User`s Manual - Performance Audio
Contents
1. Fights to use the Software after your acceptance of this license Except as may be modified by a license addendum which accompanies this license your rights and obligations with respec to the use of this Software are as follows You May authorize 1 one copy of the Software on 1 one PACE Anti Piracy iLok USB Smart Key for use with no more than 1 one computer at any given time make copies of the Software for archival purposes or copy the software onto the hard disk of your computer and retrain the original for archival purposes after written notice to McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company transfer the Software ona permanent basis to another person or entity provided that you retain no copies of the Software and the transferee agrees to the terms of this agreement use the impulse response included with the Software only with the Software and for no other purpose and You may not copy duplicate or reproduce the documentation which accompanies the Software for the purpose of resale sublicense rent or lease any portion of the Software to a third party without expressed written Permission from MeDowel Signal Processing LC reverse engineer de compile disassemble modify translate make any attempt to discover the source code of the Software or create derivative works from the Software reverse engineer reproduce duplicate or resample the impulse responses included with th2. Click the LED to clear previous clip indications Automation Most Revolver controls are completely automatable See the Digidesign Pro Tools Reference Guide Automating Plug Ins section Page R10 McDSP Revolver Presets Using the Presets and Making Your Own The Revolver presets are inspired the pursuit of the ultimate reverb library Over 300 impulse responses are included with the Revolver Plug in More presets are available in other installers included with the boxed copy of the Revolver plug in The presets can be accessed from the Pro Tools Plug in Librarian and Plug in Settings pop up menus To make and save your own presets see the Plug In Librarian Functions section of Digidesign s DigiRack Plug Ins Guide A Word on Preset Compatibility Presets for the Revolver and Revolver LE plug ins are interchangeable from LE to the full version Sessions uses Revolver LE will restore correctly in a system with Revolver installed Note the extra controls included with Revolver 3 band EQ delay lines tweak page contour page except the Attack control and X over page controls will not be restored in a system that has only Revolver LE Pro Tools is a registered trademark of Digidesign Inc medsp com Page R11 Using the Revolver Plug In The Revolver plug in uses a highly optimized and proprietary convolution engine to produce the maximum amount of reverb on a host CPU Additionally al
3. STATE Disclaimer of Damages REGARDLESS OF WHETHER ANY REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN FAILS OF IS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE IN NO EVENT WILL McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company BE ABLE TO YOU FOR ANY SPECIAL CONSEQUENTIAL INDIRECT OR SIMILAR DAMAGES INCLUDING ANY LOST PROFITS OR LOST DATA ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE EVEN IF McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU IN NO CASE SHALL McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company s LIABILITY EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE FOR THE SOFTWARE The disclaimers and imitations set forth above will apply regardless of whether you accept the Software US Government Restricted Rights RESTRICTED RIGHTS LEGEND Use duplication or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph d IM ofthe Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software cause at DFARS 252 227 7013 or subparagraphs 0 and 2 of the Commercial Software Restricted Rights cause at 48 CFR 52 2271 as applicable McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Mountain View CA 94043 infoameisp com General his Agreement will be governed by the laws of the State of California This Agreement may only be modified by a license adden
4. mode incurs the highest CPU use while minimizing algorithm delay to just 992 samples wet and dry signals are delay equally The medium latency mode incurs significantly less CPU use and has an algorithm delay of approximately 2000 samples medsp com The Revolver About Box gt The Revolver About Box contains information on the Revolver plug in The About Box can be accessed by clicking the version text in the user interface of any Revolver configuration FF REVOLVER General Information To adjust any of the Revolver controls the user can Hold the lt Command gt key while dragging the slider for fine control or Click on the text box to highlight and edit the numeric value to get precise control if a value outside the valid range is input the control will default to the nearest allowed value when enter is hit and hit lt Enter gt or Click on the text box to highlight the numeric value and then use the arrow keys to increase or decrease the numeric value or Use the lt Option gt key to bring all the controls to their default values or Use hardware controller surfaces supported by the Chrome Tone including the Mackie HUI and Digidesign s ICON ProControl and Control 24 Control Linking As of release 1 0 Revolver does not offer any control linking capabilities Meters Revolver shows signal clipping using a red LED just to the right of the Length percent and RT60 text readouts
5. network is a system of 24 dB Oct filters that provide maximum side band rejection and minimal signal leakage into adjacent bands Decay the percentage of the original reverb length A setting of 100 does nothing while values less than 100 shorten the decay and values greater than 100 increase the decay time X1 X2 the crossover frequencies McDSP Revolver Plot Display Along the top of the impulse response plot is a row of tabs selecting the Display Mode The Display Mode shows the following data Impulse the impulse response data mono or stereo is shown across a selectable timeline as per the zoom controls in the upper right hand corner of the plot Image an image of the source location or equipment is shown when available Plot displays the frequency repsonse of the LF and HF Color EQ routable 3 band EQ and all crossover sections Flow the five routing modes for the reverb and Delay 1 and 2 signals is shown The EQ insert points are displayed along various points in the signal flow diagrams and can be enabled by simply clicking those insert points The five modes are listed as tabs along the bottom of the Flow Display Mode page System controls uses to optimize the performance of the Revolver convolution engine are shown These controls are Tail Cut the level in dB at which the reverb tail is truncated Latency Mode selectable latency modes Low latency
