Altiverb 6 Manual

Altiverb 6 Lagenoord 26 3513 GW Utrecht The Netherlands Phone: ++31-30-2433606 Fax: ++31-30-2438500 [email protected] www.audioease.com  ii Altiverb 6  Altiverb™ Copyright © by Audio Ease. All rights reserved. Altiverb™ IR Pre-Processor Copyright © by Audio Ease. All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Audio Ease. All trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. The Impulse Responses that Audio Ease BV supplies with Altiverb™ are intended for use only in Altiverb™ and may not be used for any other purpose. (Re-)Sampling of the Impulse Responses that Audio Ease BV has supplied with Altiverb™ is expressly prohibited. Copyrights may apply when you sell, lend, hire or give away sampled Impulse Responses from hardware (reverb) units. Check the documentation of the unit that you want to sample when you intend to do so. Venue rights may apply when you sell, lend, hire or give away sampled Impulse Responses from real acoustic spaces. Consult the owner of the venue when you intend to do so. Altiverb 6  Contents Introduction 5 About the documentation 7 TDM 7 Altiverb at a glance 9 Altiverb’s channel configurations 11 Altiverb reference 15 The Impulse Response Browser The Impulse Response Function Popup Menu Presets Reverb Time (Room) Size Reverse Reverb The Time-Frequency, or Waterfall Diagram Waveform The Info Screen Recording Layout The Info and CPU Screen Google Earth Placemark Damping and Gains Section The Direct Sound The Early Reflections (Early Refs) The Tail Early Ref & Tail on/off Stage Positions Stereo link edit Equalizer The Options section Update on mouse up Efficient high latency mode IR Load - set fully wet Test sounds - Trigger on parameter change Test sounds - Trigger by keys QWER-ASDF Tail Cut Input Gain & Output sections Input & Output Peak Program Meter Level of Front Outputs (Altiverb XL) Level of Rear, or Surround Outputs (Altiverb XL) Center Bleed (Altiverb XL) LFE (Sub Woofer) Bleed (Altiverb XL) Wet/Dry Mix Mute Direct Altiverb and High Sample Rates Index 16 17 18 20 20 20 20 21 22 22 22 22 23 24 25 25 25 26 26 27 27 27 27 28 28 28 28 28 29 29 29 29 29 30 30 31 32 iii  Altiverb 6 Introduction . What is Altiverb and how does it work ? Altiverb makes your audio sound as if it was played back somewhere else. the state of the art of reverb based on real spaces.Altiverb 6 Introduction 1 Introduction 1. Audio Ease is glad to welcome you to Altiverb version 6. and it will sound as if the waveform was played back in the church. and we make a recording of it. 2. surrounded by silence. The shortest impulse in digital audio is a single sample ‘spike’. Playback of this spike in a church would create a reverb tail. Think of a sampled waveform as a stream of these spikes.  . We call the spike’s reverb tail the impulse response of the church. (At the time of writing of this user guide the Altiverb™ Impulse Response Pre-Processor was not yet available for Windows XP) The two applications together allow you to sample any acoustic environment and apply its sonic signature to the audio of your choice. Welcome. The fact that one is louder than the next creates a waveform. a response very similar to that of a hand clap. The included Altiverb™ Impulse Response Pre-Processor software allows you to create your own impulse responses. Now extend every spike in the waveform with the full church impulse response recording. but the spikes are almost identical: only differing in their loudness. That’s just one loud sample. Altiverb™ is a convolution engine that comes with a vast library of Impulse Responses recorded in real acoustic spaces. The process of extending each tiny sample with a scaled impulse response (‘IR’) is called convolution. adding the acoustics of existing spaces to your own recordings or to your live audio. It lets you combine your input sound with any of these acoustic fingerprints. Altiverb has come a long way since it premiered as the first real-time convolution reverb plug-in in 2001. effectively giving each sample its own reverb tail. use ‘help’ to get instant explanations at your mouse pointer. . Altiverb 6 About the documentation In Altiverb. It’ll give you instant explanations at your mouse pointer. These topics are not available in printed form and are covered in several PDF files that can be found in the “Altiverb™” folder after installation. find the appropriate file in the Host specific descriptions folder.  . Some topics concerning Altiverb™ outdate quicker than others. Do use the help feature by clicking the question mark in the lower right of Altiverb 6’s interface. TDM This also applies to the TDM version of Altiverb XL. If you need instructions on how to sample your own spaces go to the Making Impulse Responses folder. find out which is which from the ProTools TDM document in the Host specific descriptions folder.Altiverb 6 About the documentation 2 About the documentation This user guide covers the functions and controls of Altiverb 6™ for Mac OS X and Windows XP. So if you are looking for keyboard shortcuts in Cubase on Windows XP. So if you are confused because you see 15 Altverbs in your ProTools TDM plug-in popup. or are of interest to a small subset of Altiverb users. IR Gains Section View a waterfall diagram of the selected IR. Changes the room’s size. Select a room (IR). Reverses the Reverb Wet/Dry Mix  Altiverb 6 Altiverb at a glance . Output and surround (XL) View a waveform diagram of the selected IR. Test Sounds Gains for Input. Various preferences Changes the reverb length.Automation presets Global Presets Move input audio around on stage. Equalize Damping section More info on the selected IR. Play back your audio through it and it should already sound as if it is played back somewhere else. Open a category in the left column. for instance Konzerthaus Vienna Large Hall.  . Basic operation: Insert an Altiverb into your song. or to restore to default. and you can type in a value. you want Altiverb’s mix knob to be set completely wet. Select another acoustic environment by clicking the IR Browser tab. for instance Concert Halls Large. and you want to check mute direct right under it. These are the actual impulse responses. The reference section starting on page 15 discusses each control in detail. Click on either of them to listen. The reverb sound of a selected Impulse Response can be changed by controls. Look up your host application in the Host specific descriptions folder in the Altiverb 6 folder on your hard drive. The parameter value will be displayed while you are adjusting. In the right browser column a number of microphone setups that were used to capture this venue appear. Which modifiers to use depends on what host application you use. Double click a knob. Some only show when you click a section buttons: When you have inserted Altiverb in an aux channel. or to the right. About the knobs All parameters controlled by turning knobs can be increased by clicking on them and dragging upward. and select a specific venue. You can hold down modifier keys such as Alt while operating a knob for extra precision.Altiverb 6 Altiverb at a glance 3 Altiverb at a glance The picture on the left very briefly discusses every user interface element of Altiverb. . Altiverb’s Outputs Altiverb’s Inputs R R L L Think of Altiverb as an echo chamber. and get back the reverberated audio into the mixing board.. place some microphones in there. The input of Altiverb goes to the speakers. . You feed your audio to the speaker(s) in the chamber. ..what the on-stage speaker plays back. the output of Altiverb is what the microphones produce..10 Altiverb 6 Altiverb's Channel Configurations Microphones pick up. the output of Altiverb is what the microphones produce. The bird’s eye view displays a stereo to stereo impulse response: stereo material is played back on stage via a left-stage and right-stage speaker. The input of Altiverb goes to the speakers.Altiverb 6 Altiverb's Channel Configurations 4 Altiverb’s channel configurations Think of Altiverb as an echo chamber. 2 out ( IR was made using a central stage speaker and 2 microphones) 2 in. visible in the Browser: Altiverb Regular: 1 in. Stereo audio is then picked up in the room by two microphones. place some microphones in there. and a resulting configuration in Altiverb. The lower diagram is of the type that is visible in the Altiverb interface. 2 out ( IR was made using left & right speaker positions and 2 microphones) Altiverb XL adds: 1 in. The illustrations on the left show an impulse response recording session. 4 out ( IR was made using left & right speaker positions and 4 microphones) 11 . You feed your audio to the speaker(s) in the chamber. 4 out ( IR was made using a central stage speaker and 4 microphones) 2 in. and get back the reverberated audio into the mixing board. Audio Ease Impulse Responses (IRs) come in the following configurations. 