Bose Portable PA Knowledge

Invention of ToneMatch® Technology: Difference between revisions

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{{Bose Reviewed}}
{{Bose Reviewed}}
__TOC__


== Origins ==
The [[Testing Our 2nd Generation Prototype|2nd generation prototypes]] consisted a line array of a two Bose MA12 speakers (with a total of 24 mid/high drivers, crossed over at 180 Hz), a single Bose MB4 bass speaker (the equivalent of two B1 bass modules), amps to drive them all and a Bose Panaray controller, set up for biamp and using a standard MA12 voicing curve. When you played a good-sounding commercial CD over this system through a flat input, it sounded “normal”. A great-sounding CD sounded great, and so on.
The [[Testing Our 2nd Generation Prototype|2nd generation prototypes]] consisted a line array of a two Bose MA12 speakers (with a total of 24 mid/high drivers, crossed over at 180 Hz), a single Bose MB4 bass speaker (the equivalent of two B1 bass modules), amps to drive them all and a Bose Panaray controller, set up for biamp and using a standard MA12 voicing curve. When you played a good-sounding commercial CD over this system through a flat input, it sounded “normal”. A great-sounding CD sounded great, and so on.


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Eventually we had a whole collection of equalizers onstage for the tests at Village Hall. Expensive, but it worked great. No one was willing to give up the customized EQs.
Eventually we had a whole collection of equalizers onstage for the tests at Village Hall. Expensive, but it worked great. No one was willing to give up the customized EQs.
== Putting it Into the L1 Classic ==


When it came time to develop the first product, what is now known as the {{Classic}} there was a big decision to be made about the basic architecture of the electronics. Would they be “analog” or “digital”. By that time, a whole collection of different voicing presets were needed for all these different microphones and acoustic guitars and basses with pickups, and a whole raft of other things. Cliff insisted these be put in the product. It was not an option to just have “tone controls”. The system had to be made to work right by identifying the instrument being used and making its amplified tone right.
When it came time to develop the first product, what is now known as the {{Classic}} there was a big decision to be made about the basic architecture of the electronics. Would they be “analog” or “digital”. By that time, a whole collection of different voicing presets were needed for all these different microphones and acoustic guitars and basses with pickups, and a whole raft of other things. Cliff insisted these be put in the product. It was not an option to just have “tone controls”. The system had to be made to work right by identifying the instrument being used and making its amplified tone right.
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And so, it came to pass that 99 presets were made available for popular music-making devices. Good tone, easily obtained, became one of the truly valuable qualities of the L1 systems.  
And so, it came to pass that 99 presets were made available for popular music-making devices. Good tone, easily obtained, became one of the truly valuable qualities of the L1 systems.  


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I forget how the next part came to pass. But it had always occurred to me that, seeing as I did all the presets myself and by ear at that, each preset represented my personal subjective opinion of how this or that instrument should sound. The instrument maker wasn’t consulted about this. This actually bothered me a lot. I mean, take the Taylor acoustics I tuned. It’s no mean feat to make an instrument like those that look and sound amazing and beautiful. Then someone buys the thing and all bets are off what they’ll plug it into and what the tone will be when they play it. It could be an old Fender Princeton amp, a 5.1 surround system in a Hollywood studio, AC/DC’s monster PA system or anything in between. The only sure thing is that it won’t sound like what the creators of the instrument had in mind. Actually, given this impossibly-variable tone jungle, the creators of these instruments might really never have had any strong impression of what the instrument should sound like amplified, except that they love the sound it makes naturally. Now, with the L1, here’s Clifford’s opinion, yet another one and not that of the creators.
== Working with Instrument / Microphone Makers ==
 
At first, presets were done by Cliff, each preset representing his subjective opinion of how this or that instrument or micophone should sound. The instrument maker wasn’t consulted about this.  
 
This began to bother Cliff. Take the Taylor acoustics for example. Taylor takes huge time and energy to make their instruments sound amazing and beautiful. Then someone buys the thing and all bets are off what they’ll plug it into and what the tone will be when they play it. It could be an old guitar amp, a 5.1 surround system in a Hollywood studio, some monster PA system or anything in between. The only sure in Cliff's mind was that it wouldn’t sound like what the creators of the instrument had in mind.  
 