6. or replacement authorization is available for transfer your iLok com account will display the notice saying You have licenses on the upper left Begin by selecting that link Page xv The next page will display Pain Hxses wate tor doled the pending licenses ion available for download This page will also display the name of the Plug In J its manufacturer the type Zn C of authorization demo Not For Resale or License the date the authorization was deposited and the date when the authorization will no longer be available for download from the server erat Before any transfer of Anaan Your ot aeons authorizations can take place you must synchonize your iLok Smart Key with iLok com This may take a moment to process depending on your internet connection Once you have synchronized your iLok you can select the authorization s you wish to transfer to your iLok Hyou have multiple iLoks sap 2 Sle an a oes the ease connected to your computer it is important to select the correct iLok you wish the authorizations to be transferred to Then click Download Licenses to begin the process Again this may take a moment depending on your internet connection When the transfer finishes you will be iLokcom asked to confirm the compietition of the transaction thereby letting you know that cownis Lcenses Complete the transfer was successful vo McDSP Revolver If you
7. sparse sample Page R1 The X Over cross over page breaks the reverb into three frequency bands and then allows the reverb tails of those bands to be decreased or increased as a percentage of the original reverb length The Contour page provides unparalleled control of the shape of the reverb In addition to the Attack control mentioned above the Hold Contour and of course length control can add sublte to dramatic changes to the original impulse response Revolver is a highly optimized convolution engine Revolver is capable of getting tremendous amounts of reverb time out of the host processor for example up to 70 seconds in a moderate mix using a dual 1 8 G Hz Mac Additionally all parameter adjustments are heard immediately and no outputs are muted during any control updates The user does not need to wait while the reverb is re rendered Feature List Powerful Convolution Engine Any acoustic space any outboard gear any signal path can be modeled in a few minutes with Revolver and the Revolver analysis tools full version only Flexible routing system rivaling top synthetic reverbs including insertable EQ two programmable delay lines and other stereo field adjustments Extensive library with 100 s of samples of real spaces and out of production equipment Revolver is compatible with ProTools and other DAW applications that support TDM RTAS and Audiosuite plug in formats McDSP s Revolver pl
8. wish to go back into Lokecom E your account and visually Se confirm the transaction confuntbe tanac e ma crt tet iLoks Then select the iLok you had the authorizations transferred to That s it Dont forget to logout and move the iLok Smart Key to your ProTools System if you are using another computer for Internet access Also you may need to install a different version of the Plug In if you are upgrading or replacing Transferring Authorizations with iLok com You may freely transfer any authorization within your iLok com account between any of your registered iLok Smart Keys If you wish to transfer an authorization out of your iLok com account to a different user it will require additional support from PACE Anti Piracy Inc and may be subject to a service fee or limited by manufacturer restrictions Check the www ilok com website for updates and developments regarding iLok USB Smart Keys and the Pace Interlok Copy Protection system Page xvii Registering your Revolver Plug In To register your McDSP Plug In fill out and return the product registration card enclosed with the boxed Plug In package by mail or fax 707 220 0994 Registering your product entitles you to future upgrades and advance information from McDSP Each individual product must be registered even if you have multiple copies and the product must be registered to an individual not an entity If you represent a company it is your compan
9. with dedicated and routable EQ two stereo delay lines a reverb decay crossover network and specialized stereo imaging control The Revolver main controls allow articulation of the sampled impulse response low and high freq response the overall attack of the impulse response and a generous pre delay that can delay the wet or dry signal by up to 500 msec Attention Revolver LE owners This manual contains a description of the full Revolver plug in Revolver LE contains the main control page and impulse library contained in the full Revolver plug in For more information on Revolver LE see the printed quick start guide included with the plug in For information on upgrading to the full version of Revolver see www medsp com The features listed below are included in Revolver Native The Revolver delay lines can be synced to MIDI beat clock for a variety of tempo based effects The reverb can be routed in a number of ways with the delay lines and a 3 band EQ can be inserted anywhere in the signal path The delay lines are each 3 seconds long A tweak page allows adjustment of other acoustic parameters usually only found on synthetic reverbs The stereo field can be adjusted even with mono impulse responses by delaying the left and right channel separately Special filtering techniques can also be used to modify the stereo image Diffusion can also be added to the original impulse response to increase the echo density of an otherwise
