It's also rather good at adding bite to instruments needing attack, like picked bass, close-miked snare drums or loops needing something extra. We found it best to steer clear of full mixes and use it sparingly as an auxiliary. Therefore, exciters tend to work best in small doses, and the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter is no exception. As you push the input harder, more of the frequency spectrum is affected and higher-order harmonics generated.Ĭranking up an exciter can be quite, well, exciting, but the effect often becomes tiring to listen to. The essence of the Aphex effect are extra second and third harmonics, and as mentioned, these only really kick in for fundamental frequencies above 800Hz. By contrast, MIX2 is very dependent on the mix blend, allowing you to achieve a midrange boost with high-frequency dip, as well as more obvious broad treble boost. The two mix modes differ in that MIX1 (the cleaner parallel option) scoops out the signal around the 1.25kHz point, though this is only obvious at higher mix settings. The auxiliary (AX) mode includes a high-pass filter, so you're only looking at useful signal from about 800Hz upwards. For flexibility, the Waves plug-in replicates the original unit's built-in mix function (MIX2), and a 'clean' parallel process (MIX1), so you can get the auxiliary sound but with the convenience of an insert.

On the original unit, the results of using the Mix control sounded quite different to those made when blending in the effect via an aux channel on the desk.

Aphex aural exciter vst torrent