8 May 2022

Loudspeaker Preset Design | Independent FIR Sample Rate

 

Independent FIR output sample rate in loudspeaker preset

 

FIR Designer is ideal for creating complete single channel and multi-way loudspeaker presets (that include mixed IIR + FIR filtering). When creating a preset, both the workflow’s design sample rate and the export file format can be chosen to match those of the processor/amplifier being used.

Loudspeaker measurements of any sample rate can be imported into FIR Designer’s workflow, which supports design sample rates of 12, 24, 44.1, 48 88.2, 96, 176.4 & 192 kHz for all preset processing.

Previously, the chosen workflow design sample rate was used for all preset elements including delay, IIR and FIR filters. This created a challenge when designing filtering for processors that use one sample rate for the bulk of core processing, such as 96 kHz, but only accept FIR filters at a different sample, such as 48 kHz.

Recent FIR Designer and FIR Designer M updates offer enhanced flexibility & customization by enabling the export of the FIR filter at a different sample rate than the other preset components, such as IIR filters. On the FIR Designer ‘Export’ tab, at the end of the preset-creation process, use the new drop-down menu to choose the output sample rate for the FIR filter, before choosing the desired file format for export.

With a separate FIR filter output sample rate selected, FIR filter truncation and windowing are applied at the selected output sample rate. The FIR filter is then resampled back to the workflow sample rate for plots such as the Wavelet view.

 

 

Learn which loudspeaker measurement file formats can be imported into FIR designer for use in preset creation.

Download a free demo of any our software products or watch a video tutorial to learn how to use FIR Designer to design loudspeaker processing, including presets.

Download Averager loudspeaker measurement averaging software
25 Mar 2022

AVERAGER now FREE | Loudspeaker Measurement Averaging Software (was $49)

Averager is a software application (for both macOS & Windows) that combines multiple loudspeaker measurements into a single measurement, for use in any audio & plotting tool.

FIR Designer has always included averaging functionality as an optional step in the filter-design workflow. In 2018 this functionality was made available as a stand-alone product in response to customer requests. Since then, Averager has become an invaluable tool for many audio professionals. To celebrate the 6th birthday of Eclipse Audio, we’re making it available to download absolutely free!

 

DOWNLOAD AVERAGER     PRODUCT INFO

25 Mar 2022

Using Impedance Measurements to Inform Loudspeaker Filter Design

 

An impedance measurement gives useful information about how a loudspeaker driver behaves. It shows resonances (including box and driver), the port tuning frequency and apparent low-frequency extension. This can be very useful information to view when designing loudspeaker processing.

For example, knowing the LF driver port tuning frequency and adjacent resonances may aid in setting the high-pass filter frequency used to protect against over-excursion. At higher frequencies where the impedance may show driver or cabinet resonances, filtering (IIR or FIR) can be set to attenuate these frequencies so as not excite the resonances. These problematic frequencies could also be avoided by choosing crossover frequencies that effectively hand these frequencies to another loudspeaker driver.

In the most recent versions of FIR Designer and FIR Designer M, an impedance measurement can be loaded from file and viewed on almost any response plot in the filtering workflow. In FIR Designer M, a unique impedance measurement can be loaded for each channel.

Load the impedance data as a simple comma, space or tab separated two-column (frequency and impedance magnitude) or three-column (frequency, impedance magnitude and impedance phase) text (TXT) file. (Lines starting with non-numeric characters are ignored as comments or metadata. The impedance phase is not used nor displayed.)

On the right is a portion of an example impedance measurement file exported from DATS.

The screenshot below shows the new impedance file loading window in FIR Designer and FIR Designer M.

 

* This data was exported from the Dayton Audio Test System: DATS
*
* Manufacturer: 
* Model: 
D 0.0 [mm]
Re 0.00 [Ohms]
Fs 0.00 [Hz]
Zm 0.00 [Ohms]
BL 0.00 [N/A]
Qms 0.000
Qes 0.000
Qts 0.000
Vas 0.000 [liters]
L10k 0.00 [mH]
n0 0.00 [%]
dBSPL 0.00 [1W/1m]
Ms 0.00 [grams]
Cms 0.00 [mm/N]
*
*
Freq Impedance Phase
1.029 6.856 -2.745 
1.059 6.856 -2.745 
1.091 6.856 -2.745 
1.122 6.856 -2.745 
1.155 6.856 -2.745 
1.189 6.856 -2.745 
1.224 6.856 -2.745 
1.260 6.856 -2.745
...
...

