Loudspeaker filter design software news

1 Dec 2023

Rational Acoustics & Eclipse Audio Announce Licensing & Development Agreement

Rational Acoustics and Eclipse Audio development agreement

Rational Acoustics, developers of the Smaart® acoustic test and measurement software platform and Eclipse Audio, developers of the FIR Designer range of DSP filter design software, have announced a licensing and development agreement. The agreement will bring together Rational Acoustics’ market leadership and innovation in sound system alignment and optimization with Eclipse Audio’s expertise in DSP filtering solutions for loudspeakers.

Under the agreement, Rational Acoustics will license a selection of code libraries from Eclipse Audio and the two companies will cooperate in the development of a future Smaart branded software product.

“Our goal is to ensure that Smaart software provides users with the best, and most innovative, sound system measurement solutions.” says Jamie Anderson, President of Rational Acoustics. “Eclipse Audio has developed some very interesting technologies that we feel will benefit the Smaart user base in future product development and we are eager to put those technologies to use.

“We’re excited to be collaborating with Rational Acoustics to broaden the scope of solutions available to SMAART users,” says Michael John, Director & Founder of Eclipse Audio. “SMAART measurements are frequently used as the basis for custom processing within our products. Our overlapping user base and passion for maximising loudspeaker performance means working with Rational Acoustics is a natural fit for us.”

Read the announcement on rationalacoustics.com

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

22 Nov 2023

FIR Designer v4 update adds ‘auditionDSP’ & more

Several of the new features recently released as part of the major FIR Designer M update have now been rolled into FIR Designer v4. Here’s a summary:

Listen to filters and presets with ‘auditionDSP‘

Use the brand new, built-in audio player + processor to audition, develop & perfect custom loudspeaker processing and presets, without the need to export data to an external hardware processor first.

It runs up to three loudspeaker presets simultaneously in real-time, with live switching between presets, and playback can be mono or stereo.

Screenshot of auditionDSP in FIR Designer

New Polar Map

The Supplementary Responses window plots the behavior of custom filters & presets when applied to a new set of (uploaded) measurements.

Now, the processed measurement sets can be optionally viewed as a polar map (or contour plot) making it easier to identify various on and off-axis behaviour of the loudspeaker preset with polar measurements.

Where measurement sets only include one off-axis direction (due to loudspeaker symmetry), the Polar Map plot can be mirrored at either the top or bottom. Other plot customizations include vertical flipping and plot angle limits.

Screenshot of polar map in FIR Designer version4

New Group delay display

View the time delay, through the combined processing, as a function of frequency, as well as independently for the IIR and FIR filtering.

(Available within the Second View window.)

More brands supported for IIR emulation. A new ‘RAM Audio‘ IIR filter mode has been added to the list of emulated brands, joining Lake, Linea Research, Powersoft, QSC Q-SYS, Symetrix, BSS, Biamp Tesira & Marani . (The ‘Generic’ mode remains available as a starting point for use with processors that don’t have their own branded mode.) RAM Audio IIRs can now be converted to or from other branded filters in a single click.

Plot colors saved with the project file. When opening different projects, plot colours will default to any custom colours previously set for that specific project, and can be modified again at any time.

Upgraded macOS support . Separate, optimised binaries are now available for both Intel and newer ARM (M1, M2) based macs.

Significant speedup to underlying computations. Design custom filters & presets faster than ever!

Various user-interface updates and fixes.

Free Demo Download*

FIR Designer Product Info

FIR Software Comparison Table

*Demo version doesn’t include auditionDSP or the IIR Reference Editor

1 Nov 2023

New Demo Versions Don’t Need Imported Measurements

Brand new, user-friendly demos of all our DSP filter design software tools are now available for free download. Now you can try out any software in the FIR Designer range WITHOUT having to upload any measurements first. Skip the ‘Import’ tab & dive right into the workflow & customization options using the pre-loaded example project.

FIR Designer, FIR Creator & Creator EX demo versions all now include the same single-channel pre-loaded example project. In FIR Designer M, an entire multi-channel example system has been pre-loaded to enable experimentation across all channels.

Please note, the IIR Reference Editor , auditionDSP player+processor & other selected features (built into some of our tools) are only available within the licensed software versions (not the free demos).

For help choosing the right tool for your needs, check out the software feature comparison table.

Download A Free Demo

4 Oct 2023

New Polar Map in FIR Designer M v4

In response to customer requests, the latest version of FIR Designer M includes a new polar ‘heatmap-style’ plot in the ‘Supplementary Responses’ window.

