Buffeater

Welcome

Thanks for purchasing BUFFEATER. We hope you enjoying using this tool as much as we enjoyed making it!

BUFFEATER is a real-time, dynamically-ordered, multi-effect processor with unique capacities for slice repeat, beat juggling, granular time and pitch-stretching, tape deck-style varispeed, and more.

System Requirements

In order to use our Powered by Reaktor instruments and effects, you will need to meet the following system requirements for optimal performance:

System Requirements

Installation

All Twisted Tools plugins follow a similar installation process. To learn how to install Twisted Tools Powered by Reaktor plugins, please follow the link below:

Installation

Manual Conventions

Important warnings. Always read these!

Notes: Useful notes and relevant additional information.

Tips: Tips and advanced techniques.

What is BUFFEATER

BUFFEATER is a real-time, dynamically ordered, granular multi-effect for Native Instruments Reaktor and free Reaktor Player.

BUFFEATER works by capturing live audio and storing it in a temporary buffer, which allows for real-time processing of the incoming audio using granular synthesis and other methods. In plain terms, BUFFEATER allows you take live audio and tweak elements of the sound such as time and pitch, while staying in sync with your project and never losing the groove. With BUFFEATER, you can easily achieve stutters, glitch, beat repeat/juggling and chopped and screwed effects.

BUFFEATER has six main fx blocks in total, each with 64 fx presets that allow you to store and change effects settings on the fly. Each effect is capable of a variety of sounds and because the signal flow changes depending on the order in which you play the effects, the variations are nearly endless.

Effects Trigger and Signal Flow Basic

BUFFEATER comes with 6 effects blocks which you can think of as ‘effects pedals’, similar to those which a guitar player uses. You can trigger an effect via MIDI notes or by using your QWERTY keys on your computer keyboard when in standalone mode. BUFFEATER is a real-time, dynamically ordered multi-effect that means the order in which the effects are routed depends on the order in which you play them.

Triggering and Automating Effects Overview

BUFFEATER consists of 6 main effects blocks, which can be turned on and off using either MIDI notes or your QWERTY keyboard when in standalone mode. By default, the QWERTY keys will trigger the six effects from left to right, top to bottom in standalone mode. The order in which you play the effects will cause the signal flow or routing to change. The six effects are Stretch, Tape, Slice Repeat, Deconstruct, Scratch and Feed Grains.

For example, if you play Stretch (q), then Tape (w) the sound will be stretched then processed by tape. Release your keys and press Tape (w), then Stretch (q) and you will notice that the order of the fx chain is reversed. We call this dynamic effects ordering and it greatly increases the amount of combinations possible.

Please note that on laptop computers, you may find that you can only play 5 effects at a time using your QWERTY keyboard. However, this is not a BUFFEATER limitation. You can use a MIDI keyboard and still activate all effects at once.

Automating effects in BUFFEATER is easy. You can either draw automation in or record it in live by using the Record button as you tweak the effects. Each knob has its own automation lane and settings which we will discuss in detail below in section 2.5 of this manual.

Triggering and MIDI Learning the Effects

In standalone mode: Use the QWERTY keys on your computer keyboard or note #‘s 60, 62, 64, 65, 67 and 69.

In your host (DAW): Use note #‘s 60, 62, 64, 65, 67 and 69. The keys on your computer keyboard may or may not be the QWERTY keys depending on your host software’s system for sending MIDI from a computer keyboard. For example, in Ableton, the defaults should correspond to the ASDFGH keys.

Getting Started with BUFFEATER

Setting Up In Plug-in Mode [todo]

Overview of BUFFEATER

Global Controls

BUFFEATER has several global controls that are independent from the FX blocks, but are important to understand before beginning.

BYPASS: Turns the entire BUFFEATER effect on and off.
MIX | GATE FADER: When set to MIX, the cyan colored fader to the left controls the wet/dry balance. If set to GATE, the cyan colored fader to the left controls the volume and a gate (MIDI NOTE ON) message turns the effect on (100% wet). If set to GATE, no signal will pass unless you are holding down and fx trigger.
SYNC: Quantizes fx triggers to the nearest value set in the adjacent sync menu. Bypass this by clicking the word SYNC.
REC: When on, knob movements are recorded into their repsective automation lanes and automation is automatically turned on.