10. User s Manual Flexible Convolution Reverb McDOWELL SIGNAL PROCESSING LLC McDSP Revolver McDSP Revolver Plug In Manual McDsP McDowell Signal Processing LLC 1300 Crittenden Lane 401 Mountain View CA 94043 Support Email info mcdsp com Technical Support help mcdsp com World Wide Web www mcdsp com medsp com Page i Special Thanks to Bert Mcintyre and Fokke van Saane Stephen Hart James Willets and James Gangwer at Fantasy Studios from the entire McDSP development team Copyright Notice copyright 1998 2008 McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company All Rights Reserved The McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company s Revolver Plug in and Corresponding User s Manual is copyrighted and all rights are reserved Information in this document is Subject to change without notice and doesnot represent a commitment on the part of McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company This document may not in whole or part be copied photocopied reproduced translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form forthe purpose of erale without prior consent in writing from McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Trademarks McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company is a trademark of McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Other brands and their products are trademarks of their respective holders and should be noted a
11. ary gt Application Support gt Digidesign gt Plug in Settings If Pro Tools has not already done so for you create a folder called Revolver Place a copy of the folder from the Revolver plug in package called Presets into the Revolver folder The presets are now viewable after restarting Pro Tools from the settings popup menu from the Revolver plug in Note it may be necessary to re start Pro Tools in order for the newly added Presets folder to be viewable from the Settings popup inside the Plug In window toolbar McDSP Revolver Installing the Revolver plug in on Windows XP The Revolver plug in Package includes this manual ReadMe and Release Notes a folder of presets for the Revolver plug in and the Revolver plug in Two copies of the Revolver Licensing Agreement are included one in this pdf manual and a second as a separate text file The Revolver manual requires that Adobe Acrobat reader or similar pdf reader is installed Both online and boxed version will come with a Revolver installer that will automatically install the Revolver plug in and its presets on your system The authorization of the Revolver plug in is still required after running the installer and those steps are detailed in the following sections Installing the Revolver plug in and presets with the Installer The Revolver plug in package purchased at your local dealer will be on CDROM and contain a Windows se
12. ata Upon inserting the iLok License Chip a message will be displayed indicating the authorization was installed successfully Click Ok in the message dialog Once the authorization is installed on the iLok USB Smart Key a dialog is displayed prompting the user to register their iLok USB Smart Key at the www ilok com website The iLok com website was created to allow users to manage the software authorizations on their iLok USB Smart Key THIS STEP 1S NOT REQUIRED TO COMPLETE THE AUTHORIZATION OF MCDSP SOFTWARE The registration of the iLok USB Smart Key to an iLok com account can be bypassed by clearing the checkbox The user may also choose to not be asked to register again While iLok com is a great resource for the iLok USB Smart Key your iLok USB Smart Key may only be linked to one iLok com account That is an individual iLok USB Smart Key can only be registered to one account at a time but a single account can have multiple iLok USB Smart Keys If the iLok com account information is lost the iLok USB Smart Key cannot be registered to another account However an iLok USB Smart Key may be transferred between accounts if all the authorizations have been transferred off the iLok USB Smart Key Register the iLok USB Smart Key to an iLok com account only when you are ready to retain all the needed iLok com account information User ID and Password A Finished dialog is displayed showing what authori
13. cess of taking a known response and applying it to an input signal The known response can be measured before hand tweaked and adjusted until the user is satisfied The advantage to such a process is the ability of the convolution engine to reproduce the exact response from the sample acoustic space or equipment The disadvantage is the processing power needed to carry out such calculations in realtime has only been available in the last 10 years McDSP s engineering staff has taken the capabilities of convolution to new heights by providing a multitude of other processing options to further Page R12 McDSP Revolver enhance the sound of the reverb itself Delay lines insertable EQ contour controls and stereo field adjustments previously only available on ultra high end equipment are now available in a software product Optimizing Revolver Performance The Revolver plug In s convolution engine is extremely efficient This means many Revolver plug ins can be used in a single session with the minimum amount of CPU power The control updates are also immediate no muted outputs or rendering delays are experienced The user not only has a great sounding reverb but a responsive one too Even so there are ways to further improve the performance of the Revolver plug in Using the Display Mode control along the top of the graphs in the middle to upper right corner of the Revolver user interface select the System page On this page t
14. control values Can be entered manually or pulled from session tempo by enabling clock button next to BPM readout Note there amp oniy one BPM contral for both delays GROOVE 100 100 Percentage of change in selected delay time based on BPM meter selected note value FEEDBACK 100 100 Percentage of signal feed back into the delay input PAN T100 to 100 Mix af delay output to let and right channels level advo 12 d8 Attenuation of delay output signal PUT 100 0 100 The amount of effect the Split Delay and split Damp settings have on the left or ight channels SPIT DELAY 51050 msec Delay difference between left and right channel PUT DAMP 2000 0 20000 Hz Low pass filter cutoff frequency for channel further delayed by Split Delay control SPUT PAN 100 t0 100 Panning of reverb signal to left or right channel DIFFUSE te 100 Amount of additional diffusion added to the reverb Output Note the Diffuse control must be enabled with the On button next to the Diffuse control label www medsp com Copyright 2008 by McDowell Signal Processing LLC All trademarks are property of their respective owners MeDSP is a trademark of McDowell Signal Processing LLC Revolver is Copyrighted 1998 2008 by McDowell Signal Processing LLC
