support

area

PRODUCT SUPPORT

FAQ

GENERAL FAQ

 

Product Registration and Unlocking

How does the unlocking process work?

Our products are delivered with a unique serial number. After registering your product you will receive an unlock key. You need to enter both, the serial number and the unlock key into your software.

How do I register my software?

To register your software, please log into your existing user account or create a new user account (see top right corner).
Follow the instructions there to register your serial number and receive the corresponding unlock key.

How do I use my upgrade serial number?

In order to use an upgrade key you need an existing registration of the basic product. Click on the upgrade button beside the registration info in the myAccount area and fill in your serial number. Your current registration is changed to the new product with a different serial and unlock combination. Please enter this new combination in your software to unlock the new features.

How can I unlock my demo?

Our publicly available demo versions cannot be unlocked.
The full, unlockable versions of the plugins are available in the download area in your user account after you have registered your serial number.

Does my DAW need internet access?

No. While you need to register your serial number online, you can do that from any computer – it does not have to be the computer the software is installed on.

 

Software License

Can I run my copy on two separate machines?

If you have a personal serial number (i.e. it is not a volume license key), the license allows you to install, unlock and run the software on up to two computers at the same time. On both systems you can use all plugin formats (VST, AAX/RTAS, AU), as you wish.

Do I have to buy the VST, AAX/RTAS and AU versions separately?

No. For one price, the installer contains all supported plugin formats and, in the case of PPMulator, a standalone version as well.

 

Supported Operating Systems

Do you support older operating systems?

Besides the most current version of the platform that is mentioned on each product page, it is possible that our products will work on Windows and macOS operating systems older than those listed on the respective product pages. Therefore, the product installers do not block installation based on OS version. Nevertheless, zplane does not make any guarantees about performance, compatibility, or stability of the products when used on these old operating systems now or in the future. If you currently use an unsupported operating system, it is strongly recommended that you try running the demo version of the products to ensure compatibility and performance before purchase.    

 

Educational Pricing

How much money can I save by purchasing the educational version?

The educational versions are discounted by 30%.

What are the requirements to qualify for the educational program?

You will be required to send a valid copy of academic identification to us and wait for further instructions from us on how to proceed. We may need a few days to process and validate your identification, so please be patient. contact: email: mailto:support@zplane.de fax: +49-30-854.09.15.5 post: zplane.development GmbH & Co KG, Grundewaldstr. 83, D-10823 Berlin, Germany

What are the restrictions of using the education version of zplane software?

A customer may only purchase one copy of the product. Selling an educational version is not allowed.

Who qualifies for the educational discount?

Full or part time students, faculty, staff and employees of government-certified educational institutions qualify.

deCoda FAQ

 

decoda General Operation

When I try to drag the boundaries of the selection in the overview, it doesn't move or jumps in big steps. What's wrong?

deCoda does all adjustments in steps. To have more granular control in the overview, adjust the step size in the step size dial right of the Loopview.”

How can I leave the settings?

Click the burger menu and switch to any other page you want to go to.

Can I adjust parts?

Yes, open the project side bar on the left and select the Parts tab. Now, set your loop in Loopview to the boundaries of the part you want to create” and hit the ‘Create new part’ button.

The spectral view in pianoroll seems to change when zooming. Why?

When zooming closer than 8 bars deCoda will do higher resolution spectrogram calculations and also try to guess the real notes – displayed in blue color. Furthermore the Focus selection will affect the spectrogram display then.

élastiqueAAX FAQ

 

élastiqueAAX General Operation

In which hosts can I use elastiqueAAX?

However, in order to use elastiqueAAX as tce default (or to use élastiqueAAXtce at all) you need PT 12.8.1 or later.

Does a demo of elastiqueAAXtce exist?

No. We don´t have a dedicated demo of elatiqueAAXtce. The available demo contains the full feature set of elastiqueAAX.

What are the demo limitations?

The demo runs for 14 days and will randomly introduce slient gaps in the output.

How do I enable the TC/E feature?

First of all you need Pro Tool 12.8.1 or larger. In the settings you need to set the default TC/E engine to elastiqueAAX. For more details refer to the manual.

There are silent gaps in my output files. What's wrong?

