Superchord manual

Please visit our online FAQ section for the latest host compatibility information.

The installer requires the current account to have administrative privileges, which will trigger the Windows User Account Control dialog as pictured below.

An annoying Windows SmartScreen warning dialog can also sometimes be displayed.

We guarantee that our software is absolutely virus and spyware free, and you can safely ignore the warnings. You can use the free VirusTotal online service to check your installer should you still not take our word for it.

Please click More info on the right then Run anyway to proceed.

The following screen allows you to customize the folders to which the VST2 versions of the plug-in will be installed. The default values should be fine for most cases, but you might to change them in case your host uses non-standard locations.

The following screen lets you choose which plug-in formats you want to install. Here are few guidelines:

You will then be presented with a summary of the installation options.
Press Install when you are ready to perform the actual installation.

You will then be presented with a summary of the installation options.
Press Install when you are ready to perform the actual installation.

Depending on your system preferences, you will be asked to enter administrator credentials.

The table below lists available modifier keys. The tooltip area also displays the modifier keys for the host the plug-in is inserted in.

Controls also respond to the arrow keys. Press ▶ or ▲ to increase the value, ◀ or ▼ to decrease it. Use the modifier keys above to make more precise adjustments.

Parameters can be locked so that they don’t change when switching, loading or pasting presets. You can lock and unlock one or several parameters using the context menu. Right-click the toolbar to unlock all parameters at conce.

The note, octave, pan, level and detune labels located to the right of the corresponding resonator parameters also have specific context menus to apply various useful batch operations.

The VST3 host context menu generally incorporates shortcuts to show the automation track for the relevant parameter, as pictured in the next screen.

Cubase and Nuendo also feature specific Quick Controls, which is a very nice feature which allows you to easily map your favorite MIDI controller to up to 8 plug-in parameters. The advantage is that you only need to set-up your MIDI controller once in Devices  Device Setup …​  VST Quick Controls. After this just right-click on a parameter control to associate it with your MIDI controller, and you’re done.

Please consult the relevant host documentation for more details.

Avid AAX plug-ins also feature host command integration with Pro Tools^®.

When the mouse is over a control, use the following keyboard shortcuts for the corresponding parameter, as illustrated above:

Labels for automated parameters turn green in read mode, or red in write mode.

Retina high-resolution display is supported in the vast majority of current hosts.

HiDPI support is available with the following caveats:

Refer our FAQ entry for an up to date list of compatible hosts.

The preset manager gives quick access to a number of factory presets.
Move your mouse over the preset cells to display information about the corresponding preset. Click on a cell to immediately switch the current preset, for quick auditioning.

Presets are stored in a cross-platform XML text format, so that they can be shared seamlessly between macOS and Windows users, by email, etc. The preset clipboard copy and paste functions allow exchanging presets between instances, and even hosts, if necessary.

The info panel on the left hosts the following shortcuts and utilities:

The graphic settings on the right allow you to customize the appearance of the user interface. Unless specified otherwise, these settings are global and are shared across all plug-in instances.

Click one of these four buttons to shift the notes / octaves of all resonators up or down.

Adjusts master resonator output gain, after summation of all resonator output signals.

Affects master resonator tuning, relative to A4. The default value is standard 440Hz concert pitch.

Click the button below the tuning knob to switch to an extended range of A3-A5 (220-880Hz). This can be used to create dramatic whammy-bar style effects, or to switch between two different tunings on the fly.

Sets the base note of the resonator.
Click on the right portion of the control to increment the note, on the left to decrement it, or use the mouse wheel to change the note quicker. Right-click on the control to display a context menu where you can select a note directly by name.

Sets the octave of the resonator.

This small LED gives an indication of the output level of the corresponding resonator.

Sets the position of the resonator output in the stereo field.

Sets the level of the resonator output.

Sets the fine tuning of the resonator pitch, in cents, relative to its base note. The corresponding global context menu has presets for various just intonation tunings.

Puts the resonator in solo mode, to hear it temporarily in isolation.

Mutes the resonator, when you don’t need to use all resonators.