15. d All McDSP Plug Ins require that a valid authorization is present on your iLok USB Smart Key McDSP Plug ins that are purchased individually provide this authorization on a plastic License Card con about the size of a credit card with a Soe small punch out iLok License Chip After being separated from the License Card this iLok License Chip is to be inserted into the key slot of the iLok USB Smart Key in order to transfer the authorization from the License Card to the iLok USB Smart Key Note that each License Card holds ONE Plug In authorization The following instructions detail this process Important Note The Authorization Wizard will prompt the user to register their iLok USB Smart Key at iLok com iLok com is a service offered by PACE Anti Piracy Inc and this step is recommended but NOT REQUIRED by McDSP to complete the authorization of the Plug in If you choose to register your iLok USB Smart Key at iLok com care must be taken to record your ilok com account information i e write down your User ID and Password in a safe place If your iLok com account information is lost the iLok cannot be registered to another account and unfortunately there is nothing McDSP can do to help you See iLok com for more details about the benefits of using PACE s iLok com service Note Images in this section are for illustration only the actual product and screens will be the name of the product you are authorizing Pag
16. dum which accompanies this license or by a written document which has been signed both by you and McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Should you have any questions concerning this Agreement or if you desire to contact McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company fr any reason please email legal medsp com By downloading using or copying this Binary Software Licensee agrees to abide by the intellectual property laws and all ather applicable laws of the US and the terms of this License Ownership of the software shall remain solely in McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company Page v Getting Started with Revolver Congratulations on purchasing the Revolver Plug in the convolution reverb from McDSP System Requirements Operating System McDSP Revolver is compatible with both Mac OS X 10 4 x and Windows XP Configurations McDSP Revolver is only available in RTAS and AudioSuite configurations Applications Pro Tools 7 x or higher is required for TDM LE and M Powered systems Additionally a Third Party software application that supports the Digidesign TDM RTAS or AudioSuite plug in Standard may be supported See http www digidesign com developers plugin_info for more information McDSP plug ins are compatible with the entire Pro Tools 7 product line Hardware McDSP plug ins support any Digidesign or approved Third Party hardware supported in Pro Tools 7 x Th
17. e Software make any attempt to circumvent any copy protection software use a previous version or copy of the Software after you have received replacement set or an upgraded version as a replacement of the prior version unless you donate a previous version of an upgraded version to a charity of your choice and such charity agrees in writing that it will be the sole end user of the product and that t will abide by the terms of this agreement Unless you so donate 2 previous version af an upgraded version upon upgrading the Software all copies of the prior Version must be destroyed McDSP Revolver Limited Warranty McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company warrants that the media on which the Software is distributed will be free from defects Your sole remedy in the event of a breach of this warranty wil be that McDowell signal Processing Limited Liability Company will at its option replace any defective media McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company does not warrant that the Software will meet your requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or that the Software wil be error free THE ABOVE WARRANTY IS EXCLUSIVE AND IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON INFRINGEMENT THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO
18. e detailed in the following sections Installing the Revolver plug in and presets with the Installer The online version of the package has been prepared for Internet delivery and is transmitted as a compressed file in zip format zip In Mac OS X 10 4 x simply double click the zip file to unpack the installer The boxed plug in package purchased at your local dealer will be on CDROM As with the online version these physical versions of the Revolver plug in package should be copied into a local folder on your system Insert the McDSP HD Disk Native Disk or LE Disk CDROM onto an available CDROM drive Navigate to the Revolver plug in folder on the CDROM the installer application is contained therein Run the Revolver plug in Installer application to install copy the Revolver plug in presets and documentation to a local folder on your system The plug in will be placed in the Plug ins folder and the presets will be placed in the Plug Ins Settings folder Ifa previous version of the Revolver plug in or other HD Native or LE version was already in the plug ins folder it will automatically be updated or replaced by the installer Page vil Re installing the Revolver plug in presets manually In you wish to restore the factory default presets it may be useful to know how to manually re install only the presets Go to the Plug in Settings folder Root gt Libr
19. e xi Authorizing a McDSP Plug In from a License Card with the Authorization Wizard The Authorization Wizard is used to install an authorization from a License Card to the iLok USB Smart Key To use the Authorization Wizard for the Plug In you purchase perform the following steps Insert your iLok USB Smart Key into an available USB port On a Mac Locate and launch the Authorizer application found in the Authorize folder in the Plug In package for the McDSP Plug In you purchased on the CD ROM On Windows XP just launch Pro Tools to authorize the individual McDSP Plug in you purchased Note When authorizing the Plug in on Windows XP with a new iLok USB Smart Key you must insert the iLok USB Smart Key and complete the Windows Found New Hardware Wizard before attempting to authorize the Plug In Select the Authorize button to be guided through the Authorization Wizard Note Selecting the Quit button at any time will not authorize the Plug In or allow it to be used for a trial period If Quit is selected the Plug In will not be available in the Pro Tools insert menu McDSP Plug Ins require that the User personalize their copy of the Plug In A dialog is displayed soliciting this information Note that the product registration card enclosed with the Plug In MUST ALSO be filled out as well and returned to McDSP via mail or fax to 707 220 0994 This additiona
