©2003 Antares Audio Technologies. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Antares Audio Technologies 231 Technology Circle Scotts Valley, California 95066 USA voice: (831) 461 7800 fax: (831) 461 7801 service: (831) 461 7801 web: www.antarestech.com Printed in USA Rev 1.0 12/2002 PN 40202-M01 The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo The Antares Tube software and this User's Manual are protected by copyright law. Making copies, adaptations, or derivative works without the prior written authorization of Antares Audio Technologies, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law. Antares Audio Technologies retains all ownership rights to the Tube software and its documentation. Use of Tube is limited by the following license agreement. Please carefully read all the terms and conditions of this license agreement. At the time of installation of the Tube software you will be presented with a copy of the agreement and asked whether or not you agree to it. Continuing with the installation process beyond that point constitutes such agreement. Tube License Agreement Antares Audio Technologies grants you a non-transferable, non-exclusive license to use Tube under the terms and conditions stated in this agreement. Use of Tube indicates your agreement to the following terms and conditions. License You may: 1. Use Tube on only one computer You may not: 1. Make copies of Tube or of the user manual in whole or in part except as expressly provided for in this agreement. Your right to copy Tube and the user manual is limited by copyright law. Making copies, verbal or media translations, adaptations, derivative works, or telecommunication data transmission of Tube without prior written authorization of Antares, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law. 2. Make alteration or modifications to Tube (or any copy) or disassemble or decompile Tube (or any copy), or attempt to discover the source code of Tube 3. Sub-license, lease, lend, rent, or grant other rights in all or any portion of Tube (or any copy) to others. Term of the Agreement This agreement is effective until terminated by you or Antares. You may terminate the agreement at any time by notifying Antares and destroying all copies of the manual, and erasing Tube from all machine-readable media, whether on-line or on archival copies. In the event of breach of any of the terms of this agreement, you shall pay the attorney's fees of Antares that are reasonably necessary to enforce the agreement plus resulting damages. Limited Warranty and Disclaimer TUBE AND ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Antares Audio Technologies does not warrant that the functions contained in the program will meet your requirements. The entire risk as to the use, quality, and performance of Tube is with you. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM JURISDICTION TO JURISDICTION. Limitation of Liability IN NO EVENT WILL ANTARES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF DATA, LOST PROFITS OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES ARISING FROM THE USE OF TUBE OR ACCOMPANYING MATERIALS. THIS LIMITATION WILL APPLY EVEN IF ANTARES OR ITS AUTHORIZED AGENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE LICENSE FEE REFLECTS THIS ALLOCATION OF RISK. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Whew! Now that that's over, let's get on to the good stuff. Contents Getting Started Chapter 1 Installing Tube Authorizing Tube Technical Support 01 02 02 03 Introducing Tube Chapter 2 Some Background So What Exactly is Tube? What's the Big Deal with Tubes? 05 05 06 06 Tube Controls Chapter 3 Input and Output Controls Tube Selector Input Level Drive Amount OmniTube Output Attenuation 07 07 08 08 09 10 10 Tube Tips Chapter 4 Index 11 12 Welcome! O On behalf of everyone at Antares Audio Technologies, we'd like to offer both our thanks and congratulations on your decision to purchase Antares Tube, the best sounding, most easy to use analog tube modeling software available. Before you proceed any farther, we'd like to strongly encourage you to register and authorize your copy of Tube. (You can skip ahead to the Authorization and Installation instructions on page 02. We'll wait.) Also, if you're planning on discarding that lovely Tube box, it's probably a good idea to write down the serial number that appears on the bottom of the box for future reference. (The inside cover of this manual would be a good place.) As a Tube owner, you are entitled to receive notification of any software upgrades, technical support, and advance announcements of upcoming products. But we can't send you stuff unless we know who and where you are. So please, register. At Antares, we are committed to excellence in quality, customer service, and technological innovation. With your purchase of Tube, you have created a relationship with Antares which we hope will be long and gratifying. Let us know what you think. You can count on us to listen. Again, thanks. The Whole Antares Crew Chapter 1: Getting Started L HOW TO USE THIS MANUAL Let's face it. With the exception of figuring out what "OmniTube" means, pretty much everything else about Tube should be self-evident from just looking at it. So check out this chapter for installation and authorization instructions, read the OmniTube section on page 11, and then start playing with Tube. If you still have questions, come back and read Chapter 2 and the rest of Chapter 3. Chapter 4 includes some suggestions for using Tube in ways that might not be immediately obvious. After that, it would probably be useful to keep this manual near your computer. After all, you don't want to get unsightly coffee cup or beer can* rings on your nice studio furniture. THE CONTENTS OF THIS MANUAL Chapter 1: Getting Started The chapter you are reading. Includes instructions on installing, registering and authorizing your copy of Tube. Chapter 2: Introducing Tube This chapter provides a brief overview of what makes real tubes act like they do and why you might want your tracks to sound like they were recorded through one. Chapter 3: Tube Controls This chapter describes the functions of the controls used in the Tube interface (all six of