Device Details
Overview
| Name | Version: | PhaseLock 2.2 2.2 |
| Author: | fluctor |
| Device Type: | Audio Effect |
| Description: | PhaseLock 2.2 aligns the phase relationship between a kick and a bass so they sum constructively instead of cancelling each other out. The device sits on the BASS track and receives the kick through its sidechain input. It measures how well the two sum in the low end, shows you the result in real time, and sets the delay and polarity needed to lock them together, automatically or by hand. Demo video v2.0: https://youtu.be/Nr-GjqSmqtI Demo video v2.2: https://youtu.be/YhW1eDecc6U Buy here: https://fluctor-audio.lemonsqueezy.com/checkout/buy/57638d10-793b-4c36-82f8-15c5fc473749 ONE-CLICK AUTO-ALIGN Press once while kick and bass are playing. The device captures about two seconds of both signals, low-passes them, and runs a normalized cross-correlation across a lag range of -100 to +150 ms, testing both polarities. It then writes the delay value and the absolute polarity state, with a parabolic refinement around the correlation peak for sub-sample precision. On periodic material, two candidate peaks one cycle apart can score almost identically. The analyzer resolves this by preferring the solution that keeps the bass attack behind the kick, which protects the groove instead of pulling the bass ahead of the beat. The delay value is calculated in milliseconds and converted to samples at the live sample rate, so results are rate-independent and remain correct if the audio interface is switched between 44.1 and 48 kHz while the set is open. PHASE ALIGNMENT SCORE AND CONFIDENCE The score is a normalized zero-lag cross-correlation between the low-passed kick reference and the aligned bass, mapped so that 100 percent is perfect constructive summation, 50 percent is no correlation, and readings below 50 indicate active cancellation. It updates continuously and is colored red to green. The analysis tap sits before the volume shaper by design. Measuring post-shaper bass would collapse the correlation toward 50 percent during every duck and make the meter useless. The confidence readout reports the peak correlation on a calibrated scale. A high reading means the alignment result is reliable. A low reading means the two sources do not share enough correlated low end energy, which is a property of the material rather than a fault of the analysis. THREE MODES Mono sums the full signal. Appropriate for a dedicated sub layer. Bass Mono uses a mid/side architecture and high-passes the side channel with two cascaded fourth-order Butterworth filters, giving a 48 dB per octave rolloff. Only the content below the cutoff collapses to mono while the stereo image above it stays intact. This is the elliptical EQ technique used in mastering for vinyl and club playback. The cutoff is adjustable from 50 to 500 Hz, with 120 Hz as a sensible starting point. Stereo passes the side channel unfiltered. Delay, polarity and rotation are applied identically to mid and side, so by linearity the left and right channels pass through with the image untouched and the device only aligns. AUTOMATIC LATENCY COMPENSATION Ableton Live compensates audio routed into a Max for Live sidechain input, but it does not compensate beat time. A transport-locked shaper therefore stays on the grid while upstream plugin latency delays the bass, and the duck lands early. This affects every tempo-synced device, not only this one. PhaseLock 2.2 handles it without user input. The device walks the device list using the Live Object Model, sums the reported latency of every device placed before it, including devices nested inside racks, and shifts the shaper envelope accordingly. Observers on the device list catch additions, removals and reordering, and a background poll catches in-place latency changes such as an oversampling toggle. There is no button and no value to set, because there is nothing to configure. Compensation headroom extends well beyond any realistic plugin chain. Accuracy is bounded by what each plugin reports. PhaseLock reads the same latency values Live's own delay compensation uses, so it cannot be less accurate than the host. For plugins that misreport, placing PhaseLock first in the chain sidesteps the issue entirely. MANUAL CONTROLS Delay: sample-accurate, -100 to +150 ms, correct at any project sample rate. Phase rotation: continuous, Hilbert-transform based allpass rotation for alignment that plain delay cannot reach. At 0 degrees the wet path is bypassed entirely, so the neutral state is transparent with no added latency and no CPU cost. Engaging and disengaging rotation is ramped and click-free. Polarity: one-click inversion, ramped and click-free. Volume shaper: a tempo-synced envelope shaper locked to a quarter note cycle with a user-drawable curve. It opens with a typical sidechain duck and can be redrawn freely. Note that it is deterministic and grid-locked rather than kick-triggered, so it suits quarter note patterns. For syncopated kicks, lower the shaper and use a kick-triggered dynamics tool after PhaseLock for level control while PhaseLock handles the phase relationship. Reset Align: returns Delay, Polarity and Rotation to neutral in one click for a clean A/B. DISPLAY Dual overlaid oscilloscope, kick in orange and bass in blue, externally triggered from the kick and locked to the project tempo, with zoom and pan controls. Max Kick and Max Bass magnify each trace on screen at low levels. Both are a visual aid for the scope only and never affect the audio output. NEW IN 2.2 Fully automatic background latency compensation. The manual scan control, the auto/manual switch and the latency readout have been removed because there is nothing left to configure. Greatly extended compensation range for heavy linear-phase chains. Steadier scope rendering. A maximized sustained bass now holds a flat plateau with the shaper engaged, and a maximized kick holds a consistent height from hit to hit. Latency handling can no longer create entries in Live's Undo history. INTRODUCED IN 2.1 Mono, Bass Mono and Stereo modes with adjustable cutoff. Reset Align. Extended Auto-Align range to +150 ms with positive-priority peak selection. Undo history no longer cluttered by device buttons and displays. REQUIREMENTS, PLEASE READ BEFORE BUYING Ableton Live 12 and Max 9 or higher ONLY. This device does NOT work on Ableton Live 11 or earlier, or on Max 8 or earlier. Windows and macOS. Tested at 44.1 and 48 kHz. PRICE AND UPDATES One-time purchase, free updates. Version 2.2 is a free update for all version 2 owners, available from your Lemon Squeezy account. Version 1 owners are entitled to 50 percent off the upgrade, by email request. |
Details
| Live Version Used: | 12.4.3 |
| Max Version Used: | 9.1.4 |
| Date Added: | Jul 29 2026 19:30:55 |
| Date Last Updated: | No Updates |
| Downloads: | 0 |
| Website: | https://fluctor-audio.lemonsqueezy.com/checkout/buy/57638d10-793b-4c36-82f8-15c5fc473749 |
| ⓘ License: | Commercial |
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