20. ed to the High Frequency HF portion of the reverb signal HF Freq the frequency at which the HF Color boost or cut is applied Levels The overall mix of each component of the Revolver reverb is adjusted on the Levels Control page In the input signal attenuation Out the output signal attenuation Reverb the output attenuation for the reverb signal e ES medsp com Page R5 Delay 1 the output attenuation for Delay 1 Delay 2 the output attenuation for Delay 2 Revolver LE only comes with the Main and Levels pages of controls All other pages listed below are included in the full version of the Revolver plug In Equalizer Revolver comes with a 3 band parametric EQ that can be inserted in one of several signal path locations The EQ parameters are available on this page The Q for each band is gain dependent getting narrower as the band gain is increased Freq 1 2 3 the frequency at which the band boost or cut is EVOL ER applied Gain the amount of boost or cut 12 dB applied at the band frequency Delay 1 Delay 2 Two separately programmable delay lines are available in Revolver Delay the amount of delay time up to 3 seconds The Delay 1 and Delay 2 lines may be inserted in a variety of ways as determined by the Flow Page explained later in this manual BPM Beats Per Minute When synced to MIDI playback
21. eur ato 1248 Attenuate output signal from reverb LENGTH Tto 100 Percentage of impulse response used to generate reverb The lenght in time ofthe reverb effect wer Tato 12 da Attenuate reverb output signal level DRY Tato 11248 Attenuate original dry signal level PREDELAY 500 0 500msec Amount af delay applied to reverb wet signal or original dry signal ATTACK te 500 mee Rate at which reverb output reaches maximum level TF COLOR Tito ede Amount of boost or cit applied to low frequency portion of reverb output signal TFE ao to a00 Hz Frequency at which the LF Calar boast or cut is applied HF Color Tito ede Amount of boost or ct applied to low frequency portion of reverb output signal HF Frea To00 to 10000 Hz Frequency at which the HF Color boost or cut is applied TAILGUT 140 20 90 8 Level at which reverb tail is truncated to zero LATENCY MODE Low Medium Convolution engine modes used to minimize CPU load at the expense of output signal delay STEREO MODE Stereo Summed Stereo processing mode GAN1 23 12d8t0 12d8 Boost or cut for each EQ band FREQ a0 ta 4000 He Freq for THE EQ band FREQ BO ta 8000 He Freq for THE EQ band Frega T60 to 16000 Hz Freq for THE EQ band Page R16 McDSP Revolver DELAY Ota20zeconds Delay time EPM G0 to 240 bpm Beats Tempo used to calculate delay times used with meter and per minute note
22. ginal sweep select the Analyze Sweep button and click analyze Highlight the processed sweep select the Analyze Response button and click analyze Note this process may take 3 to 5 minutes depending on CPU Save the newly created impulse response into the IR Only folder of the Revolver settings folder the preset is an impulse only setting A template session and tutorial on how to capture impulse responses is included in the Revolver Impulse Response Library CDROM that comes with the Revolver plug in Impulse Response Creation Tips and Tricks The tools included in the Revolver plug in are powerful and allow the creation of many new types of reverbs and effects Making these sounds can be time consuming but well worth the effort for those who want unique sounds in their productions In order to make the best use of your time McDSP has included a list of tips and tricks regarding impulse response creation Avoid clipping in any part of the signal path When shooting a space or device multiple times give it plenty of time to settle down If a previous sound is still reverberating when a new sweep is started the resulting impulse response will contain the end of the old sweep and the new sweep When shooting digital reverbs try to disable all chorusing effects if possible Page R15 Revolver Specifications INPUT 14410 12 d8 Attenuate input signal level to reverb out
23. here are three controls Tail Cut Latency Mode and Stereo Mode Tail Cut allows the user to select the level in dB at which the remainder of the reverb is truncated This is useful in reducing the amount of CPU power Used to calculate the entire reverb output Most conditions call for a tail cut somewhere between 100 and 120 dB At these levels the remaining reverb tail is inaudible when combined with other elements of a mix The control can go as high as 90 dB Tail Cut also becomes indispensable when the sampled acoustic space or equipment has a noise floor that is higher than the 32 bit audio path available in Revolver By choosing a Tail Cut that is higher than this noise level CPU power is not wasted on calculating well noise Using the Display Mode control select the Impulse page and zoom out to the maximum range 10 seconds With this scale you will note when the natural decay of the impulse response levels off and appears to be relatively level The level at which this signal occurs is the approximate value that should be used for the Tail Cut control value The Revolver plug in also has two latency modes Low Latency and Medium latency Both are extremely optimized for native processing Low Latency mode incurs more CPU use with an output delay of 992 samples Medium Latency mode incurs less CPU use with an output delay of roughly 2000 samples Note when the user adjusts the playback buffer size of their DAW Revol
