RC-20 Retro Color
RC-20 Retro Color
RC-20 Retro Color
MANUAL
March 18, 2020
INTRODUCTION
When we started this project, we spent a lot of time talking about order versus chaos, why
some old noisy equipment sounds so pleasing to the ears and why vintage analog synths
are just so much fun. What is the secret ingredient?
We had a hunch that in this modern digital precise world there is a certain attraction in
non-linearity and unpredictability. What may once have been seen as undesired
imperfection now feels organic and soothing. The wall-of-noise of yesteryear's cassettes,
that wobbly VHS sound. The distortion, the fizzle, the less than perfect frequency response.
Even the unpredictability of equipment due to temperature, humidity, vibrations, or where
the planets are in the sky.
Magic seems to happen when something comes alive all on its own, without you planning it
out beforehand.
We played around in the lab with all kinds of source material and algorithms to figure out
what worked. And - out of the smoke - RC-20 Retro Color was born. Finally our love of
recording artifacts like noise, distortion, tape wow & flutter, the grittiness of early sampling
and more fun stuff has taken (almost) physical form!
RC-20 has six main FX Modules, each providing one piece of the puzzle. For each module,
our custom Flux Engine replicates the randomness of the known universe, and adds life,
texture and analog goodness to the sound.
The included presets cover a wide variety of use cases, from individual instruments to full
mixes and post production. As always, we hope the functionality to a large extent is self
explanatory and invites experimentation.
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INTERFACE OVERVIEW
TOP SECTION
Click the RC-20 logo to open the A
bout Page.
The Magnitude slider works as a "global" amount control for the entire plugin. It basically
controls all six big knobs at once, as well as the controls in the bottom Master Section (In,
Out and EQ). This means you can go from a dry unprocessed sound to full blast wobbly
distorted mayhem using only this one (automatable) slider.
In the top right corner you’ll find a Menu button where you can open this manual, go to
xlnaudio.com, open the User Folder where Presets are stored and things like that.
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FX MODULE SECTION
Incoming audio (generally) passes through the six modules from left to right.
NOISE
There are a number of different Noise Types a
vailable, ranging from vinyl record crackle to
cassette and VHS noise and much more.
Tone is a basic "tilt" style tone control: turning it clockwise means more high end and less
low end and vice versa.
With Follow you can make the noise level follow the input signal level. Great on drums! At 0
% the noise level is static. (When you hit stop in your DAW the noise fades out though.)
As Noise is the first FX module, it normally appears in the beginning of the signal chain so it
will be distorted, crushed, filtered and fluttered along with your source audio. Activating
Routing |Post lets you re-route the noise so it is inserted at the end of the effect chain, after
the Master Section EQ.
The Duck knob lets you create a ducking effect, i.e. the noise level is pushed down by
incoming audio peaks, mimicking the effect of a "pumping" compressor with slow attack.
The Noise module adds noise to the incoming signal, but does not change the incoming
audio in any other way.
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WOBBLE
This module modulates the pitch (and speed) of the incoming audio, much like classic tape
recorders. The two classic artifacts Wow (slow) and Flutter (fast) are there of course, with
individual Rate c ontrols. The W
ow/Flutter Balance slider lets you adjust how much you
want of each.
For good measure we added a Stereo mode for the Wow section, which basically turns this
into a nice chorus - the M
ix knob comes in handy here - turn it down to 50 % or so for a nice
lush sound!
The Big Knob controls Wow & Flutter Amount (i.e. depth).
DISTORT
Dirty up the sound with some distortion! Several Types a
re available, and a Focus Filter lets
you select the frequency range where the distortion will be applied. This lets you distort only
the mid/high range while leaving the bottom intact for example.
Use the M
ix knob to set the balance between distorted and unprocessed sound.
The Big Knob controls Distortion Amount.
DIGITAL
Celebrate and simulate the sampling technologies of yesteryear, when the word "Digital"
was so cool you'd put it in your song lyrics. The Rate/Bits Balance slider lets you set the
desired balance of sample rate and bit depth reduction.
The Focus F
ilter lets you select the frequency range where the "crushing" will be applied.
Works great to get some crunch in the top of a kick while leaving the bottom untouched.
There is also a C ut option which simply removes the frequencies outside the selected focus
range.
Smooth lets you polish off the rough digital edges for a less harsh sound.
Use the M
ix knob to set the balance between the crushed and unprocessed sound.
The Big Knob controls Rate & Bits Reduction Amount.
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SPACE
This is a reverb/resonator effect. D
ecay controls the length of the reverb tail.
The Focus Filter controls the resonance/damping of the reverb itself and can sometimes
have a drastic effect depending on source material.
PreDelay lets you place the reverb slightly after the source sound to reduce muddiness.
