Elysia karacter is a Discrete Class-A stereo saturator - a box full of vibrant colors. It covers a complete spectrum from subtle mastering-grade saturation through tube-inspired drive all the way to glorious destruction. It's the polar opposite of boring!
The karacter can impose quite a learning curve! Notably, the sheer breadth of possible tones might seem like an out of control chainsaw at first. However, once you get a hang of the control ranges and responses, it becomes a wonderful tool!
It comes with three stages of drive severity and timbre, continuos drive control, an emphasis EQ section as well as a dry/wet parallel mix. This offers complete control over the level and nature of generated harmonics.
If there's a Jack of all trades amongst saturation boxes out there, this might just be it.
Last, but not least, the build quality of Elysia units like the karacter ensures that they will be making music sound better for decades to come and it’s no wonder that a lot of them found their place at various mastering studios around the world. We at mix:analog are pleased and proud to be able to let you use one as well, in addition to other wonderful units from elysia and others.
Controls
Drive
Drive control determines the overall intensity of saturation. Be careful with this one... or don't, sometimes more IS more. The karacter will clearly let you know when it has had enough or if it wants more.
Color
The Color knob controls the emphasis EQ before the drive section. Turning it clockwise boosts the lows and attenuates the highs, and turning it counter-clockwise boosts the highs and attenuates the lows. In order to get a flat frequency response of the drive circuit set this control to noon.
Gain
Gain controls the post-processing level for the purpose of making up lost gain, similar to the control usually found on compressors. No real science here.
Mix
The Mix knob controls the parallel mix of the processed and the original signal without karacter processing. Use it to retain some definition and punch even at higher Drive settings.
Centre section buttons
Active
Active buttons are true bypass switches. Use them to do before/after comparisons or simply to take a break from too much awesomeness.
FET Shred
FET Shred changes the saturation characteristic. It switches the karacter from the default mastering style symmetric saturation to a tube-inspired asymmetric distortion.
Turbo Boost
Turbo Boost is only available in FET Shred mode. It provides an additional kick for truly wild distortion with the intention of simulating an overdriven tube amplifier. Enabling this can result in utter destruction that's to cool not to try just for the fun of it.
Link
The Link button links the controls of the left and right channels of the Elysia karacter for the purpose of precise stereo control.
Mid/Side
The karacter has a mid/side matrix built-in! Saturation in MS mode is something special when you use it carefully. Administer it with caution (Mix control) and it will cause the stereo image to bloom in a unique way.
Outro
The Elysia karacter is available at mix:analog right now! It will be completely FREE of charge for 30 minutes of use each day during the promotion period! Simply make a reservation and try it out on your own material!
Until next time, bye!