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Sound Builder Owner`s Manual

1. SOLA Woe DE 05 DE DE De meme id A AO A Movies Demobose may Environment Set System Requirements Minimum computer requirements SoundBuilder requires a Power Macintosh G4 1Ghz or above with 512MB of RAM and Mac OSX 10 4 or higher A 17 inch monitor or larger is highly recommended Computer recommendation Faster the Macintosh and more RAM installed in it more responsive SoundBuilder is Computer requirements for audio hardware SoundBuilder supports third party audio hardware products that support the Mac OSX CoreAudio driver standard However depending the number of audio outputs you will be able to use surround capability of SoundBuilder In surround terminology you will have 2 numbers indicating the number of outputs required for that format The first number indicates the outputs required for the spatial image for that format The second number after the dot indicates if a LFE channel is required For example a 5 1 configuration needs 6 individual outputs 5 for the spatial surround circle Left Center Right Left Surround Right Surround and 1 for the subwoofer channel LFE We recommend a 8 outputs interface to satisfy any surround format supported by SoundBuilder 7 1 Installin ndBuilder SoundBuilder installation process requires you have the original package with the SoundBuilder Install disk and the 4 SoundBuilder s HD Libraries The following steps illustrate you the simple installation process 1
2. a main surrounding background environment You may work upside down in any format required from mono to 7 1 and switching among all those different formats in real time Once satisfied you may then bounce your sound in the current output mode Supported formats are Mono Stereo LCR Quad LCRS 5 0 6 0 7 0 with the possibility to enable the LFE channel 1 independently SB is best used with its own optimized sound libraries but of course you may import your own sound files most popular format and SR are supported The software may be launched as standalone application or in ReWire mode sync ed with all those programs that support ReWire technology SB has been thought for professional needs and for this reason sound quality is a mandatory issue Spatialization is obtained trough complex processes that are the results of many years of research in the acoustic and psycho acoustic field developed by Riccardo Mazza All distance and space controls have been achieved using only dynamic variations of amplitudes according the human psychoacoustic curves No comb filtering or delay has been applied at any stage of the signal path thus guaranteeing maximum quality and phase coherence It is important to understand that SoundBuilder has been designed to be used with special dedicated sound libraries The basic library that comes with the package covers many useful environments to start right away and create high definition soun
3. Insert your SoundBuilder install disk 2 Copy the SoundBuilder Installer file to your HD 3 Launch the installer and follow all the steps required please note that the installer will require you to verify all your 4 DVDs of SoundBuilder s HD library so keep them close at hand 4 A folder named InteractiveSound will be created into your Application folder Into that folder you will find your SoundBuilder program You can move it to a different location if you like Copy Protection SoundBuilder uses Challenge Response copy protection scheme In order to let you work right out of the box or in the case you need to install it to a Challenge Response Authorization Process different location and you do not have the time to wait for your Challenge copy challenge and mail to customer service Response authorization the 11050 133 2662 58 56 96 198 108 49 98 installation process will provide you automatically with a 15 days ais rad hal iii authorization for that machine During this time it is supposed e TT you will register and get your Say ci 80 permanent authorization code Please note that once the 15 days authorization time is expired you won t be able to reauthorize that machine so be sure to get your Response before that time Below we show you the detailed steps of the authorization process The first time you will launch the program the following screenshot will show up Copy the challenge that will appear in th
4. amplitudes relationship This Hay Commaris guarantees maximum quality and phase coherence during downmix process Choose Environment Setup from the Settings menu Start playback and try to move gently the Ambient Dimension slider This will change the overall impression of environment wideness Move toward the Close label to simulate your spatialization like in a small ambient or toward Far to simulate a wide open space Click also on the Sound speed response to simulate a humidity factor of your environment Choose a value from 0 to 5 Those useful parameters will allow you to accurately trim your ambient without actually changing your movements and dynamic relations LFE BA 10 Miwer SoundBuilder allows you _ to Background generate SubWoofer contents directly LF Presence TOM the actual loaded audiofiles Two different algorithms are provided LFE and LFX Both use psycho acoustic principles coming from Fundamental Tracking phenomenon LFE is a natural generation from actual harmonic contest while LFX will allow you to tune the fundamental frequency To EESEL H choose the algorithm you want click on the Lf mode pop up menu on the main window Try LFE at first Now increase the Background LF Presence knobin the Environment Setwindow thiswillgenerate low frequency signal from the background channel The signal will be outputted from the LFE output fader in the I O Routing Mixer Window You may now adjust individual c
5. multichannel or downmixed stereo or mono Lets say that you are actually working in 5 1 and you want to listen and eventually bounce to disk a stereo downmixed version of your session Just choose Stereo Mix from the Output pop up menu in the main window Now you are listening at the stereo downmix of your 5 1 session in real time and in phase Try also Mono Mix In this case all your session will A ALI SoundBuilder 1 0 phase and outputted out your central speaker You can IE switch back and forth 8 among those mixes while in playback once back on discrete you will listen at your original multichannel session You will notice that when choosing a downmix format the output assignment in the routing Mixer I O window will automatically change to fit the right studio configuration If for example your studio setup has left speaker on out 1 right speaker on out 2 surround speakers on 3 and 4 and center and sub on 5 and 6 choosing Stereo Downmix will set up your output as in the figure You will also notice that subwoofer in this case gets included in the stereo downmix This is an option that can be set in the Preferences window see later You can also manually change your output assignment The item ST 2 in fact assigns the selected channel to the currently set stereo speakers Beside the automatism of SounBuilder set up in downmix process you may still have any flexibility for manually output and re assignment ey Bounce E Jus
6. Preferences gt Auto amp Trig tab like Touch follow write option that will automatically set the automation mode to touch after your write pass default on or Stop release Rec Automation that will disable the rec button after each pass see later Edit Automation window There might be a case where you need to erase one ore more automation tracks The Edit Automation Window in the settings menu allows you to selectively erase faders or pan automation san Ed Autematicm _ tracks Beware that the operation is not undoable and once you will erase the data they are gone clear selected auto stion charrar the oneration is na undoable forever Decio arise osx ex You may want to save different versions of your O ceme pont I Mee DD Pater session so that you can revert to the latest saved E eee an ee CME version To operate the Automation Edit window Quseb us J mrt J rH i simply toggle the buttons corresponding the O msr 7 iiye data you want to erase and then press the Clear button Cancellation is immediate without any C nno other alert box Spatializing on the Movie window We are now ready for some more movements but let s say this time we need to be more on sync with the image So repeat the same procedure you have done before Select a channel select write mode from automation pop up menu and rise the volume fader a bit Before placing the mouse on the space window go to the File menu and choose Preferences En
7. The next two pop up menus are active only when using the Core Audio driver on Macintosh or ASIO drivers an additional pop up menu lets you choose whether or not audio playthrough is enabled These settings can also be changed using the Audio MIDI Setup application on Macintosh When ASIO is in use the pop up menus allow you to set the clock source for your audio hardware and whether or not to prioritize MIDI input and output over audio I O The next three fields in the Hardware Setup window monitor the amount of signal processing SoundBuilder is currently doing The CPU Utilization field displays a rough estimate of the how much of your computer s CPU is being allocated for crunching audio in SoundBuilder The Poll checkbox turns on and off the CPU Utilization auto polling feature it will update automatically four times a second when this is checked If you turn off auto polling you can update the CPU readout manually by clicking on the Update button The number of Function Calls gives an approximate idea of how many calculations are being required for each sample of audio The number next to Signals Used shows the number of internal buffers that were needed by SoundBuilder to connect the signal objects used in the current signal network The next two sections have Override checkboxes next to a number of the Sampling Rate 44100 ej LJ Override pop up menus When checked Override Input Channels 2 means that the setting you pick will Output
