Register a New Product. Then, fill out the form by selecting Native Plug-in (VST, AU, AAX) in the Product Category field, select Articulate in the Product list, and enter your Serial Number, License Key, and iLok.com account name. If you don't yet have an ilok.com account, you can create one for free at http://www.ilok.com. Once you've done so, press Register.

Once you've entered this information and pressed the Register button, Eventide will send the applicable plug-in license to your ilok.com account, which you will need to activate to your computer or iLok dongle.

2.2 Activating Your License

To activate and manage your plug-in licenses you'll need to install PACE's iLok License Manager software which you can download from http://www.ilok.com. If you don't have this software installed, please download and install it now.

Once you have installed and launched iLok License Manager you should be able to log in to your account by clicking the large "Sign In" button in the upper left hand corner of the application. Once you have, you should be able to see available licenses by choosing the Available tab at the top of the iLok License Manager application. If you have successfully registered your plugin, your Articulate Native license will be available in this list. Please activate this license by dragging it to either your computer or iLok dongle listed on the left. When you do so, you will be asked to confirm the activation, and you will be able to see it by clicking on the location you have chosen. At this point your license is activated.

2.3 Installing Your Plug-In

You should have been given a link to the Articulate plug-in installer when you purchased your plug-in, but if you haven't, you can find downloads for all of our plug-ins at http://www.newfangledaudio.com/downloads. Please download and launch the correct installer for your system.

Once you've launched the plug-in installer, it will take you through several pages of options. We have tried to choose defaults for these options which will best serve the majority of users, but it is worth a minute to make sure you understand these options before clicking through to the next page. A common issue with Windows VST plug-ins is choosing the correct VST directory, which can be different on each system. Please pay special attention to this setting. Once you have followed through the installer, your plug-ins and presets should be in your chosen locations, and you can hit finish to end the installer application.

At this point, you should be ready to use your Articulate Plug-In.

2.4 Moving or Removing an Activation

If at any point, you decide to move your plug-in activation, you can do so in iLok license manager. To move an activation between an iLok dongle and your computer, simply plug in the iLok, locate the license in its current location, and drag it to its new location. To deactivate a license, find it in its location, right click on it, and choose deactivate.

Remember that each Articulate Plug-In License comes with two activations, which can be used on either a computer or iLok dongle, meaning you can use Articulate in two locations at the same time.

2.5 Removing or Uninstalling your Plug-In

We're sure you'll love your Newfangled Audio plug-ins, but if you ever want to remove them from your machine it's as easy as removing the following files.

For Mac:

• Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/.component
- Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/Newfangled Audio/.vst
- Macintosh HD/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Newfangled Audio/.vst3
- Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/Newfangled Audio/.aaxplugin
• /Music/Newfangled Audio//

For Windows:

• c:\Program Files\Common\Steinberg\VST2\Newfangled Audio\.dll
  • c:\Program Files\Common\VST3\Newfangled Audio\.vst3
• c:\Program Files\Common\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins\Newfangled Audio .aaxplugin
• My Documents\Newfangled Audio\\

Chapter 3

Navigation Bar

At the very top of the plug-in is a navigation bar which allows you to undo and redo changes, access the preset librarian, settings, and manage several other global features of the plug-in.

3.1 UNDO/REDO

On the far left is an UNDO and REDO button. After changing any plug-in parameter in the plug-in interface the UNDO button will activate. Pressing it at this point will undo this action. At this point the REDO button will become active, and pressing it will redo this action. Multiple levels of undo are available and you can move back through several changes to reach an earlier state.

3.2 A/B COMPARE

Next you'll find buttons labeled A/B and A>B. These two buttons allow you to easily toggle between two states of the plug-in and compare the sounds. By default the plug-in is in the A state and you'll notice that the "A" is highlighted. In this state pressing the A>B button will copy the A state to the B state. Toggling the A/B button will switch to the B state, highlighting the "B" and switching the A>B button to B>A (allowing you to copy the B state to the A state).

Any changes you make in the plug-in interface will update the highlighted state. In this way, you can copy the A state of the plug-in to the B state, make changes to the A state, and use the A/B button to compare these two states.