The Supplementary Responses window displays the behavior of custom filtering & presets when applied to additional sets of uploaded measurements; either for a single loudspeaker or for each loudspeaker driver in a multi-way system. (See supported measurement file formats).

In FIR Designer M version 4, the processed measurement sets can now be optionally viewed as a polar heatmap-stype plot, making evaluation of directional behaviour (including on and off-axis) much easier. Where measurement sets only include one off-axis direction (due to loudspeaker symmetry), the Polar Map plot can be mirrored at either the top or bottom. Other plot customizations include vertical flipping, setable angle limits and the option to view either the combined loudspeaker response, or each channel individually.

As before, the Supplementary Responses window has controls for preparing the measurements sets, including optional time-alignment, level adjustment and level normalization.

Viewing supplementary responses is only possible in the full version of FIR Designer M (not the demo version).

Free Demo Download*

About FIR Designer M

What’s New in v4

*Demo version doesn’t include the Supplementary Responses window

9 Sep 2023

Advanced auditionDSP functionality showcased in new video

‘auditionDSP’ is the digital signal processor & audio player built into the recently released FIR Designer M version 4. It allows users to LISTEN to their custom filters using either live audio or uploaded files, with live switching between up to three presets.

It’s perfect for auditioning, developing & perfecting custom loudspeaker filters and presets, without the need to export data to an external hardware processor for playback. Learn more about auditionDSP.

The free demo version of FIR Designer M doesn’t include auditionDSP, so we’ve just released a brand-new video to demonstrate how it works:

Free Demo Download*

About FIR Designer M

About auditionDSP

*Demo version doesn’t include auditionDSP or the IIR Reference Editor

29 Jul 2023

Major FIR Designer v4 update adds ‘auditionDSP’

We’re pleased to announce a major update to FIR Designer M. Version 4 includes the game-changing new auditionDSP tool, which along with several other new features, delivers significantly expanded functionality for development of custom filters & presets. Here’s a summary of what’s new for v4:

Listen to filters and presets with ‘auditionDSP‘ – a brand new, built-in audio player + processor. It runs processing for up to three loudspeaker presets simultaneously in real-time, with live switching between presets. Use it to audition, develop & perfect custom loudspeaker filters and presets, without the need to export data to an external hardware processor first.

New Contour Plot. By popular demand! The Supplementary Responses window plots the behavior of custom filters & presets when applied to a new set of (uploaded) measurements. Now, the processed measurement sets can be optionally viewed as a contour plot, or heatmap, making it easier to identify various on and off-axis behaviour of the loudspeaker preset with polar measurements.

New Group delay display. View the time delay, through the processing, as a function of frequency. (Available within the Second View window.)

Project file consolidation. The system (fds) project file now contains everything. No more separate project files required for each audio channel! Fewer files means simplified project management.

Upgraded macOS support . Separate, optimised binaries are now available for both Intel and newer ARM (M1, M2) based macs.

Significant speedup to underlying computations. Design custom filters & presets faster than ever!

+ Various user-interface updates and fixes.

Free Demo Download*

FIR Designer M Product Info

FIR Software Comparison Table

*Demo version doesn’t include auditionDSP or the IIR Reference Editor

1 Apr 2023

Free SpeakerMeasure Automates AES75-2022 Test Procedure

New SpeakerMeasure from Eclipse Audio (the developer of FIR Designer) is a completely free software tool designed for loudspeaker manufacturers and designers who are measuring loudspeaker maximum linear sound levels using the AES75-2022 standard for acoustics.

SpeakerMeasure automates most of the AES75 test procedure to ensure level measurements are captured in way that’s repeatable and objective.

Windows & macOS versions available.

16 Mar 2023

New Features Added to FIR Creator EX

Several of the new features recently added to FIR Designer & FIR Designer M have just been rolled into FIR Creator EX 1.7.0. Here’s a summary:

More brands supported for IIR emulation. New ‘Biamp Tesira‘ & ‘Marani‘ IIR filter modes have been added to the list of emulated brands, joining Lake, Linea Research, Powersoft, QSC Q-SYS, Symetrix, & BSS). The Lake mode has also been revised to include Lake-specific filters only. (The original and broader ‘General (Lake)’ mode remains available as ‘Legacy’). (BTW, in FIR Creator EX, IIRs for a brand can be emulated but it’s only possible to convert an IIR from one brand to another in FIR Designer & FIR Designer M).