1 out ( IR was made using 1 stage speaker position and 1 mic) 1 in. 1 audio when turned towards dry though. the dry signal remains stereo. The mono or stereo icons after the IRs name indicate the amount of inputs of the IR (the amount of speakers you are playing back your audio through into the room). on this track. you would insert a stereo input IR each channel would get its own speaker on stage. A mono input IR will take less power form your CPU.12 Altiverb 6 Altiverb's Channel Configurations The number of outputs of Altiverb corresponds to the number of outputs of a track. This Altiverb is inserted into a stereo track. both channels are mixed together before being fed to the IR. Rs L. on this track. The dry signal controlled by the Mix control (page 30) is never touched. The mix knob will still pass Stereo audio when turned towards dry though. but you can only hear the central stage position in it. This IR will mix both inputs to mono. all 5. If. which means that even when the input is mixed to mono before it hits the impulse response. Ls and half of the center channel and lfe are mixed to the left input of the impulse response. Altiverb (Regular): If you select a mono input IR on a track that plays back 2 channels. The mix knob will still pass 5. and be lighter on the cpu while this IR will play back each channel of the input audio through its own speaker on stage. and likewise Stereo output IRs appear on stereo tracks. If. and R. Any signal that enters Altiverb’s left input channel will end up in this central speaker. Altiverb XL: If you select a mono input IR on a track that plays back 5. .1 channels are mixed together before being fed to the IR. When Mute Direct (page 30) is checked. Ls and half of the center channel and lfe are mixed to the right input of the impulse response. this normally is not a problem. you would insert a stereo input IR L.1 channels. the lfe (bleed) control also governs the amount of lfe content that is input to Altiverb. as quadraphonic reverb (L R Ls Rs) has so far produced superior results to 5 or 5. the actual impulse response has still been recorded using 4 microphones. For all musical purposes the recommended setting is all the way down (no center (bleed)). or gaps in the reverb image in wide theater setups. It is intended for post production usage to prevent dry dialogue in the center channel.1 channel reverb. The only difference is that apart from creating lfe reverb. or subwoofer content channel) is much like the center (bleed) control described above. So while a fifth reverb output channel is available through center (bleed). Center Bleed outputs a delayed sum of the rear channels into the center channel to fix possible gaps. 13 . The lfe (Bleed) control (for the dot-1.1 channels. the Center (Bleed) control becomes available.Altiverb 6 Altiverb's Channel Configurations In tracks consisting of 5 or 5. Page 22 Gains for Test Sounds Input. Page 21 Move input audio around on stage. Changes the room’s size.Session Presets Global Presets Page 18 Damping section Page 24 IR Gains Section Page 23 Page 28 More info on the selected IR. Output and surround (XL) Page 28 View a waveform diagram of the selected IR. Page 16 Page 27 Changes the reverb length. Page 26 Equalize Page 27 Various preferences View a waterfall diagram of the Page 20 Select a room (IR). Reverses the Reverb Page 20 Wet/Dry Mix Page 30 14 Altiverb 6 Reference . 15 . or to restore to default. Look up your host application in the Host specific descriptions folder in the Altiverb 6 folder on your hard drive. Double click a knob. The parameter value will be displayed while you are adjusting. Which modifiers to use depends on your host application. You can hold down modifier keys such as Alt while operating a knob for extra precision. and you can type in a value. or to the right.Altiverb 6 Reference 5 Altiverb reference This chapter discusses each user interface control of Altiverb 6 in detail. All parameters controlled by turning knobs can be increased by clicking on them and dragging upward. The functions are described on the next page. . or an IR. selected IR These are the IRs (mostly microphone setups) available in the selected room(s) in the left column. Double click a room. in the right hand column. Double click to instantly select the Audio Ease preferred microphone configuration The currently within that room. Switches the IR Browser’s font size. Click to select and listen. a microphone configuration within that room. hereafter called a room. Contains several functions in a drop down menu. and an actual IR.16 Altiverb 6 Reference The Impulse Response Browser Click or shift-click a room to make available it’s IRs. Shift-select rooms to make all IRs of multiple rooms appear in the right hand column. Use the IR Browser to select a sample of an acoustic environment. All selectable IRs have as many outputs as the track or aux Altiverb is inserted in. Double click a room to make available its IRs in the right hand column. to instantly select the Audio Ease preferred microphone configuration within that room. Hover over them to view in the info screen. Open a category of rooms to select a particular room on the left. such as Amsterdam Concertgebouw. A category of rooms A room of which the IRs are visible in the right column The stereo symbol indicates this IR has two inputs. The goal is to obtain information like the location of the direct sound and