Either you’re the demo version (see above) or you’re using the full version but didn’t enter the unlock code.

When in cliplist mode the output files are all mono although the input was stereo or mutlichannel. How come?

This is a bug in ProTools. Therefor cliplist mode is not recommended to use.

Which upgrade/crossgrade paths exist from Elastique Pitch V2?

Existing users of Elastique Pitch V2 who consider buying élastiqueAAX, PLEASE CONTACT US BY EMAIL BEFORE BUYING!

All current users of Elastique Pitch V2 are entitled to get a 25% discount on the current price of élastiqueAAX.

Users who bought Elastique Pitch V2 after Dec 1, 2016 can decide to swap to élastiqueAAX. They will get a 50% discount but will have to surrender the license for Elastique Pitch V2.

What are the differences between élastiqueAAX and Elastique Pitch?

Elastique Pitch is a realtime Pitch Shifting Plug-In and it supports all MAC and Windows DAW’s via VST, AU and AAX native Plug-In formats.

élastiqueAAX on the other side is a Time Stretching and Pitch Shifting Plug-In for AVID Pro-Tools only; it offers no realtime operation, but faster than realtime processing via AAX native and Audiosuite.

Elastique Pitch FAQ

 

Elastique Pitch General Operation

How to control the pitch by MIDI input?

Connect a MIDI input to your plugin and just play. The pitch factor 100.00% (±0.00st) corresponds to a MIDI pitch of 60 (C3). MIDI Pitches in the octave below will shift down, higher MIDI pitches will shift up. The shift factor is calculated with the distance from pitch C3.

How to reset the sliders to default?

Alt-Click on the control or double-click on the slider handle.

How to resize the interface?

Drag the lower right corner to change the interface proportions.

What are the standard timbre settings?

  • No Formant Preservation: activate the link switch when both pitch and timbre have the same value, e.g. 100% (default position). Pitch and timbre factors will equal each other now.
  • Formant Preservation: deactivate the link switch and reset the timbre factor to 100.00% or ±0.00st.
  • Formant Shifting: activate the link switch when both pitch and timbre do not have the same value. Formants will be shifted by a onstant amount now.

How to pitch shift in semi-tones?

Click on the Percent Unit in the pitch (or timbre) display to show the shift in semitones. The decimals represent the pitch shift in cent.

What are the differences between élastiqueAAX and Elastique Pitch?

Elastique Pitch is a realtime Pitch Shifting Plug-In and it supports all MAC and Windows DAW’s via VST, AU and AAX native Plug-In formats.

élastiqueAAX on the other side is a Time Stretching and Pitch Shifting Plug-In for AVID Pro-Tools only; it offers no realtime operation, but faster than realtime processing via AAX native and Audiosuite.

PEEL FAQ

 

PEEL General Operation

How do I access the secondary output?

Not all DAWs support a secondary output for an insert plugin. Please check the list in the manual or contact the manufacturer of your DAW. For the DAWs we know that it works with we try to provide tutorial videos. Click the help icon in the plugin to get a list of tutorial videos.

My DAW doesn't support a secondary output. Can I simulate that?

Yes. Add PEEL to the track you want to work on. Adjust the EQ settings to your liking, then duplicate the track and set the EQ in the duplicated track to inverse mode. Now you can treat each track separately.

ppmBatch FAQ

 

ppmBatch General

What is ppmBatch?

ppmBatch is a batch processing tool for loudness analysis and normalization. It allows you to make your audio files compliant with various broadcasting standards.

Which loudness standards are supported?

In the current version ppmBatch supports the following standards:

  • EBU R 128 (2011)
  • EBU R 128 (2014)
  • ATSC A-85
  • ARIB TR-B32
  • FreeTV OP-59
  • ITU-R BS.1770-3

What audio formats are supported?

The following audio formats are supported as input:

  • wav (normal and broadcast wave format)
  • aif
  • mp3
  • ogg
  • wma (Windows only)
  • flac

The output file format is always uncompressed audio (wav format).

What video formats are supported?

ppmBatch can only process audio files.

Are multichannel files supported?

Yes, multichannel wav as well as multi-mono files are detected.

 

ppmBatch Loudness

What is EBU R.128?