Beatlooper

BUFFEATER comes with a time-stretching looper to feed audio into the effect. Essentially, this is like a tape deck that you can use to demo and try out the effect. We’ve included a large sample library as well which you are free to use in both commercial and non-commercial musical or artistic works. Please see the end user license agreement for more information.

Beatlooper has the following parameters:

INTERNAL/LIVE AUDIO SWITCH: When set to INTERNAL LOOP PLAYER, the samples in the deck will be routed into BUFFEATER. When set to LIVE (EXT. AUDIO IN) BUFFEATER will look for audio from your host software when in plugin mode. In standalone mode it will look for audio from your hardware interface, so that you can route turntables, synths and microphones directly into BUFFEATER.
BPM: An additional correction selector to multiply or divide the samples tempo by 2 in the event that the BPM was incorrectly detected.
SMPL: Selects the sample to be played back.
PITCH: Sets the pitch of the sample being played back.
START: Sets the start position of the sample in 1/16th notes.
LEN: Sets the end position or ‘length’ of the sample in 1/16th notes.
AMP: Sets the overall volume of the Beatlooper.

FX Automation

Each knob in a BUFFEATER effect block can be automated. When you trigger an effect, you will notice that a playhead begins to move across a cyan colored automation lane. This is the automation for a specific parameter knob. You can tell which parameter is currently displayed by looking at the color of the knob labels. A cyan colored label indicates that you are viewing automation for that specific parameter.

All the settings you see in the automation area with the exception of RND are specific to the currently selected knob.

To view a different automation lane, simply click on a knob you’d wish to see. By clicking rather than moving a knob, you can switch the lane being displayed without having to mess up your current knob’s setting.

Automation Settings (from left to right):

LOOP LENGTH: Changes the playback length of the currently selected automation lane.
SEQUENCER SPEED: Changes the automation lane's playback speed.
RND (ALL): Randomizes currently selected automation lane. Turn on ALL to randomize all automation lanes for that effect block at once.
SM: When ON, automation smoothing is turned on between steps. This is similar to a glide effect and is best left on if you are trying to record your knob movements or create smooth transitions. When OFF, automation values will jump immediately from step to step. This is similar to a ‘sample & hold’ type effect.
LOOP: (indicated by a yellow loop symbol) When ON, the visible automation lane will loop as long as you hold down the fx trigger. When OFF, automation will only play back once for each time you trigger an effect (similar to how an envelope would work).
ON: The on button turns on or off automation for the currently selected parameter's lane.
POWER SWITCH: Toggles automation for all lanes for that effect block.

FX Presets

Each effect in BUFFEATER has its own presets, called FX Presets. These presets store the current knob positions along with all settings and automation for that effect.

We’ve created 48 preset slots for each fx block and labeled presets 49-64 USER, but feel free to erase or change these as you’ll learn how to do below.

S: Saves current knob, automation and additional fx settings into the currently selected preset slot. Please note that it isn’t necessary to save each preset one by one. You can simply use the global SAVE! button which will save all 6 effect presets (and a Reaktor Snapshot).
L: Loads the snapshot stored in memory. Useful to ‘undo’ changes you’ve made.
C: Copies current knob, automation and additional settings to be pasted into a new slot.
P: Pastes knob, automation and additional settings into the currently active slot.
FX PRESET MENU: Allows you to instantly change the current FX Preset.

Use your up and down arrows on your computer keyboard after having clicked on the FX Preset Menu once to scroll up and down through presets on the fly.

The Effects Parameters and Settings

Each effect has a set of knobs and additional settings directly below them. In this section, we will describe what each knob and setting does.

Use the value readout next to the 'REC' button in the upper right hand corner of the interface while moving a knob to set it to a precise value

Stretch

Granular time and pitch stretching effect. You can use this effect to slow down (stretch) your audio and even freeze it, while still maintaining control over the audio’s pitch.

STRETCH: Stretch allows you to slow down the speed of the incoming audio by repeating fragments of audio called 'grains'. At 100% you can freeze the sound in time.
GRAIN: The Grain control will determine the size of the repetitions (grains), allowing you to repeat fragments of the incoming audio on the fly.
PITCH: Pitch, allows you to adjust the pitch of the incoming audio independently from time thus allowing you to change the pitch without changing the speed.
MIX: Sets the dry/wet mix levels for this effect.
BUFFER RETRIG: Enables fx retriggering type effect. Audio entering the effect is recaptured repeatedly at the rate set in the adjacent retrigger rate menu.
GRAIN SYNC: Syncs grain size to clock, so that grain repeats are in time with your projects BPM.
REVERSE: Reverses the direction of playback of the grains.

