Contents

• 1GUI Overview3
• 2Quick Start4
• 3Algorithm & Carrier5
• 4Vocoder Controls6
• 5Band Display & Editors7
• 6BANDS View — Per-Band Carousel8
• 7Complement Mode9
• 8Complement Mode (continued)10
• 9Scale & Chord System11
• 10Formant & Noise12
• 11Input Filter & Bell EQ13
• 12Microtuning14
• 13Presets & Tips15
• 14Piano Keyboard16
• 15Parameter Reference17

GUI Overview

Band Ritual V1.3 packs a full vocoder engine, harmonic controls, and a flexible EQ into a single window. Here's what you're looking at.

Quick Start

Get your first vocoded sound in under a minute. This walkthrough uses the default Self carrier, which re-synthesises your input through the harmonic grid.

1. Load Band Ritual on an insert. Make sure audio is playing through the channel.
2. Set the Mix knob to around 50 %. You'll hear a blend of your original signal and the vocoded version.
3. Lower the Width to about 0.3. This narrows each band, making the effect more defined and vocal-like.
4. Choose a key and scale that fits your track — try C Major to start.
5. Play with the Band Count. More bands = smoother response, fewer bands = more character. Try 30–50 bands.
6. Sweep the Formant knob to shift the spectral character up or down.
7. Experiment! Turn on STACK mode for a fuller sound when multiple bands share the same note.

First-sound Recipes

Algorithm & Carrier

The top-left corner of Band Ritual holds two critical dropdowns that shape the fundamental character of your vocoder sound. The algorithm selector sits on top, with the carrier selector directly below it.

Algorithm Modes

The algorithm determines how the analysis and resynthesis bands relate to each other.

Q Control

Visible in Split mode, the Q knob (next to the dropdowns) sets the analysis filter sharpness. Higher Q means each band responds to a narrower slice of the input spectrum. Range: 1.0–60.0.

Carrier Modes

The carrier is the sound source that gets reshaped by your input signal's spectral envelope. Band Ritual offers six options:

Vocoder Controls

The horizontal strip across the middle of the interface holds all the core vocoder parameters.

Band Count

Sets how many frequency bands the vocoder uses, from 1 up to 100. More bands give a smoother, more detailed response. Fewer bands create a more stylised, stepped character.

The number displayed below the count (with an arrow, e.g., →70) shows how many bands are actually active after deduplication — when multiple bands snap to the same scale note, Band Ritual merges them unless STACK is on.

Width

Controls how wide each band's frequency window is. Range: 0.1 (razor-thin) to 2.0 (very broad).

• 0.1–0.3 — Sharp, well-defined bands. The most articulate vocoder character.
• 0.3–0.6 — Balanced between definition and smoothness.
• 0.6–2.0 — Broad, overlapping bands. Smoother, more ambient results.

STACK

When your scale and band count push multiple bands to the same note, STACK changes what happens:

• STACK off — Duplicate bands are merged. The arrow count shows the actual unique bands. Consistent volume.
• STACK on — All bands process independently, even at the same frequency. Fuller, denser sound with natural volume stacking.

Attack & Release

These control how quickly each band's envelope responds to changes in the input signal.

Gate

Sets a noise floor threshold. Bands below this level are silenced, keeping quiet moments clean. Range: 0–100 (0 = off). The gate range is 40 dB of attenuation, so closed bands are effectively silent.

Depth

Controls how strongly the input's spectral shape is imposed on the carrier. Range: 0–200 % (default: 100 %).

• 0 % — Carrier plays back unaffected (flat response across bands)
• 100 % — Standard vocoder modulation
• 100–200 % — Exaggerated modulation — loud bands get louder, quiet bands get quieter

Mod Level

Input gain for the modulator (analysis) stage. Range: 0–200 %. Boost a quiet input or tame a hot one before it hits the band analysis. Does not affect the carrier signal.

Band Display & Editors

The large central display shows your vocoder bands in real-time. By default it shows all bands as vertical bars — the classic vocoder view. Three editor modes are available via the tabs at the top: DIST, OFFSET, and BANDS. Press D, O, or B to switch, and Esc to return to the default view.