The intention of this new recommendation is to adjust the level based on loudness and not on peaks. More info and several PDF documents can be found on their website : tech.ebu.ch/loudness/ or download the standard here: http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf

Is ppmBatch compliant to the EBU recommendation R.128?

Yes, it’s fully compliant – including the absolute and relative gating according to the latest (August 2011) revision of the specification. Feel free to validate the standard compliance for yourself with the freely available EBU test files.

PPMulator FAQ

 

PPMulator General

How can I upgrade PPMulator+ to PPMulatorXL?

  • Log yourself into your account at products.zplane.de
  • Go to “MYAccount”->”My Products”
  • Buy the upgrade by clicking on the green “Buy Upgrade” button in the PPMulator+ section
  • Register the received upgrade key by clicking on the green “Upgrade to PPMulatorXL” button in the PPMulator+ section
  • Find the new generated serial number and unlock key in the PPMulatorXL section
  • Run PPMulator
  • Open the context menu by right click on the PPMulator interface
  • Click on “Open Settings Dialog…” to open the settings dialog
  • Go to “Unlock”
  • Click on the “enter unlock information” button and enter the serial number and unlock key you’ve created steps before
  • Click on “OK” to finish upgrade process

How can I use PPMulator+ to monitor the output of my video editor?

A lot of Final Cut and Avid users are asking for this one… In standalone mode, PPMulator+ monitors the level of audio inputs, but can’t intercept the audio streams coming from other applications. We’re investigating ways that this might be possible on the Mac in future, but you could also have a look at either Audio Hijack Pro, or Soundflower, both of which allow VST plugins to be placed on audio output streams (and if you get it to work, let us know!)

What is the main difference between PPMulator+ and PPMulatorXL?

In addition to all features of PPMulator+, PPMulatorXL has support for loudness metering and faster-than-realt-ime batch metering (in the standalone version only).

What is the maximum file size that can be loaded in batch mode?

At the moment, the file size is limited to 2GB due to a limitation in the wav file parser we a’re using.

Does PPMulator only support stereo?

No, PPMulator supports up to six channels; presets for the most common channel configurations can be found in the “Audio” tab of the preferences dialog.

 

PPMulator Loudness

What is EBU R.128?

The intention of this new recommendation is to adjust the level based on loudness and not on peaks. More info and several PDF documents can be found on their website : tech.ebu.ch/loudness/ or download the standard here: http://tech.ebu.ch/docs/r/r128.pdf

Is PPMulatorXL compliant to the EBU recommendation R.128?

Yes, it’s fully compliant – including the absolute and relative gating according to the latest (August 2011) revision of the specification. Feel free to validate the standard compliance for yourself with the freely available EBU test files.

 

PPMulator Calibration/Troubleshooting

How can I test that metering results are correct on my system?

A good test-signal is a 1kHz stereo sine at the targeted reference level (-18 or -20 dBFS for peak metering, -23 dBFS for loudness ). You can generate such files with PPMulator from the “Calibration” tab in the preferences dialog. The measured result should be identical to the expected value that are also shown at the “Callibration” tab. For a -18 dbFS sine the result should be PPM4 for a BBC scale.

What are typical reasons for faulty loudness results?

  • Channel Configuration: You have to make sure the channel configuration in the “Audio” tab of the preferences is properly set. In order to verify that you chose the right configuration, you can switch to the multi-channel/surround peak meter to verify the plugin input. Also, verify that the reference level setting is set to the default value.
  • Routing: Please verify that you are indeed monitoring the output (post master).
  • Operation: In order to provide accurate and meaningful loudness results, the audio has to be measured at full length without interruptions and jumps.
  • Verification:To verify the results of the plugin version, please make a mixdown of your project and use the batch metering feature (PPMulator XL only) to measure the down-mixed file. If this gives you a different result than the plugin version, then you should double check your configuration as described above.

reTune FAQ

 

reTune General

How can I change the key of my audio track?

In order to change the key you have to specify the key of your input (either manually or by using the “Learn key” functionality) and select a target output key. Both input key and output key can be selected by using the presets for root pitch and scale provided by the combo boxes. Setting input and output key will automatically connect each input pitch to an output pitch in the pitch mapping matrix.

How can I tune an instrument?

