August 28, 2002

   Welcome to version 1.05 of the PalancarWare Empire VST plug-in for
   BeOS. Installation and usage notes are below.


History

   v1.05 - 03Nov2001 - can now set input gain to -infinity, and also
   there are now 10 reverb models to choose from.  Includes
   optimizations contributed by Warren Sulcs, as well as other
   optimizations.  Parameters are now smoothed.

   v1.04 - 26Oct2000 - now VST 1.0 compatible, and also usable as
   a send effect, not just an insert effect.

   v1.03 - 17Oct2000 - fixed a specific problem Cubase had with VST
   the plugins initial program name not being 'default'.

   v1.02 - 17Oct2000 - corrected problems with plugins not being
   recognized by many VST hosts, including Cubase VST24 and n-Track
   Studio v2.2.

   v1.00 - 12Oct2000 - first release.


The Palancar CD-Ware License

   This product is copyright (c) 2000-2001 by Darrell Burgan, with all
   rights reserved world-wide.

   This product is not public domain. I developed all content in this
   product, with any exceptions noted below, and am the sole owner of
   the copyright.  I'm granting you, however, an almost-free license to
   use it on as many devices as needed, for any legal purpose, subject
   to these terms:

      This product is licensed as-is, without warranty of any kind. I
      disclaim all legal liability.  If you use it, you do so at your
      own risk and are responsible for ensuring it works to your
      satisfaction.  Why do I not warrant it?  I'm just an individual
      struggling musician like everybody else, and I simply don't have
      the resources to provide an adequate warranty.  My warranty
      wouldn't be of much use to you anyway.

      This license is granted as "CD-ware".  What this means is that you
      have 30 days to use this product and evaluate whether it works to
      your satisfaction, and whether you like it and intend to use it.
      If you decide to continue to use it beyond 30 days, or if you use
      it in a project from which you will derive profit before 30 days
      have elapsed, I ask you to please go to my music web site (see
      below) and purchase one (or more) of my CDs as compensation. The
      CDs are very low priced, and can be purchased from anywhere in the
      world.  How do I know whether you've done this or not?  I don't.
      This is on the honor system, folks. If you like the results of my
      hard work, I don't think a measly CD is too much to ask. If you
      use multiple products, then purchasing multiple CDs is suggested.
      Use your best judgment as to how many you ought to purchase.  But
      I do request you purchase at least one.

      If you honestly cannot afford to purchase a CD but still want to
      use this product, then please contact me and we'll figure
      something out.

      The license does not imply nor suggest ownership of this product.
      I'm licensing the product's use, not selling ownership of the
      product. The license is subject to alteration or revocation at any
      time, at my discretion, with 30 days notice given here.  I can
      foresee no reasonable scenario where this could occur, but I want
      to make clear who owns the intellectual property.

      Note also that you are licensed only to use this product for the
      purpose it is designed, not to distribute it in any way, alter it
      in any way, or use it in any other way. If you want to distribute
      it, you need to link to "http://www.palancar.net/palancarware" in
      its entirety, and should not distribute the files nor point
      directly to them from any web site.

      If you disagree with any of the terms of this license, then you
      should not use this product.  If you use the product, you have
      implicitly agreed to these licensing terms.  If you are the least
      bit uncertain about these terms or would like to explore
      alternatives, please contact me and we'll figure something out.

   Other folks' copyrights:

      Portions copyright (c) Steinberg GMBh

      Portions based upon public domain code graciously made available
      to everyone by Jezar at http://home.onet.co.uk/~jzracc/plugins.

   Palancar music CDs can be purchased at:

      http://www.ampcast.com/palancar

   Whew!  Sorry for all the lawyer stuff, but you know how it is in
   these days of Napster and Gnutella.  I hope you enjoy this product,
   and I hope you understand that I've put far more time into it than I
   would ever hope to receive back financially under this license.  In
   other words, I'm not doing this for the money, folks...


Installation

   Simply copy the file to the VST plugins directory of the VST media wrapper.
   I've not included an installer because this installation is so simple, to
   minimize download time.
   
   You'll also need to make a link from the included FreeVerb3 plugin to the
   /boot/home/config/lib directory.


