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Odd vs Even Harmonic Distortion in Mixing
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- čas přidán 21. 04. 2019
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What is the difference between odd and even harmonics?
How can you use these different orders of harmonic distortion in a mix?
Distortion can refer to any form a processing that changes the waveform of the signal.
But we’re talking about circuits get overloaded, and waveforms get clipped.
As we overdrive the signal, more frequencies are added and the waveform squares off.
This is known as Harmonic Distortion, or Saturation. The added frequencies color the sound, and the squared wave limiting it’s dynamic range in a unique kind of compression.
The frequencies added are whole number intervals of the fundamental frequency, and create a richer timbre based off added musical intervals.
When we examine these overtones as a harmony, a key difference becomes clear.EVEN overtones are made up of Octaves and fifth’s,
whereas ODD overtones are made up of thirds and form a dominant 7 chord.
What do your ears tell you?
Can you Hear the difference between odd and even order harmonics?
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Tape sims are supposed to introduce odd order harmonics, and emphasize the third harmonic. Tube style saturation adds even order harmonics, and emphasizes the second harmonic, and generally can sound (subjectively) a little smoother. Diode/Pentode transistor style saturation, like those emulating pre-amps is based on a row of odd harmonics characteristic of transistors resulting in a sharp, somewhat aggressive sound These non-linearities are often what makes a sound source sound fuller, as well as the useful softening of transients to add cohesion. So to answer your question, anything that is a tube simulated distortion, or anything labelled "warm", like in saturn, the plugin you're using, introduces even harmonic overtones. Also it's important to note that the "Keep Low" setting in softube's saturation knob actually ephasizes the low end less, as it's distorting more of the high frequencies (which is a form of compression) as a way to make the low end seem louder by comparison (and vice-verse for "Keep High" mode).
Great answer Zac some good points here. I got similar responses when researching for this video, (tube = even, tape = odd etc) but was disappointed I was not able to recreate those characteristics using the plugins I had, most of the tube settings were just the same odd harmonics in a different orientation. Definitely will have to follow up on this video.
@@LearnAudioEngineering Shut the fuck up Rob
@@zacgabriel4724 Curry Bae
@@LearnAudioEngineering - That's been my exact experience as well...
i found out that tuning the 'bias' knob (if your distortion had one) creates even harmonics
Schepps Omni-channel on waves do both odd and even harmonics
It's weird how the even harmonics sound so much better on the sine wave, yet on the drums, the odd harmonics sound much more bright & clear!
My favorite saturation plugin is the Harmonics Analog Saturation Processor from Softube.
Great work 👌
Greetings from north Africa (Algerian dezert)
Man I just did the test with orders of harmonics day before I watched this video and can confirm that vast majortiy of plugins I have and have tried, compressors, pultecs, other eqs, saturators have some combination of odd and even harmonics with much more dominant odd harmonics, I found few exceptions that I was surprised was dominantly even harmonics because those are literally my most favourite plugins for they coloration and character
So plugins with more dominant even harmonics are:
1. Softube Tape on type B settings, yes this tape has even harmonics, type A and C have mostly odd harmonics
2. Soundtoys decapitator type E settings
3. Soundtoys I think it is called little warmer
4. Softube Tube-Tech cl1b both mk1 and mk2
5. Plugin I love and use all time which has around 50/50 of even and odd harmonics is Softube FET
Also with certain settings you can get more even harmonics from Plugin alliance BlackBox HG-2
Hope it helps, cheers!
awesome, this is also useful thanks Daniel!
Did you try out Softube Harmonics and all the different modes?
@@thatchinaboi1 yes and settings I like the most and use all the time is Master settings, just make sure to not bake it and watch that thd meter anything between 1-3% THD is going to give you sweet and crisp sound because it has dominant even harmonics, but odd harmonics are present here as well.
@@danielkisel5661 Thanks. I notice the pretty drastic non linearity of the tube section. So to get the tube body without the harshness I need to use gentle settings. Push it a little bit harder and harshness gets introduced along with compression from the soft clipping. It's not only the topology and the type of amplification that matters. The settings make a huge difference in the ratio and amount of even/odd harmonics due to the non linearity of all of these analog gear and analog modeling gear. I find that the phase correlation of a stereo signal will slightly change when I change the type of saturation in Softube Harmonics along with the frequency response, but that should not be any surprise. Any change in frequency response can alter the phase relationship, which then causes a perceived change in the psychoacoustic properties of the stereo image. The less phase coherence there is the less perceived clarity there will be.
