d16 group Spacerek Virtual Space Reverb User Manual

Spacerek Virtual Space Reverb

Specifications

• Windows PC:
• OS version: Windows 7 or newer
• CPU: 3.2 GHz SSE (Multicore 4.0 GHz recommended)
• RAM: 8 GB (16 GB Recommended)
• Software: VST2 / VST3 / AAX compatible host application (32bit or 64bit)
• Apple Mac:
• OS version: OS X 10.13 or newer
• CPU: Intel based 2.8 GHz (3.4 GHz recommended), Apple M1
• RAM: 8 GB (16 GB Recommended)
• Software: AU / VST2 / VST3 / AAX compatible host application (64bit!)

Preliminary Information

This chapter contains general advice for using the plug-in’s interface.

To do a right-click on macOS with single button mice:

• Either use your mouse click while holding the CtRL key on your keyboard
• Or use two fingers on your touchpad

Overview

Spacerek is a room reverb plugin built on a hybrid algorithm that combines two main architectural elements:

1. A virtual space simulation that takes into account the (adjustable) position and orientation of sources

Signal Flow

In this chapter, we’ll describe the signal path through Spacerek, and explain each component and its controls along the way.

Basic Modules

Reverb Model

• Reverb Model display
• To select a different model, click the display Alternatively, you can hover with the mouse pointer over the model name display to show Prev/Next buttons for fast navigation

Pre-Delay

• The Pre-Delay section controls the time (in nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds, up to 1 second) before commencement of the early and/or Late reverb reflections

Direct / Early / Late

• Each of these three sections corresponds to a particular component of the reverb tail
• The three signals are balanced and mixed in the Direct/Early/Late section of the GUI

Tilt EQ

• After mixing the Direct signal, early reflections, and Late reflections, the reverb tail can be shaped using the Tilt EQ module

User Manual

REQUIREMENTS

Software and hardware requirements of the product

Windows PC

• OS version Windows 7 or newer
• CPU 3.2 GHz SSE (Multicore 4.0 GHz recommended)
• RAM 8 GB (16 GB Recommended)
• Software VST2 / VST3 /AAX compatible host application (32bit or 64bit)

Appl e Mac

• OS version OS X 10.13 or newer
  CPU Intel based 2.8 GHz (3.4 GHz recommended), Apple M1

• RAM 8 GB (16 GB Recommended)

• Software AU / VST2 / VST3 / AAX compatible host application (64bit!)

Hardware requirements / recommendations are based on estimates performed on available computers at D16 Group HQ, and therefore cannot cover all possible configurations available on the market. CPU usage may vary widely depend-ing on the manner in which the product is used. Factors that may contribute to variance in CPU usage include particular patch and its complexity, the global quality setting, project sample rate. In order to form a better understanding of how a plug-in will behave within your current setup, we highly recommend downloading the demo and giving it a try.

Preliminary information

This chapter contains general advice for using the plug-in’s interface.
To do a right-click on macOS with single button mice:
Either use your mouse click while holding the CTRL key on your keyboard or use two fingers on your touchpad.

Checking the value of a parameter
Right-click on any parameter to check its value in its context menu:

A parameter’s context menu

Note : It’s currently not possible to enter a precise value in the input box; it’s just to check the value.
Fine-tuning continuous parameters

Tweak a control (knob) while holding the CTRL key (on Windows) or Apple CMD key (on macOS) – this will make the tweaking more precise while moving the mouse pointer up and down.

Double-click to reset a continuous parameter’s value
Double-clicking on a parameter restores its value to the initial state, either default (right after loading the plug-in / loading it along a project file) or from the most recently loaded preset

Overview

Spacerek is a room reverb plugin built on a hybrid algorithm that combines two main architectural elements:

1. A virtual space simulation that takes into account the (adjustable) position and orientation of sources (speak-ers) and receivers (microphones) within the simulated space, as well as the acoustic properties of the space itself, to create the Early reflections.
2. A dynamic delay network, the internal parameters of which are aligned with the properties of the acoustic space defined by the Early reflections algorithm. This element creates the Late reflections.

The two elements work in tandem to provide an amazingly convincing stereo impression of a virtual space (the reverb tail), but with a lower hit on the host computer’s CPU than you might expect from such a realistic acoustic simulation.
Upon loading the Spacerek plugin in any VST, Audio Units or AAX host application, the GUI appears:

Spacerek’s graphical user interface

The interface comprises two main sections:

• Configuration and preset management (the top-most section)

The configuration and preset management section

• Signal processing (all other controls)

Signal flow

In this chapter, we’ll describe the signal path through Spacerek, and explain each component and its controls along the way.

Basic modules
Each of the basic modules that make up Spacerek is housed within its own section in the GUI:

• Reverb Model – Select an acoustic Room Model from a menu of 114 options. This defines the fundamental character of the reverb.
• Pre-delay – Controls the initial delay added to the Early and/or Late reflections.
• Direct / Early / Late – Three ‘mini channel strips’ enable adjustment of volume level and left/right or mid/side (depending on the Reverb Model) balancing of the Direct signal, Early reflections and Late reflections before they’re mixed at the output.
• Tilt EQ – A tilt-type equalizer applied to the reverb tail.
• Master – Apply a Low Cut filter to the signal after the Tilt EQ, and adjust the Dry/Wet mix and final Output Volume.