To tune an instrument (e.g. an out-of-tune guitar) simply select “C chromatic” as both input and output key (assuming the piece should remain in the same key). Drag the “Pitch Correct” slider to the right to adjust the amount of pitch correction.

What is the purpose of the parameters sensitivity, transients and smoothing?

Sensitivity sets the sensitivity of the pitch detection. If you work with monophonic instruments you should choose a low sensitivity. For polyphonic instruments and more complex input you should set a higher sensitivity value.

Transient sets the level of the transients of your audio input. Values greater than 100% will boost the transients whereas lower values will attenuate the transients.

Smoothing evens out gaps in melodic lines caused by pitch shifts. Shorter smoothing times will result in less smoothing and will enable quicker transitions between pitches, whereas larger times will result in a stronger smoothing of the pitch transitions.

TONIC FAQ

 

TONIC General

Is there a demo version of TONIC?

There is currently no demo version of TONIC available. Some other zplane products have feature-reduced demo versions available. But with TONIC being such a simple and straight-forward plug-in, any efforts by us to cripple the performance or limit the featureset would make it unusable.

I already have deCoda—do I need TONIC?

The answer depends on what you’re trying to achieve and your specific workflow.

First of all, deCoda is a standalone app but TONIC is a plug-in which must be used in a host (Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, PreSonus Studio One, etc.). This means there’s already a big difference in use-case right from the start. If you’re looking to bring some of deCoda’s technology into your DAW, then TONIC might be useful to you.

It is true that deCoda, as one of the numerous algorithms it runs on the music, does detect the key of the song. It shows up in the bottom-left corner of the deCoda window. As you may suspect, deCoda and TONIC share the same exact technology for determining the key of the music. Therefore, deCoda isn’t going to give better results than TONIC in terms of the key detected for the song.

However, things differ a bit in that TONIC has a few extra features around the musical key that deCoda does not:

  • TONIC will not only show you the key that it is most certain is a fit for the music—deCoda will only show you this most-certain key—but will also show you two other possible keys that might also be a fit. When analyzing full songs like you’d do in deCoda, the analysis does usually give you the correct key for the song. However, if you’re working in a DAW and want to know what scales may work with a small audio loop or vocal line—a part which is not as harmonically complex or rich as a full song—then there could actually be a few keys that could fit with that part. TONIC will be able to show you these alternatives while deCoda will not.
  • Additionally, for any key you select in TONIC, the plug-in will provide guidance on the notes and chords that fit in that key. If you haven’t already committed to heart the scales for all 24 possible keys, then this can be helpful in learning them. TONIC provides a keyboard which, when clicked, will play corresponding audio tones so you can hear if those particular notes are indeed fitting with the music that is being analyzed. You can try this with all three keys and see if there’s one scale that sounds particularly interesting to you, and then start building up your song from there.

What TONIC does not do, unlike deCoda, is provide a mapping of chord changes throughout the song. TONIC is not a “chord-detection plug-in” but is rather a “key-detection plug-in”. deCoda does give you the mapping of chord changes over the whole song, so be aware that TONIC does not do this in case you were hoping to bring that sort of deCoda functionality into your DAW.

There are hundreds of scales—which are supported by TONIC?

There are 24 keys in equal-temperament music—12 major keys and 12 minor keys. These are often visualized on the Circle of Fifths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths

While it is true that there are many kinds of scales beyond just major and minor, TONIC is not a “scale-detection” plug-in. It is designed to be a key-detection plug-in, therefore it is just looking for the best possible matches to those 24 keys in the Circle of Fifths.

When selecting one of the keys, TONIC will tell you the pitches of the corresponding scale (which will be major or minor) and the chord triads that fit in that scale. If you know alternate scales that fit within the major or minor scale indicated by TONIC, you’d still be able to use them.

Does TONIC work in Reason?

At the time of this writing, Reason does not host VST3 or AU plug-ins—it hosts VST2 only. Since TONIC includes VST3, AU, and AAX versions, TONIC will not work in the current version of Reason. However, TONIC should work in Reason once support for VST3 and/or AU plug-ins is added to it.

vielklang FAQ

 

vielklang General

Can I run a my copy of vielklang 2 on two separate machines?

Yes, the license allows you to install and unlock it on up to two computers. On both you can use all plugin formats (VST, RTAS, AU), as you wish.