SSLs saturator (one of my favorite for drums and guitars) has both even and odd harmonics. Not only that but you can blend between them. SSL, Saturn 2, VTM and Decapitator…if I wanna drive something, it’s almost always one of those processors. If you were only gonna have one saturator, though, Saturn is where it’s at. it’s just SO versatile. From light, surgical multiband to screaming bit destruction…it’s all in there. Fabfilter is one of those rare companies where if you were only gonna have one of some type of processor, theirs is probably the go-to. I use *way* too much of their stuff
my first video of the channel & i love this channel
Any distortion plugin that can do assymetric/bipolar distortion can give you even harmonics, for example, a lot of waveshapers let you distort the positive and negative sides of the soundwaves you send through it independently. I usually use fruity waveshaper for this, but i think you can do it in izotope thrash aswell. Another way to get assymetric distortion is do add dc offset to the sound you're sending through a distortion plugin, and remove it after the distortion plugin with an eq or highpass filter.
i get what you're saying, but if you run a sine wave through wave shaper with symmetric distortion, the more you push the pre-gain the more odd harmonics you get, but you ONLY get odd harmonics from symmetric distortion; whereas non-symmetric distortion introduces BOTH odd AND even harmonics... so my question is: how can you get ONLY even harmonics with, say, fruity waveshaper?
@@ramalshebl60 yeah i don't know a way to only add even harmonics, maybe i worded myself it a bit confusing. Phase distortion is another way to add even(and odd) harmonics!
@@alfberger3150 👍🏼👍🏼
Excellent video. One correction however. As you said, harmonics are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency. Therefore they are all at octave intervals above the fundamental - not thirds or fifths (fractions) of an octave relative to the fundamental. Even order harmonics manifest as asymmetrical waveforms; odd order harmonics manifest as symmetrical waveforms. The harmonics do create chordal sounds though because of the mathematical (fractional) relationships they have to each other.
This isn’t quite right. The first harmonic is an octave above the fundamental but the second is a fifth a ove that, and every subsequent harmonic is a smaller interval above the previous note until they become sufficiently close that when loud enough they sound pitchless.
@@xenophiliusrex2501 The first harmonic is the fundamental frequency. The second harmonic is an octave above and twice the fundamental. The third harmonic is two octaves above and three times the fundamental; the fourth harmonic Is three octaves above and four times the fundamental; the fifth harmonic is four octaves above and five times the fundamental.
Sometimes the terms for harmonics are confused with the same terms used for note steps in the musical scale which are parts of a chord - generally fractions of an octave. Not the same thing as harmonics.
Scheps OmniChannel from Waves has both an odd and even setting. Now I know what the hell they do. Thank you!
Great video! Very clear and proper explanation.
By far the best video I've ever seen on this topic
means a lot, thank you!
i like the audio examples, thanks
The Plugin Alliance Black Box HG-2 has an even harmonics pentode mode.
I'll check that out thanks!
Nice work. I see many people trying to explain this. You have done it very clearly. On another note, I have been using Softube Saturation Knob for years and it really it an excellent little sat tool. 👏
One thing worth noting is that with the even test there are not nearly as many higher frequencies present in the actual eq'ing. It would have been nice if more were included.
Great video bro, i learned so much today, thanks so much for all information you give us, greetings and blessings from Perú!!!!!
Hey Roland! thank you sir 👋
The strength of odd order harmonics is not a fundamental of the typical pitches selected in regards to frequency of instrument tuning, octave scaling, and this is also relative to the human singing voice.
When you clip the signal or shape it in such a way that it increases the magnitude of harmonics, the odd order are the sour portions within the fundamental starting wave, and they create the harshness which is why deep levels of clipping and gain lose definition. You have to remember your digital hardware is just an operational mode of purely analog devices; transistors, capacitors, diodes etc.
The engineers behind this equipment are not bothering to design chips with post asymmetrical clipping high magnitude wave gain, so you're actually limited by the physical architecture of the semiconductors used to operate in a digital mode.
Anyway, I am an electronics/electrical engineer if you haven't guessed by now but admittedly, did not quite finish my degree, but did more than enough to fill in the small voids in the 12 years since I went to college. *Generally, we still desire a small amount of obvious odd order harmonic pressence, with a dominating even order which is why guitarists still stick a solid state pedal in front of their tube equipment in the majority of examples.* I like a lot about tubes, but dislike a fair amount of traits as well.
