Thread: To those doing their tuning on the PC

What proggys are you going to be using?

Currently, I'm looking at Allocator for XO, obviously, but I'm needing EQ, time alignment, phase & gain.

I realize that Allocator can do a lot of this, but I'm not sure I should use Allocator for all of it.

I'm still trying to figure out how I want to actually run everything. ie. exactly how I want to route everything and in what order.

Do I want to run an instance of Allocator for each channel? Do I want to run an instance of Allocator for left and an instance for right and go from there? (Allocator has the capability of 2 in and 8 out).

I then need an EQ per channel (would be ideal to be able to select the frequencies and the Q for each channel, not sure if there's a program out there that will allow for that).

Then I need Time Alignment per channel.

Then I need Phase per channel.

Then I need gain per channel.

While in an ideal world, I wouldn't need a lot of this, in a car, with a full dash and a lot of the constraints we have to deal with, it's inevitable.

So...Now that I have it for SURE working....many thanks for that....I'll be playing with this in the car, connected to the laptop, to see what I can come up with.

So what software are you using for all of this?

Bloody expensive, but perhaps you should look at acourate or audiolense

I've been reading about these programs as well.

The thing is, when you consider the price of a H900 processor as an alternative, this is a SUPER cheap solution.

Originally Posted by RedGTiVR6

What proggys are you going to be using?

Currently, I'm looking at Allocator for XO, obviously, but I'm needing EQ, time alignment, phase & gain.

I realize that Allocator can do a lot of this, but I'm not sure I should use Allocator for all of it.

I'm still trying to figure out how I want to actually run everything. ie. exactly how I want to route everything and in what order.

Do I want to run an instance of Allocator for each channel? Do I want to run an instance of Allocator for left and an instance for right and go from there? (Allocator has the capability of 2 in and 8 out).

I then need an EQ per channel (would be ideal to be able to select the frequencies and the Q for each channel, not sure if there's a program out there that will allow for that).

Then I need Time Alignment per channel.

Then I need Phase per channel.

Then I need gain per channel.

While in an ideal world, I wouldn't need a lot of this, in a car, with a full dash and a lot of the constraints we have to deal with, it's inevitable.

So...Now that I have it for SURE working....many thanks for that....I'll be playing with this in the car, connected to the laptop, to see what I can come up with.

So what software are you using for all of this?

Well, you're starting to get ahead of where I'm at right now. I'm still in the planning stages of my system. I haven't actually bought any hardware for my new truck build yet. But for what its worth I'll share my thoughts on what I'm thinking/planning.

I have a pretty good selection of plug-ins from my home studio so I'll probably start of with Waves and Voxengo stuff for eq, delay and limiting. I'm an advocate for parametric eqs instead of graphs, but its an individual choice. A lot of eq plugins will have gain and polarity already included so no real need to run a separate plug in for something simple like that. You can also usually choose either a mono or stereo Eq. The Waves eqs and many others give you the choice of how many bands of parametric eq you need. So if you only need 2 filters you can save on processing power.

Frequency Allocator looks pretty cool as far as a crossover goes. It does stereo 4 way so you should only need one instance of it unless you have different crossover points for your left and right. I'd have to check to make sure it does a mono sum for a single subwoofer. It also has a few bands of parametric eq onboard per channel already if you choose to use it. The onboard delay is stereo linked so not much help when it comes to car audio. I'll probably start with one of the free crossover plugins listed in the Wiki because I can already tell that hardware is going to completely eat up my budget for this stuff.

I'll approach the signal chain in the same way I do when tuning concert PA systems.

Overall 2 channel EQ (for general tone and to correct environmental issues, ie, your car rings at 400hz. It can be a graphic or parametric or both for that matter) -> Crossover -> Driver Eq (fix any problems with individual drivers, ie tweeter has a peak at 6khz) -> Delay (driver time alignment) -> Limiter(individual driver protection) -> Amp

Gain and Polarity could happen at many different points. At the crossover, at the eq or even the limiter.

If one was into it they could even add subharmonic synthesizers on the subchannel and aural exciters on the tweets and/or mids. But I don't want to get into a discussion of whether this is a good or bad idea.

One thing to be aware of with plugins if you are going for sound quality is digital head room. I've read that its a good idea to keep your levels around -6 to -12 DBfs to allow the processing algorithms to have some room for number crunching. They say that pushing digital processing to the limits of its math capabilities can be the source of what people complain of as the "harsh digital" sound. Good luck, have fun!

Edit: Ok, just checked Frequency Allocator. It does not as far as I could tell sum to mono for the subs. So if you run a mono sub you will need to add a plugin afterward that can do this.

Eric

Originally Posted by Soundguy

Almost all pro level plug-in Eqs I've used have this functionality and there are many out there. Here's a couple links to get you started looking:

http://www.kvraudio.com/
http://www.sweetwater.com/c712--Plug-Ins__Equalizers

The problem you will run into is not all eqs use the same algorithms for Q or bandwith so your settings from one device may not translate perfect to another. You should be able to get pretty close though. Good luck!

Any chance you might be able to suggest one of these?

I've been looking for a bit here and there and I'm not able to find a 31-band (or even a 61-band) EQ where I'm able to enter adjustments by number as well as by dragging the adjustment. So far, all I'm finding is EQs where I'm able to adjust by dragging, not by entering numbers.

Originally Posted by RedGTiVR6

I've been looking for a bit here and there and I'm not able to find a 31-band (or even a 61-band) EQ where I'm able to enter adjustments by number as well as by dragging the adjustment. So far, all I'm finding is EQs where I'm able to adjust by dragging, not by entering numbers.

Are you looking for a graphic or parametric eq? By saying 31 band I'm assuming you want a graph and to be able to manually enter the gain adjustment right?

I almost always use parametric eqs these days(pro audio) so that's what I was referring to in my previous post. I'll look around for some graphics to see what I can find.

Eric

Just did a quick search on KVR audio for Graphic Eq.

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php?mode...f&q=graphic+eq

This probably isn't much help for you but there seems to be quite a few to choose from, so I 'd hope at least some of them would have what your looking for.

For what its worth,
Eric

I'm pretty sure I have told you this a few times before but here it is again (also in the wiki)

Electri-Q (free or pay because I know you like to pay)
http://www.aixcoustic.com/index.php/Home/14/0/

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