The two solo/mute buttons located to the right of the resonator solo/mute buttons temporarily defeat the individual resonator solo/mute’s states, like on a mixing console. Ctl+Click on one of those buttons to set/clear all solo/mute states in one go.

Located above solo/mute defeat controls are two small buttons to switch between resonator detune (default), frequency, and delay modes. In frequency mode, the frequency (in Hz) of the corresponding resonator is displayed instead of the detune amount. In delay mode, resonator detune controls are replaced by individual delay controls. Delaying resonator by different amounts can be interesting to add an extra sense of depth and space.

This parameter affects the overall damping factor of the resonators.
A high damping value prevents most resonance from occurring, whereas a lower value will make notes ring longer, up to the point of infinite sustain. This is analogous to the decay time control found in reverb units, except it is inverted.

Shimmer controls how long upper harmonics ring, relative to the fundamental. This parameter models a phenomenon found in most acoustic instruments, where harmonics decay faster than the fundamental.
A low shimmer value makes the higher harmonics die out very quickly, not unlike a guitar player using palm muting. On the contrary, a high shimmer value will produce a bright scintillating sound.

Darkness is essentially a low-pass filter which gradually muffles the sound. This can be put too good effect to tame any excessive harshness.

Mistune controls the relative tuning between horizontal and vertical polarizations, in cents.
An ideal string would have both polarizations perfectly in tune, whereas in real life, depending on the construction of the instrument, this will not hold anymore.
Small values lead to a kind of double-string, chorus-type effect. Higher values will give a sound reminiscent of an old honky-tonk piano or a guitar fitted with washed-out strings.

Feedback corresponds to acoustic coupling between horizontal and vertical polarizations. This subtly increases the body and fullness of the sound, and also makes notes ring a bit longer.

Coupling refers to the acoustic coupling between strings, or the overall sympathetic resonance.
In the real world, acoustic vibrations recirculate from a string to its neighbors, which can even lead to acoustic feedback, a.k.a Larsen effect when amplified.

To avoid excessive feedback, prevent damage to your speakers and ears, and model real-world behavior, this feedback is limited by a non-linear element, which emulates things such as amplifier distortion and clipping. This feature can be put to interesting effect and simulate an all-out, everything dialed to 11' guitar amplifier, as demonstrated in the Super Destroyer preset.

The little LED below the dial gives a real-time indication of the overall sympathetic resonance level.

When the input audio material contains a lot of low-frequency content, low-pitched strings and harmonics will tend to sound relatively louder than others. The tracking parameter can remedy this by carving out some of this low-frequency content, using a high-pass filter with a cutoff frequency that tracks resonator pitch, to maintain an overall timbral balance.

Pluck position simulates how plucking a string at various positions affects the sound. This has a direct effect on which harmonics are excited: for example, plucking exactly at the center leads to even harmonics, giving a characteristic, tube-like hollow sound. Values towards zero correspond to the bridge, whilst one corresponds to the neck.

This parameter determines the horizontal to vertical polarization input mix ratio.

This parameter determines the horizontal to vertical polarization output mix ratio.

This parameter controls the damping of the vertical polarization with respect to the horizontal polarization. In effect, setting this to a value to something lower than 100% will give a more complex decay envelope, comprising two stages.

Buzz mimics the characteristic buzzing that occurs in instruments with non-rigid string attachments, such as the Indian sitar.

This parameter controls the horizontal and vertical feedback polarities, which can be positive () or negative (). Default is both positive, other settings give a more tubular, bell-like sound with audible inharmonicities.

The controls on the right side of the panel modify the target parameter according to the resonator number:

The following target parameters are available for scaling:

Toggles the LFO module on and off.

This button toggles between two timebase modes:

The LED below the sync button pulses in sync with the LFO modulation signal. The oscilloscope shows a graph of the recent LFO history, to help you visualize what you hear.

Rate controls the LFO speed.
Depending on the sync setting above, its value is expressed in

The LFO offers the following choice of several classic as well as more esoteric waveforms:

Controls which parameter is modulated by the LFO, i.e. its destination.