Tape

Tape is a varispeed type effect that allows you to slow down/speed up effect while also altering its pitch. This is similar to the effect you get when speeding up or slowing down a tape, but can also achieve more abstract effects and flanging.

TIME: Sets the time in 16th notes to speed up or slowdown the audio signal.
BEND: Controls the exponential shape of the speed changes.
MIX: Sets the dry/wet mix levels for this effect.
BUFFER RETRIG: Enables fx retriggering type effect. Audio entering the effect is recaptured repeatedly at the rate set in the adjacent retrigger rate menu.
UP/DOWN: A direction option which essentially allows you to choose whether you want audio to speed up or slow down.

Slice Repeat

Slice repeat allows you to repeat fragments of incoming audio and even re-order them on the fly. You can also adjust the speed and direction of the playback of the slices.

LENGTH: Determines the length of the looped slice in rhythmic values.
SHIFT: Shifts start of the repeated slice by 16th notes (16 possible steps/bar).
SPEED: Determines the playback speed in %. 200% = double-speed, 50% = half-speed, 0% = full stop (useful for muting or gating the signal when used in conjunction with internal automation).
MIX: Sets the dry/wet mix levels for this effect.
REVERSE: Reverses the direction of playback of the slices.

Deconstruct

Deconstruct takes slices of incoming audio and randomly rearranges them in time and can also reverse them. This effect is similar to Slice Repeat, except that it is more random and also features a ‘slide’ setting that causes audio to glide between slices.

SIZE: Determines the length of the slices to be processed.
SPACE: Controls the amount of buffer space used for manipulation.
SLIDE: Determines the amount of smoothing (glide) applied to readout position. 0 = No smoothing.
MIX: Sets the dry/wet mix levels for this effect.
REVERSE: Reverses the direction of playback of the slices.

Scratch

Scratch can do classic turntable style scratch effects, similar to what a DJ does with vinyl or cdjs. This allows you to play with time rhythmically with results that sound like ‘scratching’.

SIZE: Controls the length of the incoming audio signal used for scratching.
SPEED: Determines scratching speed.
MIX: Sets the dry/wet mix levels for this effect.
BUFFER RETRIG: Enables fx retriggering type effect. Audio entering the effect is recaptured repeatedly at the rate set in the adjacent retrigger rate menu.

Feed Grains

Feed Grains is a granular feedback effect, that is great for creating spatial effects similar to reverb and also to create similar effects to ring modulation.

SIZE: Sets the grain size.
PITCH: Transposes incoming audio in semitones.
FEED: Controls the amount of feedback applied to the incoming signal.
MIX: Sets the dry/wet mix levels for this effect.
REVERSE: Reverses the direction of playback of the grains.

Multi-Out Support

BUFFEATER works as a multi-out instrument, allowing each effect stage to have a separate output which can then be sent to other effects processors in your DAW or within Reaktor. Please see your host for guidelines/setup of multi-output instruments. In most DAWs, you will set the input of an aux or audio track up to receive the desired output from Reaktor. If you don’t want to use multi-outs, you can continue to use BUFFEATER as always and will notice no difference in behavior.

BUFFEATER Multi-Out Signal Routing:

Stretch - Outputs 3-4
Tape - Outputs 5-6
Slice Repeat - Outputs 7-8
Deconstruct - Outputs 9-10
Scratch - Outputs 10-11
Feed Grains - Outputs 12-13

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Note: While offline bouncing is supported, ‘bounce in place’ type features (such as those in Logic Pro) that bounce a specific region in place won’t work if you’re using the sidechain input to route audio into the plugin. This is a signal flow issue related to your host’s handling of sidechains and not a bug. When using ‘Bounce In Place’ your region is basically being solo’ed before bouncing and your host may not take into consideration that there is another track sending audio into the effect via the sidechain, resulting in an empty bounce.

Can I use BUFFEATER with Reaktor Player?

Yes!

How big is the included samples library?

346mb of goodness.

What is the license for the sample content?