the decay rate of the reverb tail. and will show up next time you launch Altiverb. but many third-party impulse responses may not. The function Analyze Impulse Responses will not be needed. or IRs made using Audio Ease software. as Audio Eases Impulse Responses are already equipped with all necessary information for all features of Altiverb to function properly. Show IR Folder in Finder / Explorer . or after you’ve selected Re-scan IR Folder. Adding Audio Ease Impulse Responses. They will install into your current IR folder. To add them to the menu just download the ones you want. Select different IR folder . This information is needed for many parameters in Altiverb to function properly. Reveal IR folder in OS .Navigate to find a different folder of impulse responses. Audio Ease regularly posts new impulse responses to www.This analyzes all impulse responses in the group of the currently selected IR. and double click them. Analyze Impulse Responses .audioease. Re-scan IR Folder .This re-scans the currently selected impulse responses folder for changes or additions and updates the popup menu accordingly. All Audio Ease impulse responses and Impulse responses you make with Audio Ease software already contain this information.Altiverb 6 Reference The Impulse Response Function Popup Menu Menus are available in the bottom bar of the IR Browser. 17 . currently selected Impulse Response folder.Commands the Finder (Mac) or Explorer (Windows) to reveal the currently selected Impulse Response folder.com/IR.Commands the Finder (mac) or Windows to show you the opened. The New IRs will be visible. the text in this popup will tun to italics. sdII or AIFF files. Or use select other presets folder to switch to another preset folder. If you save in the current preset folder. Add Wave. 2. use this open command to navigate to it. The Audio Ease made presets are available in this menu. or you recall a Automation preset. The preset popup menu by default consists of those found in: /Altiverb 6/Presets/ If you want to load a preset from another location. They were called snapshots in previous versions of Altiverb. Open . and choose Analyze Impulse Responses Presets The complete state of Altiverb can be saved in a Global Preset. Use the Reveal IR Folder in OS function to open up the current impulse response folder.. The Global Preset Popup Menu Recall a Global Preset by selecting it from this popup menu. split or interleaved stereo (or just a single mono file) to the folder at any level. or save as (when no preset is selected). Return to Altiverb and select Re-Scan IR folder. Create extra sub folders when needed. . If after that you change a parameter. There are several commands at the bottom of the Global Presets popup menu. Automation Presets are presets that are saved into the session. The save icon below the preset menu is a short cut to either save (when a selected preset has been modified). They are private to a single instance of ALltiverb and can be recalled via parameter automation. 4.18 Altiverb 6 Reference Adding third party impulse responses that are not made using Audio Ease software: 1. Save as.All presets are separate files on your disk. 3. Save . the new preset will be added to this preset popup menu.Replaces the contents of the currently selected preset with Altiverb’s current settings.. or in a Automation preset. In each new group (folder) of IRs select a single one. Some features of Altiverb will not work with the new IRs until they have been analyzed. Global Presets are presets that are available across sessions (songs / projects). -Saves Altiverb’s current settings as a new preset. Choose one by clicking it. The now occupied slot will turn light grey (occupied). You can also command (or apple) -click an occupied preset slot to delete its contents. 19 .Commands the Finder (Mac) or Explorer (Windows) to reveal the currently selected Presets folder. for automated reverb changes during playback. or hold down Alt while clicking an occupied slot. A dark numbered slot is empty. Select other presets folder . Automating Automation preset recalls: Automation preset is available as a parameter in the automizable parameters list of your sequencer.Renames the currently selected preset without changing its contents. Alternatively you can manually recall while recording automation data. while regular presets are saved as separate files in the Altiverb presets folder . Some host applications may not support automated Automation preset recalls. The slot is emptied. Recalling a Automation preset: Click the numbered slot that holds the preset you wish to recall. so you can graphically edit the recalls. Rename . Saving a preset in a slot: Click on an empty slot. but then it will not be shown in this menu. Emptying a slot: Click the garbage can icon once. Presets . Show Presets Folder in Finder / Explorer .If you have added (someone elses) preset by copying or moving files in the Finder or Windows. The slots can be recalled via automation. and then save in it.Altiverb 6 Reference You can save the preset somewhere else. A light grey numbered slot is occupied. The occupied slots will start to blink. Delete . The bright blue numbered slot is currently chosen. Overwriting an occupied slot: Empty first. you should rescan the presets folder to force them to show up here.Deletes the currently selected preset from disk and from this menu.Switch to another preset folder. Re-scan presets folder . The Automation Preset slots are private to a single instance of Altiverb.The Automation preset slots A preset stored in an Automation preset Slot is saved in the song or session. Please refer to your sequencer’s document in Host specific descriptions in the Altiverb folder. and shortens or lengthens the reverb tail. Please note that that may reveal resolution and signal-tonoise inaccuracies of the impulse response recording. tightens or spreads early reflections. (Room) Size Makes the selected room (impulse response) smaller (turn counter clockwise). or larger (turn clockwise). A regular waveform is plotted next to. The actual length of the reverb tail that is convoluted–and then reversed–is dependent on the Tail Cut parameter from the Options Section. The vertical axis (pointing upward) is the decibel axis. It applies an exponential gain curve to the impulse response that either increases gain as time progresses (lengthening) or decreases the gain (shortening). the waterfall to give a clearer picture of the reverb’s overall amplitude through time.20 Altiverb 6 Reference Reverb Time Use this to lengthen or shorten the reverb tail. It transposes room modes and resonances. By lengthening the reverb time you are raising the level of the softest part of the reverb tail. or Waterfall Diagram Shows the reverb’s frequency content through time. and slowly through red and yellow) is repeated every full second of the reverb tail to indicate time. and time aligned with. More info is in the Host Specific Descriptions folder in the Altiverb 6 folder. Reverse Reverb Reverses the complete length of the reverb tail that is being convoluted. . The Time-Frequency. quickly moving through blue. The color scheme (beginning briefly with white. In Altiverb XL TDM the length of the reverse reverb is also limited by the version you insert in your track. Altiverb 6 Reference From this display you will notice immediately that in real-life a room’s high frequencies decay quicker than its low frequencies. R>L therefore means: This is what the Left microphone recorded when the Right speaker emitted the impulse. eq. Resonances can be seen as well as the effects of the damping. Click this and then drag in the diagram to rotate the waterfall around Click this and then drag in the diagram to move the waterfall around Click this and then drag up or down in the waterfall to zoom in or out on it Engage Auto Focus mode to automatically spin and zoom the waterfall to the view that is ideal for displaying the results of the parameter you are adjusting. and is described in the appropriate document in the Host Specific Descriptions folder in the Altiverb 6 folder. the Early Ref and Tail delays can be clearly seen. When zoomed in to the first half second of the reverb. Waveform Waveform view shows the waveforms of each of the channels of the current impulse response. decay. Which modifiers depends on the host application you use. 21 . Next to the waveforms the Speaker>Microphone indication is printed. and the various gain parameters. Click this and then drag left-right in the waterfall to display (in seconds) more or less of the reverb tail You can hold down modifier keys such as Alt to use the functions above without clicking on them. foto’s VR Movie and CPU Usage Open screen in larger window Provides information about the selected impulse response. Recording Layout Displays how the microphones were set up and where the speakers were at the time the impulse response was recorded. Doubleclick it to view it in a separate window. the current latency of Altiverb expressed in both samples and milliseconds and the version number of Altiverb. and the gear used to make the sample. Foto’s Show the interior and exterior of the recorded venue. Most Audio Ease Impulse Responses will show the following items: The Spinning Virtual Reality Movie The camera pans around to show you the venue where the sample was made. The Info and CPU Screen Shows credits. Statistics & Photos Gives information about the recording and the venue itself. You can double-click on most items to open them in a separate