Topic by Jake Johnson

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  • Jake Johnson
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Topic: Stupid human trick: reverse direction of head in Binaural presets.

Just a note about something I did by accident that creates an interesting variation on any Binaural preset: (I'm speaking of the default presets with the head\phones placed to the right of the piano.)

If you just turn the head around, so the arrow is pointing in the wrong direction, directly away from the piano, exactly opposite where it was originally pointing, the result is a valid variation on the sound.

It doesn't sound as though you are standing with your back to the piano, exactly. The sound becomes less "rich" and a little more distant, but good.

(Move the head closer to the piano, of course, to compensate for the increased sense of distance.)

Last edited by Jake Johnson (24-07-2009 00:46)

Reply by dhalfen

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  • dhalfen
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Re: Stupid human trick: reverse direction of head in Binaural presets.

Oo, oo, oo, this stupid human has a request:

Let's add an option where the headphones can _rotate_ (in both horizontal directions and with controllable speed).  I mean, I can already fudge this with an external Leslie simulation, but that tends to add some extra colour (which may or may not be what I want).

In fact, why don't we go "whole hog" and add this feature to _each_ microphone as well?

I'm getting dizzy already...

I'm going back to my rubber room now.  %^)

"Our developers, who art in Toulouse, hallowed be thy physical-models.
Thy version 4 come, thy new instruments be done, in the computer as it is in the wood!"

Reply by Jake Johnson

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Re: Stupid human trick: reverse direction of head in Binaural presets.

I wonder what actually happens--is the phasing of the mics reversed, in a way? The phasing of the ears?

Automate it so the head is always moving? But what would you call it? Auto-rotate head? Hm...But what happens to the body? Surely in a realistic simulation the head would pop off the body after a good twist or two, and then there's the mess to clean up.

Last edited by Jake Johnson (24-07-2009 00:58)

Reply by dhalfen

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Re: Stupid human trick: reverse direction of head in Binaural presets.

We can call it "Dizzy Dummy" -- I'll get the mop and bucket!!!  %^)

"Our developers, who art in Toulouse, hallowed be thy physical-models.
Thy version 4 come, thy new instruments be done, in the computer as it is in the wood!"

Reply by Jake Johnson

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Re: Stupid human trick: reverse direction of head in Binaural presets.

Further notes on the Stupid Human Trick:

1. Since turning the head around puts the ears and nose facing a wall or corner, the reverb settings need to be considered--the reflections may arrive a little earlier, or at least have more prominence. Dragging the bottom two Reverb pane sliders closer to the left side may give the sound still more of a pleasant presence. Or not.

2. Worth trying is moving the outward-facing head all the way to the edge of the square surrounding the piano as if that edge was a wall, so the nose is in the corner or against the wall, as though the head had misbehaved. The sound is not always automatically distant. Playing around with the Dry-Wet ratio can then create a plate reverb and various other hard-to-describe and probably-not-worth-describing sounds.  A new range of piano sounds, however. (I'm not speaking of moving the head all the way to the actual wall that exists far outside the square--moving it there does create more distance than may be wanted, although with the volume turned up, the resulting sound might also be of use.)

3. Ideally, facing the head away from the piano also means that when the head twists off the body, which would presumably require that it has completed a full turn, it will not see the resulting ugliness imposed upon the piano, thus sparing it a final moment of anguish as consciousness is lost. Unless, of course, the head is set to automatically continue to revolve, a situation which would impose a regrettably less pleasant experience.

Last edited by Jake Johnson (18-09-2009 16:18)