Pseudo Stereo, which means "synthetic" stereo. Actually it's real stereo, but one that is created from a mono input.

In essence, the frequencies of the input are rotated (panned) by different amounts into the stereo output. You can control the amount of rotation (called Spread), which frequencies are Spread out, how many Sweeps there are (frequency bands) and much more. The PS22 does not use comb filters or minimum phase EQs to do this; instead, the PS22 process uses frequency-dependent rotation. By this method, the sound can be natural and uncolored.

In more ways than you might expect. It is not a specialist's tool, but a tool that does a very special process that can be used for multi-track mixing, sound design, film sound, multimedia, mastering, re-mastering old recordings, and more. In multi-track mixes, you could take the mono lead instrument and make it into a spectacular stereo, or carefully expand the image of the instrument into a slightly wider, more realistic sound, much like you would get with stereo mikes. For sound design, anything goes, as it does for film, because a huge sound is desired for today's production values. However, many film restoration producers that have a mono master track or mono stems need to create a rich stereo with precision control and mono compatibility. PS22 gives this flexibility, and more.

Absolutely. Most bit-depths and sample rates are not limitations at all. Your multimedia audio team can produce super-wide stereo images from mono files with a high degree of mono compatibility for playback on many user's platforms.

By using frequency-dependent rotation, the PS22 actually shifts the position of individual frequencies of the entire input, whether mono or stereo. Imagine you have a stereo mix with 3 instruments, with one each at half-left, center, and half-right. When PS-Spread is slowly increased, each instrument's image simply gets wider around its own position, staying where it is. This makes each "point source" in the mix have a wider space, a larger image, in the stereo output. Therefore, the PS22 can be used for mastering to sweeten a mix by helping to fill in the "holes" between instruments, much like stereo miking would have done. You can imagine how this can help fatten up MIDI orchestrations by using Spread just a little bit.

Yes, and with precision control. Let's say you insert four PS-Spreads, one on each of four important solo instruments in a multi-track mix. Now you can pan each instrument to the desired place (using the PS Rotation control), and then increase the Spread to a moderate amount, about 0.30 or less, to widen the image of that instrument. Do this for each of the four tracks, and the enhancement is unlike any other in the world, with "space" and "air" around each instrument.

During Michael Gerzon's research, he showed that-when using a PS22 process-by delaying each channel and mixing it into the other channel, that the stereo effect was actually increased, and that each channel's frequency content was more balanced. This made each channel sound relatively normal if you listened to only one or the other, and made headphone listening much less fatiguing for more extreme uses of the PS process. So, the PS22-StereoMaker package has three PS components, and three DLA-X components. This lets you customize the process for the source material and for what effect you need.

PS-Spread has "sine-wave" processing that gently pans the signal back and forth between left and right. If you input a frequency sweep, the tone would pan between left and right very smoothly, which you can see on the PS22 graph, which plots stereo position against frequency. The PS-Spread(10) is simply a smaller version of the Spread, with a maximum number of 10 Sweeps back and forth. The PS-Split has "square-wave" panning, with almost instant jumps in the stereo position so that almost no sound is in the middle, but instead is all the way to the left or right, giving the most spectacular effect. Therefore, the Split is ideal for strong stereo images from mono sources. Finally, the PS-XSplit is the Split with a crossfed-delay included in the plug-in for easy and convenient adjustment (by the XFeed control).

The DLA-X has a simple wideband crossfeed with delay; in other words, all frequencies on the left are delayed and mixed (by the XFeed control) into the right, and also right into left. The DLA-XL lets you crossfeed the Low frequencies less than the highs (by the LFXfeed and Freq controls); this is ideal for some source materials, and indeed, the effect of crossfed-delays are enhanced if the crossfeed level is higher for frequencies above 5kHz, for some material. Finally, the DLA-XLB has an additional Bass delay switch that may improve the subjective bass response for some materials; if it does not, then you can use the XL and save some processing power.

Whenever you are needing wider sounds, with higher Spread values. For mastering and subtle settings, say for Spread values of 0.25 and lower, then the crossfed-delays are probably not necessary. However, if you like the sound, then of course, use it. The PS-XSplit plug-in has the crossfed-delay already included, so you would not use the DLA-X plug-ins with it.

For the maximum number of Sweeps to-and-fro in the stereo output, which is 22 for the PS-Spread. To save processing power, a smaller PS-Spread(10) is available. Finally, the PS-Split has a maximum number of 10 Sweeps, which is limited both by psychoacoustic effects and DSP power.

We get that question a lot these days. Go ask your father.

The PS22 and the S1 are totally different products. First of all, the S1 is designed as a tool for stereo manipulation only. In otherwords its job is to enhance and refine the balances of a stereo image. The PS22 will actually create a stereo imager out of a previously mono source. The PS22 also has a unique effect on a stereo source. It actually spreads each individual sound source in the image around itself. For example, you would still hear the mono guitar that you panned slightly to the right comming from the same place but it would fill more "space" in the stereo image. This can help fix a mix that sounds a little directional. The two processors do share a couple of controls, namely the width and rotation controls but beyond that, their effects complement each other.

The tweak control is a valuable asset to the PS22. It allows you to adjust the positioning of the various frequencies along the sweep. You can use this control to put the fundamental of a particular instrument on the side that is most natural for it. For instance, you could tweak the sweeps and position the fundamental of the High Hat to the left, the place a HH would normally be positioned.

Yes. This is where the PS22's compliment product DLA comes into play. The DLA actually delay the signal on the left and right sides and then sends it to the other side. This not only creates a much more natural stereo image, but also increases apparent width as well. The delay time is very short - 20ms or less - so you do not hear a distinct delay. You just hear a much more natural, wider stereo image.

This depends on how much control you wish to have over the crossfeed delay. The DLA-X just has delay time and crossfeed amount controls. The DLA-XL adds an additional bass crossfeed and bass frequency amount. This allows you to add more ore less bass frequencies to the crossfeed if you need to. The DLA-XLB adds a bass delay on/off button which allows you to completely turn off the low frequency delay if desired. The DLA-C1 and the DLA-L1 are covered in the question below.

These are very short fixed delays that compensate for the delay caused by the look-ahead features of the C1 and the L1. To use them to realign tracks, put them on every track that does not contain a C1 or an L1.

The width control on the bottom controls the amount of spread of the PS22 process. This is shown on the graph as the blue area between the sweeps. The width control on the left beside the input control is provided to decrease a stereo input. This may be disirable when processing a file that is already very wide. This width is shown by the vertical blue lines at the bottom of the graph.