window at their original size.22 Altiverb 6 Reference The Info Screen Press to approach in Google Earth Press to view bird’s eye view. You can download Google Earth for free at: http://earth.com . pan around the venue by dragging the mouse in the movie window. and control click to zoom out. There are percentages for both average CPU usage as Peak CPU usage. its history. Google Earth Placemark You can doube click the the placemark icon in the top right to open up Google Earth and fly to the location of the venue. Shift click to zoom in. By Clicking the forward and backward buttons (below) the screen scrolls through several items associated with the current impulse response.google. curtains. Three-band damping simulates this effect of absorptive (or reflective) materials such as baffles. Mid-High Crossover Frequency Determines the frequency where high damping takes over from mid High Frequency Damping Gain Turn counter-clockwise to absorb. which shortens the reverb tail between the two crossover frequencies.Altiverb 6 Reference Damping and Gains Section The parameters from this section show when you click Think of Altiverb as an echo chamber. which shortens the reverb tail above the second crossover frequency. people and chairs in a room. Turn clockwise to simulate reflective surfaces that makes high frequencies decay longer. 23 . place some microphones in there. absorbing some other part of the frequency content of the reverb. the material bounces some of it back. The input of Altiverb goes to the speakers. You feed your audio to the speaker(s) in the chamber. Low-mid Crossover Frequency Determines the frequency where mid damping takes over from low damping. Turn clockwise to simulate reflective surfaces that make mid frequencies decay longer. Every time the sound in the echo chamber hits any material. Low Damping Gain Turn counter-clockwise to add absorption. the output of Altiverb is what the microphones produce. and get back the reverberated audio into the mixing board. which shortens the reverb tail below the first crossover frequency. bass traps. Switch to view the Waterfall to view its effects. These are the damping controls. Turn clockwise to simulate reflective surfaces that make low frequencies decay longer. Mid Frequencies Damping Gain Turn counter-clockwise to absorb. the quickest path to the microphones is in a straight line. only the coloration of speakers. the output of Altiverb is what the microphones produce. which starts after the direct sound. a bit of air. This first source to hit the microphone is the direct sound. You can choose to substitute this coloration with a neutral. The input of Altiverb goes to the speakers. To reach the same effect you can also turn off the direct section using the on/off button in the lower left. After the sound leaves the speakers. or flat version. You feed your audio to the speaker(s) in the chamber. Turn down direct sound gain all the way if you use Altiverb as a traditional send (aux) effect. because in that situation you just need the actual reverb. or the mute direct check box under the Wet / Dry knob . place some microphones in there. To do this you turn the color knob from IR to flat. The chamber itself is not heard in the direct sound. Direct Sound Gain Controls the gain of the direct (first) sound in the impulse response. and its loudness and occurrence in time help you locate the speakers.24 Altiverb 6 Reference The Direct Sound Think of Altiverb as an echo chamber. and the microphones. and get back the reverberated audio into the mixing board. Altiverb 6 Reference Direct Sound Color When set to IR. the direct sound has coloration from the speaker. Early Ref & Tail on/off There are situations where you may not need to calculate the tail or the early reflections. The Early Reflections (Early Refs) Early reflections come right after the direct sound. Can be set to negative values to start the onset of the tail earlier. Early Reflections Gain Controls the gain of the first couple of reflections bouncing off the walls. ceiling and floor. Early Reflection Delay Delays the first couple of reflections off the walls. Tail Gain Controls the gain of the long diffuse end of the reverb: the Tail. They are the first couple of reflections off the walls. Remove coloration by setting this parameter to flat. ceiling and floor of the chamber. Tail Delay Delays the reverb tail. An application of this can be found in the installed file ‘Simulating the orchestral stage with Altiverb 6. It simultaneously delays the tail by the same amount to preserve the early reflections/tail connection. but leaves direct and early reflections in place. It can also make the room sound larger or damped as soft reflections suggest distant or baffled surfaces. Reducing earlyref gain