Default View

The standard vocoder visualisation. Every band appears as a vertical bar, with its height showing the current envelope level. You see the full spectrum at once — ideal for monitoring overall activity.

• Zoom & pan — Use the scroll bar at the top of the display (drag the middle to pan, drag the [ or ] handles to zoom). Mouse wheel also zooms toward your cursor.
• Click a band to select it for gain adjustment
• Double-click empty space to reset zoom to full range
• MIDI Follow toggle (top-right corner of the display) syncs band highlighting to incoming MIDI notes

DIST View — Band Distribution Editor

Opens an interactive curve editor that controls how bands are spaced across the frequency range.

• Default (flat line) — Bands are evenly distributed from low to high
• Curve upward — More bands concentrated in the high frequencies
• Curve downward — More bands concentrated in the low frequencies
• Click and drag to reshape the curve. This lets you focus resolution where it matters most for your material

OFFSET View — Band Offset Editor

Opens an interactive curve editor that controls how carrier band frequencies are shifted relative to their analysis frequencies.

• Flat line (centre) — Carrier bands match analysis bands exactly (standard vocoder)
• Curved above centre — Carrier bands shift upward, brightening the output
• Curved below centre — Carrier bands shift downward, darkening the output
• Use this to create formant-shifting effects, harmonic displacement, or creative frequency remapping

Frequency Range

Two draggable cyan lines in the display mark the low and high frequency boundaries of the vocoder. Drag them to set where the bands start and end.

BANDS View — Per-Band Carousel

Press B or click the BANDS tab to enter a completely different view: a scrollable carousel that lets you focus on one band at a time and control its Q and gain individually.

This is what sets Band Ritual apart from other vocoders. Most vocoders let you adjust band gains — that's standard. Band Ritual gives you per-band Q control: the ability to set how wide or narrow each individual band's resonance is.

The Carousel

Instead of showing all bands at once, the BANDS view displays a single band in the centre with neighbouring bands visible on either side in a 3D perspective layout. The current band's note name (e.g., C, F#, A) is shown as you scroll.

• Scroll horizontally (mouse wheel or two-finger swipe) to navigate between bands
• Click left/right side of the display to jump to the next or previous band
• Scrolling uses momentum physics — flick to coast through bands, then it snaps smoothly to the nearest one

Per-Band Q & Gain

With a band in focus at the centre:

• Scroll vertically (mouse wheel) — Adjust the Q (resonance width) of that band. Higher Q = sharper resonance, lower Q = broader
• Drag vertically — Adjust the gain of that band
• Double-click — Reset both gain and Q to their defaults
• Lock button (padlock icon) — Lock the Q setting so it persists when scrolling away

Note Filter Buttons

At the bottom of the BANDS view, 12 note buttons (C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B) let you filter which bands appear in the carousel:

• Click a note to show only bands that correspond to that pitch class
• Select multiple notes to narrow the carousel to just those frequencies
• All button clears the filter and shows every band again
• Notes outside the current scale appear dimmed, so you can quickly identify which notes are active

MIDI Export via Drag

From the default view, hold Option (Alt) and drag from the band display to export the current band frequencies as a MIDI file. Each band becomes a MIDI note, with velocity reflecting the band's gain level. Drop the file into your DAW to create melodic content locked to your vocoder's harmonic grid.

Complement Mode

Complement Mode is one of Band Ritual's most powerful features. It lets you keep parts of your original signal clean and untouched while the vocoder processes the rest.

How to Activate

Click the COMPLEMENT button (located at the right edge of the band display). The EQ display will update to show two curves:

• Gold curve — The wet (vocoded) signal's frequency shaping
• Cyan curve — The dry (clean) signal's inverse shaping

Clean Sub Passthrough

This is Complement Mode's headline feature. When you raise the high-pass filter (Low Cut) in Complement Mode, everything below that frequency passes through your original signal — clean and unprocessed.

1. Click COMPLEMENT to activate (defaults to a 180 Hz crossover point)
2. Drag the Low Cut handle to set where your clean sub ends and the vocoded signal begins
3. Use the Sub Level knob to boost or cut the clean sub portion (±12 dB)
4. The sub level is independent of the Mix knob — your low end stays consistent no matter how you blend the vocoder

Clean High Passthrough

Works the same way at the top end. Lower the High Cut and everything above it passes through clean. The High Level knob controls its volume (±12 dB). Unlike the sub, the high complement follows the Mix knob for natural blending.

