- Publisher: Tokyo Dawn Labs
- Product: TDR Ultrasonic
- Release: MOCHA
- Version: 1.0.2
- Format: VST2/VST3/AAX
- Requirements: macOS 10.9 or higher
In modern digital audio, especially when working with high sample rates or oversampling, frequencies beyond the range of human hearing – ultrasonics – can accumulate. While inaudible directly, this ultrasonic content poses a hidden threat to audio fidelity. TDR Ultrasonic by Tokyo Dawn Labs is a specialized filter meticulously designed to manage this ultrasonic energy, preventing it from causing audible degradation when your audio passes through subsequent processing stages.
This isn’t about simply rolling off high frequencies; it’s about strategically removing specific content that can trigger unwanted distortion in common studio tools, leading to cleaner, clearer, and more controlled results.
The Problem: Ultrasonic Content Meets Nonlinear Processing
Many essential audio processes are inherently nonlinear. Think of peak limiters, tape saturation plugins, distortion units, compressors, and even analog recording mediums like tape recorders or vinyl disc cutting lathes. When wideband signals – including those containing significant ultrasonic energy – hit these nonlinear systems, they don’t just produce simple harmonic distortion. They generate Intermodulation Distortion (IMD).
IMD creates new, non-harmonically related frequency components at the sums and differences of the original frequencies. Crucially, some of these newly generated IMD products can fall back down into the audible spectrum, manifesting as harshness, “digital glare,” a loss of clarity, or a general sense of strain, particularly when processing is pushed harder. The wider the bandwidth of the input signal (including ultrasonics), the greater the potential for audible IMD.
The Solution: Targeted Ultrasonic Filtering with TDR Ultrasonic
TDR Ultrasonic provides an elegant solution by allowing you to precisely filter out potentially problematic ultrasonic content before it reaches nonlinear devices. By removing this energy preemptively, you effectively prevent the generation of audible IMD artifacts caused by those specific frequencies. This is a “lossless” approach to achieving cleaner sound – you’re preventing distortion, not trying to undo it later.
The result is often cleaner limiting, smoother saturation, more transparent compression, and mixes that hold together better under pressure, especially in high-resolution workflows.
Advanced Features for Precision Control
TDR Ultrasonic offers more than just basic filtering:
- Linear Phase Filtering: Ensures maximum transparency by preserving the phase relationships within your audio – critical for mix bus and mastering applications.
- Continuously Variable Slope: Dial in the exact steepness of the filter to suit the material, from gentle roll-offs to sharp brickwall filtering.
- Dynamic Ultrasonic Gate: An innovative feature allowing you to apply ultrasonic filtering dynamically, potentially engaging only when ultrasonic content exceeds a certain level (preserves maximum signal integrity when levels are low).
- Nyquist Frequency Enforcement: An option to ensure infinite attenuation precisely at the Nyquist frequency (half the sample rate) for digital purists.
- Precise Ultrasonic Analyzer: Visualize the ultrasonic spectrum in detail. See exactly what frequencies are present above the audible range and monitor the filter’s effect in real-time.
- Extreme Sample Rate Support: Capable of operating at sample rates up to an astonishing 20MHz, ensuring compatibility with any current or future high-resolution formats.
- “Bypass All” Function: Easily A/B test the cumulative effect of TDR Ultrasonic instances across your entire project with a single click.
- Resizable Hardware-Accelerated UI: A clean, responsive interface that scales to any screen size, including full-screen mode.
Who Needs TDR Ultrasonic?
This specialized utility is invaluable for:
- Mastering Engineers: Ensuring maximum fidelity, preventing IMD artifacts during limiting and final processing, and preparing masters for vinyl cutting or high-resolution delivery.
- Mixing Engineers: Achieving cleaner results when using saturation, distortion, or aggressive compression, especially on busses or the main mix.
- Producers Working at High Sample Rates (e.g., 96kHz+): Effectively manage the extended frequency content inherent in high-res audio.
- Users of Oversampling Plugins: Control the ultrasonic byproducts often generated by oversampling processes before they cause issues downstream.
- Anyone seeking the highest possible audio clarity and artifact-free processing.
System Requirements
- Host: VST2, VST3, Audio Unit (AU), or AAX compatible host application.
- OS: Windows Vista or newer / Mac OS X 10.9 or newer.
Achieve Ultimate Processing Clarity
Don’t let invisible frequencies compromise your audible results. TDR Ultrasonic provides the focused toolset needed to manage the ultrasonic spectrum effectively, leading to demonstrably cleaner, more transparent audio processing.
Download TDR Ultrasonic for free today and hear the difference that controlling the unseen spectrum can make.
