User Guide

Copyright 2023, Eventide Inc.

P/N: 141236, Rev 7
Eventide is a registered trademark of Eventide Inc.
AAX and Pro Tools are trademarks of Avid Technology. Names and logos are used with permission.
Audio Units and macOS are trademarks of Apple, Inc.
VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Eventide Inc.
One Alsan Way
Little Ferry, NJ 07643
201-641-1200
www.eventide.com
Contents
1 Welcome 1
1.1 About This Product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2 UltraChannel 2
2.1 Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Invert Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Input Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Overload Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Input Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Side Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Input Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Threshold (TH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Gain Reduction (GR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Release Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Compressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Side Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Saturation (SAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
De-Ess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Input Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Threshold (TH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Gain Reduction (GR) Bar Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Attack Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Release Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Knee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Make-Up Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 O-Pressor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Side Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Gain Reduction Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Attack Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Release Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Make-Up Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Bass Cut . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5 Five-Band Parametric Equalizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Graphical Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Filter Type, Frequency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Q . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.6 Micro Pitch Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

I
 Depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.7 Stereo Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Tempo Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Left/Right Delay Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Left/Right Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Left/Right Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Left/Right Feedback Destination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Left/Right Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.8 Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Output Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Overload Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Output Gain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.9 Preset Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Load/Save . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Compare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3 Conclusion 19

II
Welcome part 1

1.1 About This Product

The Eventide UltraChannel plug-in is a powerful all-in-one channel strip for mixing and
mastering. It provides you with a routable Gate, Parametric EQ, two Compressors, a
Micro Pitch Shift section, and Stereo Delays. Its flexible modular design accommo-
dates different signal processing routing, its graphical displays provide you adept pre-
cision in frequency adjustment, and its suite of controls let you generate the exact tone
and frequency characteristics you’re seeking. Additionally, through its support for side-
chaining, you can use an alternative audio source to color the characteristics of your
main signal. Whatever your audio application may be, UltraChannel will be invaluable
for its versatility.

1
UltraChannel part 2

UltraChannel is comprised of the following discrete components, which collectively or

individually provide you a robust and precise tone-shaping and frequency-manipulation
environment.

• Input
• Gate
• Compressor
• O-Pressor
• 5-Band Parametric EQ
• Micro Pitch Shift
• Stereo Delays
• Output

Clicking the In/Out button enables or disables that particular module. Because of its
modular design, the signal processing sequence can be shuffled. For instance, you can
click on upper left corner of the Gate module and drag it to the right of the Compressor,
thereby switching the order of those functions. You can move the Gate, Compressor,
O-Pressor, and EQ modules to any position in the processing signal chain you wish. The
Input, Micro Pitch Shift, Stereo Delays, and Output stages, however, are static, the input
coming before, and others coming after the routable sections. The remainder of this
manual describes the characteristics of each module, their controls, their capabilities,
their technical specifications, and any tips or tricks.

2
2.1 Input
This stage is where the signal is introduced into the E-Channel plug-in. Its sequence
cannot be shuffled, and it cannot be disabled. The active signal is represented dynam-
ically on the bar input meter, from -60 dB to 0 dB.

The Input module is comprised of the following features and controls:

Invert Phase Click this button to invert the phase of the input signal.

Input Meter The Input section contains mono or stereo meters displaying
signal level from -60 dBfs to 0 dBfs. The meters are stretched
to have greater resolution at higher levels.

Overload Display When a signal transient peaks above -0.1 dBfs, the area directly
above this point on the bar frequency graph displays red to in-
dicate an overload. If an overload is detected, the overload in-
dicator will stay lit until it is cleared by clicking on it.

Input Gain Drag this knob up or down to decrease or increase the input
gain. Alternatively, you can enter a value directly into the text
box below the knob. It can be adjusted from -60 dB to +12 dB.

3
2.2 Gate
The Gate module allows you to effectively remove signals occurring below the desig-
nated threshold. Click anywhere on its panel and drag the module to move it to another
position in the signal chain.

Side Chain Click this button to invoke the Gate’s Side Chain feature. Please
consult your DAW’s documentation for help on routing audio to
UltraChannel’s sidechain input.

