Resonator question

[werzel]

I saw a video the other day that used ableton's resonator. As a FL user, I was intrigued. I think it was a band pass filter, or a group of them, that could be tuned to a main note and related values. These were then passed on to a very short delay (<100 ms?) for very interesting effect? The delay almost sounds as if it could be tuned to notes, unless it was merely changing the tone so drastically that I thought I heard new notes. I tried making a resonator and couldn't come very close.
Hopefully someone here can see it as an interesting challenge and help me out...or maybe even expand on the idea.

[Chandlerhimself]

Resonators are made from comb filters. Use MComb and try messing with the feedback, lowpass, and highpass to get the sound you want. Here is a video where I use it on drums to tune my drums to musical notes. If you want more control get MCombMB.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcLXbub6WLE

[jmg8]

Resonators are made from comb filters? Are you sure?
Is a comb filter just 1 type of resonator or are all resonators comb filters?

I have taken an interest in resonators recently but don't fully understand what they are made of. I get that they resonate at a certain frequency, but am not sure how.

Comb filters have many harmonics hence why they are called comb, where some resonators can resonate just a single frequency.

I'm confused, any help?

[werzel]

Thanks to both of you...especially jmg8 for making me feel better about my confusion.
I found this video that seems to explain ableton's approach pretty well...but something just isn't quite getting through to/ for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0yZ1hZDmVA

[dmbaer]

Is a comb filter just 1 type of resonator or are all resonators comb filters?

A room with bouncy walls can be a resonator, so it's definitely not the latter. I'm actually not sure if a comb filter technically qualifies as a resonator, even if it does boost some frequencies while attenuating others - just not sure.

[Gone soft]

What I think of as classic resonators in for instance old analogue synths consists of several parallell bandpassfilters. EDIT: for instance the resonator of the Polymoog.

Online it's claimed just about anything that emphasizes certain frequencies is considered a resonator, such as several short delays (combfilters) in parallel).

In both cases the frequencies and in general also the gain of each parallell part can be changed, unlike certain equalisers where the frequencies may be fixed and only the gain of each fixed frequency can be altered.

[Gone soft]

About the Ableton resonator and a little something about resonators in general, very concise: https://ask.audio/articles/have-fun-wit ... leton-live

[Chandlerhimself]

Comb filters aren’t actually filters. Comb filters are delays. The comb shape that you see is caused by phase cancellation. They resonate when you increase the feedback and the tones they produce is governed by the length of the delay. By changing the delay time you can generate different notes and then use a filter afterwards to remove the harmonics you don’t want.

Rooms actually cause comb filtering by reflecting sound off walls, etc. Of course in real life physical objects can resonate, but as far as effects go they are usally made using comb filters. Of courses there maybe other ways they do this and other techniques could technically be called resonators such as vocoders, but most of the time they are just tuned and band passed comb filters.

Pull out MComb, run white noise through it and see for yourself. Remember to use the limiter though so you don’t blow out your ears. White noise is the easiest to hear, but you can use anything to make them resonate. Keep in mind that if you don’t produce a frequency that the comb filter is tuned to you won’t be able to hear it working(which is why white noise works best).

[dmbaer]

Comb filters aren’t actually filters. Comb filters are delays. The comb shape that you see is caused by phase cancellation. They resonate when you increase the feedback and the tones they produce is governed by the length of the delay. By changing the delay time you can generate different notes and then use a filter afterwards to remove the harmonics you don’t want.

I'm just not sure that that counts as being a resonator. Comb filtering cancels some frequencies and reinforces others. Does that technically constitute resonating? I don't know, frankly, but it doesn't seem like the same thing.

Anyone recall seeing the film of that suspension bridge in Washington state being ripped apart due to high winds? Now that was a resonator.

[Chandlerhimself]

I'm just not sure that that counts as being a resonator. Comb filtering cancels some frequencies and reinforces others. Does that technically constitute resonating? I don't know, frankly, but it doesn't seem like the same thing.

Anyone recall seeing the film of that suspension bridge in Washington state being ripped apart due to high winds? Now that was a resonator.

Comb filtering cancels out some frequencies and reinforces others and those frequencies can resonate. Open up MComb and turn up the feedback(turn on the limiter too). You can easily hear and see(when using an analyzer) that certain frequencies are emphasized and that they take much longer to decay than the original sound. If you use multiple comb filters you can create something that sounds like a badly designed room. There are examples of this in the resonator section of MComb.

I just looked at the the resonator in Abelton, its almost exactly the same as MComb. The GUI is different and I believe it has filters on the global output. It is a comb filter thought and all of the resonator plugins I've come across are comb filters also, but of course I haven't come across every plugin, so there might be something else out there.

[MeldaProduction]

A resonator can be quite anything that resonates, which includes most classic 2-pole filters (shelves, peaks, 12db/oct LP, HP...). But the comb filter is a specific case, which well, resonates quite a lot and traditionally is implemented with a delay (note, that delay is technically also a filter). So technically comb is not the only resonator, but it is usually meant when we say resonator because of its sound character.