Ambi Encoder Acid

Ambi Encoder Acid is a MIDI-transposable monophonic sixteen-step bassline instrument whose filtered body, resonant edge, and delayed wake occupy related positions in a first-, second-, or third-order ACN/SN3D field. Each step can set pitch, gate, accent, and slide while the complete line traces a configurable path through space. A sub oscillator and nine drive circuits extend the voice, and a dual-mono mode bypasses encoding when a spatial output is not wanted.

s3g Ambi Encoder Acid 16 has no audio input and exposes one fixed 16-channel output bus.

Workflow

1. Set the track to 16 channels, insert s3g Ambi Encoder Acid 16, and choose 1OA, 2OA, 3OA, or MONO 1+2 from FORMAT.
2. Follow it with an ambisonic decoder.
3. Choose a factory pattern, then drag the note bars and switch each step’s G, A, and S buttons for gate, accent, and slide.
4. Use INT for the internal tempo or HOST to align every step to the transport’s absolute beat position.
5. Choose SCALE, shape the main and sub oscillators, and select a drive CIRCUIT and DRY/WET balance.
6. Set the spatial path with AZIM, TURNS, ELEV, and SPREAD, then raise WAKE for trailing taps. Choose MONO 1+2 in FORMAT when the first two output channels should carry identical non-ambisonic audio.

Signal Flow

1. The internal or host-synchronized clock selects one of the active steps. Its note offset, gate, accent, and slide state become the current performance gesture.
2. A band-limited saw-to-pulse oscillator and parallel 0, -1, or -2 octave sine sub follow the root note and scale-quantized step offset. A tied slide moves continuously to the next gated step instead of retriggering the complete envelope.
3. The main oscillator passes through the driven resonant filter and selected drive circuit. Its filtered body and brighter resonant edge remain separate spatial components.
4. The clean sub rejoins the body after distortion, so changing DRIVE, CIRCUIT, or DRY/WET does not add upper harmonics to the sub or feed it into the resonant edge and wake.
5. The step index maps to a path around the selected azimuth and elevation range. The body and clean sub follow that point while EDGE advances or trails the resonant component.
6. Four delayed edge taps retain earlier path directions, creating the spatial wake before the selected ambisonic order is encoded.
7. FORMAT either encodes the result at the selected ambisonic order or copies it as mono to output channels 1 and 2. Final OUT LEVEL gain and the linked safety limiter follow.

Editing the Note Line

Drag vertically in a step’s note area to set a semitone offset from ROOT. The note name and signed interval update together. G enables the gate, A applies the shared accent amount, and S ties pitch into the next gated step. A disabled gate becomes a rest even if its stored pitch, accent, or slide values remain visible.

SCALE restricts sounding and newly edited offsets relative to ROOT. LENGTH limits playback to the first 1–16 steps without erasing the remaining cells. DIVIDE sets 1–8 steps per beat. With CLOCK on HOST, starts, seeks, loop wraps, and tempo changes follow the absolute host beat instead of maintaining a second free-running clock. TEMPO is used only by the internal clock. Discrete controls such as CLOCK, DIVIDE, FORMAT, SUB OCT, and CIRCUIT use menus; continuous ranges remain sliders.

Acid Voice

WAVE moves from saw toward pulse, and PULSE changes pulse width. SUB OCT selects 0, -1, or -2 octaves and SUB LEVEL adds its clean sine sub after the drive stage. CUTOFF sets the main oscillator filter’s base frequency; RESO emphasizes its edge; ENV sets the filter sweep in octaves; and DECAY controls how quickly that sweep falls. ACCENT increases level and extends the filter gesture on accented steps. DRIVE sets saturation amount, CIRCUIT selects Classic, Shred, Wool, Rat, Zone A/B, Fuzz I/II, or Diode, and DRY/WET blends the main voice result without affecting the sub. SLIDE sets the continuous pitch-transition time.

Spatial Path and Wake

AZIM centers the line’s horizontal path. TURNS sets its direction and number of rotations across the active pattern, while ELEV adds a vertical wave. SPREAD blends from a front-centered source toward that authored path. The body follows the current point and EDGE rotates the filter edge ahead of or behind it.

WAKE adds four progressively quieter delayed copies of the resonant edge. Each copy keeps a previous step direction, so increasing WAKE T stretches the line’s recent movement into a wider audible trail rather than adding a mono echo after encoding.

MIDI Transposition

The note input is optional. With no held key, ROOT remains the sequence tonic. A MIDI note temporarily replaces that tonic and transposes every step while preserving its scale, gate, accent, and slide data. The most recently played held note has priority; releasing it returns to the newest still-held note, and releasing all notes returns to ROOT.

On the internal clock, a fresh non-legato note restarts at step 1 while a legato note change transposes without restarting. In HOST clock mode, the transport retains playhead ownership and MIDI changes pitch only.

Controls

Format and Routing

The three ambisonic formats use ACN/SN3D. Place compatible Ambisonic effects between Acid and the decoder only when their supported order and channel count match the field; MONO 1+2 bypasses that encoded-field chain.

Patterns and Presets

The title menu supplies twelve patterns: CHROME BURROW, VENOM CIRCUIT, SUBWAY TEETH, NEON CENTIPEDE, RUSTED APSE, MERCURY STAIRS, BLACKLIGHT MOSS, QUARRY SIGNAL, NIGHT FOUNDRY, STATIC ROOT, HOLLOW RELAY, and GLASS WORM. Choosing one replaces the sixteen step cells. LOAD restores a saved plugin state while preserving the current OUT LEVEL trim, SAVE writes the complete state, and RANDOM creates a bounded pattern variation.

Limits

Acid is one monophonic line rather than a polyphonic MIDI instrument and accepts no audio input. MIDI notes transpose the existing sequence; they do not replace it with polyphonic playback. Its wake is a compact four-tap history of the filter edge, not a general-purpose delay. Use downstream ambisonic processing when the complete scene needs larger rotation, reverberation, or decoding changes.