3.3 LIBRARY

The Library button launches the Preset Librarian which can be used to explore the plug-ins presets based on any combination of category, author, tags, or favorites.

The Preset Librarian is split into four main sections.

3.3.1 SEARCH and FILTERS

The top of the Preset Librarian shows the BANKS, SEARCH BAR, and FILTERS.

Typing a phrase into the search bar will allow you to search all the presets by a given phrase. You can further restrict this search by selecting a BANK or FILTERS.

Pressing the BANKS button opens a screen which allows you to restrict your search to the presets in either the FACTORY or USER bank. Or additional preset banks if you have any installed.

Pressing the FILTERS button opens a screen which allows you to restrict your search to presets matching a specific CATEGORY, AUTHOR, or one of several TAGS. Additionally, you can restrict your search to FAVORITES if desired.

3.3.2 PRESET LIST

The bottom of the Preset Librarian shows the list of presets which match the current criteria. It displays the FAVORITE status using a heart icon, the preset NAME, the preset CATEGORY, the preset AUTHOR, and the preset BANK. You can sort the list by any of these. The up and down arrows on your keyboard will allow you to toggle through the presets.

3.3.3 PRESET INFO

The center right of the Preset Librarian displays information about the currently loaded preset. This area shows the preset name, a short description if available, the category, the preset author - including a link to their work, the preset's tags, and its bank.

3.3.4 PLUGIN UI

The center left of the Preset Librarian displays a miniature version of the plug-in UI. This plug-in UI is not editable, but it is live and will show you the current settings of the plug-in, as well as any meters. We've found it incredibly useful to see this display as we've toggled through presets to get a sense of what each preset does.

3.4 PRESET SELECTOR

In the center of the navigation bar is a dropdown preset selector. Clicking on this preset selector will show you the plug-ins presets in several views.

1. All will show you all the presets in alphabetical order.
2. Favorite will show you all your favorite presets in alphabetical order.
3. Filtered will show you all the presets which correspond to the current filter in alphabetical order. This filter is set up in the preset librarian.
4. User will show you just your presets, saved in your USER folder.
5. Underneath these the presets are displayed according to their Category, as assigned when a preset is saved.

Once you load a preset from this dropdown list the Left and Right arrow buttons allow you to toggle through the selected subgroup in order. For more advanced preset selection click the LIBRARY button to enter the preset librarian.

Additionally, if you like the sound of the current preset you can click the heart icon to set the loaded preset as a favorite. If a loaded preset is modified the heart icon will become an asterisk and the preset name is italicized, indicating that the current sate no longer matches that of the saved preset.

3.5 SAVE

The SAVE button launches the preset save screen where you can save a preset and assign categories, tags, and descriptions, as well as set the default state of the plug-in.

3.5.1 PRESET NAME

This field sets the preset name. There can only be one preset with a given name.

3.5.2 SET AS DEFAULT

This button will set the current state of the plug-in as a plug-ins default. This means when you load the plug-in the it will default to these settings.

3.5.3 HEART ICON

This will mark this preset as a favorite when you save it.

3.5.4 SAVE BUTTON

This button saves the preset

3.5.5 EXPORT BUTTON

In order to be browsed by the plug-in the presets are saved in a particular folder. However, if you want to save the preset elsewhere on your computer you can use the EXPORT button to export it as a file.

3.5.6 PLUGIN UI and DESCRIPTION

This section shows the current settings of the plug-in, and how it will appear in the preset librarian.

3.5.7 CATEGORY

Set the category for the preset you are saving. A preset can have only one category. If the preset doesn't fit into any of the existing categories you can use the (+) button to create a new one.

The existing categories are based on those that are found in the existing presets. If you create a new one it will appear in this list with an "X" on it. If you decide not to use the newly created CATEGORY you can remove it by clicking on the "X". However, once the preset is saved this category will be permanent and available to all newly saved presets, unless you delete all presets which use it.

3.5.8 AUTHOR

The AUTHOR section allows you to add your name and a url if you maintain a presence on the web. This will be automatically populated with the information from the last saved preset, so you will only likely need to enter it once.