8. Working with MIDI in ReWire One of the advantage of working in ReWire is the SoundBuilder capability to trig its audiofiles using MIDI notes In this way you can drag copy paste notes in your host application MIDI editor and control SoundBuilder s tracks while retaining its internal automation capabilities If you prefer to use your sequencer automation Capabilities you can use MIDI control changes to move x y coordinates and recording to your host MIDI tracks MIDI Settings Note Since SoundBuilder automation works with a better resolution than MIDI we suggest you to use it instead of using MIDI control changes Flexibility is Receive Fort Regine i ui al receive enable complete and you can choose the best way that will fit Trasmit Port your needs To work with MIDI in ReWire you will have O tramit enable to enable MIDI receive and or transmit option in the MIIChan SoundBuilder s MIDI Setting dialog box and choose ReWire MIDI driver HD Controls O Mosse aliak on part ples soured DI Meese olkk rete part O Mosse release Stop play an part FA When MIDI Enabled Teaspor Disabled Stop release Rec Audet Ei Touch Salles rita A good way to work is to control SoundBuilder audio files entirely from the host application To do so enable the When MIDI Enabled Transport Disabled option in the Preferences In this way you will use MIDI notes to control either Background and Channels tracks
9. different location Like for example working in a different studio etc Well if you will open a session file that will not find the corresponding audio files the Locate AudioFiles dialog box will show up All you have to do is to press choose browse to your moved Edit EDGE Movie Window AudioFiles folder Once founded and chosen MICI Sertings the session will be loaded with all its audiofiles Sire tac DSP States correctly assigned Save the session so that it Roure filer HR Fnviranment Serup F jm al will be referenced to the new location The next arat time you will try to open that session the files MIDI Activity will be recognized and normally loaded EEE Key Commands ea aE Please note that in the File menu you can n a also manually open the Locate AudioFiles n dialog and choose for a different AudioFile S ae Dee folder so that you can for example use multiple 3 AudioFiles folders for different versions of your i EESE 1 SoundBuilder session or simply to anticipate the Braem ikr amp E Clr A next launch if you moved the session folder for backups etc o jin Aiai in are feta ites de Hardware and Setup a sharti The first time you launch the application you will need to choose the hardware ASIO that the software will use From the Settings menu choose dB Centrum audio engine Fiesse choos an audia driwer Hardware Setup The DSP status window will show your currentl
10. if you have pre recorded some automation movements Read mode reads automation if present In this mode also if you will select a channel and a parameter button is enabled you won t be able to write any automation If no automation is present on a selected channel you can freely move pan and or faders like if you were in off mode If some automation is present the read mode will prioritize automation reading and you won t be able to move the parameters unless you switch to Off mode or you overwrite automation in one of the write modes note that read automation is parameter independent so if you for example wrote only pan movements you will able to freely set faders positions and vice versa Write mode will overwrite any movements so be sure to use this mode for example at the beginning of a track or if you really want to substitute an automation portion Use the parameter enable buttons so that you will write only the parameters you want to Enabling both pan and faders buttons will overwrite pan and faders movement at the same time for the selected channel Touch mode is a safest mode that allows you to overwrite portions of automation tracks only when pressing the mouse button When you will release the mouse button the parameter will jump to the present automation score if some data are still present Latch mode is a very useful mode if you need to rewrite portions of automation from one position on Latch acts like Touch mode but instead of jumping
11. session This window will also open automatically if you attempt to load a session with unreferenced audiofiles Edit Menu Cut Copy Paste Clear Standard OSX copy and paste features Edit Automation Will open the Edit Automation Window for editing operation on automation data like erasing etc Overdrive On some older machine will prioritize audio and MIDI flow over graphics task Default is disabled and unless you experiment drawing problems you should leave it disabled Settings Menu nas Midi Settings Open the Midi Settings Window for enabling disabling MIDI transmission and receive capability Hardware Setup Open the hardware setup window It allows you to choose supported core audio drivers or ReWire You can choose also sample rate and arrange I O routing setup The Audio Driver Setup button will call the current driver setup box if any The I O Mappings will allow you to remap any input to any output All hardware setup settings will be saved in the preferences file and so they will be remembered the next time you ll launch SoundBuilder See also Appendix C for in deep details b Bad imap Route Mixer Will open the routing mixer window that allows you to set up your studio master levels and output assignments The route mixer will change automatically its configuration depending the current surround or downmix format Route mixer settings are saved in the session project file Environment Setup Op
12. your Pro Tools track outputs Inter application Synchronization and MIDI in ReWire ReWire supports sending synchronization transport and tempo information both to and from ReWire Devices ReWire 2 also supports MIDI communication to and from ReWire Devices The number of midi ports dedicated to ReWire can be changed using the MIDI Ports option in Hardware Setup Window For example you can choose one of the SoundBuilder ReWire MIDI ports as a MIDI output device in ProTools and then use standard MIDI messages to control your SoundBuilder Likewise you can send MIDI into ProTools using the ReWire MIDI ports from SoundBuilder and recorded the results to a track for further manipulation or playback disable in this case the MIDI thru option of your sequencer in order to avoid MIDI loop The Hardware Setup Window All global audio parameters in SoundBuilder are displayed in the Hardware Setup window To open the Hardware Setup window just choose Hardware Setup from the Settings menu The Hardware Setup window is arranged as a group of menus and checkboxes that set all of the parameters of the audio input and output in SoundBuilder At the very top of the Hardware Setup window is a pop up menu for turning the audio in SoundBuilder on and off when you launch SoundBuilder it will be automatically set to on If you use another method to turn the audio on or off the menu will update to reflect the current state The second pop up menu allows
13. 27 Movie Menu 28 Window Menu 28 _Key Commands Shortcuts 28 _________ _Menu Key Shortcuts 29 _ooo_o_o_ _ _AppendixA 30 gt Principle of Operation The Libraries 30 Analisis of a Background Environment 30 The SoundBuider libraries 30 How a Background is created 31 How a Single Element is created 32 SoundBuilder Libraries Format 32 _AppendixB 33 Surround Speaker Setup 33 Surround Monitoring 33 Appendix 34 gt Advance Audio Settings 34 Copyright 37 GG Copyright 2005 Riccardo Mazza Interactive Sound From the creator of the X Techniques and the RenaissanceSFX surround library Riccardo Mazza presents SoundBuilder The first tool to create your own backgrounds and Foleys in surround _Introduction gt _OO_O____ SoundBuilder SB is a powerful tool designed for building backgrounds foley and soundscapes in surround Mainly aimed to film television and multi purpose video soundtracks production SB may also be used to create your own sound SFX library independently from the video sequence Besides SB uses a strong and complex algorithm structure so to guarantee a professional sound quality Its interface is extremely simple and functional requiring very little experience in order to achieve excellent results SB allows you to create full dimensional Soundscapes building and layering elements that will move or simply occupy a static position in the space over
14. Channels annels 2 not be saved in the preferences file for _ n the current audio driver By default all Ma Vector Size L Override Overrides are disabled meaning that the Signal Vector Size Override currently displayed settings will be saved and restored the next time you launch SoundBuilder You can set the audio sampling rate with the Sampling Rate pop up menu For full range audio the recommended sampling rate is 44 1 kHz Using a lower rate will reduce the number of samples that SoundBuilder has to calculate thus lightening your computer s burden but it will also reduce the frequency range If your computer is struggling at 44 1 kHz you should try a lower rate The I O Vector Size may have an effect on latency and overall performance A smaller vector size may reduce the inherent delay between audio input and audio output because SoundBuilder has to perform calculations for a smaller chunk of time On the other hand there is an additional computational burden each time SoundBuilder prepares to calculate another vector the next chunk of audio so it is easier over all for the processor to compute a larger vector However there is another side to this story When SoundBuilder calculates a vector of audio it does so in what is known as an interrupt If SoundBuilder is running on your computer whatever you happen to be doing word processing for example is interrupted and an I O vector s worth of audio is calculated and p
15. Interactive Sounci Sound Builder Owner s Manual Soun Builder Software by Riccardo Mazza Manual by Riccardo Mazza Graphics Alberto de Stefani Sabrina Agostini The HD Libraries by Riccardo Mazza assistant engineer Daniele Giario Acknowledgements Luigi Agostini Roberto Lajolo Ron MacLeod Daniela Ovazza Carola Ovazza Andrea Valassina David Zicarelli Distribuited by A amp G Soluzioni Digitali http soundbuilder aegweb it info aegweb it tel 39 0586 211526 Index Intr ion 4 Considerations and Conclusion 5 mR iremen Minimum Computer Requirements 6 Computer Recommendation 6 Computer Requirements for Audio Hardware 6 Installin ndBuilder Copy Protection 6 Technical rt 7 ndBuilder Overview Getting Started 8 n Start a new Session 8 Hardware and Setup 9 Routing I O Mixer 10 Working with Movies 10 Key Commands 11 Surround Formats 11 Importing Audio 11 Playback 11 Adding Elements 12 Adjust Levels and Positioning 12 Spatializing 12 Automating 13 Listen at your Movements 14 Edit Automation Window 14 Spatializing on the Movie Window 15 Focus 15 Nudge and Step Automation 16 LFE 17 Bounce and Downmixes 17 Bouncing Musical Materials 19 Advanced Features 19 MIDI Support 20 Saving 21 Transport and Navigation 21 ReWire 22 Working with Movies in ReWire 23 Working with MIDI in ReWire 24 _Reference Manual 25 gt gt _ File Menu 25 Edit Menu 27 Settings Menu