Complement Mode (continued)

Complement Bells

Complement Mode adds two bell-shaped EQ controls (labelled W1 and W2 on the display) that work differently from the regular Bell EQ. These bells control the wet/dry balance at specific frequencies.

Complement Walkthrough — Clean Sub + Vocoded Mids

A step-by-step recipe for the most popular Complement setup:

1. Set up your vocoder sound first (carrier, scale, band count, width around 0.3)
2. Click COMPLEMENT to activate
3. The default crossover at ~180 Hz already keeps your sub clean. Adjust if needed by dragging the Low Cut handle.
4. Set Mix to 80–100 %. Don't worry about losing your low end — it's protected.
5. If you want even more sub weight, boost Sub Level by a few dB
6. Optionally enable W1 and cut it at around 200–400 Hz to create a gentle transition zone between the clean sub and the vocoded mids
7. Enable W2 and boost it above 3 kHz to push more vocoder presence into the highs

Signal Flow in Complement Mode

Scale & Chord System

Band Ritual snaps its vocoder bands to musical intervals, keeping the output harmonically locked to your track. The scale and chord controls sit on the left side of the interface.

Key

Sets the root note: C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B. All band positions are calculated relative to this root.

Scale Type

Fifteen scales are available:

The Scale Amount blends between a natural (unsnapped) vocoder and full scale-snapping. At 0 %, bands sit at their mathematically even positions. At 100 %, every band snaps to the nearest scale tone.

Chord

Selects a chord degree within the current scale: I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi, vii. The Chord Amount knob blends between using all scale tones (0 %) and restricting bands to only the notes in that chord (100 %).

Chord Variation

Changes the voicing of the selected chord:

MIDI Follow & MIDI Chord Trigger

Accessed via the MIDI button in the top bar (next to the preset browser):

• MIDI Follow — Incoming MIDI notes override the scale, snapping bands to the exact notes you're holding
• MIDI Chord Trigger — MIDI keys select chord degrees and variations in real-time, letting you switch chords hands-free

Formant & Noise

The right side of the interface holds controls for shaping the spectral character beyond the core vocoder.

Formant

Shifts all the vocoder band positions up or down by a fixed amount, measured in semitones. Range: ±24 semitones (two full octaves in either direction).

• Positive values — Shift bands upward, creating a brighter, thinner character
• Negative values — Shift bands downward, creating a deeper, heavier character
• This is a macro control — it moves all bands uniformly, preserving their relative spacing

Harmonic Shift

A continuous pitch shift applied to the output. Range: ±12 semitones. Unlike Formant (which moves band positions), Harmonic Shift transposes the resynthesised output. Use it for subtle detuning or octave effects.

Noise

Adds a noise component to the vocoder output, useful for restoring breathiness, consonants, or adding texture. Range: 0–100 %.

Noise Modes

Noise Colour

Shifts the noise spectrum. Range: −1.0 to +1.0.

• −1.0 — Darker, warmer noise (more low-frequency energy)
• 0.0 — Neutral, even noise
• +1.0 — Brighter, hissier noise (more high-frequency energy)

HP Blend

Mixes in a high-pass-filtered version of the original input. Range: 0–100 %. This pulls high-frequency detail (sibilants, consonants, transients) from the original signal and layers it over the vocoder output.

The HP Slope dropdown sets the filter steepness: 12, 24, or 48 dB/oct. Steeper slopes keep more of the lows out, isolating only the crispiest high-frequency content.

Input Filter & Bell EQ

The bottom section of the interface shows a full-featured EQ display with draggable handles for shaping the signal before it reaches the vocoder.

High-Pass Filter (Low Cut)

Removes low frequencies from the input. Drag the left handle or use the control.

Low-Pass Filter (High Cut)

Removes high frequencies. Drag the right handle or use the control.

Bell EQ (Bands 1 & 2)

Two parametric bell EQ bands for surgical frequency shaping. These affect the input signal before it enters the vocoder, so changes here reshape what the vocoder analyses.

