i think its correct that a stereofilter is needed for binaural. but its not about voicepaning. i guess that the misunderstanding here. that you use the word pannning. paning is just changing the level of left and right
Pretty sure binuaral is just having signal path in stereo, obviously thing need to be done to make it then interesting to listen to, but you could pan or cross pan, I think generally speaking they are hard left and hard right and the difference in each channel give the width and the sameness give the center. Technically speaking you could have binuaral oscs that are in a serial/parallel mix with a mono filter and a stereo output and have binuaral effects happening.
Ok, according to the DMNO website:
Binaural refers to the twin synthesizer signal paths. In Binaural mode, each channel (ear) has a complete synthesizer voice. You can detune and de-phase the left and right oscillators, amplitude and filter (and indeed other parameters) relative to each-other. Ranging from subtle to extreme, this unique feature allows for experimenting with the ‘width’ of the sound and creates an improved sense of 3D positioning. It has in this sense one “super voices” for every two “conventional” voices.
So it is a full voice per side.
Great not-UDO related content what Stereo vs Binaural means: https://youtu.be/uZ9WQDojQt8?si=lBo0YibQc487IpI3 TLDR; it’s fully separated as in headphones vs. stereo in speakers, where your left ear picks up also sound from the right speaker, just slightly out of phase due to time of flight…
do i understand correctly that you can you set custom parameters to offset left and right? is this also possible in the gemini and super 6?
i am not english native but maybe this is a factor of misunderstanding:
“The term “binaural” has frequently been confused as a synonym for the word “stereo”, due in part to systematic use in the mid-1950s by the recording industry, as a marketing buzzword. Conventional stereo recordings do not factor in natural ear spacing or “head shadow” of the head and ears, since these things happen naturally as a person listens, generating interaural time differences (ITDs) and interaural level differences (ILDs) specific to their listening position.”
There are loads of synths that can do this (the PB12 can do it with a single button press, well ok a single shift-layer button press followed by a number button press, but it’s fast) once you’ve adjusted for the additional loudness, it’s not really that big an effect. Unless you dial up a very extreme LFO pitch or LFO cutoff effect, but how often are you really going to do that?
I can’t imagine being that excited about it on a synth with 8 voices. When I use my PX I usually turn the stereo filters off to get 16 voices, and I almost never use this mode on the P12. OTOH, if you like aggressive pingpong stereo delays you might really like a ‘binaural’ mode like this (once per stereo channel with 180 degree out of phase LFO modulating the same parameter on each side).
So-called binaural modes remind me of home guitarists raving about a wet/dry/wet triple amp setup - seems huge when you are playing for yourself but nearly useless in any sort of mix or ensemble.
At around 3 min, George explains what is Binaural.
agree on the point about usefulness in a mix! to me it is also far from the defining feature. the discussion was about difference between stereo and binaural though …and in this polybrute is “regular” stereo spread. the only other current synth I read about doing this kind of phase trickery is the melbourne nina with the “infinite panning” feature… but depending on your intentions this feature is overrated, true! ![]()
In the modular realm, the Schlappi Three Body Eurorack triple oscillator has several pairs of “sine/cosine” (and “saw/cosaw”) outputs that are affected in opposite directions by phase modulation, and this gives interesting pseudo-stereo effects (I speak from personal experience). Something similar seems to be true of the Fancysynthesis k-Accumulator, though details are lacking right now.
No, it isn’t. It does the out of phase LFO thing as soon as you turn the mode on - at least on the PB12 it does.
You can fake it on a bunch of other bitimbral synths, too, assuming they have panning and LFO phase control.
Still pretty gimmicky, regardless.
ah, you’re referring to lfo’s, I was referring to the primary audio rate oscillators of the synths (ok I guess PB’s lfo can also just reach audio rate)…
@plragde : uh oh, there is certainly modular stuff I am trying to avoid knowing about ![]()
I haven’t checked if the oscillators are out of phase (that would not be difficult to do). It would just be more deliberate phase gimmick, though.
As it is, even just stereo effects on more than 1-2 parts in a mix is too much quite often, hard panning or hard phase tricks are a thing that sounds cool solo. Well, I’d say it doesn’t even really achieve that.
AFAIK UDO’s synths do not apply a head-related transfer functions and thus it does not in any meaningful way emulate a binaural recording. That is why I used the term in quotes when referring to UDO’s stereo image/phase gimmick.
Even if it were an attempt to emulate a binaural recording you have no control over where in the stereo space the sound is, it’s just everything all of the time (some of it out of phase).
I think they’d be wise to emphasize the mode less than they do.
they defenetly not try to emulate a binaural recording, yes. they use the same psychoacudtic mechanisms for spacial effects. in the video he sells it as a feature to give the sound breath and space for playing and working on sounds. they dont advertise it as a tool to place it better in a mix
edit: its a bit like a stereo modulation fx at the end but made already on the synthesis level
Sure, but there are several synths that can do this same thing, or close enough as makes no difference. The PX (which can also handle stereo samples), the Muse, the Matriarch, the PBs - it just isn’t that hard to do or unique. It’s a bit like advertising that both front wheels turn when you turn the steering wheel of a car. Pretty much any car with two front wheels works that way, and pretty much any synth with stereo filters or multitimbrality can play stereo phase games.
ah ok. didnt want to get involved in a discussion about what synth is better. i also dont hsve any of the synths discussed here
I am not the person to ask, I think “mega wide stereo” modes are a waste of UI in hardware synths, and I don’t really use them that much.
My matriarch even has a slight miscalibration between filter cutoffs - annoying! I just patch it with a mono filter.
ok. i was just making the point that its not about emulating a binaural recording and that its not adverstised as feature tailored for working great in a mix.
i dont like stereo widening either most of the time and use width in ableton only to narrow the width for example. i like some stereo mod stuff on the rhodes though for diviing into a space while playing it solo.
Thankfully(?), the biggest selling point of the DMNO is no longer the binaural mode.
I think most of us understand what “binaural” means perfectly well in the context of the Super 6, and why binaural mode means a halving of the voice count on that synth. I think what I, and maybe others, are unclear on is what binaural means in the context of the DMNO which has a dual filter for each voice, which can operate in stereo. I think quite a lot of the discussion above has misunderstood the question.
I think @Wulli may be onto something here:
Also not 100% sure but then it might be that compared to the single filter in the super 6, the voice count does not cut in half in binaural mode, only the filter switches from dual to single-stereo? then @digable-me 's ‘stereo’ would already be binaural…
yes, i didnt get that. thanks for clarifiing
