elysia nvelope 2-Channel 500 Series Transient Shaper EQ & Dynamics Processor Module

Manufacturer's Description

nvelope 500 is a powerful audio processor capable of making subtle or drastic changes to a sound by providing control over its attack and sustain characteristics. This is extremely useful for reshaping all sorts of individual tones, and is a wonderful tool in any mixing situation as well. Especially drums and other percussive signals will benefit big time from the nvelope’s magic.

The nvelope 500 can effectively change the spatial perception of a signal, ranging from small/dry to large/wet. You can form a signal and enhance its cut in the mix without deforming it too much as you would by using excessive EQ and compression.

Do you already know, that the Founder and CEO of elysia, Ruben Tilgner, invented the Transient Designer | Transient Shaper Technology in the late 90s? He’s the only one who developed Transient Shaper Hardware until today.

Every single of its many aspects – sound, features, circuitry, components, design, materials, manufacturing – has been thought over and over until there was just nothing left to improve. Basically, every single part of our fine products is custom, and most of these are made according to our own designs and specs.

Only the best components the market has to offer are good enough for the nvelope 500, and it shows. Each of our product is manually built to order and tested by ourselves, here at our headquarters in Germany.

Our product benefits sum up in an audio quality that is beyond all doubt. Even when extreme settings are used, the sound always stays clean and powerful.

The nvelope 500 operates independently of the specific level of a signal, and (unlike with compressors) you do not have to spend a lot of time trying to balance a set of complex controls to quickly get the results you seek. With its unique Dual Band mode, the nvelope 500 gives you enhanced control over processing, and can easily handle complex program material. Additionally, its dynamics sections can be bypassed, allowing it to function as a flexible high/low shelf EQ.

The nvelope 500 is a powerful audio processor capable of making subtle or drastic changes to a sound by providing control over its attack and sustain characteristics.

This is extremely useful for reshaping all sorts of individual tones, and is a wonderful tool in any mixing situation as well.

It operates independently of the specific level of a signal, and (unlike with compressors) you do not have to spend a lot of time trying to balance a set of complex controls to quickly get the results you seek.

Full Range mode is especially fast and easy to use, as all you need to do is dial in more or less attack and sustain by turning their specific controllers to the left (reduction) or to the right (increase).

Similar to a compressor and unlike in Dual Band mode, you can use the Freq A controller to reduce the influence of low frequencies on the attack processing (higher frequency = less bass influence).

The unique Dual Band mode of the nvelope 500 takes you to the next level of impulse shaping. The attack and sustain parameters become much more flexible by selectively processing a certain frequency range chosen by the user.

The Freq A controller now sets the start frequency for attack processing, while the Freq S controller determines the end frequency for sustain processing. The function of the Attack and Sustain controllers remains the same as in Full Range mode.

So it is pretty likely you’ll find yourself using the Dual Band mode in any situation where you would like to adapt the way the nvelope 500 processes more individually and on material which tends to produce unwanted artifacts in Full Range mode.

Generally speaking, Dual Band mode gives you more distinct processing options and the possibility to even cope with complex material like a summing bus.

A very nice side effect of the topology of the nvelope 500 is that it can also be used as a shelving filter. This is achieved by temporarily deactivating its dynamics sections while keeping the filter stages active.

Freq A now sets the frequency of the high shelf filter, while Attack determines the amount of cut (turn left) or boost (turn right) in this band. Similarly, Freq S sets the frequency of the low shelf filter and Sustain determines the amount of cut or boost.

The special architecture also allows for another nice feature which is kind of hard to find on other EQs: Not only can the two channels be used as two separate equalizers at the same time, but they can be linked for processing stereo material conveniently as well.

The nvelope 500 really gets the best out of the two rack slots it sits in. It can be two channels of Full Range or Dual Band impulse shaper or shelving EQ, which can be operated stereo linked or dual mono.

But, the two separate channels can also be used for different tasks at the same time. For example, you can shape one signal in Dual Band mode in channel L and a completely different signal in Full Range mode in channel R.

Or, you can connect the output of channel L to the input of channel R, and then process the frequency response of one single signal with the EQ first, followed by some nice Dual Band impulse shaping.

As you can imagine, there are lots of possible combinations.

The header says it all, but you might want to have a look at the possible channel combinations resulting from this. Ultimate flexibility!

Stereo Link:

2 x Full Range
2 x Dual Band
2 x EQ

Dual Mono:

Full Range – Full Range
Full Range – Dual Band
Full Range – EQ

Dual Band – Full Range
Dual Band – Dual Band
Dual Band – EQ

EQ – Full Range
EQ – Dual Band
EQ – EQ

Boosting the attack in Full Range mode can sometimes result in some pretty huge level peaks. These can make your processed signal sound uneven, and in the worst case they will create the nasty kind of distortion you don’t want.

The nvelope 500 solves this very conveniently with the Auto Gain function. This simple button makes the impulse shaper automatically compensate stronger level peaks, so this can be the solution for many level-related issues caused by the attack processing.

By the way, Auto Gain is typically not needed in Dual Band operation and therefore not offered in this mode. Also, Auto Gain does not have any influence on a channel operating in EQ mode.

The nvelope 500 features fully stepped potentiometers for its frequency controllers.The 41 steps make a precise recall very easy, and they provide a useful range of possible settings at the same time. And you will just love the feel of them, too.

For the gain controllers we have decided to use potentiometers with a single center detent instead. During the development process we noticed that finding the neutral position for ‘bypassing’ a processing section at once comes in very handy.

We love the sound of class-A circuitry! And here is why: In a class-A amplifier, the transistors are conductive all of the time, so there is no crossover distortion at all.

This is the perfect technological basis for an open sound with massive punch and no degradation of your original source.

The discrete approach makes it possible to design every single stage in signal processing exactly to what you want it to do – physics becomes the only limit.

The nvelope 500 uses our custom discrete input and output stages derived from the alpha compressor, and the complete audio path is a fully discrete class-A design, too.

The benefit of this pristine circuitry is a saturation tool capable of adding substantial amounts of color to a signal without degrading its original quality. And even if quite massive distortion is applied, the result will always sound interesting and never bad. A very welcome side effect is the noise floor which is pleasingly low for a processor of this kind.

Specifications

Frequency response

• <10 Hz - 400 kHz (-3.0 dB) THD+N
• @ 0 dBu, 20 Hz – 22 kHz: 0.006 %
• @ +10 dBu, 20 Hz – 22 kHz: 0.01 %

Noise floor A-weighted

• 20 Hz – 20 kHz (Full Range, EQ): -90.0 dBu
• 20 Hz – 20 kHz (Dual Band): -87.0 dBu

Dynamic range

• 20 Hz – 22 kHz: 112 dB

Maximum level

• Input: +21 dBu
• Output: +21 dBu

Impedance

• Input: 10 kOhm
• Output: 68 Ohm

Power consumption

• Total: 200 mA
• Per slot: 100 mA