16. Other features in this preferences pane set the way MIDI is transmitted when pressing the mouse button like note on when mouse click and note off when releasing the button or retrig with a new note on etc If your host application includes a graphic piano roll style editor you can imagine MIDI notes as the actual audiofile length on SoundBuilder Tip If you are working in ReWire with SoundBuilder transmitting MIDI messages as well as receiving you may want to disable your sequencer MIDI thru option to avoid MIDI looping RIDI Controls CJ Mouse olick on part plays sound O Mouse click retrig part O Mouse release stop play on part ej When MIDI Enabled Trasport Disabled 1 In this mode playback will run SoundBuilder s internal automation but it will not trig the audiofiles that will be controlled in their start point and length by the MIDI notes Also if this is the most powerful way in ReWire the same procedure may be applied using an external sequencer or just a MIDI keyboard to spotting effects on the fly in real time etc soundbuilder 1 0 fe_d MOOG Som fps 29 97 I cato Reference Manual File Menu Close This will close front most opened window New Create a new project session You ll dB ie alia be prompt to save or don t save your current fumato Gaertn fr session You will then browse a location where to save the new session A folder named as the session will be created Inside it wil
17. PTE end field in the Bounce window and the calculator will be Frames opened You must know the BPM for your music ae een Preterences Gereral Autol Tria material Once set the BPM you can choose how C gt Stereo bommix Surround lt gt Stereo Gownmbe many measures you want to bounce based on e O xB the time signature of the track Q e8 cap LF gt Stereo Downmix DJ Set LFE on Stereo and Mono Downi Please note the internal clock of SoundBuilder s is actually the frame rate This means that it runs se at different speeds depending the chosen frame rate While this is a very cool feature when you are working with film and video material using audio the frame unit can be a too long unit for a precise calculation In most cases you won t have problems but in case of very fast or rhythm tracks that might become a problem A partial solution is to set 30 fps This is the maximum SoundBuilder rate and it should provide you enough accuracy in most cases Advanced Features SoundBuilder offers some advance features S580 Se that will be very useful to the professionals This General Suto amp trio Downie includes downmix dB attenuation LFE inclusion etc Choose Preferences from the File menu for setting some advanced features Besides teres powrmix Surround gt Sterzo Downmix downmix options you will also find some useful qm sas QO 38 settings like Space Window appearance channel ada ed n
18. able the item labeled Mouse Coordinates on Movie Window Now you are ready to go but instead of pointing the mouse in the space Bon tp late bs ite window point it directly on the movie window before that BA Mouse coordinates on Movie Window you may want to move little further the movie to avoid the CD Use Movie Sync black few seconds on the head of the film Just click drag hj Draw Grid on Space Window the offset number box on the transport nici until you see the beginning of the video So now you are ready to automate as you already did before the only difference is that now you ll click and move the mouse on the movie window instead The program will scale automatically the coordinates depending the movie size When you done press spacebar to start playback and listen at all your movements written so far Try to automate some faders as well or correct any movement on the fly setting the automation to touch mode In this case you ll overwrite movements only when clicking the mouse Focus At this point you are pretty much satisfied with your dynamic movements but watching at the movie you will notice that the camera moves slowly toward the riverside SoundBuilder allows you to focus all your sound image to a narrower area This can be done dynamically in real time and you can automate its movements as well First select the focus channel clicking on the yellow label Focus and put the automation in Write mode Star
19. activate them first _Key Commands Shortcuts gt Backspace key When automating or performing coordinates movements on the space window pressing the Backspace key it will move out the coordinate point and it will stop the sound Clicking on the dB indicators it will set faders at 0dB nominal position Spacebar Default for play stop transport control can be changed from the Key Command Window Enter Default for stop transport control can be changed from the Key Command Window Period Default for pause transport control can be changed from the Key Command Window Zero Default for Return to Zero transport control can be changed from the Key Command Window Default record parameters all automation can be changed from the Key Command Window q Default for auto off mode can be changed from the Key Command Window w Default for auto read mode can be changed from the Key Command Window e Default for auto write mode can be changed from the Key Command Window r Default for auto touch mode can be changed from the Key Command Window I Default for auto touch mode can be changed from the Key Command Window s Default for snapshot automation can be changed from the Key Command Window _Menu Key Shortcuts OOO Command W Close Front window Command N New Session Command S Save Sesson Command O Load Session Command X Cut Command C Copy Command V Paste Command R Open the Route Mixer Window Command E Open
20. aming the already seen Mouse Coordinates f stereo Downmix on Movie Window and more to come Stop 34 release Rec automation and Touch follow write ed DJ Set LFE on Stereo and Mano Donate are safety option while using automation so not to mm Movie Settings overwrite accidentally your movement while in write mode More advance feature involve video settings From the Movie menu choose Movie settings The Movie settings window will appear SoundBuider O Enable Disable support external component video streaming In the NOE rei Derkpurt Fiod output component pop up menu you will automatically find any external video board currently installed on your mac So if for example you have a fiReWire Siaili output converter you may decide to stream your video ba out on an external monitor In this case you can also compensate the delay introduced by some FiReWire converters Just set the milliseconds of delay clickin on the FW Offset number box We didn t fixed a limit so that you paradoxally could use this feature as a specialized type of offset Choose your component and then check the Enable Disable checkbox You may choose codec quality Output mode and movie size If you want to discard your movie choose the Clear Movie item from the movie window Closing the movie window with the standard close button will not actually discard the movie but it will only hide it You can recall the movie window again choosing Movie Window from the Movi
21. and 24bit on 44 1 and 48Khz native SounoBuler Spatalzing Engine format is 48KHz 24bit so that you may choose right away the right format for your session Also if you may import a SoundBuilder library file in your DAW those files have been specifically created to be used within the program and they won t be very practical outside its contest In particular Backgrounds are 5 0 interleaved files that SoundBuiled handles as native format without de interleave them Single elements are mono files since they will be spatialized by the program All files background and Singles have been edited so to loop indefinitely with enough duration and variation that you won t recognize they are repeating themselves SoundBuilder have been designed to handle this looped file with no delay between the start and end point calculating its timeline as if you load an endless file This process is automatic and it will guarantee you to have enough time for your scene The scheme above illustrates how a SoundBuiler library is composed and how it works Appendix B Surround Speaker Setup The figure below illustrates the speaker arrangements of each surround format Speaker position for each format is approximate For proper placement alignment and calibration of surround monitoring systems consult the documentation that came with your speakers and other monitoring equipment Setup and position of speakers is crucial to accurate monitoring of a
22. dscapes in the dimensional space The SoundBuilder libraries have been created disassembling complex environments into its basic elements You will then build your sound effect at your needing dynamically positioning in the surrounding space only those 00 00 10 22 elements that are required see next section 00O I O Mixer Considerations and Conclusion Apa E Le This is a very experimental project and it s an adventure also for us as developers We are discovering always new possibilities and ideas day by day We expect to release in the near future an increasing number of libraries for SoundBuilder also produced by third party sound designers With this spirit we support you as much as we can providing know how procedures and the trademark to print on the library for free If you are planning to create and to commercialize a library for SoundBuilder please ask for our third party developers form and we ll be happy to support you within our possibilities The sound for video market is growing as fast as technology grows through all new wide band broadcast media ranging from telephones to satellite SoundBuilder simplicity of use is a key point also for professionals that belong to the video world even with little experience in the audio field On the other side also professional and experienced sound designers may find an invaluable tool in creating perfect surround soundscapes in minutes essi Eh Ee oss ff os ee Hi fn
