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The Studio Units plugin collection is available for download here:
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This guide is intended to help you get up and running quickly. It is organized into four brief sections:
To ensure that you take advantage of the latest features and fixes, it is recommended that you run the most recent installer. This will replace an existing installation, if one exists.
Follow the instructions presented to you by the setup executable, and install Studio Units in your system's standard plugin directory. If you are not sure where that is, then you should use the default location suggested by the installer. If, in the future, you want to move the plugins to a different location, you will need to uninstall first and then reinstall them.
Studio Unit plugins can only be used inside a suitable plugin host (currently VST 2.4 on Windows). If you do not already have a sequencer, multi-track recorder or other application that is capable of hosting this type of plugin, then you will need to install one before you can proceed.
After the Studio Units setup program has completed, you may still need to tell your host application or applications to scan for new or updated plugins, in the location that was specified during the installation. If it isn't immediately obvious how to do this, please refer to the host application's own documentation.
Once your host application has found the new plugins, and is prepared to load them, please select an instance of the SU effect plugin and open its editor.
The Studio Units library provides preconfigured patches that have been designed to make the most of the SU plugins These can either be loaded as preset files in the SU effect plugin, or as separate plugins in their own right The separate plugins are named as follows:
SU effect - analog equalizer
SU effect - delay equalizer
SU effect - low-pass filter
SU effect - low-pass follower
SU effect - mastering equalizer
SU effect - mastering limiter
SU effect - multiband compressor
SU effect - tape compressor
SU effect - transient controller
SU effect - tube follower
SU effect - tube vocoder
SU effect 8 - transient controller
The SU effect plugin is used to create user-defined patches that contain other SU plugins in combination with plugins from other manufacturers.
Upon opening the interface of the SU effect plugin, you will be presented with the main patch window. This consists of the tool bar buttons and the patch display, and initially appears like this:
The tool bar buttons are located in the top left corner of the window. They perform the following actions:
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displays the main menu, which provides options for controlling the overall behaviour of the top level patch; |
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performs an undo, stepping back in time to before the last change; |
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performs a redo, replaying a previously undone change; |
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toggles whether the audio and midi outputs of the patch are muted or active. |
The reference manual is always available from the main menu, by selecting the help! option.
Here is a quick example that should serve to clarify the process of patch design.
In order to recreate this patch yourself, please follow these instructions:
1. Start with an empty patch. If your patch is not already empty, please select the delete item from the main menu.
2. Double-click on the grey background of the patch display, to reveal the white patch editor on the right hand side.
3. Double-click on the white background of the patch editor, to popup the add plugin window.
4. Ensure that the plugins tab is selected and double-click on the SU transform plugin in the list, adding it to your patch.
5. Click and drag the SU transform plugin towards the top of the patch editor, revealing its blackboard at the bottom.
6. Click on the blackboard, and type in the following text: ~1=sin(BLOCK_TIME*6283)
7. Turn down the volume on your studio monitors, so that they are not too loud.
8. Right-click the SU transform plugin, and select the audio out menu item.
9. This should produce a test tone on the left channel If not, you may need to adjust something in the host application.
10. Right-click the SU transform plugin, and select the audio out menu item again, which will turn off the test tone.
11. Bring up the add plugin window in the same way again, and this time select an SU valve plugin to add to your patch.
12. Drag a patch lead from the blue output socket on the bottom edge of the SU transform plugin, to one of the blue input sockets on the top edge of the SU valve plugin (Click on one socket, keep the left button held down while dragging the mouse to the other socket, and then let go of the button.)
13. Drag another patch lead from the same blue SU transform output socket, to the other blue SU valve input socket.
14. Add an SU fader plugin to your patch (The add plugin window can also be accessed by right-clicking on the white background of the patch editor and selecting the add... menu item.)
15. Drag a patch lead from the green output socket on the right hand side of the SU fader plugin, to the green input socket on the left hand side of the SU valve plugin.
16. Right-click on the new green patch lead that you have just created, revealing its blackboard.
17. Click on the blackboard, and type in the following text: gain=fader*10
18. Bring up the add plugin window, and use it to add an SU scope plugin to your patch.
19. Drag patch leads from both of the blue output sockets on the bottom edge of the SU valve plugin, to the blue input socket on the top of the SU scope plugin.
20. Right-click on one of the blue patch leads that you have just connected to the SU scope plugin.
21. Click on its blackboard, and type in the following text: ~=~/2
22. Type the same text into the blackboard of the other blue patch lead, connected to the SU scope plugin.
23. Right-click on the SU valve plugin, and select the audio out menu item.
24. Locate the SU fader plugin's display, which is the vertical bar situated on the far left of the patch display, directly below the main menu icon.
25. Click and drag the mouse up and down the fader to adjust the valve gain, producing both audible and visible results.
In the above patch, the SU transform plugin generates an audio test tone that is fed into the SU valve plugin. The valve gain is controlled by the SU fader plugin, and the output waveform is sent to the host application and also displayed by the SU scope plugin.
For a detailed description of the available patch design techniques, please refer to the Studio Units reference manual:
You may also wish to peruse the answers to frequently asked questions on the faq page.