Solid state, on the other hand, gives the snarl, sleaze and aggression I prefer, but when unleashing wild arpeggios, shredding leads and solos and other high speed note clusters, the definition is severely sacrificed and I'm left wanting more performance from the equipment.
Ultimately, this means designing and building my own solid state equipment from scratch because next to nothing purchased on a poorman's budget is designed correctly, and now tube gear is priced 5 to literally 10x what it's actually worth when reviewing manufacturing costs.
*The plugins you seek are unlikely ever to exist outside of buying a custom designed soundcard with it's own proprietary software so it is capable of those harmonics.* You can't write in functions the hardware itself is structurally incapable of no matter how amazing of a soft/firmware engineer you are.
A lot of plugins say "tube" which is supposed to add even order harmonics, but most of them don't. I went through almost every saturation plugin I could find, played a low sine wave through them and looked with an analyzer and listened to the output. After a short while, I could immediately identify with my ear which was odd/even/mixed order harmonics being added. Unfortunately, many many of them added only odd or mixed.
Only a few added only even. The evens were: Melda MPolySaturator allows you to litterally add the 2nd, 4th & 6th harmonics like an organ), FabFilter Saturn's rectify with the dry ((fundamental) mixed back in. Melda MSaturatorMB (set to single band) could really pull out the even harmonics over the odd, so could D16 Devastore 2 set to Asim. TANH if you tweak the Shape knob, and so could Lifeline Expanse's rectify model with Tone 100% and Drive at 5%.
Every other plugin I own or demoed did odd or even and a lot of odd.
thanks
i cant seem to be able to push the drive in the melda saturators i can just add one harmonic but not the rest
@@gughffhhghgghghgg1690 - MSaturatorMB?
Everything below applies to the Easy Mode in this plugin...click the bright red Edit button (if it's on) to get to this view.
- Make sure you're using Saturation (1 band) device (Click Devices on the left if you don't see it). The Bass & Air device won't give you much crunch. Analogize will but still not as much...stick with Saturation (1 band).
- Make sure you're driving the plugin sufficiently... -12 to -9dB should be plenty to add lots of Odd Order harmonics with the Drive knob...even with the Soft 1 Mode.
- But if you're looking to add Even order harmonics, you don't want to use the Drive knob as much anyway...just use the 4th or 2nd Harmonics knobs to get the cleanest even harmonics.
- Also, remember, this is a multi-band plugin...make sure you're on a single-band "device" (Saturation 1 band) or you may end up driving just a small band of frequencies which could cause the lack of response you're seeing.
- Of course make sure Dry/wet is all the way up.
Hope this helps! Cheers!
Add iZotope Neutron 4 (maybe 3 also?) Exciter to the Even Order Harmonics list. Classic/warm setting gives lots of gooey even harmonics...
thanks a lot man
Panning the saturation wide leaves more room in the center for other elements. Nice.
I've been wondering this for years, thank you! Also did not know that about the last 1/3 of Saturation Knob, I have somehow never even tried cranking it that high. Thank you! You rock!
glad you dig it, Viktor! thanks for watching
this is killer content man, thanks
Thank you for watching! much appreciated :D
Thx fr the tutorial. I really enjoyed it.
I Jus copped the ssl native saturator it has option fr 2nd order n is absolutely great. It was on sale fr 20$ . Ideal fr everything it makes any track better n buttery. Really good fr master chain too. I demoed the whole ssl native pack as well cuz it’s pretty pricey n the saturator really stands out. I also use the NLS, the abbey sat which is too good , the puigtec or pultec is really good fr jus saturation as well. Even jus an ssl EQ adds really good body depth n analog saturation. There’s one on the scheps Omni channel too which has the option fr 2 3 or heavy wit hp or lp filters side chains n a few more options that really help concentrate where u wanna apply saturation. Yeah that Omni channel is a beast. The j37 tape is sick too jus fr the sat n rounding off properties. Obviously Kramer tape too which u had in the video. Has its own flavor I really like that one.