The Stereo switch can turn mono material into stereo, but also provide a wider space for all
types of material.
MAGNETIC
This module simulates all kinds of funny stuff that happens with volume when recording on
magnetic tape.
Wear means you played your tape too many times, the magnetic particles are starting to
wear thin making the volume fluctuate a little (or a lot).
Flutter is a faster (speed controlled by Rate) artifact usually caused by the capstan pin in the
tape mechanism.
The Wear/Flutter Balance slider l ets you find the perfect balance between them.
The Stereo switch lets you choose if wear and dropouts do the same thing in both speakers
or not.
Dropouts are similar to wear, but more intense - basically random sudden drops in volume.
The Big Knob controls Wear/Flutter/Dropouts Amount.
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FLUX
Our F LUX engine simulates all kinds of organic and non-linear fluctuations under the hood,
all customized specifically for each module. Adding just a little bit of Flux can really add life
and texture to your tracks. Adding a lot can make things cosmically wild and crazy!
BIG KNOB SECTION
The Enable buttons turn a module on and off. Off means the effect is entirely bypassed.
When a module is turned off it is covered by a "hatch". You can click on the hatch to turn it
on.
The Big Knobs adjust the amount of each effect. At 0 % the module is completely bypassed.
If a module is turned off (hatched) you can simply click/move the big knob to turn it on (no
need to click the Enable button first).
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MASTER SECTION
INPUT SECTION
Use the Gain knob to adjust the input level. The level is usually not super critical, but feel
free to crank it up to drive the DISTORT and DIGITAL modules harder for example.
EQ SECTION
Use the Enable button to turn the entire EQ section on and off.
CUT FILTER
This filter lets you cut out unwanted frequencies at the bottom and/or top end of the
spectrum. The steepness of the filter can be set to Soft o
rH
ard o
n both ends.
TONE
This control offers a simple way to shape the tone of the final sound.
In Tilt mode, turning the knob clockwise turns up the high end and turns down the low end.
Turning the input knob the other way has the opposite effect.
In Mid mode the knob controls the mid frequencies, giving your sound a nice smiley/frowney
curve.
OUTPUT SECTION
Use the G ain k nob to adjust output level to taste. This is great when you want to match the
levels of processed/unprocessed sound for A/B comparison, or if you want to be able to
automate the Magnitude a nd control the level of the processed sound.
The Width knob lets you adjust the stereo width from 0 % (mono) to 100 % (original stereo
image) to 200 % (exaggerated stereo effect). The results may vary depending on source
material and effects applied.
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PRESET BROWSER
Clicking on the P
reset Name or the L
OAD button in the Top Section opens the Preset
Browser.
The Preset Info section on the right shows you information about the currently selected
preset, such as Author. You can also Rename and D
elete your saved User presets (but not
the XLN Presets).
You can choose any preset to be your Startup Preset. This will be loaded whenever you
load RC-20. Just choose the preset in the list, and click the Set as Startup b
utton. The text
STARTUP w ill appear in the list for your chosen preset.
Tweak while browsing - you can access all "high level" controls while browsing, to make it
easier to determine if a preset works for you. This includes the Big K
nobs, Magnitude, and
the controls in the Master Section (Input, Output and EQ).
Click OK to close the Preset Browser with all current settings unchanged.
Click Cancel to close the Preset Browser and cancel all changes (i.e going back to where you
were before you opened the Preset Browser).
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CLOUD SYNC1
With Cloud Sync all your user presets will be saved in your XLN Audio Account, which
means they will be synced and made available on all your computers. Great if you work on
more than one computer, or if you need to reinstall from scratch.
Click My Files to open the "My Account / My Files" page on xlnaudio.com, listing all your
saved User Presets.
SAVE PRESET
Click SAVE in the Top Section to save a User Preset. You can either overwrite your existing
User Preset or choose a new name. You can also click the Dice to generate a preset name.
Factory presets cannot be overwritten, you will be prompted to choose a new name.
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C
loud Sync is only available if you have an XLN Audio account and installed RC-20 via the
XLN Online Installer.
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Click the RC-20 Retro Color logo in the top left corner or the X
LN Audio logo in the bottom
middle, or use the top right Menu, to get to the About page. Here you can see some system
information and read about who did what in the making of RC-20.
VERSION
Version a nd Build Date may be of interest for our support team when trouble searching. In
general the XLN Online Installer makes sure you always have the latest and greatest
version.
COMPUTER ID
The Computer ID is a unique identifier for your computer, used for the license activation
system. If the XLN support asks you to, you can click this text to copy the Computer ID.
GRAPHICS MODE
This shows you what graphics resolution you are currently running. (1x = standard, 2
x =
Retina/High PPI)
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FINALLY...
If you have any questions, thoughts or ideas, don't hesitate to contact our support at
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