Manual for the TimeFreezer instrument

Technical details and known restrictions

The required Speed and Memory size of the Computer are not relevant, but the fastest and bigest is always the best for a fast response. I consider a Mac G4 with 300 MHz or a Pentium III with 500 MHz as an absolute minimum to be "playable".

The grafics should be 24 or 32 bit; 16 bit slows down the response.

It is possible to use several instances of the TimeFreezer in one host, but it is more stable to open only one GUI at a time. It has been tested up to 10 TimeFreezers at the same time on a Pentium M. The "Audio Units" version is limited to 16 instances.

Asio works much faster than MME or DirectX.

On processors with variable speed it is recommended to fix the speed to the maximum value. Then the TimeFreezer is always prepared for the huge amount of calculation that have to come with a new situation.

1) Installation

On Mac OS-X the TimeFreezer is made of 3 .vst bundles TimeFreezer.vst, TimeFreezerFXmono.vst and TimeFreezerFXstereo.vst. or 2 components TimeFreezer.components and TimeFreezerFX.component.

Just place them in your VSTPlugin folder that you are used to. You may also create a sub-folder.
For example <your main drive>/library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ for the VST
and <your main drive>/library/Audio/Plug-Ins/components/ for the Audio Units version.

On PC the TimeFreezer is made of 3 dll files. TimeFreezer.dll TimeFreezerFXmono.dll and TimeFreezerFXstereo.dll.
Just place them in your VSTPlugin folder that you are used to. You may also create a sub-folder.

2 ) Registration

For Mac and for PC a registration file will be created online. The plug itself never connects to the internet.

Mac Users have to place this file manually without any change in this folder, which is created at thefirst start of the VSTi:
<your main drive>/library/Preferences/TimeFreezer/

PC Users can register by double-click (executing) the file.

VSTi and VST FX are registered at the same time.

On problems just use the contact page.

3) How does the Keyboard mode work?

Keyb "off" means that a MIDI-keyboard produces a chromatic transpose just like a sampler.
Keyb "on" means thet each key of aMIDI keyboard selects also a preset. Program 1 is middle C, Program 2 C# etc.

4) What is stored in a preset?

Every Knob/Fader position is saved in a preset except the "HOLD" button.
The Path is also stored in the preset. This means that sounds are not themself in the preset -they are not limited in size . . . -
If on Windows for some reason the drive letter will change, the the TimeFreezer is still able to find the Wave files.

5) What kind od Audio files are supported?

Mac: Wav and Aiff, mono or stereo, 16 bit or 24 bit with no compression
PC: Wav and Aiff, mono or stereo, 16 bit, 24 bit and 32 bit float with no compression

note: some hosts don't allow multiple file type import. For Mac Aiff is preselected and for Windows Wav is preselected.

6) What can be automated?

Every button and Fader can be automated except the "Hold" button. "Hold" can be replaced by a MIDI-note. TimeFreezer listens to Host-Events and to MIDI-Events (also the effects)

7) How is MIDI interpreted?

Basically the VSTi responds to MIDI-Notes, MIDI-Hold-Pedal, PitchBend, Modulation Wheel.
Other MIDI controllers are assignable. Default is now Control 10 (Pan) on different channels.
MIDI settings and Controllers can be customized by editing this file:
Mac: TimeFreezer.txt or TimeFreezerFX.txt in the folder <your main drive>/library/Preferences/TimeFreezer/
PC: TimeFreezer.ini or TimeFreezerFX.ini in the Windows-folder

8) Rendering

You must render at normal speed; for example you can configure to record the output of the freezer.
If you try to render with a higher speed, then the result will not be the same.
The reason is that the TimeFreezer does not work like most virtual synths.
It is not deterministic. The more time he has, the more intermediate states he will implement.

9) Audio Units

There are some tiny differences in the parameter ranges in the Audio Units version. Also the saving of presets is handled in a different way.