Doubler

User Guide
 Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................2
Overview............................................................................................................................................................ 3
CONTROLS AND DISPLAYS ..........................................................................................5
Per-Voice Control Strips ..................................................................................................................................... 6
Direct signal and Master controls ..................................................................................................................... 8
Master Output and meters .............................................................................................................................. 11
WAVESYSTEM TOOLBAR ......................................................................................... 11

Introduction
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We suggest that you become familiar with the Waves Support pages, www.waves.com/support, where you
will find technical articles about installation, troubleshooting, specifications, contact information, and more.

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 Overview
The Waves Doubler is a digital audio effects processor that replicates the incoming audio signal to another two
or four voices. Each voice can be changed in Gain, Pan, Delay, and Tune (Pitch). This achieves a wide range
of colors of classic sounds that were popularized in the 1980s with digital hardware units that were designed to
create harmonies but were more commonly used for pitch-shifted doubling.
The main effect is “enriching the sound”. Often it is used to double vocals or guitar tracks. For example, let’s
say you have a vocal or instrument track that you want to “open up.”

Take voice 1, detune it down four cents and pan to the right.
Take voice 2, detune it up four cents and pan to the left.
Setting the voice’s gain at about –12dB already makes a big difference; bringing it up to – 6dB should make it
wide open.

Now, changing the delay time of each voice and further offsetting and modulating the detune will further
change the color of the sound. Running a track through the Doubler’s presets is a good way to get acquainted
with the range of sounds of the Doubler.
The essential difference between the Doubler and other pitch modulation and delay effects is related to the
Doubler’s ability to detune while preserving audio duration.

In Phasers, Flangers and such, the modulation changes the delay and duration of the processed sound,
producing a shifting comb-filtered effect. In the Doubler, the sound is decorrelated by the initial detune and the
tuning can be further modulated. The effect resembles that of a doubled take rather than mixed with a
modulated version of the source.

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 The Doubler offers Two-Voice and Four-Voice components in:
• Mono to Mono
• Mono to Stereo
• Stereo to Stereo
The Doubler controls consist of per-voice control strips, direct signal controls, EQ, and global master
controls. The basic Gain, Pan, Delay and Detune can be controlled using the Doubler’s Graphs.
The Doubler can be used on an auxiliary bus to which multiple audio sources can be sent. Using the
Doubler as a type of “wet” sound that excites several tracks in the mix works really well and is very
efficient.
The Doubler works great as an insert and allows you to adjust the direct gain and pan. When inserting on a
mono track, the full effect is reached by inserting the Doubler Mono to Stereo plug-in. The mono
component can work and “hot-switching” the mono to stereo will inherit the settings from the mono to
mono component.
Read on to get acquainted with the Doubler’s controls and displays.

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 Controls and Displays
The Doubler offers a selection of controls and displays as an interface to the DSP algorithm. This chapter
lists the different controls and displays and details the properties of each.

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 Per-Voice Control Strips
Each voice control strip offers the
following controls:

ON/OFF: Turns the voice on or off.

Default: On.
GAIN: Sets the gain of the voice in relation to the other voices. The master gain can further change the actual output
gain of all voices.
Range: 0 to –48dBFS.
Default In Doubler 2: -6dB for both V1 & V2.
Default in Doubler 4, V1 & V3 are -6dB, V2 & V4 are -12dB.
PAN: Range: –45 to +45 degrees.
Default: V1: -45º, V2: 45º, V3: 45º, V4: –45º.
DELAY: Specifies the delay of the voice in relation to the direct signal. Note that the lowest value possible depends
on the settings of the Align Direct and Range parameters. When the direct signal is aligned, the minimal delay
possible at any range is 0 because the direct signal is delayed to align with the natural latency. When the Direct
signal is real time, the minimal delay for range 80Hz is 8ms and for 20Hz is 14ms.
Range: 0 to 100 milliseconds.
Default In Doubler 2: V1 is 9.4ms & V2 is 23.7ms.
Default in Doubler 4, V1 is 9.4ms, V2 is 16ms, V3 is 23.7ms & V4 is 21ms.
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 FEEDBACK: Specifies the percentage of gain to be fed back to the input. Be careful when setting values above
25%. These can lead to run-away feedback and loud noises that can harm delicate equipment.
Range: 0 to 100 percent.
Default: 0%.
OCTAVER: This switch shifts the voice 1 octave down along with all the other settings. The button will light a
downward arrow to indicate that the Octaver is On.
Range: On/Off.
Default: off.
DETUNE: 100 cents equals a semitone. Use this control to set the voice’s detune in relation to the source. Slight
detunes of 2 to 12 cents tend to sound relatively in tune while higher values begin to sound off and out of tune.
Range: –100 to +100 cents.
MODULATION DEPTH: Positive values will start by modulating upwards, negative values will start off modulating
downwards. The modulation will always occur around the voice’s nominal detune so if you set a detune of 10 and a
Mod Depth of 10, the voice will begin by going upward 10 cents and then downward 20 cents, reaching 10 cents
below the nominal detune.
Range: –200 to +200 in cents.
Default: 0.
MODULATION RATE: This value sets the voice’s pitch modulation rate. At 1Hz the modulation will complete a full
cycle in 1 second.
Range: 0.1 to 400Hz.
Default: 1Hz.