24. is includes HD HD Accel 002 and Mbox host based systems See httpy mww digidesign com compato for more specific information The McDSP Mac versions are compatible with both Intel and PowerPC based computers The McDSP XP versions require an Intel Pentium 4 or greater processor Our XP test machines are chosen to follow the Digidesign recommended systems guide which curently i the Dell Precsion Workstation 670 with 2 79 GHz Xeon processor All products are guaranteed to run on that system Older Intel processors Le Pentium Il and predecessors and AMD processors are not supported Please visit medsp com for the latest information about compatibility Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc McDSP Revolver installing the Plug Ins Installat n on Mac OS X The Revolver plug in Package includes this manual ReadMe and Release Notes a folder of presets for the Revolver plug in and the Revolver plug in Two copies of the Revolver Licensing Agreement are included one in this pdf manual and a second as a separate text file The Revolver plug in manual requires that Adobe Acrobat reader or similar pdf reader is installed Both online and boxed version will come with a Revolver installer that will automatically install the Revolver plug in and its presets on your system The authorization of the Revolver plug in is still required after running the installer and those steps ar
25. l mail in registration will entitle the user to future upgrades and advance information from McDSP McDSP Revolver Once the Plug In is personalized click the Next button to continue Check the Use License Card box and press the Next button figure 2 3 Note Although the Authorization Wizard may appear to allow authorization by challenge response that method is currently NOT SUPPORTED McDSP Plug Ins Separate the small punch out iLok License Chip the removable metal and plastic tab from the License Card by pushing the cutout up and out with your thumb Do not force your finger downward The iLok License Chip may now be inserted into the key slot of the iLok USB Smart Key figure 2 6 If the iLok A USB Smart Key does not appear to be present on the system ensure the iLok USB Smart Key is connected to a valid USB port and that the green LED is lit inside the iLok USB Smart Key To insert the License Chip into the iLok USB Smart Key orient the iLok USB Smart Key s USB end to the left and the loop end to the upper right Insert the metal chip end of the iLok License Chip the License Chip tab should have the metal chip side facing up towards you not down You should be able to visually verify that the License Chip makes contact with the iLok USB Smart Key metal card reader The green LED in the iLok USB Smart Key will light when it is ready to receive and transmit d
26. l parameter changes are heard immediately no waiting for control updates to render a new reverb This chapter covers some of the basics of reverb convolution and how the Revolver plug in combines elements from many Reverb processing methods to deliver a superior sound and user experience Why Use Reverb The sounds we hear are comprised of the original source signal combined with reflected versions from our acoustic environment These reflections or reverberations create a sense of space and proximity Such effects are useful in creating music productions The reverb becomes a tool to enhance an otherwise dull track such a vocal recorded in a acoustically dampened vocal booth or create separation by balancing an original direct sound with a reverberated one Now the drums sound behind the singer the guitar is over there and the vocal has lots of presence But if reverb is so great why not record everything in a reverberant chamber from the start Even if such acoustic chambers were readily available to every recording studio different reverbs are generally applied to different groups of tracks The drum sub might get one reverb the lead vocal another and still all the backing vocals something else In order to effectively create a sense of space and proximity different reverbs are used on different sets of tracks What Is Convolution Convolution is the basic building block of many algorithms It is the pro
27. lf extracting executable exe similar to the online Revolver plug in package prepared for Internet delivery Both the boxed and online versions the Revolver plug in executable file will automatically install the plug in and its presets on your system Double click the file to launch the installer which will install the Revolver plug in presets and documentation At any time after installation you may access the documentation from the Windows Start Menu under the McDSP group Authorization of the Revolver plug in is still required after running the installer and those steps are detailed in the following sections Note that after installing new versions of the PACE iLok drivers with the Revolver plug in installer you will be prompted by the Revolver plug in installer to reboot your system If you are not prompted by the installer there is no need to reboot Insert the McDSP HD Disk Native Disk or LE Disk CDROM onto an available CDROM drive Navigate to the Revolver plug in folder on the CDROM the installer application is contained therein Run the Revolver plug in Installer application to install the Revolver plug in presets and documentation to a local folder on your system The plug in will be placed in the Plug Ins folder and the presets will be placed in the Plug Ins Settings folder Ifa previous version of the Revolver plug in or other HD Native or LE version was already in the
28. nly the length percentage text field is editable Page R3 In addition to the usual reverb length wet and dry mix controls Revolver pages of controls grouped into functional blocks While the user can select any one of these control pages the reverb length wet and dry mix control are displayed at all times The Control Page selector is located to the left of the impulse response display Plot Window Tab Navigation Basic Controls On all pages Selected by menu in upper left Page R4 McDSP Revolver Controls The Main Control Page The most commonly used controls are in the Main Control Page Pre Delay the amount of time after with the reverb wet signal appears at the output Negative Pre Delay values delay the original dry signal instead of the wet signal Attack the initial character of the reverb Fast attacks 0 10 msec introduce the reverb signal into the output as quickly as the original impulse response does Slower attacks up to 500 msec smooth the onset of reverberation LE Color the amount of boost or cut 12 dB applied to the Low Frequency LF portion of the reverb signal LF Freq the frequency at which the LF Color boost or cut is applied Note the LF Freq control also introduces a low frequency roll off to prevent extreme low frequency data from imparting a boomy sound to the reverb signal HE Color the amount of boost or cut 12 dB appli