I use TAL-Tube after a few compression passes (different thresholds and ratios) to saturate drum shells, guitar, vocals, or anything, ProF.E.T. by Ignite Amps before the amp sim for metal guitars, Bass Grinder for bass, TAL Bitcrusher for bit reduction, and JCM800 Hot Pre-Amp by Ignite Amps as a, get this, hot pre-amp. All of these are free. I don't know how any of them work, but I love them.
Thanks. Found a new rabbit hole to explore :D
Excellent video, thanks! Maybe we could use Reaktor to create a saturator that adds even or odd harmomics
Now it's clear for me ! Thank you very much !!!
:D
Beautifully explained. Thank you so much for this. Definitely subbing.
your username is BEAUTIFUL my dude
Great video! More stuff than no one else does :D
TDR SlickEQ has both Even and Odd harmonics in Silky mode. Btw, do you know what kind of harmonics does the Klanghelm IVGI 2 have? There's also the Venn Audio FreeClip that with its last three softness modes (the ones at the right side) make the plugin work like a saturator instead of a clipper.
I'll check those recommendations out! thanks man!
Just checked about the IVGI2: The asym control seemed to pan between even and odd (1), to more emphasis on even (9), on both versions 1 and 2. Their website says the higher asym is supposed to make the saturation more transparent and their manual says " Usually, asymmetry leads to an increase of even order harmonics."
so that's pretty sweet for bass.
@@LearnAudioEngineering Nice, thanks.
This is a fantastic video man, thank you! So far my faves 'in the box' are the PluginAlliance Brainworks BT_Console series, like all of them. For years we used many SSL emulators, from Waves and others, and those are fine...they just never really seemed to add much, mainly making things a bit warmer but felt roughly equivailent to rolling off a high shelf. Signals never really felt much 'richer' unless really pushed, and then at extreme settings the clipping just crushed the waveform and negated the process. so sure, many saturation plugs are great for subtle variances across a mix but the better ones like the BT stuff, Saturn
and plenty others, really pump the harmonics in a discernible way. Anyway thanks again, cheers mate
Amazing! It will keep coming back to this one as a reference. Bass guitar might have become a bit mid heavy though.
Thanks for your feedback, glad you enjoyed it!
Tubes running class A would have asymmetric distortion that has both even and odd order harmonics due to the difference in saturation and cutoff. This increases the complexity of the resulting tone and will sound even more aggressive. Tubes in typical push-pull power amp configurations cancel out all even order harmonics and will sound somewhat less aggressive and smoother.
Great video exactly what I was looking for ty!
Super great video, Robert! Amazing content.
Odd harmonics drive me crazy when tuning by ear.
It's as if everything sounds flat by 7 cents or so...
Thanks Sean! Glad you enjoyed it!
SansAmp PSA1 works as a great distortion plugin for me. Don't know if it provides odd or even harmonics!
that one is great, a go to whenever I'm in Pro Tools
Thank you for explaining!
Nice concise technical video. Subbed!
Thank you! I've been using this to better understand how Softube Harmonics works. I bought it recently and all the options appear to be very similar to the ear.
Damn this was gold!
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching! :D
This is a very neat video, I've been trying to get more knowledge on harmonics because of harmonics in RF. Particularly there is a Russian number station called the buzzer and this station can be heard on its harmonic frequencies. There has been another buzzer found recently that isn't on a mathematical harmonic frequency to the buzzers 4625kHz. there seems to be another one on 4612kHz and we're trying to see if there's some sort of reason a harmonic would fall here or possibly it's actually another station broadcasting. Thank you for the info!
Thanks!
In Logic, the only plug-ins that appear to add even harmonics are the vintage EQ Series, set to 'punchy' (I verified this with a 100 Hz tone on a spectrum analyzer). Other settings add both even and odd harmonics. Every other plug-in adds odd harmonics.
Some plug-ins you wouldn't expect to add harmonics do, even when turned off, such as the Enveloper in Logic.
The best place to find these and control those levels is by turning on soft distortion in the compressors, which surprisingly adds more of them than the 'hard' or 'distorted' settings
A plug-in with even more control of these things is the Tape Delay plug-in, with the delay part turned off.
Very interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing
i dont understand how you control if the harmonics are odd or even from the distortion plugins...is there a setting for that ?