Input Meter This meter displays the input signal exactly as it is perceived in
the Gate’s level detector, allowing you to set the Gate threshold
by pulling it up or down alongside the meter. Any time the input
meter is below the Threshold fader, the signal will be removed.

Threshold (TH) Increases or decreases the threshold level for the signal, rang-
ing -60 dB to 0 dB. The threshold value displays numerically
beneath the Threshold slider. Signals below this threshold will
be removed.

4
Gain Reduction This bar displays the gain reduction being applied to the signal
(GR) as determined by your threshold setting and input level.

Release Time The Release control determines how long the gate is triggered,
ranging 1 ms to 500 ms.

5
2.3 Compressor
The Compressor allows you to alter the dynamics of your input signal. Click on the
upper left corner and drag the module to move it to another position in the signal
chain.

Side Chain Activates the Compressor’s Side Chain feature. Please consult
your DAW’s documentation for help on routing audio to Ultra-
Channel’s side chain input.

Saturation (SAT) Activates soft saturation at the Compressor’s output. This soft
saturation sits after the Compressor’s gain control and allows
will introduce a nonlinearity which will keep the output from go-
ing above 0 dBfs. This can also be used to add character to your
peaky audio.

De-Ess Allows you to de-emphasize the hiss associated with prominent

”S”es on vocal signals. Toggle the button to activate it, and set
the frequency to the midpoint frequency that the ”S”es are be-
ing pronounced. Ranges 4 kHz to 9 kHz.

6
Input Meter This meter displays the input signal exactly as it is perceived by
the Compressor’s level detector, allowing you to set the Com-
pressor threshold by pulling it up or down alongside the meter.
Any time the input meter is above the Threshold fader, gain re-
duction will take place. Because of this, changes in the attack
or release time will affect the level of this input meter - this is
intentional and to be expected.

Threshold (TH) Increases or decreases the threshold level for the signal, rang-
ing -60 dB to +0 dB. The threshold value displays numerically
beneath the Threshold slider. Signals above this threshold will
be reduced.

Gain Reduction This bar graph displays the gain reduction being applied to the
(GR) Bar Display signal, as determined by your threshold setting, input level, and
compression ratio.

Ratio The Ratio control is used to select how much gain reduction
occurs for each decibel of signal level above the threshold. The
range is from 1:1 (no compression) up to 20:1. To create a hard
limiter, set the ratio to 20:1 and the Knee parameter to 0dB.

Attack Time This control allows you to adjust how quickly the Compressor
reacts to signals above the selected threshold. Values range
from 0.1 to 50 ms. The attack value displays numerically be-
neath the Attack control.

Release Time The Release control determines how fast the Compressor re-
sponds to decreasing signal levels. Release values range from
1 ms to 500 ms. The release value displays numerically beneath
the Release control.

Knee The Knee determines a region above the threshold where the
gain reduction transitions from 1:1 to the designated Ratio set-
ting. As the input signal crosses the threshold and moves
through this window, its gain reduction increases to the se-
lected ratio value (below). Knee values can be adjusted in 6
dB increments from 0 dB to 24 dB.

Make-Up Gain Allows you to apply make-up gain to the compression output.
The Compressor supports gain values from -24 dB to +24 dB.
The gain value displays numerically beneath the Gain control.

7
2.4 O-Pressor
The O-Pressor module is a single-knee, compression-only version of Eventide’s best-
selling Omnipressor hardware product. It is a very aggressive compressor which adds
character compression to your signal-processing arsenal. As with the other modules in
this section, it can be moved earlier or later in the signal chain by clicking and dragging
on its upper left hand corner.

Side Chain The O-Pressor also has a side chain activation control which
allows you to use the key input in your DAW to route a sep-
arate signal to the O-Pressor’s side chain. This can be useful
for side chain ducking or other popular effects. Please consult
your DAW’s documentation for help on routing audio to the Ul-
traChannel side chain input.

Gain Reduction The module has a VU meter-type graphical display that reflects
Meter the signals gain reduction. Because this is a compression only
version of the Omnipressor the meter will only ever swing to the
left. Please investigate the stand alone Eventide Omnipressor
plug-in for many more features related to this unique product.