Each bell has its own enable toggle. Click the bell handle on the EQ display or toggle via the controls. Drag handles to adjust frequency and gain visually.

EQ Display

The interactive display shows the combined frequency response of all active filters. All handles are draggable:

• Left/right endpoints — HP and LP filter cutoffs
• Centre handles — Bell EQ frequency and gain (vertical = gain, horizontal = frequency)
• In Complement Mode, the display shows both the wet curve (gold) and the inverse dry curve (cyan)

Master Controls

Mix

The main wet/dry blend. Range: 0–100 %. At 0 % you hear only the original signal; at 100 % only the vocoder output. Default: 50 %.

Input Gain (IN)

Trims the input level before any processing. Range: ±24 dB. Use this to hit the vocoder at the right level without changing your channel fader.

Output Gain (OUT)

Trims the final output level after all processing. Range: ±24 dB. Useful for gain-matching the vocoded signal with your bypassed signal.

Bypass

Completely bypasses all processing. The input passes through unaffected. Toggle via the plugin header or your DAW's plugin bypass.

Microtuning

Band Ritual supports custom tuning systems, letting you move beyond standard 12-tone equal temperament. Access the microtuning panel by clicking the TUNING button below the scale controls.

Reference Pitch (A4)

Sets the reference frequency for the A above middle C. Range: 420–460 Hz, default: 440 Hz. All band positions are calculated from this reference.

• 432 Hz — A popular alternative tuning
• 440 Hz — International standard pitch
• 443 Hz — Common orchestral tuning (warmer concert halls)

Per-Note Cent Offsets

Each of the 12 pitch classes (C through B) has an independent cent offset. Range: ±100 cents (one semitone in either direction).

This lets you create custom temperaments — just intonation, Pythagorean tuning, or anything in between. Offsets apply to all octaves of that pitch class simultaneously.

Scala File Import

For advanced tuning systems, Band Ritual can load .scl (Scala) files — the standard format for sharing microtonal scales.

• Click the file loader in the tuning panel to browse for a .scl file
• The file is parsed and applied as cent offsets from equal temperament
• Both ratio-based and cent-based Scala entries are supported
• Scales with 12 notes map directly; scales with fewer notes are padded

Presets & Tips

Preset Browser

Click the preset name in the header bar to open the preset menu. The browser supports folders for organising your presets.

Loading Presets

• Click any preset name to load it instantly
• Submenus appear for each folder — click the folder name to expand
• The currently active preset is marked with a check
• Select Init at the top to reset all parameters to defaults

Saving Presets

• Click the + (save) button next to the preset name
• Type a name for your preset
• Optionally select or create a folder for organisation

Managing Presets

• New Folder... — Create a new folder in the preset menu
• Delete "[name]" — Remove the currently loaded preset
• Open Preset Folder... — Opens the preset directory in your file manager for manual organisation

Keyboard Shortcuts

QWERTY Chord Triggering (when M is active)

With MIDI Chord Trigger enabled, your computer keyboard becomes a chord controller:

Band Ritual remembers your last variation choice for each chord degree, so switching between chords recalls your preferred voicing.

MIDI Export from Band Visualiser

You can export the current band frequencies as a MIDI file directly from the band display:

• Hold Option (Alt on Windows) — the display shows a "Drag to export MIDI" overlay
• Option + drag out of the band visualiser to export a .mid file containing all active band frequencies as MIDI notes
• The file is saved to ~/Desktop/BandRitual_MIDI/ and can be dragged into your DAW

Production Tips

Piano Keyboard

The piano keyboard at the bottom of the interface is more than decoration — it's an interactive pitch-class exclusion tool.

How It Works

Click any key on the piano to exclude that pitch class from the vocoder output. An excluded note is silenced across all octaves.

• Click a key — Toggles that pitch class on or off
• Excluded keys appear visually dimmed
• Exclusions apply to every band that falls on that note, regardless of octave
• The vocoder completely skips processing for excluded bands, so there's no residual bleed

Common Uses

Parameter Reference

Quick-reference table of every automatable parameter.

Additional parameters (Bell EQ 1&2, Complement Bells W1&W2, Input Filter resonance controls, Modulator Q, Carrier Pitch, per-note cent offsets) are documented in their respective sections.