generally makes the audio more intelligible. ceiling and floor. The Tail The tail is next. It’s the long diffuse part that is normally called reverb. air and mic. This makes it a lot lighter on your computer’s CPU.pdf’ 25 . they are in their original sampled positions (as described in the configuration picture in the monitor on the upper right). Triple the width between the speakers themselves by dragging them apart. By engaging Stage Positions. it follows that it also matters where the speakers are in the echo chamber. When the speakers are located on the highlighted spots in the picture. (on/off button is at the top left) Read also the installed ‘Simulating the orchestral stage with Altiverb 6. physically correct way. you are controlling the timing and loudness of the direct sound. Switch a section on or off Press a button to show the section Puts your source audio in a particular spot on the ‘stage’ of the sampled room in a convincing. When a mono input Impulse response is selected (page 12) just one speaker will be displayed. You feed your audio to the speaker(s) in the chamber. Because of this. . You can triple the distance between the microphones and the speakers by pushing the speakers all the way to the back of the stage. and get back the reverberated audio into the mixing board. Direct Gain and Mute Direct are unavailable while the Speaker Placer is engaged. Stereo link edit mirrors the speaker placement in the center stage line. Halve the original distance from the microphones to the speakers by dragging the speakers all the way to the front.pdf’ Think of Altiverb as an echo chamber. the output of Altiverb is what the microphones produce. place some microphones in there. Starting with the basic rule above. The input of Altiverb goes to the speakers.26 Altiverb 6 Reference Stage Positions A light means a section is turned on. Tail Cut. designed to not change phase more than 180%. output. or the chosen IR will always interrupt audio. rear and test sound gains. The Options section Update on mouse up When this is checked. as are the input. The introduced latency may be compensated for by latency compensation features of the host application (sequencer). The latter is slightly heavier on the CPU.Altiverb 6 Reference Equalizer A light means a section is turned on. Changing Latency. without interruptions. front. Reverse. When unchecked Altiverb will update parameters while you turn the knobs. Switch a section on or off Press a button to show the section The equalizer works on the wet signal only. Efficient high latency mode Uses a minimum of processing power but can produce a delay of up to a second between input and output. The bass and treble bands are Baxandall eq’s. causing a gap in the audio. Please note that some controls ignore this setting: EQ is always “live”. and the Wet/Dry Mix. which effectively means that combing or cancellation effects are unlikely when the eq’d signal is mixed with the dry signal. To find out about your sequencer please refer to the pdf files in Altiverb 6/Host specific descriptions Click on the forward or backward buttons below the Info Screen until the technical data page appears to determine the precise amount of delay. Size. Damping On/Off. 27 . control adjustments will be calculated when the mouse button is released. Tail Cut This eases the load on the CPU by shortening reverb tails. If you always use Altiverb in an aux channel turn this on. or engage Mute Direct. Test sounds . due to uncompensated delay. Turn this feature off if it conflicts with key commands in your host application. you get ‘flamming’ effects.Trigger on parameter change Each time you adjust a parameter. As Tail Cut changes the length of the reverb. If your production does not require reverb tails to decay down to -140 dB.28 Altiverb 6 Reference If. turn down direct-sound gain from the damping and gains section. In reverse mode you can use tail cut to tailor the delay of the slap-back effect. The amount of controls in the input/output section depends on Altiverb’s number of output channels.set fully wet When this is checked. all parameters will be reset to their default positions when you select a new IR. you can instead use tail cut to cut-off reverb when it has died down for instance to -80 dB. IR Load . . IR Load . each IR will load without direct sound. The ASDF keys trigger only the last played sample from each of the four categories. The Mute Direct button will be on.Reset all parameters to default When this is checked. Input Gain & Output sections Amplifies or attenuates the input and output signals of Altiverb. The upper row QWER corresponds to .Trigger by keys QWER-ASDF The keys from your computer’s keyboard can trigger the test sounds. Test sounds . the last played test sound will