23. e SMPTE box To change value simply click on a number field and either drag the mouse as slider or digit numerically the entry and 8 Hahok DI Mrirtuh FD Ge REA press return key Mh herua mq imil Mucca eye So once chosen file and format options you aE paa will press the Bounce button it will be prompted DE Mesjeta a save dialog By default the file name will report Nem Folder rane gs the SMPTE start time position followed by the session name and the file format extension in this way you may later on import your bounced effect in the exact frame position into your movie editing software You may of course change the file name SoundBuilder will save an interleaved file of the right number of channel depending the current chosen format You can choose between Pro Tools compatibility or standard ITU So if for example you are bouncing a 5 1 file 5 0 with LFE ena and Discrete output the result will be a 6 file interleaved depending the channel mapping you choose L C R Ls Rs LFE for ProTools or L R C LFE Ls Rs for ITU Bouncing in Pro Tools mode when importing such file in Pro Tools you will instantly have the right conversion with the right surround extensions L R C etc If on the other way you will bounce a 5 1 mix with stereo downmix option you will get a stereo interleaved file If you bounce a mono output downmix you will get a mono file and so on When you will press the Save button bouncing wil
24. e assignment Focus CC 25 X Y coordinates on space window RIG i 6 6 MIDIActivity Lil MIDI Activity fadera CC 1 8 pence S24 Be coo peo ag Care x INVIO bs You can monitor MIDI activity from the MIDI monitor window from Setup menu Please note that also if SounBuilder has an anti loop routine you should avoid to set the same MIDI device as input and output for the program since doing so you will cause to send and receive the same MIDI message at the same time for that parameters The MIDI Activity window can also act as MIDI trasmit MIDI keyboard Clicking on the small keyboard you will actually trigger MIDI notes and SoundBuilder s tracks Edit Settings Saving Close HW Mew sN To save your current session you choose Save or Save As from the File flase session menu This will save a single file containing all program settings and all automation data All loaded audio files and the movie file will be referenced cala ti 5 from the actual location of your HD As we mentioned before the Audio files cad 0 and the Movie file are referenced to their Hard Drive location and they are not saved within the session file The AudioFiles are actually copied into the AudioFile folder when you load them into your SoundBuilder s channels The Bounce to Disk Movie file is referenced instead to its absolute position on th
25. e clicking on the Space window with a selected channel O Mouse click retrig part will trig notes on E Pee release hap play ore part Mouse Click retrig sound When in MIDI transmit mode Fi when MIDI Enabled Trasport Disabled Abortion D Stop releases Rec Automation Touch rolo write clicking on the Space window with a selected channel will trig a note on each time you press the mouse button Mouse release stop play on part Will provide a note off when you ll release the mouse button When MIDI enabled transport disabled Will enable just external notes on off to trig part leaving transport clock for automation data only Stop Releases rec automation Safe feature when pressing the stop button any parameters enable automation button will be disabled ee ee E Ga Shares Direnik Surraond gt Sterac basimi 2E Q 308 can cel LES heres Doria D Set LFE va Seren and Plano Dawerik Q 3E cn Touch follows write Safe feature if in write mode any time you press the stop transport button will automatically switch to touch auto mode C DownMix Options Sets in dB the attenuation for stereo center and surround channels when in downmix mode LFE enable allows to mix LFE generated channel in the stero mix or not Bounce to Disk Will open the Bounce to Disk window for bouncing operation Locate Audiofiles Will open the locate AudioFiles window to relocate the AudioFiles folder for the current
26. e disk In case Locate AudioFiles you are going to move your folder session the Locate AudioFiles feature will midi setup allow you to reference the AudioFile folder to the new path while if you move the Movie file to another location the session won t find the Movie anymore In this case simply manually locate and reload the Movie Preferences Transport and navigation The transport window in SounBuilder will let you navigate in your session Beside the familiar 397 mtemal play stop pause buttons you will have few more ii 44100 navigation options You can navigate frame by frame click dragging the green number labeled frame In this way you can advance or backward scrubbing video and automation Clicking on the light blue arrow gt labeled In it will set a in marker point From then on playback will start from that point You can do that on fly too just click on the arrow while in playback and the point will be set Clicking over the SMPTE display will open the SMPTE Navigation Bar you can open it also from the Setting menu The navigation Bar beside displaying large SMPTE format allows you to navigate in SMPTE time just click and drag on the numeric fields or simply click Navigation Bar on a field enter a number and press return This is a spot mode and the frame number box will be updated according the current frame rate In fact you may also change frame rate in real time While in stop try to change dif
27. e menu This will be useful when using for example an external monitor and you don t want to have an qt open movie window on your main monitor or to prioritize redraw or audio response on slower machines MIDI Support MIDI Settings External Display QuickTime Cadeo Quality SoundBuilder supports MIDI input and output Pasta control In this way you may choose to control it using a physical controller or using an external sequencer for teSeundSiuiider LOPE receive enable writing automation Please note that SoundBuilder s Trasmit Port automation internal resolution is actually higher than 0 DD trasmit enable 127 MIDI one All values will be anyway automatically remapped For the moment the Control Change assignment is fixed so you will have to assign the right control change values on your transmit page of your controller SoundBuilder MIDI implementation at the moment support Channel A H XY coordinates and Faders BackGround Fader Focus and Midi notes for triggering Background and Channel A H samples All assignment either in receive or transmit mode will occur on the same MIDI channel You may choose your core MIDI device and MIDI channel on the MIDI Settings window from The Settings menu MIDI assignment is as follows 1 MEI Chan Fader volume assignment B kl cco ader CCI NA Te CC 2 ChB Fader CCI ST CC 4 ader hE Fader CC 6 C ader h Che ret ccs LChHH Focus valu
28. e upper text field press WebPage button you ll be brought to the web registration page Paste the Challenge it in the Challenge field of the form that you will find there Alternatively you can mail the Challenge together with your data and serial number at soundbuilder nefl Tempo limited authorization you left days 12 Once you will receive your response paste it into the lower Response field and then press the Save button Your Please Insert original DVD named SoundBuilder is now authorized for thatmachine and no more dialog boxes will appear when you ll launch it We can provide you with 2 authorizations Fiesa walt until disk la mounted then press Oe for 2 different computers If you need Cancel more please contact us at Thus we are trying to be as fast as possible and send you back the Response until you will receive it you may work with the 15 days time limited authorization To use the time limited authorization press the Cancel button when the Challenge Response dialog box shows up The Tempo limited authorization dialog box will appear In the upper right field of the box you see how many days you left before expiring In order to activate your SoundBuilder session it is also required to insert one of your 4 original SoundBuilder s HD library DVDs so keep them all close at hand Insert the requested DVD wait until the disk is mounted and than press OK SoundBuilder will now launch Setting Up Audio hardware The first t
29. ed by the system If this happens launch one time SoundBuilder and choose ad_ReWire driver from the Hardware Setup settings and then quit Now Open your host application and you should find the plug in From now on and also using future SoundBuilder versiosn you should always find the ReWire plug in because now it has been registered by the system see also Appendix C for details Note for ReWire use a ee DSP Status and assignment from the host application please TE ee reference to the manual of that application Now that the outputs have been assigned you Driver adurewire can launch SoundBuilder in ReWire mode you Aidi Ports will always have to launch the host application TTT first and SoundBuilder then On quit you will CA always have to quit SoundBuilder first and the e host application then If not already set the first time you will have to set your audio driver PU Utilization sn amp fAPoll E Update to ad_ReWire see also Hardware and Set Up tigre ge section Choose Hardware Setup from the n Sika setting menu and choose ad _ReWire From fedi HE now on SoundBuilder will be synced to the host Sampling Rate 45000 He Override application and slaved to its SampleRate From O Input Channels now on you are tied to your offset D I nee a ReWire application and rez2337 RR ELE a you can independently 40000 work either in SoundBuilder or in the application each one will control the other Note depending the ho