The Plugin

   What is an 'Empire'?  Well it is my attempt to capture a very
   specific type of effect, one that I heard and fell in love with. What
   effect is that?

   Well, not to name names, but a certain electronic artist named Bjorn
   Fogelberg (at www.mp3.com/bjornfogelberg) has this great track called
   "Karooshi Porn" that features a wonderful Kurzweil K2K patch that
   uses filters to almost "talk".  My plugin has nothing to do with the
   talking part, but listen close to the reverb effect he has ... the
   sound lingers in an unusual reverberating, almost resonating
   ambience.  Bjorn doesn't know I'm referring to his work here, but be
   sure to check it out, as he's a great artist.

   OK, so I liked that lingering reverb effect, and PalancarWare Empire
   is my attempt to emulate it.  I accomplished it by using three
   specific fx: a nice reverb, a bit of eq, and a heavy-duty (and quite
   unusual) compression algorithm.  Simply put, I put the reverb wet
   signal through the eq and compressor, then mix it back in with the
   dry signal.  It is the eq and heavy compression that gives the reverb
   its lingering but not overpowering sound.

   The compressor used is particularly unique in that it does not have
   attack or decay controls.  Instead, it mathematically scales the
   waveform over the threshold to fit underneath the limit, which gives
   it a distinctive sound and ensures the limit is never breached.

   OK, so why the name 'Empire'?  Well, in my distorted imagination, the
   reverb sounds like something you might hear in an imperial palace,
   perhaps one out of Star Wars or on an alien world or something. Hence
   the name.  I know, a little strange, but what the heck...

   The plugin has four controls:

      Dry Level - (insert effect only) this controls the amount of
      amplification (or gain cut) that occurs on the dry input signal
      when it is mixed back into the final output. This will *not* have
      any effect on the level of the reverb, only on the level of the
      dry input signal. Unless your input signal is very weak, I
      heartily suggest you only use this control for gain cut, not for
      amplification (see below).  NOTE: if you're using Empire as a send
      effect, this control has no real effect.  Also note if you're using
      a tool that does not correctly handle send effects, you can set
      the dry level to -infinity, and thus have Empire pretend to be
      a send effect itself.

      Depth - this controls the depth of the reverb.  Note this does not
      affect the decay time or other aspects of the reverb, just how
      deep the reverb is in relation to the dry signal.  A higher depth
      means a louder, more insistent reverb.  A lower depth means a more
      subtle effect.

      Brightness - Controls the brightness of the reverb effect.  Again,
      does not directly impact the decay time of the reverb, only how
      bright the reverb is.

      Model - ten preset reverberation 'models', creatively named after
      imperial-sounding spaces.  No these are not convolved sampling
      reverb models, just my imaginative way of naming them.  This
      control gives Empire a lot more flexibility.  If you loved the old
      Empire sound, just use the "Classic" model, which should sound
      identical.


Using the Plugin

   This plugin should be used anytime you want to have an unobtrusive
   but very deep and wide reverb effect, particularly if you want to
   hear the dry signal front-and-center and have the reverb play along
   on the sidelines or in the background.

   The ideal use is on something with a sharp attack and release, so you
   can really hear the contrast between the dry signal and the lingering
   reverb.  A nice piano might be a perfect match, although you might
   want to keep the brightness of the reverb down a bit to avoid adding
   harshness.

   Really, you could use this effect on any dry signal that needs a
   little loosening up.

   A couple of tips on using the plugin:

   - Watch your signal levels.  This plugin combines a reverb signal
     with your dry signal, and if you're not careful it'll distort
     rather nastily.  E.g. if you feed in a signal already at maximum
     volume, there will be no "room" left for the reverb signal, so when
     they're mixed together you'll have a not-so-nice digital distortion
     effect, not a clean reverb.

   - Watch for harshness.  The brightest setting can really make for a
     bright reverb; with an already-bright dry signal this reverb can
     become downright harsh.  Something to watch out for.


Support

   Due to the number of VST hosts and operating systems in the world,
   there is no way I can possibly test it with all possible software
   products.  If you run into any snags, please contact me at:

      Darrell Burgan
      PalancarWare
      darrell@palancar.net
      http://palancarware.palancar.net/
      
   For BeoS specific support, contact Xentronix at info@xentronix.com,
   http://www.xentronix.com