8
Threshold Sets the knee level of the O-Pressor’s compression circuit, rang-
ing -50 dB to 0 dB.

Ratio Sets the O-Pressor’s ratio from 1:1 (off) to 100:1 compression.

Attack Time Allows you to adjust how quickly the O-Pressor reacts to signals
above the selected threshold. Values range from 0.1 to 100 ms.

Release Time Determines how fast the O-Pressor responds to decreasing sig-
nal levels. Release values range from 1 ms to 1 s. At very fast
attack and release times the O-Pressor works more like a distor-
tion circuit than a compressor.

Make-Up Gain Allows you to apply make-up gain to the O-Pressor’s output.
The O-Pressor supports gain values from -30 dB to +30 dB. The
gains in these sections also allow you to overdrive any elements
that come after them.

Bass Cut Allows you to set the corner frequency of a high pass filter in
the O-Pressor’s side chain. The O-Pressor’s level detection cir-
cuit can be particularly sensitive to low frequencies, so this can
help when applying compression to kick drums or bass-heavy
instruments.

9
2.5 Five-Band Parametric Equalizer
The Equalizer module of the UltraChannel plug-in consists of five parametric filter sec-
tions that collectively cover the entire audio spectrum. An editable EQ curve graphical
display renders each equalization filter curve individually, as well as a composite equal-
ization curve for the cumulative EQ setting. Like the Gate and Compressor modules,
the EQ module can be docked in another position in the signal processing sequence
by clicking on its upper left corner and dragging it right or left.

Graphical Display The EQ curve Graphical Display allows you to edit the Fre-
quency, Gain, and Q of each of the EQ section’s 5 bands. Each
EQ band is shown graphically by a colored dot whose color cor-
responds to that of the controls below. You can click and drag
each dot and change the Frequency and Gain of the associated
band. To set the Q for this band, control click and drag on the
dot, or use your mouse wheel.

On Each EQ band can be turned on or off by clicking ON button at

the left of each filter. This can be useful for easily judging the
contribution of each filter to the overall frequency response.

10
Filter Type, The following list details the type and frequency range charac-
Frequency teristics of each filter type. Each filter type listed is available by
clicking the down arrow button to the right of that filter section’s
name. The frequency is controlled by the knob to the right.

Low Filter (5 Hz - 800 Hz):

The lowest frequency filter section supports the following filter
types:

• 6 dB/Oct Low Cut

• 12 dB/Oct Low Cut
• Low Shelf
• Classic Peak
• Modern Peak

Low Mid Filter (100 Hz - 2 kHz):

Mid Filter (500 Hz - 8 kHz):
High Mid Filter (1 KHz - 20 kHz):
These filter sections each support the following preset EQ val-
ues:

• Classic Peak
• Modern Peak

High Filter (5 kHz - 20 kHz):

The High Frequency filter section supports the following preset
EQ values:

• 6 dB/Oct High Cut

• 12 dB/Oct High Cut
• High Shelf
• Classic Peak
• Modern Peak

Q Each filter section has its own Q settings control. These are used
for determining the range of frequencies that are impacted by
each band, thereby setting the shape of the filter. The band-
width is equal to the frequency setting divided by Q. Larger Q
values tend to create a narrower bandwidth; lower values affect
a broader range of frequencies. Each Q setting range is from
0.5 to 20.0. The value is numerically displayed to the right of
the Q control for each filter section.

11
Gain Each filter section also has its own accompanying Gain control.
Use these to set the gain or attenuation for each band’s center
frequency. Each filter’s Gain may be set from -24 dB to +24 dB.
The gain value is numerically displayed to the right of the Gain
control for each filter section.

12
2.6 Micro Pitch Shift
The Micro Pitch Shift module provides four controls corresponding to the four main
dimensions of the micro pitch shift effect. The Micro Pitch Shift module is routed after
each of the modules on the top tier of the plug-in, but before the Output stage, and in
parallel with the Stereo Delays.

Descriptions follow for Micro Pitch Shift’s four parametric controls. Each control is ad-
justable from 0-100 percent, with 0 percent being a totally unaffected signal, and 100
percent being a totally affected. The value for each control is displayed numerically
beneath each control.