I've heard that folded horn speakers cut odd harmonics and emphasize even harmonics, so what would be the best way to use one with a fuzz pedal? Currently the bassist in my band is using a Big Muff into a clean bass head, through an 8x10 and an 18 inch folded horn cab. What would be the ideal way to do that, split the signal and just send the fuzz to the 8x10 or will it still be fine through the horn? It sounds mammoth regardless, but I'm not sure what we might be missing out on
I think The Melda plug in Msaturator lets you individually adjust harmonics :)
what physical parts are needed and how are electrical components connected to build a hardware audio harmonic adder / saturation device?
I use the Pro Tools software version 2018, so to introduce harmonic content in the audio I recently bought on the Sweetwater website the Cranesong plugins - Dave Hill: Ra plugin, Peacock plugin and Phoenix II plugin.
These plugins Ra plugin , Peacock plugin and Phoenix II plugin are fantastic for introducing harmonic content in audio, however I have not tested these plugins on "horns" such as a "saxhorn tenor" or a "baritone saxhorn".
So in tips, what would you suggest about introducing second-order and third-order harmonic content to "Horns" such as in an instrument "high / tenor saxhorn" or in a "baritone saxhorn", and using these plugins Ra plugin , Peacock plugin and Phoenix II plugin in the processing of these "horn" tracks for harmonic content input.
I would like to know about these tips.
I'm from Brazil country.
Try Logics Distortion II . It's even in most settings
Great video thanks!
That's deep man! Thanks
:D Glad you enjoyed it dude!
Guys use melda production distortion & saturation plugin they give us full control over odd & even harmonics & much more
1:06 correction: they form a diminished seventh, not a dominant seventh.
IIRC this was referring to its relation to the tonic as a dom9, but as an upper voice structure yes it could function as E half diminished or even a Gm6. Harmony is fun that way!
btw love the Danny D profile pic
@@LearnAudioEngineering oh, duh, lol. 🤦♂️
I've been deep in the microtonal rabbit hole. It's got my usual harmony brain all screwed up lately, lol.
on a side note, watching this video made me wonder if someone has yet made a Max4Live plugin that lets you choose which harmonics you want for distortion. 🤔
Have you tried the new Scheps Omni Channel? Odd, Even and Heavy Saturation.
thank you for such a good content man !!! this defintly clearer to me the all concept of ood and even order harmonics +i did my little homework too!!! but i was wondering can we still get that urs saturator plugin ??? i though that the company was no longer existing wich is a damn shame in regard of such quality products ...
keep on the good work!!!
Thanks so much! The URS Saturation Plugin is available here: www.ursplugins.com/ursSat64.php
They are still around but need to update their website. I'm also guilty of this ;P
Great video! THX
As a technically ignorant music lover infatuated by electric guitars and amplifiers, I found this video fascinating!
haha I always feel like a kid whenever I learn anything cool like that. :O !
You have to give Kush Audio a try!
In the beginning the comparison was not altogether fair for 2nd, 3rd and 4th vs a very loud and rich odd series going all the way up over 1K.
Green screen tutorial is next level
🔥🙏
Even sounds like an organ. Odd sounds like an open line in a PA.
Diodes I think tend to have even harmonics
Holy crap. Music theory + Audio Engineering. Have my babies.
Glad you're into it! ;)
True iron is the best plugins for even harmonics
3:00
Good vid, check out Scheps Omni Channel for some nice Even Harmonics in the Preamp section.
There aren't many pure even order saturators that I've come across. Supposedly SSL's X-Saturator does it too.
decent advice, I'll check that Scheps one out! thanks for the suggestion, Grant
Audio is busted during tests on my phone.
Odd sounds like feedback
OK so basically odd harmonics make drum drum go fat fat
I liked odd, lol.
Них*я не понял, но очень интересно
Too much tho. sounds muddy.
0:37 - it's not 'based off of', it's 'based upon'.
"Even overtones are made up of octaves and fifths whereas odd overtones are made up of thirds."
First of all, that's confusing because the "octaves and fifths" part is relative to the fundamental whereas the "thirds" are relative to the previous one, ie they're stacked or cumulative. You're comparing apples to oranges.
More importantly though, the thought you're expressing, namely that even and odd harmonics are made up of different types of intervals, is technically wrong. It happens to be true for the first 8 harmonics but is false in the general.
Harmonics get closer and closer as you go up the series. Each octave has twice as many harmonics as the one below. So it very quickly becomes apparent that the pattern you describe is impossible.
Why do i want to be hearing the voice of Glenn Fricker for every word that he just said? Oh, thats right, he's just a better orator.
Thanks!!!
:D