STEREOPHONIC
4
PATCH IDEAS
STEREO MIX WIDENER
The most obvious application for Enhance 2 is
that of stereo mix widening. However, a full mix
cannot simply be made wider without risking
phase correlation issues. It is also important to
keep psychoacoustics in mind: higher audio
frequencies are perceived as being much more
directional than low ones, limiting the benefits of
widening bass frequency content.
The tilt filters allow you to adjust the spectral
stereo field accordingly. Plug your stereo pair into
the input sockets. Centre the balance and width
controls, and toggle both frequency switches to
the bass setting. Next, set the mid tilt knob to 9
o’clock, and the side one to 3 o’clock. This will
boost the mid channel bass frequencies and
simultaneously attenuate the treble.
Meanwhile, the side channel undergoes the
opposite operation, ensuring that nearly all bass
content in the final mix is mono. Now you can
widen the stereo field by adjusting the width
control beyond its centre position. Experiment
with different filter settings to achieve anything
from subtle, natural-sounding widening to
drastic stereo effects.
LINEAR VCA WITH TONE CONTROL
Enhance 2 can be used as a simple linear VCA in
patches where no stereo processing is required.
Centre all knobs and connect your input signal to
the right stereo input. The width knob and CV
input will then affect the output amplitude on
the right stereo output, with +5 V corresponding
to unity gain if the knob is set to its minimum
setting. Without any CV, unity gain is reached
when the knob is centred.
Additionally, the side filter can be used to add
spectral control to the VCA. The balance
parameter also allows for amplitude control.
However, the response will be non-linear, as a
result of the constant-power balance control law.
STEREO TILT FILTERS
While by default the tilt filters are configured in a
mid/side pair, stereo tilt filtering is possible as
well, adjusting the tone of the left and right
channels directly.
To achieve this, centre all knobs and patch your
stereo input signals into the module’s mid/side
input sockets. Next, connect the stereo outputs
to the stereo inputs. The mid/side outputs are
used as the true stereo output pair.
By exchanging the mid/side encoders and
decoders this way, the module’s signal path is
effectively ‘swapped around’. The mid tilt filter
now only affects the left channel, while its side
counterpart affects the right.
Note that the balance control will influence the
stereo width instead, while the width knob can
be used to attenuate or amplify the right channel
and thus change the balance. The correlation
meter essentially becomes meaningless.
PHASE METER
Apart from measuring the correlation between
the two channels of a stereo signal, Enhance 2’s
phase correlation meter can also be used to
measure the phase shift between two otherwise
identical signals.
Simply centre all knobs and plug both signals
into the left and right input sockets. 30° of phase
difference is represented between adjacent
LEDs. This means that if, for example, the two
signals are 90° out of phase, the ‘0’ LED will light
up. Both signals are passed through unaltered to
the stereo output sockets on the bottom right of
the module.
