There are three versions – the Accentuator (mono/stereo), the Poly Accentuator (mono/poly), & the Poly Poly Accentuator (poly/poly)- buy any one of them and you’ll find a drastic discount when returning to the store for the other two.
Accentuator:
When a trigger is received, incoming audio (mono or stereo) is accented with a percussive boost at the output. It’s great for adding dynamics to a static drum sequence as well as for molding the attack of a synth patch (in cooperation with an envelope generator – you can have a percussive attack and still use the env gen decay for a macroscopic descent to the sustain level). It’s quite impactful on a bass line too.
There are four variable accent intensities, each with an adjustment dial and an independent trigger jack, and one of the intensities can be modulated for constantly varied accent levels. Further, while accents are usually defined as positive boosts, they can also be set to minute drops to create ghost notes or set to negative values for phase cancellation effects. The decay of the accent can be adjusted and/or modulated too, allowing for the sharpest bite or a blunt pounce alike.
To get further separation from the accented levels, drop the “post vol” to create a contrasting volume baseline. This can also be modulated for even more dynamics.
The Accentuator is a useful way to add excitement to a patch, to infuse more humanistic variance into a sequence, and to craft transients with an additional layer of flexibility and liveliness.
Poly Accentuator:
This is the middle sibling between the Accentuator & the Poly Poly Accentuator – it allows a user to create accents on audio with a trigger to any of its four mono pulse inputs, corresponding to different accent levels.
Mono pulse inputs allow for greater opportunities for use with sequencer, LFOs, and generally, most signals, while the polyphonic throughput means that the accent will abe applied to all of the poly voices (use the Poly Poly version to individually accent voices).
This fills an odd niche, albeit a very usable one – you can give chords a collective sforzando attack, modulate notes with “inner attacks”, and get into interesting signal manipulations that are only possible from a mono connection.
Poly Poly Accentuator:
This is the truly polyphonic version of the Accentuator, with polyphonic ins & outs as well as polyphonic trigger inputs for per-voice accenting at up to four levels.
Send polyphonic input through it and send a trigger to any of the accent inputs to add an extra purcussive attack. The accent can also be subtractive for ghost notes or negative for phase cancellations. There are four choices of accent level and they’re all adjustable – one of them is also modulatable for constant dynamic variation.
The “post vol” can be lowered for greater dynamic contrast and the decay can be adjusted from the sharpest bite to a rounded pounce. Both of these can also be modulated for further variation.
Try it in addition to an envelope generator to gain a layer of dynamics and liveliness.
PLAYERTRON 