TH-U User Manual
TH-U User Manual
TH-U User Manual
v. 1.1.1
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
INTRODUCTION__________________________1
Thank you! ________________________________________________1
Cool Features ______________________________________________1
Disclaimer ________________________________________________1
UNDO/REDO 17
How to work with TH-U ______________________________________18
Insert a component 18
Move a component 18
Remove a component 18
Copy/Paste a component 18
Create a new setup from scratch _______________________________20
Inserting a Stomp Box 20
Inserting an Amplifier 22
Tweaking an Amp head 23
Inserting a Rig Player 24
Inserting a Cabinet 28
Inserting a Rack Effect 33
Parallel Sound Chain ________________________________________34
Splitter 34
Mixer 34
TH-U Component List _______________________________________36
Technical Support __________________________________________36
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
TH-U has the following main features: • Works with the lightest DSP engine
on the market to obtain the best
• Comes in the following formats: tones with minimal CPU load and
VST2, VST3, AudioUnit, AAX and shortest latency;
standalone for macOS, and VST2,
VST3, AAX and standalone for • Supports retina display graphics
natively with gorgeous high
Windows;
resolution interactive modules.
• Provides an interactive virtual guitar
rig where you can add modules like
pedals, amplifiers, cabinets and rack
Disclaimer
effect units and trim their controls;
• Adds control to amp head sound Overloud is an independent software
permitting access to amp tweaks; development company. Any use of third
party trademarks, logos, mentioned
• Also lets you use a special brand names, products and services is
component, the rig-model player,
only referential and Overloud hereby
which allows to play rig model files
disclaims any Sponsorship, Affiliation
that Overloud will provide collected
or Endorsement of or by any such third
in libraries;
party.
1
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
2
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
3
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
De-Authorize TH-U
You can de-authorize TH-U in two ways:
from inside TH-U itself or from your
User Account online page.
To de-authorize from TH-U, click
SETTINGS and Manage your Authorizations…
You will see the list of all your active
authorizations, each with a Remove
button next to it. Just click that button
for the authorization to remove.
TH-U keeps a connection with our
online servers to update the amount of
authorizations in use.
4
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
5
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
Presets
On the left side of the interface you can
see the Preset column. In the upper
side of the column you see the BANKS The parallel one is a little more complex:
list. Each bank contains 128 presets. in a certain point with a Splitter it splits
Click a bank of the list to select it. the sound into two parts, upper and
Right below you see the PRESETS list. lower, where you can place your
Note: not all the 128 presets of the modules, and then it mixes the two
selected bank have to contain a preset. parts together again with a Mixer.
The empty ones are marked with:
<empty>.
To load a preset, select it and click LOAD,
or just double click it.
This configuration of the Sound Chain
The Sound Chain View lets you to process the same sound in
two different ways and to mix the two
The central area of the user interface is processed sounds together.
the Sound Chain View, which shows the
current setup of TH-U. You can switch the type of sound chain
by clicking the oval button on the
The view is zoomable. You can choose a bottom left corner of the Sound Chain
suitable zoom factor with the zoom View. The actual behaviour of the
buttons. button changes depending on the
6
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
7
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
Components
On the right side of the user interface
there is the Components column.
The column contains a list of all
modules available: amps, cabs, stomp
pedals and rack effects.
You can add one of them to the current
sound chain at any time: just drag the
item from the list and drop it to the
insertion point over the sound chain.
On the top of the list you can see a drop
down list with the selected category of
components.
When All categories is selected,
components are visibile all together.
Otherwise you can select a category.
This will make it easy to focus on a
certain kind of effect and see all the
possible allowable alternatives.
Non licensed components appear
shaded, and if you drag one of them to
the sound chain TH-U will prompt you
about using an unlicensed component
allowing to either evaluate it (Demo) or
to authorize (you’ll get an authorization
code by purchasing it from our
website).
8
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
9
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
EQ is global and independent from the U, because you’ll risk to lose your
preset settings. modifications).
