Modeling the Harmonic Exciter
Priyanka Shekar, Julius O. Smith · Journal of the Audio Engineering Society · 2013
A harmonic exciter is an audio effects signal processor applied to enhance the brightness and clarity of a sound, particularly used for vocals. This is achieved by inducing a measured amount of high-frequency distortion. In this paper, an exciter is digitally modeled and implemented as a standalone application (or plugin) using the FAUST (Functional AUdio STream) programming language for real-time audio. The model is based on the Aural Exciter by Aphex Ltd., an analog hardware unit. Technical specifications of the Aural Exciter are drawn from the original 1979 patent. The digital model performs as expected, recreating a “vintage” style audio effect.