30. en the Environment Setup Window for general acouystic environmental characteristics like space size LFE etc All parameters works in real time and they can be changed anytime and in any surround or downmix setting Navigation Bar Open the floating Navigation Bar window You can spot SMPTE time and navigate using this window instead of frame number box in the transport Midi Activity Show the current MIDI activity if SoundBuilder is enabled and is receiving MIDI data It works as MIDI mini keyboard transmission too Key Commands Open the key command window You can assign your own keystroke commands for Transport and automation settings The key commands are saved in the session project file and at the moment they cannot be saved apart Movie Menu Import Movie Open browser to import a QuickTime movie to work with Ewhernal Display Suilok time Movie Settings Open the advance movie settings D Enstie pizabie Window i Enable Disable Enable or disable external video out telaio ri spetti Output Component Lists all active video out components FW Offset Set a delay in ms To compensate fiReWire Sr Codee Quality delay when decoding video on an external monitor SEGRE Output Mode Resize the movie window Codec Quality Sets QuickTime codec quality Movie Window Open the Movie window if users closed it Clear Movie Discard Movie Window Menu All Window Active Deafult All windows are active and will react without having to
31. ferent frame rate formats you will see the SMPTE display adjusting recalculating its new display position ReWire SoundBuilder fully support ReWire technology allowing you to take full advantage of a complete integration with your editing environment providing your DAW supports ReWire Tecnology This include bidirectional transport and navigation synchronization multichannel audio MIDI control and MIDI AudioFiles triggers This is an amazing facility that will permit you to generate a fully professional Surround session also with editing systems that do not directly support surround In order to work in ReWire mode you have to launch your ReWire Mixer application first the hosting application that will host SoundBuilder Once you launched your DAW you should create one or more Audio Tracks depending the surround format you want to work and assign the ReWire plug in labeled SoundBuilder For example if your are working with a Pro Tools LE that does not support Surround Audio Tracks and you need to work in 5 1 you can simply create a couple of stereo audio sone track and a couple of mono ones and then assign the SoundBuilder plug in on all of them Once you assigned the SoundBuilder receiver plug in you will need to set SoundBuilder s outputs to match your studio setup Tip If the SoundBuilder plug in does not appear the first time you launch your host application it may be that SoundBuilder ReWire driver has not been yet register
32. hannels LF generation setting the horizontal little fader above each channel This will act as a send to the LF engine allowing you to decide if and how much each ofthe individual channels will generate low frequency content Remember the LF engine acts as a single processor where you can send background Background LF Presence knob and or single channels signals In our case for example you may want to send just some water sound to the LF while birds and leafs will not make sense to generate such low frequencies etc Choosing the LFX algorithm all sends will be adjusted in the same way but the fundamental frequency from where LF signal will be generated can be tuned Try the LFX algorithm and adjust while in playback the LFX Freq Shift parameter click dragging with the mouse on the number box Note if you don t have a dedicated subwoofer you can still use LFE assigning the LF output channel to the stereo speakers To do so just set ST 2 from the output pop up menu on the LFE output channel in the Mixer window EU LFX Freq Shift Bounce and Downmixes Now that you done with your job you may decide to write your soundfile to disk so to import it later in your DAW and use it in your production SoundBuilder will let you work and listen in real time in any format either discrete multichannel surround etc stereo or even mono downmixes You can switch either a different format i e LCRS 5 1 6 1 etc and decide to bounce in discrete
33. ime you launch SoundBuilder you will need to configure your audio hardware To do so open the Hardware Setup window from Setting Menu see Hardware and Setup section later on the manual Please visit A amp G website at nttp www aegweb com html html interne support html and fill the prompted form with all the information requested Send it or send an equivalent email to info aegweb it The A amp G fax number just in case is 39 0586 887453 ndBuilder Overview Most of SoundBuilder s operations will occur in the main window Orientating with SoundBuilder terminology will do most of the work SoundBuilder has been designed for professionals and for this reason a lot of time has been spent in make it easy of use Also if the concept of building surround tracks in such integrated environment is quite different from many traditional editing software you ll be surprised how flat will be your learning curve when using SoundBuilder So just start up giving a look to the main SoundBuilder Window and familiarize yourself with its main graphic interface Start a new Session Launch the SoundBuilder Create new SoundAuilder project session application The program is just r one icon and no other components are necessary to run the software itself that you will find into the InteractiveSound folder that the installer placed into your Application folder you can move it in some other location if you want However also if SoundBuilder can work
34. in window browse into your library and load a soundfile from any of the background folders This will be your background spatialized texture that will serve as main layer for your elements You will see a gradient appearing in the space window indicating that a background texture has been loaded Playback your soundscapes or Foley tracks Turn on a little bit the BKG fader and than press spacebar or click on the play button on the transport window to start playing If you are working in surround you should hear a very gentle environmental surrounding sound Adjust the level until you feel comfortable You are now ready to add more single elements so to build your environment You may give a proper name to your track clicking on the BKG box under the fader Adding Elements Add your first element Under Channel A press the Load button and browse your SoundBuilder library This time look for a sound from le Enter Ch Name any of the single elements folders These files have baad been specifically designed to fit over a background They will be spatialized by the program and they have been all edited to act as ic endless looping sounds with sufficient variation on it so that you ED won t have any repeating sound sensation Give a proper name to r the channel as you did for background track Adjust levels and positioning Rise a bit the Channel A fader and select the channel strip clicking on the lette
35. in read mode when releasing the mouse button it will continue to write until you press the stop button or deselect the channel Now you are ready to go place the cursor around the space window Adjust the level fader for the channel you want to automate choose an automation mode for example write mode for the beginning enable a parameter button for example the pan to write just the pan movement leaving the fader at a freely adjustable setting and select the channel Now press play button or even better use the default spacebar key assignment and start playback Place the mouse on the Space Window As soon as you will press R the mouse button the colored dot of LE the selected channel will turn red indicating you are writing automation Gently move the dot around the space window and perform your movements Repeat the above procedure for some more channels choosing different Single Elements from the library Listen at your Movements When you have done press again spacebar to stop L Stop releases Rec Automation playback The movements have now been saved Before hf Touch follow write starting playback again to listen at your movements make sure you either are in read or touch mode or the channel is unselected If you are in write mode with the channel selected you could accidentally overwrite the previously recorded movements For this reason you will find some useful option in the Preferences window File menu gt
36. indicated on the check boxes when you will press them Surround Formats Now you are ready to go First of all choose a working format from the Format pop up menu in the main window Try for example 5 0 and leave LFE Off in the LF mode and Discrete on the Output pop up menus You will be able to change all those formats in real time and on the fly at any point during your production anyway Bo Aifress oHa Micraie Windom MIC Settings Hardware Seiup Rire Mixer l Fritalronime nt Setup Trans part I Losa Lms te Ot Kew Commands MII Acridity r ed ort Teki Fii E in ssaa sa ii nda nea ari aoe Aasi Fu D treks a a LI supe be DO a VN Le TL a G Importing audio Gi Machinery Vol 1 F I aurane De 9 single Demens P BG_AirPress_dry BG_AlrPress_tar As first action you need to import a papi Background file from your SoundBuilder P EG_davenv 01 library Background files are plain P BG_day em 07 environments disassembled from their DI RARE A INI complex elements and they are the POEG_madh a eny OF e e ae tea starting base from where to rebuild Background files should be placed in a folder apart and they are a 5 channel interleaved files You may import also a different format file as background i e a stereo or mono file SoundBuilder will route it to all its inputs anyway but not spatialized For example press the small Load button under the leftmost fader on the ma
37. ixer Its default will be standard ITU If you work with a different configuration i e DTS or Film Standard you will just need to configure your audio outputs to conform to your system choosing from the pop menu in the lower part of the mixer window the physical interface output connected to your studio speakers On the upper part you will see the input signal L R C Ls Rs etc When changing format everything will be automatically reassigned So just assign the outputs once and a reference level SoundBuilder supports up to 8 outputs allowing you to work from mono to 7 1 The ST 2 item allows you to assign the output to stereo pair Doing so you ll be able to manually downmix at your needs i e center to stereo surround to stereo etc Working with movies From the Movie menu choose Import Movie and than browse into your hard drive and import a film to work with SoundBuilder Wade misi IE supports any QuickTime impar Mesi Open Document format depending the CL dI QuickTime version installed Gl Audie Fes in your Operating System er L Waor Y Sentings A Marinetti HDI BE Scund uil 0c_ mess When importing a movie FRS the film will be opened in muri floating window and it will i cid be synchronized with your os appicazoni audiofiles SoundBuilder has been created mainly for professional use and especially for creating backgrounds for film and video production In fact the internal synch