Reverb & Delay: Adjusts the overall amount Also, when Live Mode is on, if you
of these effects. Adjust them to change preset, some parameter values
increase or decrease the effects will be preserved across the preset
globally, independently from the preset change (the list of the preserved
settings. parameter is the one of the GLOBAL MIDI
BINDINGS grid in the MIDI settings).
Live Mode So, if you move from one preset to
another – where both of them have the
The LIVE button sets the Live Mode of
Volume pedal –
TH-U.
and you set the
The preset management keeps track of pedal position via
the modifications done to a preset (you MIDI (with a foot
see that a preset has been changed controller)
with the orange circle next to the preset halfway, then at the loading of the new
name on the top of the preset column). preset, the Volume pedal position will
And when you load a new preset with be kept the same across the preset
some changes pending, a prompt will change.
appear asking you to confirm that you
really want to continue discarding those
unsaved changes. Tuner
In the central region of the Top Panel of
TH-U there is the TUNER.
In a live performance this could be You can activate the Tuner anytime. It
annoying, because you’d need to move will process the clean sound coming
the controls (via MIDI for example), and from the TH-U input.
still be free to load a new preset This is a Chromatic Tuner, able to
without being stuck on that prompt. automatically recognize the tuned note
When the Live Mode is on, this prompt which is closer to the one you play. The
is skipped (pay attention not to keep the Tuner shows you how much the note is
Live Mode on, for normal usage of TH- detuned respect to the tuned one.
10
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
When you see some bars (or a dot, currently displayed value or
depending on a preference setting) on rhythmically clicking (tapping) on the
the right side of the central area, then TAP circle.
you have to loosen the string on the
When PRESET is selected, TH-U
guitar. If you see the bars on the left
generates and internal beat. The BPM
side, then you have to pull the string.
value gets saved with the current
Adjust your string until you only see the preset.
note name on a green rectangle.
Activate the MUTE to temporarily mute Input and Output Level Meters
the TH-U output while you tune your
The IN meter displays the Input level, of
guitar.
the input channels of TH-U.
Set the option Auto mute when the tuner is on
You
to on, in the TH-U preferences, to
should try
connect the MUTE on/off setting to the
to keep
Tuner power.
the input
level as high as possible without
BPM reaching the saturation. You can get
TH-U supports time based parameters assisted to set the correct IN level by
that can be optionally synchronized to clicking the LEVEL button as described
the BPM of the song. above.
TH-U can take the BPM from three The OUT meter shows the level of the
different sources: output channels of TH-U. The output
level too, like the input, should not
• HOST
reach the saturation.
• INTERNAL
• PRESET
11
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
12
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
Audio Settings
This is where you adjust the audio
settings of TH-U. This section only
appears when you run TH-U as a
standalone application.
Preferences
Tuner display mode: DOT or BAR. Selects
how the tuner shows the detected pitch
on its scale.
Output: select the output audio interface.
Pitch: adjusts the reference pitch of the
Tuner. It is the pitch of the A4 note. Input: select the input audio interface.
Auto mute when tuner is on: sets if the MUTE Active output channels: select the output
function should automatically follow channels.
the power of the Tuner.
13
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
14
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
15
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
16
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
MANUAL
The MANUAL button shows this User
Manual.
INFO
Shows a panel with some information
about TH-U. There, you can find the TH-
U version number (please provide it to
the technical support if need to contact
us for assistance).
UNDO/REDO
TH-U keeps track of your changes while
you are working. You can walk your
changes history backwards with the
UNDO command and forward with the
REDO command.
The UNDO/REDO history is reset each time
you load a preset.
17
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
18
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
19
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
are at the first stage, before the Also click the different zoom buttons to
amplifier. So we’ll start describing how experiment how the view gets rescaled.
to add a stomp box component. This looks pretty useless with a single
20
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
21
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
22
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
The AMP TWEAKS panel has a collection of aggressive starting at lower gain
tubes that you can select to change the values.
pre-amp and the power amp ones.