This quick video shows how to load an impedance measurement and how the impedance appears behind other responses in the filter design workflow.

 

FIR Designer M Release Notes

FIR Designer Release Notes

5 Mar 2022

New Marani IIR filter mode in FIR Designer M

Marani IIR filter mode

 

FIR Designer M version 2.2 now has a Marani IIR filter mode that provides emulation of IIR filter behaviour in Marani products and aids mixed IIR+FIR Marani preset creation. IIR responses in the new Marani IIR mode can be converted to/from Lake, Linea Research, Powersoft, Q-SYS, Symetrix & BSS IIR modes using the ‘IIR Reference Editor.’

The ‘IIR Reference Editor,’ in FIR Designer and FIR Designer M, provides fast conversion of IIR settings between brands to ensure IIR response matching when working with different amplifiers & processors, and solves the problem of standard filter settings often producing different results on various amplifier/processor brands (learn more). Check out this video tutorial of the IIR Reference Editor to see how it works. (Note, the IIR Reference Editor is not enabled in demo versions of the software.)

We’ve also made available a brief tutorial showing how to load FIR filters – as TXT or CSV files – into Marani product control software. See Marani FIR Filters: How to load into Marani amplifier modules and processors

FIR Designer M Release Notes

(The Marani mode will soon be available in FIR Designer.)

*When using FIR Designer to convert IIR filters for brands not listed, we recommend trying all modes within the FIR Designer IIR tab, & comparing the plots displayed with the IIR plots generated by your own control software to determine which mode produces the closest match.

 

25 Sep 2020

FIR Designer 3.0 Release | New Overview Video

FIR Designer version 3.0 is here! It includes a range of new features, making it faster & easier than ever before to develop custom FIR filters & FIR+IIR presets, as well as providing even closer integration with SMAART®.

To accompany the release we’ve developed a comprehensive new 18-minute video. The narrated video demonstrates how to use FIR Designer’s intuitive workflow to load a loudspeaker measurement and design a filter to change the measurement into a user-defined target response. In the example project used, we magnitude and phase-correct a passive 12-inch and horn two-way install loudspeaker.

Developed in response to user requests, the new video will shorten the learning curve for FIR Designer users as well as showcase the latest features in version 3.0, most of which are shared with the recent update of FIR Designer M 2.0, including:

  • A new “Supplementary Responses” window which displays the effect of processing on other measurements. This can be used to verify the effect of processing on polar or off-axis measurements.
  • Mouse control of filter parameters – frequency, bandwidth/Q and gain – as well as mouse control of frequency bands on the “Auto Mag” & “Auto Phase” tabs. When a filter in the table is highlighted, controls appear on the plot and can be adjusted with the mouse, providing a much faster alternative to the table data entry method.
  • “Loudspeaker Impedance” display option. Load and view the driver or loudspeaker impedance behind plots throughout the workflow. Set filtering with improved knowledge of the driver LF limit and port tuning, inferred from the impedance.
  • Target response export – for use as a target curve on SMAART® RTA plots. A user request!
  • An “Invert” setting option on all Mag Adjust & Phase Adjust filter prototypes gives more flexibility when setting filters.
  • Customisable plot colours that are retained at program close
  • Support for 88.2 kHz and 176.4 kHz, and the addition of Keele/Horbach filters in the “FIR Mag Adjust” tab.

Both Windows (64 bit) & Mac are supported.

You can download a free demo of our software to experiment with the new features.

Existing licensees can access the latest download on the “update available” dialog within FIR Designer.

FIR Designer Release Notes

SMAART is a registered trademark of Rational Acoustics LLC, Connecticut, USA.

24 Jul 2020

FIR Designer M 2.0 Release | New Features & Functionality

FIR Designer M version 2.0 is now available!