This content is free to use for commercial or non-commercial musical works, but you may not redistribute these samples in any way, shape or form or claim credit for the material in its raw unaltered form or outside of a musical work. You may not use this material to make other sample libraries.

How do I set BUFFEATER up in my host?

Please see the manual section 1.5 for help.

How do I get live audio going into BUFFEATER instead of the tape player?

There is a menu in the BeatLooper instrument below the cyan colored horizontal playhead. Click on that menu and choose ‘Live (external audio in) and feed audio into BUFFEATER from your host or audio interface in standalone mode.

I’m playing my QWERTY keyboard but don’t hear or see anything. What should I do?

Are you in plugin mode or standalone mode? If you are in standalone mode you should be hearing something or at least seeing something.

If you don’t hear or see anything light up when in stand alone mode, drop us a line in at twistedtools.com/forums

If you see the cyan triggers light up, but don’t hear anything and are in standalone mode, please check Reaktor’s audio device/ soundcard setting under System>Audio & MIDI Settings (or File>Audio&MIDI Settings). Chose your output device.

If you are in plugin mode, try pressing ASDFGH on your QWERTY keyboard or play BUFFEATER using note #‘s 60, 62, 64, 65, 67 and 69. If you are in Ableton Live, Hmm...sounds like your Computer MIDI Keyboard is off (Options>Computer MIDI Keyboard) in Live. Either that or you've somehow switched octaves?

How do I change the notes used to trigger BUFFEATER? (contradicts with NKS KEYBOARD fixed settings!!!!!!!!!!!)

Right-click an fx trigger (horizontal button with the fx name on it) and choose MIDI learn and play a note on your keyboard. Please note that in Logic, this won’t work if you’re using BUFFEATER as an insert effect. You should be using BUFFEATER as a software instrument. Please see our manual section 1.5

To customize and MIDI Learn notes on your computer keyboard or MIDI keyboard to Buffeater’s six effects triggers:

Right-click an FX Trigger (the grey horizontal bar with the name of the effect).
Choose MIDI Learn.
Play a note on your keyboard or using your Computer Keyboard (if currently setup to function as a MIDI keyboard in your host.

I can’t hear any effects at all, what is happening?

BUFFEATER requires that the internal Reaktor clock is running or that your host software is running in order to work properly.
Is it possible that the main mix slider is turned down?
Are you trying to listen to live audio input or the built-in Beatlooper’s sounds? You may need to switch the Beatlooper’s mode menu to the right source.

Changelog

1.0.0 RP (Reaktor Player release)

Buffeater is now Reaktor Player compatible and does not require the full version of Reaktor to run
NKS browser integration
Light Guide support for the KOMPLETE KONTROL S-Series keyboards

Changelog

check whatsup with buffeater preset saving and why it requires clicking SAVE? - fixed, save is hidden now, need to change doc

beatlooper fixes? (env/clock) - done, replaced with new beatlooper

disable auto/ic for SLCP buttons - done

sva's preserve data even if you disable snap support so you need to replace them in the end with new ones created from scratch - done (optimized ENS size by alot but keep in mind that presets are not remembered per snap now (that was lame anyway because entry names dont change anyway)

Fix bug for randomizer/sequencers - done

implemented automation for buffeater (including beatlooper)

Fixed smoothers

Had to remove snap support for preset menus to avoid them selfloading on snap/preset load. However when you select menu manually it should work (there is ignore first macro), the only quirky thing is that when you select same menu entry it won't reload itself because generic menu module is internally stepfiltered

increase mouse resolution for some controls (careful though make sure its not related to ic send?) - had to use factor of the original resolution because it seems that if you use internal animation for knobs its related to knobs resolution and if you change resolution, animation frame maybe changed!!!!!!

Replaced automation power buttons with rolodecks power icons, seems more logical. Change doc ideally

Safe cp routers for presets

fixed STETCH SYNC GRAIN values (basically there were wrong coefficients for T16 multiplication, still , dont use that table as

i didnt fix values below 0.3 scaling so who knows if they are correct). had to make special workaround so that min division is 1/2

instead of 1/3 cus it makes more sense

need to maybe replace buffeater with proper mouse areas for knobs for lane

selection/automation - but keep in mind hints and docs - DONE

Should the beatlooper structure be obscurized? - done

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Last updated 5 years ago

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