A white check sign marks the
predefined tube for both sections of the
23
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
24
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
list. It could be useful while searching However, if you click the cabinet
for a new tone in a more creative display, a new rig models list pops up
context. allowing you to select an alternate
model just for the cabinet. This way to
RIG GAIN LEVEL cross amp and cabinet models
dramatically widens the range of
Rig model icons have a small colored circle. The color
of the circle visually indicates the level of the gain allowable sound from the same
ranging from GREEN for CLEAN sounds, to YELLOW for collection of rig files.
CRUNCH to RED for LEAD. RIGLIB libraries (.riglib files) are
collection of rig models including one
The Rig Player includes two sections: or more banks of presets using them.
AMP and CABINET, which can be enabled After the purchase of a rig library, you
independently. Disabling the cabinet is just need to drag and drop the .riglib
a good way to replace it with another file, once you downloaded it, over the
one by adding different cabinet next to TH-U user interface and authorize it by
the Rig Player. typing the serial number when
prompted.
The opposite can be done as well, by
adding a different AMP component on
the left of the Rig Player and turning off GETTING MORE RIGS…
the Rig Player AMP. Getting more rig models is easy: just click the GET
The cabinet section of the Rig Player MORE RIGS… button and a window of the system
includes a separate display normally default Internet browser will appear, pointing to a web
page allowing you to select new rig libraries to add.
showing the word <matched> which
means that the playing cabinet model is
the one of the amp section rig model.
25
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
Search results are shown in real time Rig Player knobs are organized into two
while typing the search pattern. rows. The upper row ones control the
timbre of the model. The lower row
ones are the typical controls of an amp
head.
Definition: adjusts the amount of low
frequencies cut before the input signal
enters the distortion stage. Lower
settings produce vintage tones as early
amps used to process the whole input
harmonic content. Higher settings
produce modern tones by filtering out
some low frequency content and
boosting the remaining harmonics.
Power Sagging: basing on the electric
effect of tube saturation, which lowers
the tube power supply energy at louder
signal levels, it produces a reduction of
dynamics in a compressor-like kind of
effect. This parameter adjusts the
threshold level this phenomenon starts
at. Setting it halfway, the nominal tube
RECENT ITEMS HIGHLITED behaviour is reproduced. At higher
Each time you install new contents, you may want to values, however, you can go beyond the
easily find them among the existing elements. tube electric response by still
Recently installed items will appear in yellow color for preserving a natural distortion.
two days after the installation, making it particularly
easy to distinguish them from older ones. Compressor: adjusts the clean signals
dynamic range by eventually
compressing it as you need. You can
find a balance of this parameter value
with your guitar volume control to
range from crunch sounds to clean
ones that still keep the same energy.
Clarity: sharpens the processed sound by
adding presence and focus to the clean
portion of the signal, and lightening the
26
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
27
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
Like every
Inserting a Cabinet
other
Look at the Component panel and from component,
the dropdown list select Cabinet to only the cabinet
see cabinets. can be turner off (bypassed). When the
Now point the 1x8 Brunetti Metropolitan and mouse cursor hovers the cabinet, you
drag’n drop it close to the right side of will see a small speaker icon on the
the Metropolitan amplifier. bottom-right corner of the cabinet.
Cabinet components look simple, Click that icon to turn the cabinet on or
graphically, but are through the most off.
complex models of TH-U. TH-U cabinets are of four types: 1
Cabinets support: 2 frontal 3D speaker, 2 speaker, 4 speaker and IR
positioned microphones, a rear Cabinets which will be described later.
microphone, a 45° inclined microphone, The way you set microphones in front of
phase inversion, ambience emulation, the different kind of cabinet is pretty
ReSPiRe technology and high and low much the same. TH-U modeling of the
pass filters. harmonic content takes in account:
28
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
29
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
ReSPiRe stands for Real Sound Pressure Bass cabinets have red speakers. The
Response, and is an Overloud custom 45° inclined microphone, for bass
technology that reproduces the same cabinets, corresponds to the tweeter
kind of sound pressure feeling you get microphone level.
when playing in front of a real cabinet.