38. l be created the project session file and the AudioFile folder where any loaded file will be copied and referenced from there on Session Close Session Will close the current Cose Soundsuilde project sessar dB i session You ll be prompt to save the current Fermi fn Caxton GD session before closing it Initialize will initialize at the default settings the current session without closing it Save Will save the current project session including all parameters and automation data Audio and Movie files will not be saved in this file but they will be referenced to their AudioFiles folder and the absolute path for the Movie file Save As It will be prompt to save with a name and location Load Will open a saved project session Aute amp trig Downmix ive O Mouse coordinates on Movie Window Draw Grid on Space window ff Channel Names on Space Window Preferences Will open the preference panel On the upper part of the panel you will choose on 3 different groups of options A General Mouse Coordinates on Movie Window Allows direct automation on Movie Window Draw Grid on Space Window Will draw or not the grid on Space Window Channel Names on Space Window Will draw the name you provided on Channel Name box or will draw A to H letter representing the Channel B Auto amp Trig MIDI Controls Mouse Click on part plays sound When in MIDI transmit DI House click on part plays sound mod
39. l either for background and single elements For more detail on X Techniques and Mazza s researches see Mix article Surround on Location by Larry O on www riccardomazza com on int press section How a Single Element is created A single element in our libraries is a mono audio file that represents a single clean and narrow focused element to use as layer of a loaded background The characteristic of a single element is that it s endless and it can be used indefinitely For this reason we recorded each sound for enough time so not to give to the user any impression of repetition When used in this way a single element should be employed on its channel with the loop option enabled We also edited our single elements in such a way you won t hear any cross point or repetition that s why the start point of the sample often is straight with no fade in The program time clock when in loop mode will treat that channel as a unique endless file In this way you will be always on sync amp with your movie also if the video is much longer than the actual audio files You may of course import your own audio files or edit our single elements at your needs or use one shot mode for Foleys or spot effects Our Single elements has been recorded at 24bits with higher possible quality so to give you the most precise and pristine sound SoundBuilder libraries format SoundBuilder libraries are standard audio We provided 16
40. l occur since bounce to disk is a real _ interleaved format type time operation you will hear playback of your session During bouncing the bounce progress window will shows E a up showing you the progress bar until reaching the end dB O time set up on the Bounce Window If you want to stop bounce before the end time you may press stop on the Csm progress window The bounced file will be closed until that point Another option in the Format Type pop up menu is the Save as Background item In this case the saved file named as dafault as Bg_Session Name is a 5 0 SoundBuilder background file type ready to be imported in your SoundBuilder s Background channel This is also a good way if you run out of tracks and you need more than 8 channels Bouncing Musical Materials Also if SoundBuilder has been mainly designed for creating film backgrounds tracks in surround you can get very interesting results using music style materials or sound textures maybe adding more synth effects etc The Sound Imaging Library has been design for that purpose Building music QO BPM Calculator ey textures may involve bouncing as background so to layer more and more materials To help you calculating BPM to Frame Calculator the frame length for a bounce in music metric unit we provided a basic utility calculator that will set the end EFM Signature Bars bouncing frame according your current frame rate Press the little BPM button close to the SM
41. layed Then the computer returns to its normally scheduled program If the vector size is large enough the computer may get a bit behind and the audio output may start to click because the processing took longer than the computer expected Reducing the I O Vector Size may solve this problem or it may not On the other hand if you try to generate too many interrupts the computer will slow down trying to process them saving what you are doing and starting another task is hard work Therefore you ll typically find the smaller I O Vector Sizes consume a greater percentage of the computer s resources Optimizing the performance of any particular signal network when you are close to the limit of your CPU s capability is a trial and error process That s why SoundBuilder provides you with a choice of vector sizes Technical Detail Some audio interface cards do not provide a choice of I O Vector Sizes There are also some ASIO drivers whose selection of I O Vector Sizes may not conform to the multiple of a power of 2 limitation currently imposed by SoundBuilder s ASIO support In some cases this limitation can be remedied by using the ASIO driver at a different sampling rate Changing the vector sizes does not affect the actual quality of the audio itself unlike changing the sampling rate which affects the high frequency response Changing the signal vector size won t have any effect on latency and will have only a slight effect on overall perf
42. le elements you may however bounce all complete sound to disk as new background Browsing the Single Elements directory of the same CD you will find sounds like leaves birds insects sands grounds etc Once loaded you will simply move them in the space window or directly on the movie window and SoundBuilder will do the rest When you done just bounce to disk in the format required 5 1 LCRS Stereo Mono etc From a single library you will be able create an infinite number of sounds creating your own sound library for each specific production SoundBuilder libraries not only will allows you to save time and gain exact matching of your sound to the film but you will also notice an amazing increase in sound definition This is due to the fact that during recordings all sounds have been focused for single types Doing so you will achieve an extremely clean sound with no unwanted noises or other sound elements on the floor The result is an extremely low noise dynamic and high definition sound in surround How a Background is created As we said before mm a background is a sound file that has been already recorded in 5 1 using special microphone techniques developed by Riccardo Mazza in the past years to create his famous Dolby Surround Encoded Renaissance sfx library Those techniques have been evolved for the SoundBuiler project and a whole new surround on location recording tour have been accomplished to capture the right materia
43. ny mix but this is especially true with multichannel mixing for surround sound Number of Mixing Channel Surround Format Standard Channels Layout Channels Format I Mono C 2 Stereo LR 3 LCR Cinema Stereo LCR 4 Quad Quadrophonic LRLrRr 4 LCRS Dolby Prologic Surround LCRS 6 5 I Film for Dolby Digital LCR Ls Rs LFE default Pro Tools 6 3d SMPTE ITU LRCLFELs Rs 6 5 1 DTS default ProControl LR Ls Rs C LFE 7 6 1 Dolby Surround EX LCR Ls Cs Rs LFE 8 TAI SDDS LLe C Rc R Ls Rs LFE Surround Monitoring In order to monitor your current multichannel mix in a given surround format such as DTS or Dolby Digital encoding and decoding equipment for that format is required SounBuilder does not provide direct support for surround format processing but encoding decoding hardware or software is available from thirdparty manufacturers Contact your dealer for information Proper speaker placement studio calibration additional surround processors monitors and a properly calibrated system can lessen the variables that your mix will be subjected to when the audience eventually hears it in the theater in their home or elsewhere It is very important that your surround monitor system be installed and configured correctly Proper speaker placement angling and level calibration are necessities for surround mixing so consult the manufacturer of your monitor system Several surround forma
44. ocessing SoundBuilder is allowed to do SoundBuilder will not go above the set CPU limit for a sustained period allowing your computer to perform other tasks without SoundBuilder locking them out The trade off however is that you ll hear clicks in the audio output when the CPU goes over the specified limit Setting this value to either 0 or 100 will disable CPU limiting http www soundbuilder net right This User Manual is subject to copyright 2005 A amp G Soluzioni Digitali S r l from now on A amp G All rights are reserved According to copyright regulations this manual cannot be duplicated in parts or as a whole without written authorization by A amp G SoundBuilder is a trade mark registered by Interactive Sound X Spat X spat boX See n Sound Spatialisation and A amp G Soluzioni Digitali are trade marks registered by A amp G All the other trademarks are registered by their respective owners All features and specifications can be modified without warning
