Spectral Relativity
$24.99 plus shipping/distribution, $19.99 for existing customers
Convolution reverbs have burst upon the music software scene as an easy and powerful way
for musicians and sound designers to add lush and realistic emulations of real acoustic
spaces to their work.
One thing that many people may not realize is that convolution is itself little more than
a highly intricate filtering mechanism, not any sort of reverb-specific thing. This raises
the possibility for using convolution to create new and exotic sound filters never
before heard.
This is precisely what Spectral Relativity is all about. Spectral Relativity is a
ground-breaking collection of impulse responses, to be used in your favorite convolution engine,
designed to do very un-reverb-like things:
- Place sounds three dimensionally
- Color or change the spectral balance of a sound
- Smear sound into lush ambient washes
- Reverse or thoroughly obliterate time
- Act as an otherwordly effects pedal
- Distort and mangle sound creatively
- Animate simple sounds into wild sonic textures
- Pitch-shift and pitch-bend sounds in an extraordinary fashion
Targeted primarily at electronic, ambient, and abstract musicians, Spectral Relativity transforms
your favorite convolution engine into a general-purpose DSP processor. But musicians and
sound designers from all walks of life may find use for Spectral Relativity's powerful capabilities:
- Space music artists can use Spectral Relativity to create huge sonic effects
- Film musicians can use Spectral Relativity to create abstract scene soundbeds
- Electronica artists can use Spectral Relativity to add flavor to techno, club, or other styles of rhythmic electronic music
- Sound designers can use Spectral Relativity to morph foley fx into unrecognizable forms
- Goth or dark ambient musicians can have a field day creating dark textures
- Guitarists can three-dimensionally position and spectrally balance their sounds
- Hip hop artists can add wild beat-synced effects to their rhythm lines
- The list goes on and on...
If you're interested in more specific information,
the manual can be downloaded here.
Also be sure to see the known compatibility list.
Download A Demo Version
Want to hear for yourself? Listen to this
acoustic ambient song snippet contributed by Gwydion Elderwyn. Now
listen to it before Spectral Relativity was applied.
Also, the following demos are available which show just a tip of the Spectral
Relativity iceberg. For all demos, the dry sound is played first, then with various
Spectral Relativity filters applied. Only one impulse was applied to each iteration;
no impulse stacking was used. ONLY Spectral Relativity was used to process the sounds,
including the stereo pan.
| Demo |
Description |
| drumloop.mp3 |
Demonstrates the use of shorter impulses to add interesting textures to
rhythmic material. |
| guitar.mp3 |
A simple guitar line is transformed several different times,
using an unusual "effects pedal",
various smears, and a nice colorizer that warms up the signal (the final iteration).
Spectral Relativity is for acoustic instruments as well as electronic! |
| piano.mp3 |
Shows using medium impulses as interesting reverbish effects, as well
as various huge smears. |
| raspberry.mp3 |
My daughter blew a raspberry, which was then mutated using several
impulses into strange dark ambient textures. Shows how much a signal
can be mangled using just a single impulse. |
| synth1.mp3 |
Simple sawtooth synth is smeared into various almost symphonic pad
sounds. |
| synth2.mp3 |
Deep sawtooth synth line, smeared into various long ambient textures,
some with a touch of human voice flavor. The final iteration is a strange modulation
impulse effect. |
| synth3.mp3 |
Square wave synth transformed into lovely ambient pads and fx. |
| synth4.mp3 |
Transformation of a glassy pad sound. The second iteration used a
colorizer to 'beef up' the sound. Subsequent iterations show how much animation
can be generated even for simple waveforms like this. |
| synth5.mp3 |
Another sawtooth synth, transformed into various ambient
washes. |
| taiko.mp3 |
Taiko drum sound mutated using a short rhythmic impulse, also
smeared into all kinds of wild abstract textures. |
| telephone.mp3 |
An everyday type sound. Cool textures and ambient
soundscapes can be made out of nearly any sound. |
| trumpet.mp3 |
Bright brassy trumpet sound is first distorted using a nice
short impulse; in later iterations, lush and nasty textures are made
out of this simple sound. |
| twinkle.mp3 |
More fun with my daughter's voice. Time reversal,
time stretching, and time blending is trivial to do using Spectral Relativity. |
| vox.mp3 |
A simple overused rompler vox sound becomes evocative
and totally unique with a few simple impulses. |
Remember, each sound was processed only once, and using only Spectral Relativity!
As one can tell, Spectral Relativity is an exciting new product for computer
musicians.
System Requirements:
- CD version requires a CDROM drive for product installation. Compatible with any Windows or Macintosh system, and with any Unix system capable of mounting ISO CDROMs
- Compatible with nearly any convolution reverb that can load stereo WAV files,
including SIR, Sony Acoustic Mirror,
Emagic Space Designer, Voxengo Pristine Space, etc. See the compatibility list for more information.
Specifications:
- All impulses are in pristine 16-bit 44.1KHz stereo WAV format
- Over 850 individual impulses spread out over eleven categories
- Over 630MB of impulse data
- Very reasonably priced, at only US$24.99 + shipping/distribution
The fine print: All content copyright © 2004-2005 Spirit Canyon Audio.
Please read the license agreement before
purchasing. Product will be shipped promptly via USPS or related airmail. All impulses are royalty-free
for use within your music.
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