Size Scales the total amount of pitch shift applied to each voice.

Width Changes the panning spread from mono to stereo.

Depth Scales the total spread of delay in the signal, higher depth
spreading the signal further in time.

Mix Changes the blend of wet and dry signal.

13
2.7 Stereo Delays
The Stereo Delays module is comprised of a pair of delays that can be set either man-
ually or by tempo, with individual level, feedback and pan controls. Additionally, the
Stereo Delays module allows the delay to feed its signal back into the any of the other
modules in UltraChannel. This feature allows you to easily add filtered, ducked, or gated
delays to any signal simply by selecting the feedback destination from a drop down
list.

The Stereo Delays are after the main modules, in parallel with the Micro Pitch Shift, and
before the Output Module.

Tempo Sync The Tempo Sync dropdown allows the delay times to be syn-
chronized with either the host tempo or a local tempo. When
in a tempo-synced mode, a tempo textbox and beat sliders will
appear. When the delays are tempo-synced and the tempo
changes, the delay times will change to maintain the same de-
lay in beats.

Left/Right Delay The Delay time for each delay can be set either in ms by the de-
Time lay knob or in 16th notes by dragging vertically on the textbox
above the control. The range of sixteenth notes is limited by
the 600 ms delay and the tempo of the plug-in.

Left/Right Level Each delay has a level control which is set from -100 dB to 0dB.

Left/Right Feedback Each delay also has an independent feedback control set from
-100% to 100%. Negative values invert the phase of the feed-
back.

14
Left/Right Feedback Above the Feedback control is a drop down list which allows
Destination you to choose the destination of the feedback control, effec-
tively looping other modules from UltraChannel into the delays
feedback chain and affecting the feedback tails. In combina-
tion with the UltraChannel main module routing, this will allow
you to easily create powerful combinations of gated, ducked,
and equalized delay tails. Experimentation is encouraged.

Left/Right Pan Each delay also has a pan control, allowing you to place its out-
put in the stereo field.

15
2.8 Output
The final stage of UltraChannel is, fittingly, Output. It is used to set the final output level
for the audio being processed.

Transformer The final signal processing element, the Output module con-
tains a model of a Transformer which can be driven into satura-
tion. This analog model is after the output level control so that
it can be driven if desired. Unless driven very hard, it is a subtle
yet distinct effect which is most noticeable on signals with a lot
of low frequency content.

Output Meter The Output section contains mono or stereo meters which show
signal level from -60 dBfs to 0 dBfs. This meter is stretched to
have more resolution at higher levels.

Overload Display When a signal transient peaks above -0.1 dBfs, the area directly
above this point on the bar frequency graph displays red to in-
dicate an overload. If an overload is detected the Overload Dis-
play will stay lit until it is cleared by clicking on it.

16
Output Gain The Output Gain control can be adjusted from -60 dB to +12
dB.

17
2.9 Preset Bar

Located at the top of the UltraChannel Plug-In, the Preset Bar lets you load and save
presets, along with several other features.

When UltraChannel is installed, a library of settings is placed into the <user>/Music/Even-

tide/UltraChannel/Presets folder (Mac) or the <user>/Documents/Eventide/UltraChan-
nel/Presets folder (Windows). These presets have a .tide extension and can be saved
or loaded from the UltraChannel preset bar in any supported DAW.

In many DAWs there is an additional generic preset bar that saves DAW-specific presets
to a separate location. We recommend saving your presets using the Eventide preset
bar to ensure that your presets will be accessible from any DAW. You can also create
sub-folders inside the preset folders, if you wish.

Load/Save Use these buttons to load and save your presets in .tide format.

Compare Click to toggle between two different settings for the plug-in.
This is useful for making A/B comparisons.

Info Click this button to open this manual.

Settings Click the gear icon to open a drop-down menu with scaling set-
tings for changing the overall size of the plugin.

18
Conclusion part 3

We hope you enjoy the UltraChannel plug-in and put it to good use in all of your mixes.
Please be sure to check out Eventide’s other native plug-in offerings for more unique
and interesting effects.

For further questions or support, head over to the user forums.

19