Waves IR-1 manual

W a v es P ar ametric Con v olution R e v e rb IR-1, IR-L and IR-360 User’ s Guide Waves IR-1 software guide page 1 of 40[...]

TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview Synthetic Digital Reverberation Sampled-Acoustics Convolution Rev erberation The Perfect Hybrid The Impulse Responses IR Library Factory Presets Sampled Acoustics V2 Virtual Ac oustics - Devices a nd Synthetic Import Im pulse Respon se from File … Import Sweep Response from File… Tips for Sampling an Acoustic Space M [...]

LF damping Reverb EQ ER Buildup ER/TR-X Crossover IR-360 Controls Toolbar WaveSys tem Controls Loading Im pulse Responses Saving Importing Impulse Responses IR Info a nd Properti es Notes on “Flat Points” or Unity Gain Settings for Controls System R equirements Notes CPU about Optimization IR-1 HTDM Waves IR-1 software guide page 3 of 40[...]

Introduction The Waves IR-1, IR-L and IR-360 plug-ins create extremely high quality replicas of acoustical spaces and synthetic reverbs. T hey also allow the us er to alter many aspects of the sound of these reverbs. For the purpose of this Manual, when discu ssing attributes shared by the Waves IR-1, IR-L and IR-360 Parametric Convolution Reverb p[...]

Sampled-Acoustics Convolution Reverberation In math, the term convolution means an integral which expr esses the amount of overlap of one function x as it is shifted over another function y . In the literal sense, it means to “roll together” or to “fold toget her”. A convolution reverb bl ends together an input signal with another type of a[...]

The Impulse Responses Another major part of the IR -series is the Impulse Respons e (IR) Library. The library offers a set of high-definition IR’s. Waves paid special attention to this part of the product because it is the basic reverb sound of the IR -series reverbs. We established a special recording setup and met hod specifically for IR record[...]

Accessing these IRs is easy. Select the desired preset from the plug-in ’s “Load” button, which will present the menu as follows: Factory Presets is the first section. It is availabl e with the installation of the IR-series, even for demo purposes. The IR data for t hese presets resides in the folder "IR1Impulses V2" in a directory [...]

Sampled Acoustics V2 The presets in this section are based on samples of real places. The contents of the Sampled Acoustics V2 folder on the DVD have to be copied into the IR1Impulses V2 folder inside the Waves Plug-Ins folder. You can add or delete folders from this directory. Each time upon loading, the Pl ug-In will scan the directory and dynami[...]

Tips for Sampling an Acoustic Space When sampling an acoustic space, a typical se tup includes a multi-track recorder, an amplifier and speaker to play the sweep signal into the space, and one or more microphones (and mic preamplifier(s), if needed) to capture the sound. Ideally, the speaker, amplifier, mi crophone(s), and microphone preamplifier(s[...]

M EASURING H ALLS , ROOMS The measuring procedure of a venue is sli ghtly different than that of measuring devices. Measuring venues requires a larger setup, which includes a playback device, a microphone and a loudspeaker. We can use the same session we were using for the device recordings, only instead, we connect the output of our playback devic[...]

Mono to Stereo: 2 convolutions: 1 left, 1 right. Out p ut Left Convolution Out p ut Mono In p ut Right Convolution Efficient Stereo: 2 convolutions: Left in to Left out and Right In to Right Out. This component does multi-mono processing. • With Efficient Stereo , the added control for input channel Crosstalk can keep the channels separate, or su[...]

About the IR-360: The IR-360 is the surround sound version of the IR-1 . The IR-360 is HTDM for Pro Tools TDM Users. IR-360 owners will also receive an IR-1 included in the purchase. Supported channel confi gurations of the IR-360: Channel Configuration # of Convolutions Mono to 5 Channel Discrete Surround pr ocessor 4 or 5 Efficient Stereo to 5 Ch[...]

Waves IR-1 software guide page 13 of 40[...]

Waves IR-1 software guide page 14 of 40[...]

Waves IR-1 software guide page 15 of 40[...]

IR- SERIES C ONTROL S AND D ISPLAYS The IR- series has a large main window with controls similar to those of a standard digital reverb. Most of the values are displa yed as a ratio of the nominal value of the original IR. The IR-360 has the most adjustable par ameters, followed by the IR-1 and then the IR-L . About the IR-L The IR-L is essentially [...]