This major update introduces a range of new features, making it faster & easier than ever before to develop custom FIR filters & complete loudspeaker presets, as well as providing even closer integration with both SMAART® & Lake. Many of the updates were developed in response to valuable feedback from loudspeaker designers and installers. Features include –

  • Support for the new Lake XP modules in the just-released Lake Controller v7. Push a complete loudspeaker preset directly to one of the new 1, 2, 3 or 4-way Lake XP modules via built-in DTP (Direct-To-Processor) functionality.
  • A new “Supplementary Responses” window which displays the effect of processing on other measurements. This can be used to verify the effect of processing on polar or off-axis measurements.
  • Mouse control of filter parameters – frequency, bandwidth/Q and gain – as well as mouse control of frequency bands on the “Auto Mag” & “Auto Phase” tabs. When a filter in the table is highlighted, controls appear on the plot and can be adjusted with the mouse, providing a much faster alternative to the table data entry method.
  • Loudspeaker Impedance display option. Load and view the driver or loudspeaker impedance behind plots throughout the workflow. Set filtering with improved knowledge of the driver LF limit and port tuning, inferred from the impedance.
  • Target response export – for use as a target curve on SMAART® RTA plots. A user request!
  • An “Invert” setting option on all Mag Adjust & Phase Adjust filter prototypes gives more flexibility when setting filters.

FIR Designer M version 2.0 also includes several user interface tweaks and improvements, such as user-customizable plot colors. Both Windows (64 bit) & Mac are supported.

You can download a free demo of our software to experiment with the new features.

Existing licensees can access the latest download on the “update available” dialog within FIR Designer M.

FIR Designer M Release Notes

SMAART is a registered trademark of Rational Acoustics LLC, Connecticut, USA.

20 Mar 2020

SMAART® Control | New Measurement Usage Options

Send captured SMAART measurements to FIR Designer's Import, Target or Averaging tabs

SMAART® Control, recently introduced in FIR Designer, FIR Designer M & FIR Creator EX, enabled loudspeaker measurements to be captured in real-time for use as the starting point in FIR filter & preset design. This functionality has just been expanded to support the different ways in which loudspeaker measurements can be used for system tuning and optimization.

In FIR Designer (or Designer M), SMAART measurements can now be sent via a single click to one of three destinations: the ‘Import’, ‘Target’ or ‘Averaging’ tabs. (FIR Creator EX offers the first two options, as it doesn’t include built-in measurement averaging).

On the Target tab, one loudspeaker measurement can use used as the target response. The IIR+FIR filter design workflow can then be used to match the response of another loudspeaker to the target.

On the Averaging tab, an unlimited number of measurements can be combined into a single response, which can then be used for more accurate filter design and smoother overall system response (learn more about measurement averaging). FIR Creator EX users interested in creating averaged responses can do so with our stand-alone ‘Averager‘ software, which also loads TRF and SRF files from SMAART.

FIR Designer is compatible with a wide range of loudspeaker measurement tools in addition to SMAART. (See all supported import file formats.) Other measurements can be manually imported from files.

Check out this video to see how the new SMAART Control works, or download a free demo of our software to experiment with the new feature.

FIR Designer M Release Notes | FIR Designer Release Notes | FIR Designer EX Release Notes

SMAART is a registered trademark of Rational Acoustics LLC, Connecticut, USA.

14 Feb 2020

FIR Creator EX Adds SMAART® Control + New IIR Modes

FIR Creator EX integration with Smaart, Q-Sys and Symetrix

FIR Creator EX 1.4 includes SMAART® Control and two additional IIR filter modes (Q-SYS and Symetrix). Until now, this functionality was only available in FIR Designer and FIR Designer M.

SMAART Control enables loudspeaker measurements in Rational Acoustics’ SMAART software to be controlled by FIR Creator EX, captured in real-time & seamlessly integrated into the FIR Creator EX workflow for use in filter & preset creation.

The new integration will be of particular benefit in time-limited live sound applications, enabling fast measurement capture and creation of FIR filters for system optimization. (See a list of FIR-capable amplifiers & processors on the FIR-capable brands page). Learn more about SMAART Control or check out the video to see how it works in FIR Designer (functions identically to FIR Creator EX).

The inclusion of IIR filter modes for Q-SYS and Symetrix provide accurate, built-in emulation of each of these brand’s unique IIR filter behaviors. The addition of these two modes mean users now have five emulated IIR modes to choose from. (Linea Research, Powersoft & “General” IIR Filter modes are already available in FIR Creator EX).