Determines the amount of modulation applied to the target.

Determines how the LFO modulates the target parameter value

Clicking on the ENV button toggles the envelope follower on and off.

This parameter sets the modulation destination, as in the LFO module.
When the EF and LFO targets are the same, their signals are combined.

Set target to gain to modulate output volume and achieve a gating / ducking effect. When set to freq, the filter cutoff frequency will be modulated by the incoming audio, as in an auto-wah pedal. You can also set this to pitch to mimic note bending, preferably using a small modulation amount, to avoid seasickness.

The little LED below the Target control displays the current output level of the envelope follower.

Controls the attack time of the detector, in seconds.
A short attack will make the envelope follow input volume variations almost instantaneously, while larger values lead to a more pronounced swell effect.

Controls the release time of the detector, in seconds.
A short release will make the envelope decrease rapidly to zero when input volume drops. Decreasing this value will make the envelope hold longer following a short attack.

This controls the modulation amount. Increase towards 100% to get a more pronounced effect.
A ducking effect can be achieved by setting it to a negative value and using gain as the target. The sound will then be cut when the input gets loud, and come back in quieter passages.

Toggles the filter section on and off.

Switches between the two possible filter positions.
By default, the filter acts on the output of the resonators (post). This setting gives the most dramatic results, especially when doing filter sweeps. Try sweeping the filter with a moderate Q and listen how the resonator harmonics start to 'sing'. The pre position puts the filter before the resonators, which allows to tailor the frequency content of the incoming audio, and therefore control which harmonics are being excited.

This control adjusts the filter’s cutoff frequency, in Hz.

Determines the quality factor, or resonance of the filter.
Low Q values give a mostly smooth curve, while higher Q values create a bump around the cutoff frequency. Going all the way up to 1 will take the filter into self-oscillation territory.

The mode parameter determines the shape of the filter curve.

The filter module can be switched between two different models. The default setting (off) should cover most needs, whilst enabling fat mode will imprint a subtly different character to the filter’s sound.

Toggles the saturation module on and off.

When set to reso, the saturation module acts on the output of each resonator individually.
When set to post, saturation is applied to the summed output of all resonators.

You will notice that the two settings often produce notably different results. post mode simulates what happens when you feed a guitar’s pickup output to a distortion pedal and/or amplifier, creating complex harmonics, inter-modulation distortion, etc.

Controls the input gain of the saturation element, in dB.
Low values produce mild tube-like warmth, mid values will lean towards crunch and grit, whilst extreme values give fuzz-like tones. Output gain is compensated internally to maintain a constant perceived loudness.

Controls the delay before the energy limiter kicks in.
Setting this value to a few milliseconds will make the limiting act almost instantaneously. A value in the order of several hundred milliseconds will let more of the peaks come through.

Controls the time for the energy limiter to fall back to zero.

Controls the slope of the limiter. The resulting dynamic range decreases with increasing ratio.

Sets the value over which the limiter kicks in, in dB.

Logic Pro requires a somewhat specific setup. Please follow these steps:

The instrument engine assigns incoming MIDI notes to free resonator voices.
Currently playing resonators are displayed at the top, with their corresponding note and level. While most settings are shared with regular FX mode, each resonator output is modulated by a VCA envelope generator, which shapes the evolution of its volume in time.

Controls the rise time of the volume envelope, in seconds. A longer value here will lead to a gradual volume swell, which is suitable for pads and similar sounds.

Controls the decay time of the volume envelope, in seconds.

Controls the sustain level of the volume envelope.

Controls the release time of the volume envelope, i.e. the time for the envelope to fall back to zero after the key has been released.

Controls the velocity dynamic range. Setting this to zero will lead to notes all having the same volume, irrespective of the incoming MIDI note velocity, as it happens in some organs.

Controls the velocity to volume level scaling. Adjust this to a suitable value depending on your playing style.

Right-click inside the envelope module panel to bring up a context menu with pre-defined envelope shapes.

You can use the MIDI pitch wheel message to perform pitch bending and vibrato effects.