Elysia Karacter Coloring Box

The karacter is a box full of vibrant colors. It covers a complete spectrum including mastering-grade saturation, tube-inspired distortion and glorious destruction. Gone are the days when only racks full of outboard gear could achieve these elusive and highly desirable styles of tonal coloration…

This all-in-one solution offers two separate channels which can be set up for dual mono, linked stereo or linked and unlinked M/S operation. Integrated mix stages for parallel signal processing and the unique Color Control add to its remarkable flexibility.

An amazing special feature of the rack version is its CV capability: By feeding external Control Voltages into the karacter you can modulate or recall its Drive and Mix parameter settings. Create the most organic and vivid sounds out of plain and static sources!

The entire unit is designed with discrete class-A topology, so even the most lo-fi sounds will benefit from the karacter’s high-end touch. Enhance your tracks or decimate everything – It’s a matter of karacter.

100% Discrete Class-A Topology:

Expensive boutique sound made affordable.

Mastering-Grade Saturation:

Gentle THD generation with a soft characteristic.

Tube-Inspired Distortion:

Wide ranges of asymmetrical low noise clipping.

Glorious Destruction:

Turbo Boost for massive sonic mayhem.

Bulletproof Lightweight:

Aluminum housing, panel and knobs.

Control Voltage:

Modulation and recall of Drive and Mix.

Color Filter:

Harmonics-frequency relation tweaks.

Dual Mono/Stereo Link/Mid Side:

Signal matrix for maximum flexibility.

Stepped Controllers:

Fast and easy recall guaranteed.

Made in Germany:

Build quality without compromise.

Features:

Discrete Class-A Topology:

The input and output stages as well as the complete audio path are fully discrete designs running in constant class-A mode. The result: Signal coloration, high-end style.

We love the sound of class-A circuitry! And here is why: In a class-A amplifier, the transistors are conductive all of the time, so there is no crossover distortion at all. This is the perfect technological basis for an open sound with massive punch and no degradation of your original source.

The discrete approach makes it possible to design every single stage in signal processing exactly to what you want it to do – physics becomes the only limit. The karacter uses our custom discrete input and output stages derived from the alpha compressor, and the complete audio path is a fully discrete class-A design, too.

The benefit of this pristine circuitry is a saturation tool capable of adding substantial amounts of color to a signal without degrading its original quality. And even if quite massive distortion is applied, the result will always sound interesting and never bad. A very welcome side effect is the noise floor which is pleasingly low for a processor of this kind.

Mastering-Grade Saturation:

In this mode, the karacter generates gentle Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) with a soft characteristic curve, resulting in very musical symmetrical clipping.

The karacter can add unobtrusive coloration and thickness to your music by applying subtle (or less subtle) amounts of symmetrical clipping. This mode has a soft characteristic curve and focuses on the uneven harmonics (h3, h5, …). Remember you can always use the mix controller to blend any desired amount of saturation with your original dry path for even further signal integrity.

The following diagram shows the harmonic spectrum of a sine wave in this mode:

And this shows how the sine wave is shaped by the karacter:

Tube-Inspired Distortion:

In FET Shred mode, the behavior of the karacter changes drastically. The sound instantly reminds of tube amplifiers, with a wide range of asymmetrical distortion.

Now, the karacter becomes a different animal… Its clipping changes from a symmetrical to an asymmetrical characteristic, which pleasingly reminds of the style a driven tube amp would sound like. More even harmonics (h2, h4, …) come into play, and what has been saturation before is now turned into truly musical distortion. Be sure to make extensive use of the Color controller in this mode!

The following diagram shows the harmonic spectrum of a sine wave in this mode:

And this shows how the sine wave is shaped by the karacter:

Glorious Destruction:

Now, this is pushing the envelope. The Turbo Boost shifts the operating point of the distortion circuit in FET shred mode and generates even more asymmetrical wave forms.

Turbo Boost puts the FET Shred mode on steroids. It shifts the operating point of the distortion circuitry, resulting in a signal structure which is even more asymmetrical than before. This will become most obvious at higher settings of the Drive controller, sounding great for industrial styles, mangling samples, brutal guitar sounds and much more…

The following diagram shows the harmonic spectrum of a sine wave in this mode:

And this shows how the sine wave is shaped by the karacter:

Control Voltage:

The additional EXT inputs can be used to feed external control voltages into the karacter, making it possible to remote control the Drive and Mix parameters.

The Drive and Mix parameters can be modulated or automated with an external Control Voltage (abbreviated CV). The special signals needed for this are typically provided by analog synthesizers or specialized products for generating control voltages.

The CV can only cover the complete range of the Drive and Mix parameters if the corresponding knobs are set to their fully counter-clockwise position. Now you are able to control the parameters as follows:

Drive:

0 Volt (DC) = Warp 0
5 Volt (DC) = Warp 11

Mix:

0 Volt (DC) = 100% Dry
5 Volt (DC) = 100% Wet

The control voltages are fed into the karacter through the rearward EXT1 and EXT2 connectors. If the karacter operates in Link mode, both of its channels will be controlled by the signals present at EXT1.