45. ormance the larger the size the more performance you can expect However certain types of algorithms benefit from a small signal vector size The pop up menus labeled Input Channel nese l 1 Input Channel 2 Output Channel 1 and Optimize Override Output Channel 2 allow you to map the first CRU Limit o___ ove Override two logical channels of I O in SoundBuilder to physical channels used by your audiodriver Audio Driver Setup 1 0 Mappings Different audio drivers give you different options To map additional logical channels use the I O Mappings window which you can view by clicking the I O Mappings button at the bottom of the Hardware Setup window The Optimize pop up menu allows you to select whether G4 Altivec vector optimization will be used by SoundBuilder when computing audio Vector optimization allows four samples to be processed within the space of a single instruction However not all audio signal processing algorithms can be optimized in this way for example recursive filter algorithms are substantially immune from vector optimization Leaving this option on when using MSP on a G4 machine will enhance CPU utilization and performance although the exact performance gain depends on the algorithm you are using If you are using a pre G4 Macintosh turning the option on will have no effect The CPU Limit option allows you to set a limit expressed in terms of a percentage of your computer s CPU to how much signal pr
46. ou want you can automate pan and faders while in this mode First go to the start frame you want to insert your pan or fader value While in stop select the channel and the parameter button you want Now select the write auto mode The pan dot will turn red indicating that channel is in record mode To write your first data you should perform a snapshot This procedure is also recommended to insert the very first data of any automation for your session To perform a snapshot all you have to do is to click on the little camera icon on the rightmost end of the transport window while in record mode Now the value has been written at that position Now you can nudge pressing the Up arrow key and you will forwarded writing new data at that position Proceed frame by frame at any subsequent position to write or substitute with new data you don t have of course to press the snaphot button each time To end the sound when reached a specific destination simply stop nudging and press the backspace key on you keyboard The dot will disappear and the sound will end at that location This is a very good way to ins and outs effects and Foleys with frame accuracy DSP Functions SoundBuilder has some useful pri mnda DSP functions that allow you Hardware Setup to change the environmental EE i E characteristics These functions viranment Setup__ 3 ot it ea lena work psycho acoustically except Fansper gt for the subwoofer varying only Mini Activity
47. own audiofiles it has been designed to be used with its own libraries A SoundBuiled library is composed of 2 different types of sounds 1 Backgrounds 2 Single Elements The idea is that a complex surrounding environment is composed of a basic background texture that has no added elements but that represents just the impression of a dimensional space Over the background you will add all and just those elements that are needed for the picture The program will handle all the necessary spatialization routines layering and balancing all elements at once Let s say you will have to create a soundscape in 5 1 for the following picture First of all you will look in your Natural Environment CD one of the libraries included with the program and browse into the background folder There you will find a list of soundfiles that will have names like AirPressure_ dry Rainy Windy HotDay etc Once loaded in the Background channel in SoundBuuilder see below you will hear a sensation of the chosen space in 5 1 providing you have a 5 1 monitoring system otherwise you can choose stereo or mono format This might be a gentle windy day impression or a rainy nite sensation or any other dimensional impression but you will not hear any specific elements birds leaves insects etc capturing your attention Now you are ready to add and move your specific elements SoundBuilder allows you to add up to eight different sing
48. r over the dB level indicator channels are marked with capital letters from A to H You will need to select a channel in order to spatialize it or to use the automation You will see the dB value The M button is the mute button and the S is the solo The pop up menu labeled Shot Loop will allow to playback the loaded sample as single shot or in looping default so not to have an end If you are loading a Single Element from the provided library the loop mode will be the most used since most of SoundBuilder s Single Elements from the libraries have been designed to loop forever When you load a sound into one of the SoundBuilder s channel a red dot close to the load Free Soundfile on Chan A button will lit indicating the file has been loaded You si can discard the file if you want clicking on the red dot coni E The discard audio file box will show up Please note the discarding an audio file will not clear the channel automation data To clear automation data use the Edit Automation Window in the Settings menu see later on the manual All the time will be calculated as if the looped file was an entire endless file Doing so the chasing will always occur at the right point among different samples The horizontal little slider is the individual send to the LFE engine see later on Double click on channel name field to open the channel name dialog box where you can give a name to your track Now you are ready to play and
49. ronization clock of the program is tied to the frame rate set for that session It is important if you need to work with movies to set the right frame rate in SoundBuilder transport SoundBuilder automation as well as tracks start points will be calculated on it and actually the frame rate is the native internal SoundBuilder time unit If you choose a different frame rate other than the native movie one you won t have the right SMPTE matching between the session and the movie On the other hand you may change frame rate so to match times among different movies Note that for now just the automation speed and starting audio points will be recalculated on current frame rate On future releases of SoundBuilder it will be implemented an automatic sample rate conversion in order to match the audiofiles length as well In this way you may for example work independently with a 24 fps of film shots and a 29 94 NTSC video copy work Key Commands SoundBuilder allows you to assign a number of key commands Assign a couple of keystroke commands for a better navigation Choose Key Commands from the Settings menu From the Key Commands window click on the grayed Play label The assign window will appear Press spacebar on your computer keyboard and than click on the assign button Now the spacebar will control your transport play stop buttons PT style Repeat the procedure for all other keystroke you like Modifier key will automatically be
50. spatialize your sample Spatializing Place the cursor around the space window and than click The channel dot will appear at that position with the name you gave on the channel this is an option that can be changed in the preferences menu Now press your spacebar to start playback You will hear your element sound over the background sound Move gently the mouse clicking on the space window and try different positions Adjust the fader as well until you feel you reach the right balance During positioning you will see just the dot without the name to indicate you which channel you are operating on Once you deselect the channel the name you gave for that channel will appear close to the dot This feature is very useful when you have many active pans moving around Unless you are automating one o or more channels all the soundfiles will start 1 from the 1 frame calculated from the offset indicated in the offset number field sp 3 above the frame rate pop up menu The situation is different if you write a movement using automation In this case the background track will always begins at frame 1 always starting from the offset while the individual channel sounds will start exactly at the frame that occurred when you pressed the mouse button during the automation writing either on the fly or in step mode see automation and nudge and step automation chapters below To stop the audiofile playback at a certain location when in automation
51. st application SMPTE format support you should set the same frame rate setting on SoundBuilder and your host application otherwise the SMPTE display may not match this is just a visual representation of the time the file will be anyway in sync In case you are using a DAW that does not support SMPTE time format set SoundBuilder frame rate 24 and the host application at 60 bpms This should work due to the MIDI ticks reference that is 24 per beat SoundBuilder s audio signal is routed directly into your host tracks just like if SoundBuilder is part of it You can record audio signal directly into your host application tracks if you want to Anyway SoundBuilder bounce operations are active and you may decide to bounce to disk instead and the import later the bounced files into your DAW s tracks Working with movies in ReWire If you need to work synced to picture you may want to take the advantage of the Coordinates on Movie Window feature present in SoundBuilder While in ReWire mode the software supports multiple movie file handling Simply import the same move file either in SoundBuilder and in your host application Since SoundBuilder s movie window is a floating window it will appear only when operating in SoundBuilder and it will disappear when operating on the host application leaving the host s movie window floating instead In this way you will have complete integration working just like you had just one movie window
52. t keep in mind that SoundBuilder references all cio downmix output assignment based on Discrete output e initial assignment So if you will change your studio NO chanel format Tike formal configuration just choose Discrete from output pop up menu and reassign your outputs All downmixes will be now automatically reassigned to your new setup Now your production asks for an LCRS mix too Just choose LCRS from the Format pop up menu and instantly you will get a Dolby Surround mix Notice that either speaker er eee E configuration in the space window and output routing in reno hd io TEBRO the Mixer window will change to fit the format So once RAME MP TE choosen the format and downmix option you are ready crt i Pe to bounce to disk To do so choose Bounce to Disk from m E Tee the File menu The Bounce to Disk window will appear uo M ana Notice that the Bounce to Disk window will reflect your actual Format Output and LFE options Basically GRA Bouncing process acts as a real time recording what you ear is what actually will be bounced Choose the audio format you need among sd2 aiff wav and raw and bit depth 16 24 or 32 The bounce one ae window will allow you to choose start and end Save Ag ona segnato point for your bounced file The start point will EEE gt by default reflect your offset start frame You can ZL O E edit start and end point either setting the frame amp Disk number box or th