re-play automatically. its effect is more apparent when the impulse response is in reverse mode (page 20). Effects are displayed in the level meters. R . value of input and oputput signal. C. while momentarily holding the peak or PPM value at the top of the meter (as a floating dot). R surround When there are 5 outputs of Altiverb XL the order is: L .1 ALtiverb XL) is generated via the LFE Bleed control. R surround. R surround.1 Altiverb XL) is generated via the Center Bleed control. C When there are 5. Constantly display the average. LFE (Sub Woofer) (Bleed) (Altiverb XL) Outputs a delayed sum of the rear channel into the LFE channel to allow for reverb in the sub woofer. Center (Bleed) (Altiverb XL) Outputs a delayed sum of the rear channel into the center channel to fix possible gaps. Intended for post production special effects usage. For all musical purposes the recommended setting is all the way down (no LFE bleed).Altiverb 6 Reference Center channel output (in 5. or Surround Outputs (Altiverb XL) Controls the level of the left-surround and right-surround outputs. Level of Rear. The LFE knob simultaneously governs the LFE input gain. Input & Output Peak Program Meter These ‘Peak and Hold Meters’. LFE (subwoofer) Level of Front Outputs (Altiverb XL) Controls the level of the left-front and right-front outputs.1 outputs of Altiverb Xl the order is: L . Sub woofer (LFE) channel output (in 5. Intended for post production usage to prevent dry dialogue in the center channel. R . R . L surround. L surround. or VU. When Altiverb outputs 4 channels (only in Altiverb XL) the order is: L . or gaps in the reverb image in wide theater setups. For all musical purposes the recommended setting is all the way down (no center bleed). It has no effect on the center level. 29 . L surround. Therefore we recommend you check Mute Direct when you need to add Dry sound. Introducing dry signal will interfere with the effects of the direct sound. wet (reverb) signal. Mute Direct Use this to mute the direct sound altogether.30 Altiverb 6 Reference Wet/Dry Mix Controls the amount of dry (input) signal vs. This is the recommended way of setting Altiverb up in an Aux channel. It may introduce phasing or flamming when used in conjunction with the direct sound. . Similar to turning down the direct gain. 1 Khz. resulting in heavier processor load. With a 96 kHz impulse response being used in a 96 kHz project. It is possible that 96 kHz impulse responses will eventually become available. 31 . There is no quality advantage of running the reverb engine at 96 kHz when a 48 kHz Impulse Response is selected. The sample rate conversions performed are of very high quality and are extremely accurate. The exact amount of delay is displayed in the Info Screen (page 22).2 kHz. 4096.4 kHz. resulting in heavy processor load. 8192. 512.48 kHz). 352. The reverb engine will run at 96 kHz. Altiverb XL adds 176. the reverb engine will run at 48 kHz.8 kHz and 384 kHz. but true 96 kHz processing. In such a case it makes sense to keep the reverb engine running at 48 kHz. Altiverb will warn you that it will run its reverb engine at a high sample rate. (Check the appropriate PDF files in the folder “Host Specific Descriptions” for more info) If such a buffer size is not available. 96 kHz. so processor load stays at a reasonable level. none of the sample rate conversions described above would need to be performed.Altiverb 6 Altiverb and High Sample Rates 6 Altiverb and High Sample Rates Audio Ease Impulse Responses are released at samplerates of 48 kHz or 44. while the dry sound will stay at 96 kHz. They introduce a slight delay (typically 64 samples) into the signal path. 96 kHz versions of Audio Ease Impulse Responses have not been released because no valuable data has been found to return from walls and ceilings in the highest octave (24 kHz . An Example When a 48 kHz impulse response is used in a 96 kHz project. 2048. 1024. Required buffersizes The sample rate converters can only function when your hardware buffer size is set to 256. Running the reverb engine at these sample rates would place an extremely heavy load on the processor. Altiverb can be used in projects running at the following ‘high’ sample rates: 88. or 16384 samples. Page 26 Equalize Page 27 Various preferences View a waterfall diagram of the Page 20 Select a room (IR). Page 16 Page 27 Changes the reverb length.Session Presets Global Presets Page 18 Damping section Page 24 IR Gains Section Page 23 Page 28 More info on the selected IR. Reverses the Reverb Page 20 Wet/Dry Mix Page 30 32 Altiverb 6 index Index . Page 22 Gains for Test Sounds Input. Changes the room’s size. Page 21 Move input audio around on stage. Output and surround (XL) Page 28 View a waveform diagram of the selected IR.