29. ol Pan the balance of the left and right reverb signal Diffuse Enable allows affect of Diffuse control to be routed to the reverb output Diffuse the amount of acoustic smearing added to an existing impulse response routed to the reverb output mil ak lh medsp com Page R7 Contour The overall shape of the impulse response is adjusted from the Contour page Attack the initial character of the reverb Fast attacks 0 10 mseg introduce the reverb signal into the output as quickly as the original impulse response does Slower attacks up to 500 msec smooth the onset of REVOLVE reverberation Hold the amount of time the shape of the reverb remains unaffected before the Length control begins to fade the impulse response The hold time also represents the time over which the Contour control operates Contour the amount of boost or cut 12 dB applied to the impulse response over the time given by the Hold control The applied boost or cut reaches its maximum at the end of the Hold time This control is great to making compressed and gated reverbs maintain a relatively fixed output level or taming the already too loud impulse response before the length control fade begins X Over The output of the reverb engine is sent through a three band cross over and the reverb decay of each band s output is adjusted as a percentage of its original length The crossover
30. plug ins folder it will automatically be updated or replaced by the installer Page ix Re installing the Revolver plug in presets manually In you wish to restore the factory default presets it may be useful to know how to manually re install only the presets Go to the Plug In Settings folder C Program Files Common Files Digidesign DAEWPlug In Settings If Pro Tools has not already done so for you create a folder called Revolver Place a copy of the folder from the Revolver plug in package called Presets into the Revolver folder The presets are now viewable after restarting Pro Tools from the settings popup menu from the Revolver plug in Note it may be necessary to re start Pro Tools in order for the newly added Presets folder to be viewable from the Settings popup inside the Revolver plug in window toolbar McDSP Revolver Authorizing your McDSP Plug Ins Autho ing with a pre programmed iLok Smart Key McDSP bundles such as the Classic Pack come with a pre programmed iLok Smart Key Simply insert the iLok into any available USB port on your computer The iLok s indicator light wil illuminate when the iLok has a proper connection The Plug ins included in the bundle require no further authorization steps As with any iLok on your system it is recommended that your iLok be registered and synchronized with iLok com Autho ing with an iLok License Car
31. reset should be placed in the IR Only folder of the Revolver settings files Creating New Impulse Responses Revolver comes with a set of tools for sweeping acoustic spaces or outboard equipment and turning the processed sweeps into impulse responses for use with the Revolver plug in For a detailed example of how to capture impulse responses refer to the example session and tutorial included in the Impulse Response Library CDROM included with Revolver Load the session entitled Create Impulse Response from the Revolver folder created by the installer This session will create a mono and stereo send in which an acoustic environment or outboard device can be connected Now perform the following steps Select one of the two sets of 30 second sweeps mono or stereo Note the Sweep Generator plug in can also re generate these signals if they are erased accidentally Connect the outboard equipment into the IO inputs and outputs such that Page R14 McDSP Revolver the processed sweep is returned to the session For acoustic environments the output is routed to speakers and microphones placed at strategic locations in the sampled space are routed back into the session See the next section for tips and tricks on recording impulses Record enable the track the processed sweep is routed back to Press play and record the processed sweep Pull up the Sweep Analyzer Audiosuite Plug In Highlight the ori
32. s such Digidesign and Pro Tooks are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc McDSP Revolver Table of Contents McDSP Revolver License Agreement iv Getting Started with Revolver vi System Requirements vi Installing the Plug Ins vi Authorizing your McDSP Plug Ins xi Authorizing with iLok com w Registering your Revolver Plug In wii Using your McDSP Plug ins wii Introducing Revolver 1 The Quick Start Tour 3 Revolver Overview 3 Controls 5 Plot Display 9 The Revolver About Box 10 General Information 10 Control Linking 10 Meters 10 Automation 10 Presets Using the Presets and Making Your Own n A Word on Preset Compatibility n Using the Revolver Plug In 12 Why Use Reverb 2 What Is Convolution 12 Optimizing Revolver Performance 13 Loading Impulse Responses 14 Creating New Impulse Responses 14 Impulse Response Creation Tips and Tricks 15 Revolver Specifications 16 McDSP Revolver License Agreement The software described inthis manual is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in accordance with the terme of the agreement McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company License and Warranty The software which accompanies this license the Software is the property of McDowell signal Processing Limited Liability Company or fs licensers and ls protected by copyright law While McDowell Signal Processing Limited Liability Company continues to own the Software you will ave certain