3.5.9 TAGS

You can add any number of TAGS to a saved preset. These TAGS will allow your preset to be found in the preset librarian. It's best to add the tags that apply to the preset, and don't add the ones that don't. You can create a new tag using the (+) button.

The existing tags are based on those that are found in the existing presets. If you create a new one it will appear in this list with an "X" on it. If you decide not to use the newly created TAG you can remove it by clicking on the "X". However, once the preset is saved this tag will be permanent and available to all newly saved presets, unless you delete all presets which use it.

3.5.10 DESCRIPTION

If desired you can add a short description to the preset. It's best to use this field to add information about what a preset is for, or any hints for a user about how to use it.

3.6 SETTINGS

The SETTINGS button pops down a settings page which contains additional options.

3.6.1 INSTALLED VERSION

This displays the version number that is currently installed. If you are running the latest version it will tell you. If there is an update an UPDATE button will appear. Clicking this button will bring you to the downloads page where you can get the latest version.

3.6.2 USER GUIDE

Pressing the SHOW button will launch this user guide.

3.6.3 SHOW METERS

The SHOW METERS button will show or hide the additional meters in the plug-in. Specifically, turning it off will hide the glow in the RADAR control, the envelope graph behind the LEVEL DETECTOR section, and the curve graphic behind the CURVE section.

3.6.4 BRIGHTNESS

The BRIGHTNESS control will control the brightness of the glow in the RADAR control, the envelope graph behind the LEVEL DETECTOR section, and the curve graphic behind the CURVE section.

3.6.5 OPENGL GRAPHICS RENDERING

The USE OPENGL button will enable OpenGL rendering of the UI. For this setting to take effect you must close and reopen the UI. If you that the plug-in UI renders better with OpenGL on or off on your computer you can save this as the default setting and new instantiations will always load using this setting.

3.6.6 COLOR SCHEME

The COLOR SCHEME dropdown will allow you to choose one of several different color schemes for your viewing pleasure.

3.6.7 PRESETS FOLDER

Clicking the REVEAL button will bring you to the presets folder. This is only necessary if you want to share you presets with someone else, or access these files for another reason.

3.6.8 DEFAULT SETTINGS

Pressing the SAVE button will save all the current settings as the default for the plug-in. This is useful if you'd like a different starting point than the one we've provided.

3.7 Resize

The bottom right corner of the UI will allow you to resize the plug-in. To change the default plug-in size drag the plug-in to the desired size and save over the default preset.

Chapter 4

Parameters and Metering

Articulate has only 4 main controls which allow you to set the levels of the ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN, and RELEASE sections of your audio. There are a couple additional controls to help you get the most out of this processor, we'll discuss them in detail below.

4.1 Controls

Articulate has several control types, including vertical sliders, rotary knobs, and toggle and radio buttons, all of which have tool-tips which will give you more information about their function if you hover your mouse above them.

In general, all sliders and knobs can be double clicked to type in a specific value, option-clicked to return them to their default value, or command-clicked or control-clicked to enter a vernier mode for fine tuning.

Where appropriate, many controls have a related on/off button which will deactivate this control, or even the entire section.

4.2 Global Parameters

4.2.1 INPUT AND OUTPUT LEVEL AND BAR METERS

The left and right hand sides of the plug-in have matching vertical bar meters which display the INPUT (on the left) and OUTPUT (on the right) levels in levels in Peak (horizontal ticks), RMS (solid bar and numerical display), and Peak Hold (numerical display) formats. These meters are always present in the display and clicking the Peak Hold section, or by-

passing the plug-in will clear the held peak value.

Above the INPUT meter is a knob for the MASTER INPUT LEVEL, and above the OUTPUT meter is the MASTER OUTPUT LEVEL. The MASTER INPUT LEVEL is just before the INPUT meter and the MASTER OUTPUT LEVEL is just before the OUTPUT meter. Use these for proper gain staging and compensation of the level set in the plug-in.

4.2.2 ACTIVE

The ACTIVE button is located near the top left of the plug-in UI near the NEWFANGLED AUDIO label in the header. It activates or bypasses all the processing in the plug-in.