ROUTING: Choose the routing of a stereo input signal to different voices. This is control is visible only in stereo
components.

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 Direct Signal and Master Controls

ON/OFF: Turns the voice on or off.

Default: On.
GAIN: Sets the gain of the voice in relation to the other voices. The master gain can further change the actual
output gain of all voices.
Range: 0 to –48dBfs.
Default: 0dB.
PAN: –45 to +45 degrees.
Default: 0.
ALIGN DIRECT: When set to On, this control delays the direct signal in order to align it to the Voices’ inherent
latency. With the Align On, you can reach a relative delay of 0ms between the direct signal and the Voices.
The Voices’ inherent latency depends on the range: at 80Hz, the Voices’ inherent latency will be 7ms and at
20Hz, it will be 24ms. When the Align direct is Off, the plug-in will not add delay to the direct so it will be
aligned with the Track’s original time, and the minimum relative delay between the Voices and the direct is
limited to the Voices’ inherent delay.
Range: Yes/No.
Default: No.
HI PASS FEEDBACK: Sets the Feedback’s Hi Pass filter cutoff frequency.
Range: 16Hz to 21357Hz.
Default: 16Hz.

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 RANGE: Detuning lower frequencies requires higher inherent latency for the Voices. The Range control specifies
the lowest frequency that can be detuned with no artifacts, and at the same time sets the lowest inherent latency
for the voices. Lower Range means higher latency.
If low latency is not a concern it is safer to work with the wider Range, down to 20Hz (latency is 24ms). When low
latency is a concern, and the input signal consists of frequencies above 80Hz (such as guitars and lead vocals),
set the Range to 80Hz, and the inherent latency will likewise be smaller. 20Hz Range should be used for
Doubling bass instruments and will perform more purely on complex full range signals such as mixed sources.
Range: 20Hz/80Hz
Default: 80Hz.
MODULATION RESET: Sometimes, interesting sounds can be achieved by synchronized modulations, but when
you must set the rate and depth individually, they will definitely go out of sync. Click the Mod Reset to make them
start together in perfect sync. This control can be automated and can be used to reset the modulators to start at
the exact position in selected cues of your session so they sound the same each time.

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 EQ CONTROLS
The Doubler’s EQ section offers a Hi Shelf and Low Shelf filter. These filters will affect the Doubler’s voices, but not
the direct signal. The controls for the filter are as follows:

ON/OFF: These turn the filter on and off, allowing a quick A/B comparison to
an EQ setting in relation to no EQ. Double clicking on the Graph markers will
also turn the filter on and off.
Default: On.

GAIN: The Shelf can boost all that beyond its corner frequency by up to
12dB. It can cut down much lower than that, down to -24dB, at which point
the filter floor drops to make a cut filter.
Range: +12dB to –88dB

FREQUENCY:
Low Shelf Cutoff: 16Hz to 21,357Hz. Default: 101Hz
High Shelf Cutoff: 16Hz to 21,357Hz. Default: 1306Hz

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 Master Output and meters
MASTER OUTPUT GAIN: The Master Gain control will affect the total
Doubler output, including the direct path. When there is a generally
good-sounding setup that occasionally clips the output, you can adjust
the gain in order to eliminate clipping.
Range: 0.0 to –24dB.
Default: 0.0dB.
OUTPUT METERS show the plug-in output and under the meters
there are peak counters. These counters will show the peak value
until reset by clicking on the meter or counter.
CLIP LIGHT lights in red whenever output clipping occurred. Lower
the output gain to avoid clipping. Click it to Reset.

WaveSystem Toolbar
Use the bar at the top of the plugin to save and load presets, compare settings, undo and redo steps, and resize the
plugin. To learn more, click the icon at the upper-right corner of the window and open the WaveSystem Guide.

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