Reverb Time The Reverb Time section includes these 4 parameters: C ONVOLUTION START : Range: 0 TO 1 second; Default: 0 seconds The Convolution Start determines the starti ng point of the convolution process. It enables you to remove unwanted pre- delay at the beginning of an IR. C ONVOLUTION L ENGTH : Range: 0 seconds to 6 seconds; Default: Full Th[...]

D RY /W ET CONTROL : Range: 0 to 100% wet; Default: 100% wet This control sets the balance between the “Dry” signal and the convolved signal. A 50% Wet setting is the “natural” balance point. The IR -series lets you work either with the re corded Direct signal, or with the Dry signal (that is, the unprocessed input to IR-1). When the Direct[...]

D RY : Range: 0-30ms; Default: 0ms When working as an insert, the Dry latency c ontrol can be used to align the dry signal to the wet signal or even to advance it ahead. CPU M ODE : Range: Full CPU or Low CP U. Default: Full CPU This control allows you to select between Full CPU (Cent ral Processing Unit) or Low CPU. Low CPU presents an option to s[...]

IR-1 AND IR-360 C ONTROLS AND D ISPLAYS (IR-L users can skip this se ction and resume reading at Toolbar Wavesystem Controls on page 30) T HE IR G RAPH The IR graph shows dB level on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. The range of the IR display is from 0dB at t he top to –90dB at the bottom. The display incorporates an envelope c[...]

Reverb Time The Reverb Time section includes these 4 parameters: C ONVOLUTION START : Range: 0 TO 1 second; Default: 0 seconds The Convolution Start control determines the starting point of the convolution process. It enables you to remove unwanted pre-del ay at the beginning of an IR. C ONVOLUTION L ENGTH : Range: 0 seconds to 6 seconds; Default: [...]

The RT60 display is active only when RT60 may be computed on the IR. There is a minimum IR length (about 100 ms) for computing RT60 as well as for activating the reverb time ratio. Reverb Control Parameters S IZE : Range: .25 to 4.00; Default: 1.00 The Size is a ratio of the original IR, and cont rols the dimensions and volume of the actual room. T[...]

D RY /W ET CONTROL : Range: 0 to 100% Wet; Default: 100% Wet This sets the balance between the “Dry” si gnal and the convolved signal. 50% Wet setting is the “natural” balance point. The IR -series lets you work either with the re corded Direct signal, or with the Dry signal (that is, the unprocessed input to IR-1). When the Direct signal i[...]

D IRECT S IGNAL Please Note: The Direct signal is not the dry signal! The dry signal is the input signal to the plug-in. The Direct signal is the direct arrival of the s ound source to the listener, traveling the shortest straight-line path between them. The Direct signal is the signal that was directly emitted from the speaker and recor ded by the[...]

Sometimes shutting off the ERs or reducing thei r level vs. the tail level will leave a lot of reverb, but will sound less distant so t hat the signal sounds close and wet. You can also apply different Predelay values to the ERs and Tail. Note that the division is implemented by crossfade, so sliding the ER Predelay onl y slightly will prod uce som[...]

T AIL : Range: On/Off; Default: On Tail switches the reverb tail on or off. Tail Gain : Range: 0.0dB To Off; Default 0.0dB Tail Gain controls the level of the reverb tail. T AIL P REDELAY : Range: -100ms to 500ms; Default: 0.0ms This controls the amount of time that the reverb tail is delayed. The Tail Predelay can be used to make the reve rb Prede[...]

CPU M ODE : Range: Full CPU or Low CP U; Default: Full CPU This control allows you to select between Full CPU and Low CPU. Low CPU presents an option to slightly compromise the resolu tion of the convolution process and saves up to 45% of the CPU cycles depending on the IR length and Sample rate. The Average savings is about 20%. R EVERSE : Range: [...]

Offline Calculation Indicator Manipulating the impulse response to reflect the controls settings requires recalculation of the whole impulse response. This calculation process can take up to several seconds. While the impulse response calculat ion is taking place, the reverb envelope graph displays “Calculating…” and the audio is muted. After[...]