33. tempo the delay control is locked to the appropriate delay valye Adjusting the Note Meter and Groove controls will only affect delay times when the delay is synced McDSP Revolver Note the delay time can be selected from a note and meter value Meter the delay time can be selected from a note and meter value Note the meter value is the same for both Delay 1 and Delay 2 Groove adjust the synced delay time by up to 100 of the delay time of the next smallest note interval Feedback the amount of signal returned to the delay line to create echo and tempo based effects Feedback can be positive or negative Pan each Delay line can be panned up to 100 in the left or right channel Level Delay line output level This control is repeated in the Levels control page for convenient balance adjustment with dry wet and other signals Tweak Adjustment of the original impulse response s stereo imaging and diffusion is performed on the Tweak Control Page Split the amount of difference between the left and right channels as determined by the Split Delay and Split Damp controls The difference may be applied to the left or right channel using the other channel as a reference S Delay the amount of delay time difference up to 50 msec between the left and right channels S Damp the amount of filtering performed in the channel further delayed by the S Delay contr
34. ug in operates on Mac OS X Tiger 10 4 and later versions Windows XP version coming in 2008 Supports Digidesign s ICON Command 8 ProControl and Control 24 and Mackie s HUI external control surfaces Page R2 McDSP Revolver The Quick Start Tour Start Protools and Instantiate the Revolver plug in Launch Protools and Open a Protools Session Verify the Display gt Mix Window Shows gt inserts View option is checked In one of the inserts of a stereo master fader select the Revolver plug In Note the Revolver plug in will operate on master or regular audio tracks in mono or stereo versions If the insert selection does not show the Revolver plug in verify that the Revolver plug in has been installed correctly For more information on starting Pro Tools and working with Plug Ins see Digidesign s Pro Tools Reference Guide Revolver Overview The Revolver plug in uses convolution to extract and replicate acoustic spaces and other equipment exactly The Revolver plug in combines this processing power with the flexibility only found in high end outboard reverbs The Revolver Length controls the duration of the impulse response as a percentage of the original impulse response length The RT60 time the time it takes for the reveb signal level to fall to roughly 60 dB is also displayed Both the length percentage and RT60 values are updated when the Length control is adjusted O
35. ver will also check which latency mode has been selected and automatically chose the best one Page R13 Loading Impulse Responses Revolver comes with hundreds impulse responses as well as presets for a variety of applications The presets always contain the original IR data unless a new preset is loaded that contains another IR sample This allows uses to make many version of the original IR preset while insuring all needed IR data is stored with the preset and or Pro Tools session In order to minimze the amount of hard drive space used by each Revolver preset the IR data is compressed before writing to disk In order to load in new impulse responses not provided by McDSP the user pulls up the IR Reader AudioSuite plug in The impulse response is imported into ProTools and then placed on a track mono or stereo versions of the IR Reader are available Highlight the audio and press the Analyze buttons in the ProTools toolbar just beneath the IR Reader user interface Once the process in completed the impulse response will be displayed in the IR Reader impulse response plot The IR Reader will automatically locate the best starting point for the impulse response as well as identify the noise floor present and fade out the calculated impulse response from the noise floor Once the new impulse response is calculated the user can save the impulse response Note the IR Reader generates impulse response only presets so the saved p
36. y s responsibility to notify McDSP in writing if the individual who registered the Plug In is no longer with the company The Company must also be able to supply matching registration information to successfully transfer ownership of the Plug In Using your McDSP Plug Ins Starting a McDSP Plug In Follow the installation authorization and registration instructions above Launch Pro Tools and the McDSP Plug in and its presets are ready for use Refer to the Digidesign Pro Tools Reference Guide for details on general Plug In operation such as automation Exiting a McDSP Plug In A McDSP Plug In is exited by clicking on the desktop or other window in the DAE application running the Plug In closing the Plug In window or de instantiating the Plug In Pro Tools sessions will save instantiated Plug In configurations and their settings Refer to the Digidesign Pro Tools Reference Guide for details on general Plug In operation Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks of Digidesign Inc McDSP Revolver Introducing Revolver Revolver is the ultimate combination of high end reverb control with the sound capacity of convolution The Revolver plug in is a highly optimized convolution engine customized for reverb applications The plug in comes with over 300 samples impulse responses including acoustic spaces and out of production equipment In addition to the convolution engine Revolver comes
37. zation method was used Click Finish to exit the Authorization Wizard McDSP Revolver Authorizing with iLok com Required for demo upgrade and replacement authorizations only iLok com can be accessed from any Macintosh or PC with an Internet connection You can do this at home a friend s or at the office as long as there is an internet connection to access iLok com note that you don t have to use your ProTools system computer You simply use this computer to connect to iLok com and transfer authorizations to your iLok Smart Key The iLok Smart Key can then be moved to your ProTools system to complete authorization of your Plug In You will need A computer with an Internet connection Either a Macintosh running OS 9 2 to OS 10 3 or a PC running Windows 98 ME 2000 or XP An iLok USB Smart Key A valid iLok com account Visit www iLok com and set up a free account if you have not already done so 1 Download and install the required client software from iLok com 2 Download the desired McDSP Plug In Installer from http wwnw mcdsp com support updating html 3 To receive an upgrade or replacement authorization send email your iLok com account information to support mcdsp com To receive a demo authorization email your iLok com account information to authorize medsp com Insert your iLok Smart Key into an available USB port and ensure that the indicator light is lit Once your demo upgrade
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