PHOENIX is Crane Song's suite of TDM plug-ins designed to emulate the unique properties of a magnetic tape machine. Designer Dave Hill has crafted this software with the same attention to detail he used to create the electronics for ATR Service's much heralded "Aria" discrete tape recorders. His intimate knowledge of analog electronics, as well as decades of experience as a recording engineer has spawned a very useful, musical suite of plug-ins. The PHOENIX process not only incorporates the nonlinear saturation characteristics created by magnetic the tape itself, but also includes the interrelation of an analog tape recorder's record/reproduce electronics and equalization curves. The PHOENIX suite is not merely a downscaled version of the Crane Song HEDD processor, but a ground-up application derived from HEDD technology, and specifically engineered and optimized for Digidesign's TDM architecture.

Five different TDM plug-ins emulate different tape characteristics, each one incorporating a color change button allowing three choices to modify the process. The Gold button is the position where the color is approximately flat in frequency response, with Sapphire being a brighter, and Opal being a warmer tonality. A level control determines the amount of the PHOENIX process integrated into the audio signal, and an input trim determines "how hard you hit the tape." Because the DSP process is level dependent, reducing the input level will also cause a change in sound.

The input trim can also be used to prevent clipping in the rare cases where clipping may be a problem. This can be useful on material that is hitting close to or at digital zero. When the input trim is at 0dB, (no change in gain) and no tape process is being added to the sound, the plug-in is bit accurate, meaning the output exactly matches the input.

PLUG-IN DESCRIPTION

• Luminescent is the most neutral sounding process of the five.
• Iridescent has a similar magnetic character, but with a fatter bottom and midrange. This plug-in is the most similar to the tape knob on HEDD-192.
• Radiant is characterized by a more aggressive compression curve
• Dark Essence is even more aggressive. (The effect is a color with a wider frequency range--when used on a vocal Dark Essence can reduce sibilance problems by increasing the apparent loudness of the rest of the signal.)
• Luster starts more gently than the other four processes, but becomes as aggressive as Dark Essence when the process is at full scale.

Running within Digidesign's multi-shell architecture, PHOENIX is very DSP efficient. It will run approximately 20 instances of a plug-in on a single DSP chip (HD system at 44.1 kHz sample rate).

PHOENIX's color is dependent on signal level, program material and sample rate.
A higher sample rate results in smother sounds.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A 20-DAY, FULLY FUNCTIONAL TRIAL VERSION OF PHOENIX

MAC REQUIREMENTS

• Pro Tools TDM Hardware: MIX, HD or HD|Accel
• Pro Tools 5.1.1 (or later) running on Mac OS 9 (or later) or Pro Tools 6.0 (or later) running on Mac OS 10.2.4 (or later).
• Host CPU: MAC G4 or G5
• An iLok USB Smart Key
• iLok.com account

PC REQUIREMENTS

• Pro Tools TDM Hardware: MIX, HD or HD|Accel
• Pro Tools 5.1.1 (or later)
• Windows XP
• 1GB or more RAM
• 1.6GHz Processor
• An iLok USB Smart Key
• iLok.com account

ILOK & AUTHORIZATION INFORMATION

If you do not currently own an iLok, you must purchase one in order to authorize and run Phoenix for both authorized and demonstration mode.

You will also need an iLok account in order to get the authorization number and you must set one up BEFORE ordering the Phoenix plug-in. Creating an iLok account is simple, free and wow, we even included the link here.

Once you have an iLok, the iLok account, the demo installed and purchased the full version, we will register you with Crane Song and they will email the authorization key to your iLok account for your to download to your iLok.

If you have any questions about this process, please email us.

Back to top