Thank you for downloading 'Cascade'. We hope you enjoy using this plugin and that it inspires new ideas.

Introduction

‘Cascade’ is an atmospheric instrument for creating arrhythmic pads and textures, all comprised from real instruments. The instrument includes 2 layers, each featuring 100 sound sources crafted using experimental techniques to create textures comparable to granular instruments, but also with their own distinct sound.

Installation

Once you've downloaded the file, extract the ZIP and run the installer. By default, the plugin is installed into:

Once installed, open your preferred DAW. 'Cascade' is a VST3 and AU plugin, so you'll need to ensure your DAW is set-up correctly to find and load the plugin. The above directories are where most DAWs expect these files to be — otherwise some hosts can't find a plugin on the machine. E.g. this is the case for FL Studio or Cubase with VST3 files.

On Mac, 'Cascade' installs both VST3 and AU formats of the plugin by default. If you want to install only one of these, please select the format by clicking "Customise" in the Installation Type tab.

If you use any other folder for your plugins on Windows, please select it by clicking "Browse" in the Destination Location Panel during the installation.

Using 'Cascade'

Cascade is an instrument plugin, so to get started, load Cascade onto an instrument/MIDI track inside your DAW.

Cascade is split into 4 modules. Layer A and B are at the top, with the Amplitude, Filters and Submerge effects below them.

Layer A and B

The top two modules are the two Layers — A and B, with A on the left, B on the right. Both modules have identical functionality but can be completely different to each other.

Layer Sound Selection

Drag up/down on the layer icon or the layer name to move up and down the layer list. There are 100 to choose from. You can also use the left and right icons to move between the layers one at a time.

Randomise Layers

You can also instantly randomise which 2 layers are loaded to quickly create new textures — just click the dice icon.

Volume

Sets the volume of the layer.

Reverse

The ‹ button reverses the audio for that layer.

Pitch

Increases or decreases the transposition of the layer in semitone increments. Although all samples are tuned to C3, some recordings feature multiple octaves, so adjust accordingly +12 or -12 to taste.

Pan

Position of the layer in the stereo image from left to right.

The next 3 modules, ‘Amp Envelope’, ‘Filters’ and ‘Submerge’ are applied to both layers.

Master

Controls the master volume of the entire plugin.

Amplitude

Sets the amplitude attack, decay, sustain and release shapes. This is applied to both layers.

Filters

There are 2 filters included for carving out unwanted frequencies. A high-pass filter, useful for reducing low frequency content, and a low-pass filter, for reducing high frequency content.

Submerge

A granular reverb that's designed for big washes of sound, which can be seen as a combination of our ‘Cloud’ and ‘Scatter’ reverbs, but with some unique differences. We designed this to be a warm, sub-octave generator for submerging the arrhythmic and natural high-frequency content of the sounds into a smoother pool of reflections.

The 3 main controls are ‘Sub’, ‘Reverse’ and ‘Mix’. Other controls will adjust the frequency and colour of those controls.

Sub

A granular generator which adds a smooth sub-octave reverb.

Reverse

A granular generator which is set to the same pitch as the input signal, but reversed — creating a diffused wash of colour.

Flutter

Adds pitch fluctuations to both ‘Sub’ and ‘Reverse’, creating a tape-like effect.

Damping

Dampens high-frequency content, much like a low-pass filter.

Feedback

Sends the reverb tails back into the input, creating larger soundscapes.

Decay

Affects the decay time of the reverb.

Mix

Adjusts the dry/wet mix of the effect.

Presets

To open the preset browser, click the folder icon at the top right of the plugin window. You can open and save presets inside the browser. To save your own presets, first add your own Category and Bank. Once you've done that, you can Add your own presets to that bank and recall them later.

To close the browser, click the folder icon again to return to the main window.

MIDI Assign & Learn

Any control can be linked to a MIDI CC. To assign a MIDI CC, right-click a control, click assign cc and select your desired MIDI CC, or click learn cc. Cascade will then wait for a control on your MIDI controller to be moved and will then assign that CC to the control.

You can edit the ranges of the MIDI assignments by clicking the SoundGhost logo at the top right of the plugin.

MIDI assignments are saved per preset, so you can save your own templates for easy recall.

MIDI Pitchbend is hardcoded into the plugin and is set to +/-12 semitones.

Resize Plugin Window

If you wish to resize the plugin window, just drag and drop the bottom right corner of the plugin to set a desired window size.

Plugin Version

If you need to check the plugin version, click the SoundGhost logo at the top right of the window.

Default Parameters

To reset any control to its default parameter, double click any control.

Samples Location

The plugin sample files are installed to the following location:

If you wish to change the location, you can move the Samples folder to a location of your choice. You will then be prompted to locate the samples folder within the plugin, or you can do so from the Settings menu by clicking the SoundGhost logo, then selecting ‘Change sample folder location’.

When the location has been changed, you may need to remove the instance of the plugin and open a new one for the changes to take place.

Uninstalling

If you wish to uninstall the plugin and/or the demo version of the plugin, on Mac you need to delete the files from the following locations:

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