them). Chapter 4: Tube Tips Some cool, but not-so-obvious stuff you can do with Tube, along with some tips for getting the most out of it. * Tube users over the legal drinking age in their respective locations only. 1 INSTALLING TUBE Any special instructions for installing Tube for your specific plug-in format are located in the Tube Read Me file that accompanies the plug-in. That file may also contain any last-minute Tube information that didn't make it into this manual. Tube is designed to work as an insert effect with a wide variety of digital audio applications. Please refer to your host application's user manual for more information on installing and using plug-ins. Keep in mind that Tube has been designed to be extremely DSP efficient. Even a relatively modest native system should be capable of supporting dozens of instances of Tube. (In our informal tests, a Macintosh Powerbook G4 400MHz provided well over 40 instances of Tube.) AUTHORIZING TUBE Authorization (the process by which this software is allowed to run on your computer) is accomplished by a technique called "Challenge/Response." Basically, the first time you launch this software you will be presented with a string of words (the Challenge) and will be asked to enter another string of words (the Response). NOTE: When initially installed, this software will run for ten days without authorization. So even if you can't authorize it right away you can still use your software in the meantime. (During this period, click the "Try It" button whenever you are presented with the Trial Period screen at launch.) But don't procrastinate too long. After those ten days are up, you will no longer be able to launch Tube until the correct Response is entered. CHALLENGE/RESPONSE AUTHORIZATION You can obtain a Response via the Antares web site, email, or fax. Web authorization, an automated process, is available 24 hours a day. Email and fax authorization involve the participation of actual live people and, depending on when you send your challenge, may take from one to three days to provide a response. For web authorization, follow these directions: · Launch Tube. To access Challenge/Response authorization, press "Next" at the Trial Period screen to access the Challenge screen. The Challenge screen displays the Challenge string. To receive the appropriate Response you will need to provide us with both the Challenge string and the registration code that was included on the yellow card in your software package (if you bought a retail package) or supplied with your download. 2 · To obtain your Response, have your registration code and Challenge string at hand. (If you will be accessing the web from the same computer that will be running your software, you can press "Copy Challenge" at the Challenge screen and then simply paste the Challenge into the appropriate field on the web page below.) · Point your web browser to: https://transactions.antarestech.com/ and simply follow the directions. (Be extremely careful to enter the registration code and Challenge string accurately.) If, for some reason, you do not have access to the web but do have email, copy and paste your Challenge string and registration code into an email along with your name and the product name (e.g., Tube for MAS), and send it to: register@antarestech.com You will receive your Response string by return email. If you do not have access to the web or email, fax your Challenge string along with your registration code to us at (831) 461-7801. Be sure to include your fax number. We will fax the Response string back to you at that number. NOTE: You may optimize (defragment) the hard disk containing the Challenge/Response authorization, or even reinstall your system, without losing the authorization. However, if you reformat the hard drive or if it fails, contact Antares for the re-authorization procedure (you are a registered user, right?). TECHNICAL SUPPORT In the unlikely event that you experience a problem using Tube, try the following: 1. Make another quick scan through this manual. Who knows? You may have stumbled onto some feature that you didn't notice the first time through. 2. Check our web page for tips, techniques, or any late-breaking information: http://www.antarestech.com 3. Call your local Antares dealer. 4. Email our tech support department by pointing your web browser to: http://www.antarestech.com/support/etech.shtml and filling in the form there. 5. Call us at (831) 461-7814 Monday through Friday between 9am and 5pm USA Pacific Standard Time. For options 3, 4, or 5, please be prepared to provide the Registration Code of your copy of Tube. 3 4 Chapter 2: Introducing Tube W SOME BACKGROUND When Antares introduced the ground-breaking Microphone Modeler plugin in 1999, we included a function designed to model the distortion that is typical of a high-quality tube pre-amp. Mic Modeler was an immediate success and went on to win Mix Magazine's prestigious TEC Award for Software Signal Processing. Along the way, virtually every reviewer commented on how great the tube model sounded. We've even heard from users who didn't feel they needed microphone modeling, but bought Mic Modeler just to have the tube function. In the intervening years we've had a lot of requests for a plug-in that would offer the great sound of the Mic Mod tube model in an affordable, easy to use plug-in. Well, here it is. 5 SO WHAT EXACTLY IS TUBE? Tube is a multiformat plug-in that accurately models the sonic effects of recording audio through a high quality analog tube preamplifier. It offers the choice of two different tube models as well as a unique OmniTube function that allows the application of the tube effect to the entire signal (as opposed to only the transients, as is typically the case with a tube preamp). Tube's extended parameter ranges have been designed to allow the creation of a wide variety of sonic effects beyond the classic subtle tube "warmth." Additionally, Tube has been designed to be extremely DSP efficient, so that even a relatively modest native system will be capable of running Tube on many tracks simultaneously. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL WITH TUBES ANYWAY? For most of us in audio recording, di ...