Overview

Main Window

Closing this window quits SousaFX.

Status Bar

The menus on the top left adjust the audio engine's settings, including the sample rate, signal vector size, I/O vector size, Overdrive, and Interrupt, which should be set to 48000, <= 128, <= 128, On, and Off, respectively.

The top "X" toggle rounds the tempo to an integer.

The bottom "X" toggle makes the white border flash in time with the metronome.

To the right of the toggles is the tempo in beats per minute, which can be set by tapping North.

Next is the time signature numerator, which can be set by tapping North while holding Start and Select.

Next is the audio engine power button, along with the CPU meter. The audio engine will auto-start when SousaFX is launched, and can be toggled off to mute SousaFX.

Displays

To the top left of the white box, is the game controller input display. The two percentages set the size of the respective thumbstick's deadzone.

To the right are the input volume meters.

Below are the status displays for the tuba bassline looper, and drum looper. The number displays the loop length in bars.

color	status
grey	cleared
red	recording
green	playing
orange	stopping

Dials

• Noise Gate Thresh

  Sets the volume underneath which the tuba's input signal will be silent. The louder the environment is, the higher this will need to be.

• Env Sens

  Sets the main envelope sensitivity, which should generally be around 180%

• Metro Volume

  Sets the volume of the metronome in the monitor outpts.

• Alert Volume

  Sets the volume of the looper status alerts in the monitor outputs.

• Drum Volume

  Sets the volume of the snare, clap, and tom samples.

• Kick Volume

  Sets the volume of the kick samples.

Save Restore

The Save button saves all the parameters in the main window (except for the window layout), and all the FX parameters windows.

The Restore button discards all changes and restores the previous save.

Layout

On the bottom left is a way to save window layouts. Click the number box and press the up or down key to cycle through the window layout presets. Type a description in the textbox, and click "save layout" to save the current window layout with the description to the current preset number. Click "set initial" to set the current preset number as the initial preset to load on launch.

Menubar

The following windows may be opened via the FX Parameters menu:

• Bassline

• Compressors and Limiters

• Delays

• Reverbs

• EQs

Bassline

This is the heart of SousaFX, and sets the tone of the bassline. We'll start with the topmost dial:

crossfade env sens

This dial adjusts the envelope sensitivity for the crossfader, which crossfades between the overdriven modulated lowpass filter sound, and the dryer detuned sound. When the tuba begins a phrase, the crossfade starts on the the dry sound, then quickly follows the envelope over to the filtered sound. The louder the tuba plays, the less filtered, and dryer, the sound can become.

The crossfade's range is actively adjusted via the "Crossfade Position" binding.

LFO env sens

This LFO modulates the lowpass filter frequency to create the dubstep wobble bass sound.

The louder the tuba plays, the higher the LFO's ceiling and floor become.

The "LFO env sens" dial adjusts the incoming envelope sensitivity for the LFO's ceiling and floor.

In addition, two bindings adjust the ceiling and floor envelope sensitivities separately as well:

• LFO floor envelope sensitivity

• LFO ceiling envelope sensitivity

The following dials positioned below "LFO env sens" curve the aformentioned bindings:

• LFO ceiling env sens binding curve

• LFO floor env sens binding curve

The four dials below adjust the floor and ceiling's minimums and maximums:

• Max LFO Floor

• Min LFO Floor

• Max LFO Ceiling

• Min LFO Ceiling

The "min dist btwn ceil and floor" dial sets a minimum distance between the ceiling and the floor so that they never overlap.

LPF menu

There are five different lowpass filters to choose from:

• Surreal Machine's ladder

• Korg 35

• Andrew Simper's SVF

• Vadim Zavalishin's diode ladder

The toggle on the right allows the lowpass filter type to randomize whenever the bassline looper starts looping.

Detune

These parameters set the tone of the dryer detuned sound on the louder end of the crossfade. This signal is compressed by the pre-xfade-dry compressor.

• mix

  wet / dry mixer, 100% is all wet signal

• spread

  the amount of detune between the left and right channels in cents

• window

  longer window = higher quality, but higher latency

• transpose

  overall transposition in steps

Overdrive

These parameters set the tone of the overdriven lowpass filtered sound on the quieter end of the crossfade. This signal is compressed by the pre-xfade-wet conpressor.

• mix

  wet / dry mixer, 100% is all wet signal

• drive

  overdrive amount

• high cut

• low cut

• treble

• mid

  This mid boost is tamed by the pre-xfade-wet conpressor's sidechain eq's "hi mid gain".

• midfreq

• bass

• output volume

Compressors and Limiters

This window displays two limiters and six compressors

• Initial Limiter

  This limiter is immediately after the mic input and cuts the top off of all the attacks so that the compressors further down the chain don't have to work as hard.

Note

There's a 100 Hz crossover filter that separates the tuba's highs and lows pre-overdrive, to keep the lows clean.

• post-xover-lows

  This compressor is for the clean lows.

• pre-xfade-wet

  This compressor is for the overdriven modulated lowpass filter sound.

• pre-xfade-dry

  This compressor is for the detuned dry sound.

• solo

  This compressor is for the tuba solo, which only occurs while the bassline looper is looping.

• final

  This compressor is for the final mixdown.

• Last Limiter

  This limiter is after the final compressor.

Delays

Separate delays for the main input, the bassline looper, the tuba solo, and the drums. The d-pad controls the delays' subdivisions.

• output volume

  The delay's output volume.

• filter toggle

  Toggle the lowpass filter in the delay's feedback loop.

• spread

  Adjust the difference in delay time between the left and right channels.

• input gain

  The delay's input volume.

• thresh

  Set the threshold of the limiter in the delay's feedback loop.

• lookahead

  Set the lookahead of the limiter.

• attack

  Set the attack of the limiter.

• release

  Set the release of the limiter.

• reduction amount

  Displays the amount of gain reduction.

Reverbs

Sets the reverb parameters for the bassline, for the tuba solo, and the snare clap & tom.

• Main

  Main reverb send for everything. Keep mix at 100%

• Solo

  Reverb for tuba solo, with separate dry and wet output volumes, as well as "dry" delay and "dry" stutter volumes.

• Drums

  Reverb for the snare, clap, & tom.

EQs

Low-mid frequencies tend to build up for various reasons. The mic and bassline's mid-EQs can tame those frequencies.

The tuba's sub frequencies drop precipitously below 60 Hz. The low boost can compensate for that to an extent. This can, however, exacerbate feedback.

The mic's lowpass cuts extraneous high frequencies from the mic's input signal.