Color Filter:

The Color control changes the harmonics-frequency relation with tons of interesting variations. Middle is flat; turn left for more dub and right for more shred.

The Color is a unique, complex filter network controlled by just a single knob. This is something really different from the simple top end roll-off filters found on many distortion devices, as it is much more flexible and integrated deeply into the saturation circuits of the karacter.

So, this filter does not change the frequency response after it has been formed, but instead it is an essential part of THD generation itself. It gives you a wide range of coloring options and several amazing sweet spots ranging from dubby growl to steely punch.

The following diagram shows the THD over frequency relation for several clockwise to counterclockwise settings:

Integrated M/S Matrix:

As an alternative to standard stereo operation you can process the mid and side signals, opening up completely new options for your work!

M/S technology is commonly known as a variant of stereo microphoning. This technique uses a microphone with cardioid pattern for the middle signal (M) and another one with bi-directional pattern with an offset of 90° for the side signal (S). The main advantage of this technology is its mono compatibility. FM radio stations use M/S technology for transmitting stereo signals exactly for this reason.

To create M/S signals, the left and right channel of the stereo sum are added to generate the mid (M), whereas the side (S) is created by subtracting the right from the left channel:
M = L+R
S = L-R

To decode an M/S signal back into stereo again, M is added to S for the left channel and S is subtracted from M for the right channel:
L = M+S
R = M-S

The integration of an M/S encoder and decoder into a saturator generates new potentials that classic stereo processors can hardly offer. One of the main advantages is the possibility to process the middle and side signals separately. This way you can make the center sound fatter without corrupting the original stereo spectrum, for example.

Of course it is also possible to apply heavy distortion to the side signals without affecting the mid at all, and anything in between… The stereo width can be influenced fast and efficiently, too, and it is possible to process specific parts of a mix that could not be ‘touched’ in a stereo mix as precisely as it is possible in M/S mode.

Dual Mono/Stereo Link:

For ultimate flexibility, the karacter offers both true dual mono and linked stereo operation, while in M/S mode the channels can be linked or unlinked as well.

The karacter gives you ultimate flexibility in terms of configuring its channels:

Dual Mono:
This gives you two fully independent channels of saturation/distortion/destruction – two units in one! This is of course the right mode to process two completely different signals at the same time. Or to send the output of channel 1 into channel 2 for even further mangling… if you dare.

Stereo Link:
In this mode, both channels are linked and controlled by just a single set of controls for comfortably processing stereo sources. The left controllers and bottom switches become the master for both channels. The obvious benefit is that you don’t have to compare and match the settings of your left and right channels all of the time when processing stereo material.

M/S Unlinked:
This gives you the option to process the mid and the side signals completely independent from each other. Then, left becomes mid channel and right becomes side channel. You can apply a high amount of saturation to the mid and leave the sides completely untouched, or the other way round, or anything in between… Different settings of the gain controllers can be used to create subtle or significant changes within the stereo spectrum.

M/S Linked:
The linked M/S mode might seem a little odd, as the behavior seems to be exactly the same as in linked stereo mode. It can still have its benefits, though, as the inevitable divergences between left and right channel which are caused by natural component tolerances will be reduced in this mode, because here the side information of both channels is processed in a single audio path.

Stepped Controllers:

All potentiometers of the karacter have steps, which is a great help for recalling your previous sessions fast and precisely.

The karacter features stepped potentiometers for all its parameters throughout. The 41 steps make a precise recall very easy, and they provide a useful range of possible settings at the same time. And you will just love the feel of them, too 😉

Stepped controllers are something you will usually only find on much more expensive gear, special mastering editions, or in most of the cases – not at all. The karacter establishes this very handy feature in the regular serial version without any luxury up-charge.

Ground Layer Shield:

One of the six layers of both PCBs is a full copper plane which helps to reduce interferences caused by electric fields.

The PCBs of the karacter have a total of none less than six layers: While the first five are used for separately routing audio and power supply, the sixth one is a dedicated ground shield layer. But what’s the idea behind this?

As the additional ground layer is placed extremely close beneath the traces which carry audio, it is very efficient as a shield against unwanted noise interferences caused by electric fields. The result is even less noise – at least the one you don’t want to have 😉

Condition	New
Brand	Elysia

Frequency response:

100% Dry: <10 Hz - 400 kHz (-3 dB)
100% Wet: <10 Hz - 27 kHz (-3 dB)

THD+N: 100 % Dry

@ 0 dBu: 0.013 %
@ +10 dBu: 0.024 %

THD+N: 100 % Wet (in Saturation Mode)

@ 0 dBu Min Drive: 0.47 %
@ 0 dBu Max Drive: 35.1 %

Noise floor: 20 Hz - 20 kHz (A-weighted)

100% Dry: -91 dBu
100% Wet (depending on Drive and Gain): -81 to -91 dBu

Dynamic range:

20 Hz - 22 kHz: 112 dB

Maximum level:

Input: +21 dBu Output: +21 dBu

Impedance:

Input: 10 kOhm
Output: 68 Ohm

Download Manual for Elysia Karacter Coloring Box

Download Recall Sheet for Elysia Karacter Coloring Box