IIR filter parameters and raw coefficients can be exported to text files, & the parameters copied to the desired control software. This process is automated (via Direct-To-Processor functionality) for Powersoft & Lake Processing. (Note: the Lake FIR 3-way module can accept raw IIR filter coefficients generated by any of the IIR modes).

When using IIR filters in FIR Creator EX for brands not listed, we recommend trying all five modes within the IIR tab, & comparing the plots displayed with the IIR plots generated by your own control software to determine which mode produces the closest match. The “General” mode is the default option and offers IIR filter types common to all three modes as well as Chebyshev & Elliptic high-pass and low-pass filters and Neville Thiele notched crossovers.

Download a free demo of FIR Creator EX to experiment with the SMAART Control and the new IIR filter modes.

FIR Creator EX 1.4 Release Notes

SMAART is a registered trademark of Rational Acoustics LLC, Connecticut, USA.

17 Jan 2020

FIR Designer SMAART® Control | Moving Mic Measurement

Our recently released SMAART® Control in FIR Designer (& FIR Designer M) includes support for the “moving mic measurement” method. This method is often used as an efficient way to take a spatially averaged measurement with a single microphone, rather than averaging the response of multiple microphones at fixed positions.

To use this method, follow these steps:

  • In SMAART, choose a spectrum or transfer function measurement & set its Averaging to infinite (Inf).
  • In FIR Designer, open the SMAART Control dialog & enable live streaming of the measurement to the SMAART Streaming plot.
    • Set the “Reset delay” to the time it takes to walk from the computer (running FIR Designer) to the measurement position.
    • Check “Auto grab” and set the “Grab delay” to the measurement averaging time. (This is the length of time SMAART will be averaging the microphone response before the measurement is captured.)
  • To take a measurement, select “Reset Average,” then walk to the measurement position and begin moving or waving the microphone around. After the Reset delay + Grab delay time, the grabbed measurement will appear in the Grabbed measurement list.
  • Any measurement in the list can then be selected & transferred with one-click to FIR Designer’s ‘Import’ tab for use in FIR Designer’s workflow.

There are several articles available online which explore this method in more detail, including the AES Paper “Moving Microphone Measurements for Room Response in Cinema” by Paul Peace (Community Professional Loudspeakers), Shawn Nageli (Harman International) and Charles Sprinkle (NXC Systems). (The link will require an AES login.)

To learn more about SMAART Control in FIR Designer, check out this video or download a free demo to experiment with the new feature.

FIR Designer is compatible with a wide range of loudspeaker measurement tools in addition to SMAART. See all supported import file formats.

 

moving mic measurement method using SMAART control in FIR Designer

SMAART is a registered trademark of Rational Acoustics LLC, Connecticut, USA.

 

22 Nov 2019

FIR Designer Now Includes Live SMAART® Control & Measurement Capture

FIR Designer’s new SMAART® Control feature enables loudspeaker measurements in Rational Acoustics’ SMAART software to be controlled by FIR Designer, captured in real-time & seamlessly integrated into the FIR Designer workflow for use in filter & preset creation. FIR Designer customers who use SMAART for loudspeaker measurements no longer need to manually export measurements to file & import the files into FIR Designer.

With SMAART open locally or on any networked computer, FIR Designer’s ‘SMAART Control’ dialog can live-stream any available SMAART Spectrum or Transfer Function measurement. SMAART’s signal generator on/off and measurement magnitude & phase banding or smoothing can all be controlled remotely. A snapshot of a measurement can be taken from SMAART’s live measurement stream and stored locally in a ‘grabbed’ measurement list. Then any selected measurement can be transferred with one-click to FIR Designer’s ‘Import’ tab for use in FIR Designer’s workflow.

The new integration will be of particular benefit in time-limited live sound applications, enabling fast measurement capture and creation of FIR filters for system optimization. (See a list of FIR-capable amplifiers & processors on the FIR-capable brands page).

SMAART Control is available in both the newly-released FIR Designer 2.12 and FIR Designer M 1.4.

FIR Designer is compatible with a wide range of loudspeaker measurement tools in addition to SMAART. See all supported import file formats.

Check out the video below to see how the new SMAART Control works, or download a free demo of FIR Designer to experiment with the new feature.

FIR Designer M 1.4 Release Notes

FIR Designer 2.12 Release Notes

SMAART is a registered trademark of Rational Acoustics LLC, Connecticut, USA.

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