The Δ button will activate delta mode, which is the output of the plug-in minus the input. This allows you to hear what the processing is doing so you can more easily hear the effect the plug-in is having on your audio.

The MIX control allows you to blend the dry and wet audio to dial in just the right amount of Articulate.

4.3 ADSR LEVELS

Articulate breaks the input signal into 4 channels the contain the ATTACK of a sound which is the initial SMACK, the initial DECAY of that sound which creates the PUNCH, the SUSTAIN of the sound which creates it's

BODY, and the RELEASE of the sound which contains the AIR or ROOM sound.

4.3.1 FADERS

The main section of Articulate is a mixer which allows you to set the levels of each of these individual channels. Each channel has a fader to set the level from -∞ to +12 dB. (Settings at -100dB and below will fully mute the audio.)

4.3.2 ON/OFF, SOLO, and MUTE

Each channel has a Solo, Mute, and On/Off button as well. When a channel is turned off it will act as though it's bypassed - it will pass audio at 0dB. This is useful for quickly toggling between your current setting and default. When a channel is soloed all other channels are muted, and the soloed channel is set to 0dB. This will allow you to hear exactly what part of the audio is being captured by this channel. When a channel is muted it will pass no audio, this will allow you to hear what the other channels sound like without the content of this channel.

4.4 SEPARATION

In the bottom center of Articulate is a SEPARATION slider. This slider controls how separated the channels are from each other. At full left the separation is very SMOOTH, meaning that the transitions between ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN, and RELEASE are slow to avoid artifacts, but there can be a lot of bleed between the channels - meaning that there might still be some transient attack in your release channel, or vice versa. At full right the separation is FOCUSED meaning that the transitions between each channel are very fast and sharp. This will reduce bleed between the channels, but, might create pumping artifacts at extreme settings.

The SEPARATION slider can be very source dependent, try soloing some channels and moving it back and forth to get a good sense of what it does.

4.5 SIDECHAIN

On the bottom left of Articulate is a SIDECHAIN button. When this is ON the ATTACK, DECAY, SUSTAIN, and RELEASE envelopes are extracted from the sidechain signal then any change is applied to the main input signal. For example, place Articulate on the bass channel and route a kick drum to the sidechain and engage this button. With all sliders at 0dB you will hear the unaffected bass signal, but, if you pull down the ATTACK slider, then when the kick drum attack occurs it will duck the bass for this period. Similarly, if you boost the DECAY slider then when the kick punch happens it will boost the bass channel for this period.

This is useful for using Articulate to duck audio under just the transients of drums, for creating rhythmic gated sequences, or for other advanced routings where one track needs to move either with, or against, another.

4.6 LIMITER

On the bottom right of Articulate is a toggle button to engage the LIM-ITER. The limiter sits on the output of Articulate and keeps the output signals from going over 0 dB. It uses a combination of clipping and limiting similar to that in Saturate and Invigorate.

Chapter 5

Conclusion

We hope you enjoy Newfangled Audio's Articulate Envelope Shaper plug-in. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please write us at [e-mail]

Chapter 6

About Newfangled Audio

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Newfangled as "objectionably new".

Music technology can sometimes be a backward looking pursuit. This is understandable, the purpose of music technology should be to help musicians make great music. There have been many great pieces of gear in the past and we should seek to keep these pieces and make them available to people who want to use them, and the time and dedication required to master a musical instrument means that changes in their design are often evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

However, the great pieces of gear from yesteryear are more often than not those that contained new ideas in their time. The reverence we have for these pieces can sometimes turn into fetishism, and mindless re-creation of classic gear can fail to inspire musicians and artists to take new risks. It's important to make sure artists and engineers have access to good tools that inspire them and don't stand in their way, but these tools should never be used as a security blanket to stand in the way of an artist or engineers ears and taste.

Newfangled Audio seeks to only make gear that incorporates new ideas. We want to make gear that is great, but only using ideas that others are not. We realize that deviation from the norm might sometimes be objectionable. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Newfangled as "objectionably new".