The creators of these instruments might really never have had any strong impression of what the instrument should sound like amplified.


Well, to be truthful, the L1 is different. It delivers the same tone everywhere. And its inventor is really bugged that he’s the only one making decisions about tone. So what happened next is I found myself talking to the guys from Taylor on the phone and asking them “wouldn’t you like to have some input on how your instrument sounds when it’s amplified using an L1?” It’s never been done before. Instruments and amps have always been developed totally independent of each other. Now here’s the chance to “glue” the instrument and the L1 together with a voicing system that, when it’s all put together, delivers an amplified sound that the instrument’s creators think it should sound like. ( ! ). Amazing, but it’s really true. An instrument and its amplifying system have never really been designed together, with each other in mind, so that the resulting musical tone is natural, so that the amplified tone matches the natural tone of the instrument itself. Tone-matching; what a concept!
The L1 is different. It delivers nearly the same tone everywhere. It bothered Cliff that he was the only one making decisions about tone. So he decided to talk to the guys from Taylor on the phone and ask them “wouldn’t you like to have some input on how your instrument sounds when it’s amplified using an L1?” It really had never been done before. Instruments and amps had always been developed independent of each other. Now here was a chance to “glue” the instrument and the L1 together with a voicing system that, when it’s all put together, delivers an amplified sound that the instrument’s creators think it should sound like. Tone-matching.


So, knowing that my company is very serious about its work and that the L1 is probably what Bose says it is (the future of amplification for the electric ensemble), the guys from Taylor (Brian Swerdfeger and David Hosler, the real keeper of the Tone-Flame at Taylor) and I agreed to get together and make some presets. This was a first for us and a welcome one for me personally. It really goes beyond the realm of business and into something way more cosmic. As creators of these beautiful instruments, they and not me should be the ones that determine the tone of this complete instrument. And that’s really what this is. What we have created, by gluing their guitar to our L1 with the (tone-matching) voicing curve, is a completely independent, free-standing closed-loop musical instrument that sounds like the guitar itself, only louder. Or, in this case, as loud as you really could want. When we were done, everyone was happy. More important, Taylor customers started to write in and say the same. This was the right thing to do.
The guys from Taylor (Brian Swerdfeger and David Hosler) and Cliff agreed to get together and make some presets. As creators of these beautiful instruments, they and not Bose should be the ones that determine the tone of this complete instrument. And that’s really what this is. What's been created, by gluing their guitar to the L1 with the (tone-matching) voicing curve, is a completely independent, free-standing closed-loop musical instrument that sounds like the guitar itself, only louder. Or, in this case, as loud as you really could want. When this work was done, everyone was happy. More important, Taylor customers started to write in and say the same. This was the right thing to do.


Within our Live Music Group, we were ecstatic over the implications of this program and started to draft a more formal framework for it. And, of course, we needed a name. In a brainstorm session for this very task, I came up with the winner: “ToneMatch™”. What a guy.
The Bose L1 team was ecstatic over the implications of this program and started to draft a more formal framework for it and to work with other companies with their microphones and instruments. The program grw and a name was invented: ToneMatch.


So we extended such an offer to other instrument makers. Our first microphone manufacturer, Audix in Oregon, thought it was a good idea and now we have presets especially for their famous mics. The list now includes many famous instrument makers.
You can watch video interviews with some of the folks at these other companies: [[ToneMatch® Interviews]]


Of side interest is a demo Ken and I did on the L1 when it was introduced. We did it for a bunch of in-house people, notably fancy PhD's and big-brain wizards from the research department. They were very hot about finding out what "technology" we had used to establish the tone matching filters. Amazingly, when I told them how I had done it by ear period, they just nodded "ok". This made complete sense to them. It was an unexpected reaction.
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[[Category:ToneMatch]]
[[Category:ToneMatch® Interviews]]
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