How does the unlocking work?

vielklang 2 has been shipped to you with a unique serial number. After you entered this serial number in the software, you will have register and unlock the software.
To register your software, please create a new user account. To do so, please follow the register your product link in the menu.
In your user area, you will find instruction on how to generate your personal unlock key. You will also find the latest full version downloads for vielklang 2 there.

How do I upgrade from vielklang 1 or vielklang 2 LE?

All vielklang 1 users get the vielklang 2 LE license for free. Simply install the full version of vielklang 2 from the download section of the user area and it will unlock as vielklang 2 LE. For upgrading you need to buy an upgrade serial number.
In order to use an upgrade key you need an existing registration of vielklang 1 or vielklang 2 LE. Beside the registration info in the myAccount area you´ll find an upgrade button. Click on it and fill in your upgrade serial number. Your current registration is changed to the new product with a different serial and unlock combination. Please enter this new combination in vielklang 2 to unlock the new features.
After entering the serial number and unlock code, close and reload your project in your host.

Is the web shop secure to use?

Yes it is. We do the transaction through shareit (www.shareit.com), utilizing a security certificate was issued by VeriSign Inc. The server supports SSL Version 3 and 168/112-Bit Triple DES encryption. All online shoppers who nonetheless feel uncomfortable using their credit cards online can also order using the fax form at the end of the order page.

What are the .zpa-files that are generated by vielklang 2?

vielklang 2 has to analyze the audio on loading a wave to know the pitches, note lengths, key, etc.
To be able to skip this analysis process when a file is repeatedly loaded, vielklang 2 stores the analysis results in a file with the extension .zpa. This file does not contain any project data, so if you accidentally delete it, it is just the analysis process when loading the wave file that has to be done again.

What are the pitch correction options with vielklang 2?

You can pitch shift each note separately by grabbing it in the middle and moving it up and down. While holding ALT you can fine tune the note. A right click on a note or selection automatically tunes the notes to the quantized pitch. Furthermore, vielklang 2 offers two controls for each voice individually: Tune and Drift.
The Tune fader corrects the mean pitch frequency while leaving the intentional deviations like vibrato untouched.
The Drift fader does exactly the opposite: it allows to decrease or increase the amount of deviations from the mean pitch frequency (like changing the amount of vibrato), while leaving the mean pitch frequency itself untouched.

What does vielklang 2 mean?

vielklang 2 (pronounce “feelklung”) is a german word: translated to english it would mean something like multi-sound or many-sound. In german, it could be used for a sound or chord with multiple voices.

Where is the difference between vielklang 2 and harmonizers that are known?

Many traditional harmonizers call themselves intelligent, meaning that the user is able to configure the input key and set diatonic intervals at which the additional voices will be synthesized. By “intelligence” is usually meant that diatonic intervals (i.e. only pitches from the key/scale) are used in contrast to chromatic intervals (i.e. a constant offset in semitones).
This behavior is modeled by vielklang 2 “parallel” harmonization mode, but the really interesting part of vielklang 2 is the default (“intelligent”) mode: here, vielklang 2 doesn’t synthesize plain parallel voices, but thinks in harmony progressions, resulting in a much more musically meaningful result. Furthermore, the voicing is controlled by voice leading rules to make the result as natural sounding as possible.

Can I only harmonize vocals?

No, you can harmonize any monophonic audio melody you like. You can also import MIDI files to harmonize your MIDI melodies.

Why is vielklang 2 not a real-time effect?