New ‘Generic’ IIR mode. This new default mode increases speed & accuracy when working with processors that don’t have their own branded IIR filter mode. It includes bandpass filters, low and high shelf, low-pass and high-pass Bessel, Butterworth, Chebyshev I & II, Elliptic, Linkwitz/Riley & Neville Thiele notched crossovers. It also uses Robert Bristow-Johnson Q & BW definitions for many filters. Learn more.

New import & export file formats. ‘SMAART Control‘ in FIR Creator EX now works with SMAART® version 9. Also CLIO MLS impulse response TXT files can now be loaded. FIR filter export for Xilica TXT files REW magnitude/phase text file import are both now supported. See all supported import file formats.

Enhanced plot display customization. The IIR Filters tab now has a BW/Q selector with each filter table list, enabling rapid switching between the BW & Q without having to change the setting in Preferences.

Inverted FIR filters view. A ‘FIR polarity’ checkbox now replaces the ‘Invert FIR at save’ checkbox on the channel Export tab. View the FIR filter in alternate polarities before choosing which to use and save.

Sample rate warnings. These now appear when using a branded IIR mode with hardware that doesn’t support the current FIR Creator EX sample rate.

Speed improvements. Theres an approximate 7% speedup to the FFT that underlies most calculations.

Various user-interface updates and fixes.

Free Demo Download

FIR Creator Product Info

FIR Creator vs FIR Designer Comparison Table

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

4 Jan 2023

FIR Designer M Adds Marani Integration

FIR Designer M v2.6 now integrates with Marani processors. Transfer a multiway DSP signal chain directly from FIR Designer M to Marani MIR FI & A series processors via the DTP (Direct-To-Processor) functionality within FIR Designer M. See step-by-step instructions.

DTP works over a network (either hardwired or WiFi).

Marani is the third brand to offer DTP integration with FIR Designer M (in addition to Lake & Powersoft). For all other amplifier/processor brands that accept custom FIR filters, data from FIR Designer M can be saved & exported in the file format required for upload (see a list of supported brands, file formats & loading instructions).

Marani DTP integration is currently available in FIR Designer M. The same functionality will be rolled into FIR Designer and FIR Creator EX in the future. (DTP for Lake & Powersoft is already available in FIR Designer & FIR Creator EX.)

Download a free demo of FIR Designer M.

FIR Designer M Release Notes | FIR Designer Release Notes

Marani DTP option in FIR Designer M software

Push settings to Marani processors from FIR Designer M software

21 Nov 2022

Generic IIR Mode Added to FIR Designer

A ‘Generic’ IIR filter mode has been newly added to FIR Designer (v3.5) & FIR Designer M (v2.6). It increases speed & accuracy when working with processors that don’t have their own branded IIR filter mode within the IIR Reference Editor.

The Reference Editor was added to FIR Designer & FIR Designer M in 2019, making it possible to convert & match IIR filter settings across brands with different Q or BW interpretations. Brands currently represented with their own custom IIR filter modes include Lake, Linea Research, Powersoft, QSC Q-SYS, Symetrix, BSS, Biamp Tesira & Marani.

For all other processor brands, the new ‘Generic’ filter mode is the best place to start when creating optimized IIR filters. It includes bandpass filters, low and high shelf, low-pass and high-pass Bessel, Butterworth, Chebyshev I & II, Elliptic, Linkwitz/Riley & Neville Thiele notched crossovers. It also uses Robert Bristow-Johnson Q & BW definitions for many filters.

The Generic mode now operates as the default mode within the IIR Reference Editor, and IIRs can be automatically converted between the Generic mode and any of the other branded modes in a single click.

We’ve also modified the Lake IIR filter mode to include Lake-specific filters only. It replaces the original, broader ‘General (Lake)’ mode, which has been renamed ‘Legacy’ & is still available. When loading projects and systems that previously used ‘General (Lake)’, the IIR mode will now show as ‘Legacy’.

Let us know what other processor brand you’d like to see included with a custom IIR mode in FIR Designer.

FIR Designer M Release Notes | FIR Designer Release Notes

New ‘Generic’ option in the filter mode menu

In this step-by-step case study, see how FIR Designer (using averaged measurements captured in Rational Acoustics’ Smaart®) was recently used to tune a system using only IIR filters – no FIRs at all – at a newly-renovated church in Australia.

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