L OW F REQUEN CY D AMPING R ATIO : Range: 0.10 to 2.00; Default: 1.00 This control defines the ratio by whic h the frequencies below the Low Damping Frequency will decay in relation to IR’s genera l Reverb Time. Values of less than 1.00 are shorter than the IR’s Reverb Time, and va lues greater than 1. 00 are longer than the IR’s Reverb Time.[...]

LF damping is the reduction of reverberation time at low frequencies, due to low frequency transmission in the walls. Most rooms with solid walls have little low frequency damping. In general, the reason for this is that a wall with more LF transmission has a greater level of “noise nuisance” caused by bass sounds leaking out of the room and ou[...]

H IGH S HELF F ILTER • Gain : Range –24dB to +12dB; Default: 0 • Frequency Range: 1000Hz to 21000Hz; Default: 5005 Hz • Q: Range: 0.71 to 1.41; Default: 1 O UTPUT GAIN : 0dB to –50dB; Default: 0dB The Output Gain controls t he overall output level of the IR-1 . ER B UILDUP : Range: 0 to 150ms; Default: 0ms The Early Reflections Buildup al[...]

In natural IRs, there is no distinct deli neation between ER and TR ; the definition of where the best ER/TR-X crossover point is s ubjective. The user is allowed to modify the automatic decision of the plug-in by using the ER /TR-X control, in millisec onds, relative to the automatic crossover point. In IRs where the direct signal is not found, th[...]

IR-360 Controls: These Controls are exclusive to the IR-360: F RONT /R EAR B ALANCE : Range: Front to Rear; Default 50.0 The Front/Rear Balance control determines how mu ch of the reverb is going to the front vs. the rear speakers. For inst ance, if the control is set to 65, then 65% of the Reverb will be put in the front s peakers and 35% will be [...]

Loading Impulse Responses The IR-1 load menu is the same load menu used in all WaveSystem plug-ins. Use “Open preset file…” to load a Waves setup f ile *.xps. Use “Im port Impulse Response from WAV...” to import IR’s either from standard .wav f iles or from Waves Impulse Response (.wir) files. Under “Factory Presets” you can select [...]

The next three factory presets: Room – 1, Studio – 1, and Plate – 1 are from the Waves basic IR library. This IR Library is available with any install of the IR-1 plug-in. Most Factory Presets offer two load options: • Impulse Response and Reset • Impulse Response The first option will load the IR and reset all parameters to their defaul [...]

You can import IRs in .wav and .wir formats (supported bit-depths: 16, 24 and 32- floating point, with sample rates betw een 44.1kHz and192kHz). The plug-in will automatically sample-rate convert the IR to t he sample rate you are working in (session sample rate is 96kHz maximum). Note: an imported .wav is not saved. If you want to move your sessio[...]

Waves IR-1 software guide page 37 of 40 • Name – Name of the location. • Type – Location type i.e. Concert Hall, Theatre, Opera House, etc. • Date – Date the location was measured. • SR – Sample rate of the IR and the samp le rate of session you are working in. • Country – Country of the sampled location. • City – City of th[...]

Waves IR-1 software guide page 38 of 40 • For Reverb controls having a ratio scale of 0.25 to 4 (Reverb Time, Density, Resonance, Size) the flat point is 1. • For Reverb controls having a percentage scale of 0% to 100% (Decorrelation, Crosstalk, Dry/Wet), t he flat point is 0%. • Predelay reverb controls (Direct Predelay, ER Predelay, Tail Pr[...]

Waves IR-1 software guide page 39 of 40 Here are a few points to use in order to increase performance, sorted by priority: B UFFER SIZE : This doesn't compromise any aspect of audio quality. Thus it is the first place the user should try to optimize system performance. A buffer of 512 is optimal. Lower buffer si zes will increase the peak CPU [...]

Waves IR-1 software guide page 40 of 40 sounds like the rich reverb that it is, and it is a “mix-fri endly” optimization. It is important to distinguish between Reve rb Time RT60 and Conv olution length. The ear is more sensitive to the slope at the higher gains, so while shortening RT60 will sound like a smaller reverb, shortening the Convolut[...]