All bass cabinets in TH-U have red
You might want to set this off when your speakers.
mix tends to be muddy.
The real difference, as said, is the DSP
HPF & LPF are high-pass and low-pass model which of course is a bass
filters with respective characteristic cabinet.
frequencies of 65 Hz (HPF) and 12 kHz
(LPF). You can use these preset filters But the way you operate with it is totally
when the cabinet sound exceeds in low the same.
or high frequency harmonics. Cabinet IR
Mic A, Mic B, Rear Mic, 45° Mic knobs adjust A special cabinet, however, is the
the level of the four microphones. Rear Cabinet IR, which is a sort of “open
microphone is good to capture some cabinet” able to play up to two impulse
lower frequencies from the cabinet. responses at same time.
While the 45° inclined one is usually
The cabinet has a different graphic
used for hard rock and metal genres for
appearance and don’t have
its characteristic aggressive kind of
microphones in front of it because its
response.
tone exclusively comes from the
Bass Cabinets provided IR files.
Basic actions like turning the cabinet
on/off, are pretty much the same as for
other cabinets. Differences are in the
properties.
30
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
Double click the Cabinet IR to access its that it will accept only mono IR (each
properties panel. You will find it very cabinet speaker is mono by definition).
different if compared to the standard You may find TIR (.tir) files as well. TIR
cabinet panel. files are an older format supported for
Import IRs backward compatibility.
IRs are loaded from the file system. TH- Use the IRs
U points to a root directory which
Click the button IR A to select the first
contains them all. You can browse the
IR. Next, browse the IR list below and
folder hierarchy from the properties
double click the IR file to load.
panel itself and load the selected IR
double clicking it. Then you can do the same for IR B.
You can let TH-U reveal the IRs root Clear empties the corresponding IR slot.
directory by clicking the white right The option Invert phase is present to
arrow on the list header. You can copy optionally invert each IR. This is useful
your own IR files there to let them be when the IRs come from different
available for loading to Cabinet IR. sources and could incur into some
TH-U accepts WAV files as sources, phase artefacts when playing together.
with any resolution (best is 24 bit or 32 Balance A-B adjusts the mix between A
bit and
floating point) and sample rate. The B IRs.
Cabinet IR module is mono, meaning
Delay sets a delay between the two IRs,
emulating different distances of the
31
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
32
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
33
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
parallel paths.
Parallel Sound Chain X-OVER FREQ. and SWAP are active in this
mode.
When you select the parallel sound
chain as an alternative to the linear BANDPASS: the crossover works as a
one, two additional modules are band-pass/band-reject filter network.
present: the Splitter and the Mixer. You can process mid frequencies and
high/low ones separately in the two
parallel paths.
Splitter All parameters are active.
The splitter is placed at the beginning
of the parallel processing section. Splitter Controls
Swap button: this button swaps the
destination paths of the filter networks
when X-OVER MODE is not in the Off
position.
X-OVER FREQ.: sets the frequency
around which the filters operate.
FREQ SPREAD: in BANDPASS mode it
controls the width of the band-reject
filter allowing for a partial layering of
the signals for added flexibility.
BALANCE: it simply sets the amount of
signal directed to the upper (1) and
lower (2) path.
Its function would have been almost
self-explanatory wasn’t it for some Mixer
extra features we added.
The TH-U Mixer is placed at the end of
X-OVER MODE: there are three crossover the parallel processing section and
modes. allows you to trim each path’s signal to
OFF: all controls but Balance are your needs.
deactivated. The Splitter acts as an off- PHASE: controls the phase of the
the-shelf splitter. input channel.
NORMAL: the crossover works as a DELAY: controls the amount of
common high-pass/low-pass network. delay of the input channel. Optimal
You can process lower and higher control to correct phase delay problems
frequencies separately in the two
34
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
35
OVERLOUD USER MANUAL
www.overloud.com/thu
36
NOTE: Any use of third party trademarks, logos, mentioned brand names, products and services
is only referential and Overloud hereby disclaims any Sponsorship, Affiliation
or Endorsement of or by any such third party.