  • Harmony Estimation and Voice Leading is theoretically not possible in realtime. Think of 4 singers that try to sing a four-voice choir, but only one voice knows its melody, the others do not have any clue. How should they know what harmony is intended without knowing anything about the melody, not even the key? There are harmonizers around that do have a realtime approach, where the user has to adjust the input key, and the voices run then parallel (in diatonic intervals) to the input voice. Alternatively, the user may play all single pitches in realtime on a keyboard (knowing what harmony will fit and about a pleasant sounding voice leading). This is indeed pretty neat, but either the user exactly knows what he is doing musically or it will be the just parallel voices, which isn’t very musically. So, what we intend to do is trying to implement the musical knowledge and experience and come up with nice harmonizations even for unexperienced users. But for this, we have to know the complete melody line.
  • Adding the possibility of triggering. Using the snapshot trigger, you may use our instrument as a neat 4-voiced sample player, with all its implications. This allows a lot of new possible use cases in a production environment that wouldn’t simply be possible with a real-time plugin.
  • Adding the possibility of editing. Now all the harmonization and voice leading stuff might be cool, but probably cannot be correct in every single case (in the end, the plugin tries to guess what the user wants, so we would be living in a boring world if that would be always right 😎 ). So you may want to change harmony, range, and single pitches. In a realtime plugin, this is not possible. Of course, there are workarounds for this, like recording a track and edit it afterwards, but this is automatically non-realtime, and usually a pita. So why bother with a non-realtime implementation in a realtime plugin if you can make it easier and better in non-realtime at the first place?
  • Sonic Quality. The input pitch is shifted a considerable amount of pitches to generate the additional three voices. If something was wrong at the frequency detection or note segmentation stage, this would have severe impact on the quality. While high quality formant preserving pitch shifting basically would be possible in realtime, it gets quite difficult to guess note on/off positions correctly in realtime. These note on/off detections are quite important for harmony estimation and voice leading, and the quality benefits quite a bit from a non-realtime algorithm.

 

vielklang how-to

How can I change single harmonies of the harmonization?

In the Intelligent Harmonization mode, you may just select the fitting harmony in the harmony bar right above the piano roll display. And at any time you can shift the single notes to the position you prefer.

What can I do with those Snapshots?

Snapshots enable you to store and reload the whole harmonization or just parts of it. Each snapshot can have its own distinct MIDI trigger note, allowing to play different harmonizations or different play regions on different triggers.

 

vielklang Troubleshooting

I cannot find the documentation. Is there any?

Yes, the manual is installed by the installer unless you unselected it during the installation process. On MAC you can find the manual in the Applications folder in the sub directory zplane. On Windows the manual is in the Start Menu in the sub directory zplane.
Alternatively, use the manual menu entry in the help menu of vielklang 2. This will download the latest version of the manual.

After successful installation, vielklang 2 does not show up in the effects menu of my host. Why?

Note that vk2 is a virtual instrument, not a real-time effect, so you have to look under the instruments menu of your host. If you still cannot see the plugin try one of the following:

  • On Windows check if the plug-in search path in your host points to the directory where you installed vielklang 2.
  • Do a rescan of your plug-ins and delete any potential blacklists before. Please check the host documentation on how to do this.
  • On Windows please check if you installed the 32bit version in case you run a 32bit host or if you installed the 64bit version if you run a 64bit host.
  • On Windows please make sure that you installed the MS VC2005 Redistributables that are included in the installer package.

I cannot drag and drop in Logic

Unfortunately Logic doesn’t support drag and drop from the arranger. You can drag and drop from the audio bin (project browser in Logic X) though.

Freezing does not work?

In order to freeze an instrument properly the host needs to know at what time the instrument produces audio output. Usually this is done by checking where the instrument has MIDI input. So, in order to freeze a vk2 track you need to generate a dummy MIDI part for whole time where vk2 is supposed to produce audio output. In some host it is sufficient just to generate an empty MIDI part, in others you might need to add a dummy note ranging from the beginning to the end of the MIDI part.

Why is the input melody automatically modified?

Vk2 does this automatically because the input pitch was not in the harmonization scale, and it has assumed that for proper harmonization, it should be quantized to that scale. You have the option to switch this automatic behavior off by disabling the small magnet icon in the scale selector in the harmony settings. If this option is turned off, the input melody pitches will remain unaltered.

Why is there no MIDI-output with vielklang 2 AU?

Due to technical limitations of the AudioUnit-Interface, vielklang 2 AU is not able to provide MIDI-output. MIDI-out is available with the VST-format.

SUPPORT FORM

CONTACT US

Before contacting support, please make sure that your problem
is not covered in the manuals, in the FAQ section or in the forum.

 

Online

e-mail: support@zplane.de
internet
: www.zplane.de

CONTACT FORM

Please tell us:

• the exact version number of your product (see the about window)
• your operating system and computer configuration
• a detailed description of the problem and how to reproduce it
• your registration information

Please write your request in English or German.