53. t playback and slowly drag down the Focus number box You will see the yellow focus area of the Space window that will get narrower as decreasing the focus value So what happens when you decrease Focus value Basically all level relationship among all channels will trim themselves so to be focused as the space area gets reduced So if a point will be on the circle peripheral it will sound as if it is actually closer to the speaker referring its angular position Notice the positions Ledmeters varying in real time according the focus value Anyway this is a simple to use tool so just use your ears and move the Focus until you feel you are on the right mood Once again press spacebar to hear all movements focus Nudge and Step Automation One very useful feature of SoundBuilder is the way you can nudge frame by frame and even perform step automation This mode allows you to insert frame accuracy effects making them appear and disappear at exact locations or to correct single automation data on a specific frame or To enter the nudge mode you will need to click on the frame number box on the transport window Once clicked on the box you will see a yellow triangle lit on the left side of the frame number Pressing the Up and Down arrows of your computer s keyboard you will advance forward or backward frame by frame If you have any written automation you will notice how all movements will slow down following the exact nudge matching If y
54. the Environment Setup Window Command T Open the Navigation Bar _AppendixA Principle of Operation The Libraries The whole idea behind SoundBuiler is to create a tool that allows you to build your own library of backgrounds textures and Foleys Thus the program itself is powerful enough to create a complete track it is best suited to generate specific soundscapes possibly in surround to import later in your DAW being mixed and edited with all other elements of your film dialogs music etc So why to use SoundBuider and not simply import an effect from your standard sound effects libraries Analisis of a background environment If you think for a moment of how a background track for an image is composed you will realize that unless you will record on the field the exact surrounding environment during the camera shooting you will always have to deal with sounds that do not belong in space and time with that sequence In fact when you look for background textures into your standard libraries for matching a specific image you will often find incomplete or unwanted elements in the tracks This is normal due to the extreme complexity and variability of environments that may include many different elements like for example in naturalistic or urban soundfileds So most of the time you will have to edit your sounds eq unwanted frequencies add missing elements etc The SoundBuider libraries Also if SoundBuilder allows you to import your
55. ts especially all of those from Dolby as well as DTS have very specific speaker and monitoring recommendations so take the time to locate this information and adhere to the suggestions they provide In the next page you can find an example of a 5 1 monitor system Advance Audio Settings ReWire audio driver The ad_ReWire driver allows you to use SounBuilder as a ReWire Device where audio outputs will be routed into a ReWire Mixer application such as ProTools Digital Performer Logic Cubase etc Both SoundBuilder and the mixer application must be running at the same time in order to take advantage of ReWire s services The mixer application should be also compatible with ReWire 2 or later for best results When the ad_ReWire driver is selected from SoundBuilder s Hardware Setup Window it can be routed to any of 8 interapplication ReWire channels which will appear as inputs in ReWire mixer host applications The first time ad_ReWire is selected it will register itself with the ReWire system Subsequent launches of ReWire Mixer applications will then offer SoundBuilder as a ReWire device For example after the SoundBuilder ReWire Device is registered ProTools will have a SoundBuilder menu item in the Plug ins menu When you choose it you will see a list of the audio outputs from SopundBuilder They will default to the off state Click on any of the buttons to activate that channel Once activated you will hear SoundBuilder audio out of
56. with the internal Macintosh audio hardware we strongly recommend a multiple outputs hardware interface so to fully use SoundBuilder s surround capabilities Cancel pen Excieting New 4 7 _ As soon as you launch the program it will be prompt you to create a new session or open an existing one Creating a new session will prompt you to save a location for that session Once done SoundBuilder will create a folder named like the session name The folder will contain a project file and a folder named AudioFile Werwork i Macintosh HO AudioFiles Mew Sessioni E Scrivania ff riki The file is the SoundBuilder session and will save all your SoundBuilder settings including output routings all automation data etc The session file may be moved copied renamed etc The AudioFile folder must not be renamed or moved since it will contain all the used audio files for that session Actually the session itself will reference to its AudioFile folder When you load an audiofile into one of your SoundBuilder tracks the source file will be copied into the AudioFile folder In this way you will always work on the copies Please Locate the AudioFiles folder for the current Session of the originals and also you will have a folder with all your elements for that Ga om session As we said the session file will reference its audio files to the AudioFile folder so what happens if you will move your AudioFiles folder to a
57. writing just press the backspace keystroke on your computer keyboard The audio channel will stop playback at the desired destination frame This kind of flexibility allows you to spot for Foleys as well as generate generic soundscapes textures for backgrounds applications Automation Now let s perform some automation on your SoundBuilder s session Internal Click the Load button of the channel you want s 44100 automate and browse into the Single Elements directory of your SoundBuilder s library until you find a sound you like You may want to start to automate some dynamic movements with this sound SoundBuilder supports automation in a Pro Tools like style In order to start the automation you will need to enable a parameter and an automation mode SoundBuilder 1 0 allows you to automate pan and faders for channels A to H fader only for Background track and Range dragging the mouse on the Range number box You can enable fader pan or both clicking on the 2 buttons on the transport placed on the right of the play button In this way you can decide for example to write a pan movement in write mode without overwriting a pre recorded fader movement SoundBuilder supports 5 different automation modes To change the automation mode click on the pop up menu labeled auto that is placed to the right of the automation parameters enable buttons Off mode disable all automation behaviors allowing you to freely move pans and faders also
58. y supported core audio devices cornea SoundBuilder can work in any format from mono to 7 1 So for example you could even choose the internal speakers and work in stereo with your headphones while on the airplane and then go 5 1 when back in studio If you plan to use SounBuilder in ReWire mode you will have to choose the ad_ReWire driver Please note that SoundBuilder saves the chosen driver in its preference file so the next time you ll launch the software it will automatically set up with the latest chosen driver In case of ReWire you will have to launch the mixer ReWire application first like ProTools DP Logic etc See the ReWire section later on for mode details If no driver can be found an alert box will show up asking you to choose for a new driver Pressing the HW Setup button will open the Hardware Setup window where you can set a supported driver from the list Routing I O Mixer eit sowie Window MIDI Sehings Li Wizer i Hardware Serup You will need to configure your fi outputs routings so to match your Environment setup current studio speaker setup This will Transport be saved in the session file but not in MIDI Activity the preferences like it happens in PT Key Commands so after you did an initial configuration you may want to save an initial empty session spo Lio Mower ceti fire fo Br flows fe fo or From the Setting menu choose Route Mixer This will be the routing output and final stage m
59. you to view and select an audio driver for SoundBuilder The specific audio drivers will be discussed later in this chapter A brief summary will suffice for now None This setting shuts off SoundBuilde audio processing Core Audio This is the default audio driver for SoundBuilder on Macintosh It interfaces with the system s built in Core Audio system and can be used with the built in audio of the computer or with the proper software support a third party hardware interface such as ASIO ad_ReWire This driver supports a standard developed by Propellerhead Software that allows sound generating applications ReWire Devices to send multiple channels of audio and midi to other applications ReWire Mixers that process and output it Selecting the ad_ReWire driver enables SoundBuilder to function as a ReWire Device to route audio from MSP into applications that support ReWire such as Pro Tools Digital Performer Logic or Cubase NonRealTime This driver enables SoundBuilder to work in non real time mode allowing you to Bounce to disk your audio without any real time processor performance limitations Real time audio input and output are disabled under this driver Only one audio driver can be selected SPU Util zation at any given time SoundBuilder saves the __ as settings for each audio driver separately x and will recall the last used audio driver Signals Used when you restart SoundBuilder 0 EAren Update o

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