Reverb model
The Reverb Model defines the character of the reverb, including:

• The physical and acoustic properties of the room – dimensions, wall damping and scattering.
  The location (position) and orientation (angle) of the two left and right channel sound sources (speakers).

• The location (position) and orientation (angle) of the two left/mid and right/side channel sound receivers (microphones). The L-R or M-S channel mode is defined by the Reverb Model.

• Directional characteristics of both microphones.

• The above characteristics and a visual representation of the currently selected model are shown in the Reverb Model display.

Reverb Model display
To select a different model, click the display. Alternatively you can hover with mouse pointer over the model name display to show Prev / Next buttons for fast navigation

Models are named using this convention:[Room name] – S[Speaker setup number] M[Microphone setup number] L-R/M-S (Stereo mode)

• Room name – Describes the room, and its physical and acoustic properties. There are multiple entries for each room in the Reverb Model menu, each with a different preset configuration of the following three parameters.
• Speaker setup number – Specifies which of the selected room’s preset stereo speaker configurations (positioning and orientation) is used by the Reverb Model.
• Microphone setup number – Specifies which of the selected room’s preset stereo microphone configurations (positioning and orientation) is used by the Reverb Model.
• Stereo mode – The stereo configuration of the microphone setup, either L-R (left/right) or M-S (mid/side).

By way of example, let’s break down a specific Reverb Model

Absorbent – S1 M2 L-R
Absorbent is the descriptive name of the Room Model; S1 tells us that we’re using the Absorbent Room Model’s first speaker setup; M2 specifies the Absorbent Room Model’s second microphone setup; and the stereo configuration is L-R (left/right).
Pre-Delay
The Pre-Delay section controls the time (in nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds, up to 1 second) before commencement of the Early and/or Late reverb reflections.

The Pre-Delay section

Direct / Early / Late
Each of these three sections corresponds to a particular component of the reverb tail.

• Direct – The signal that travels straight from the speakers to the microphones within the Reverb Model, without bouncing off the walls.
• Early – The early reflections; ie, the first (and loudest) reverberations to reach the microphones after bouncing off the walls.
• Late – The late reflections; ie, the slower second and subsequent reverberations arriving at the microphones after bouncing off the walls.

The dynamic and temporal characteristics of a room reverb divided into the Direct signal, and Early and Late reflections The three signals are balanced and mixed in the Direct / Early / Late section of the GUI.

The Direct / Early / Late mixer section

• Balance – Controls the stereo balance between the left/mid and right/side channels. The stereo mode (L-R or M-S) is determined by the selected Reverb Model.
• Volume – Sets the output volume level from -inf to +12.0dB.

Tilt EQ

After mixing the Direct signal, Early reflections and Late reflections, the reverb tail can be shaped using the Tilt EQ module.

The Tilt EQ section
The Tilt EQ offers adjustment of the following parameters:

• Tilt EQ – Toggle the LED to enable or disable the EQ.
• Freq – Adjusts the center ‘fulcrum’ frequency on which the Slope tilts.
• Slope – Sets the frequency response by boosting or lowering the gain of the right-hand (high-frequency) end of  the EQ slope, and applying the opposite amount of gain to the left-hand (low-frequency) end of the slope.

Master section

The final stage, where the Output Volume and Dry/Wet mix are set, and an optional Low cut filter is applied.

The Master section

• Low Cut – A passive high-pass filter for final shaping of the Wet signal, with cutoff frequency ranging from 10 Hz – 1 kHz. Process the Mid and Side components individually by toggling the relevant LEDs on or off.
• FX – Sets the proportional balance of the unprocessed (Dry) and processed (Wet) signals at the final output.
• Output Volume – Controls the final amplification level.

Signal flow

The diagram below shows the signal flow through Spacerek:

Preset Management

Preset storage
Presets, both from Factory content and user ones, are stored as files in proper locations on the disc. Each time a plug-in instance is loaded into a project, these locations are scanned and the presets found there are consolidated into a single linear structure (list) in the Preset Browser.

Browsing presets

The Preset management section (no matter what kind of preset it concerns) enables quick navigation and browsing of the preset structure:

The Preset management section

• PRESET – Displays the name of the currently loaded preset. Clicking the display opens the Preset Browser panel, allowing you to browse factory / user presets.
• Prev / Next – Hovering over right side of the Preset display exposes the Prev / Next buttons:
• They allow for linear browsing of the presets list (depending on currently set filters – see sections below).
• Save – Saves current parameters as a new preset or allows for overwriting of the existing one (see sections Save below).

Right-clicking over the Preset display opens a context menu with two or three additional options:

• Init – Restores initial settings of plug-in parameters.
• Reload – Reloads the most recently loaded preset.
• Save See description above.

The Preset Browser looks as follows

There are four main parts:

• Sources – Situated in the left column, filter content Sources for displayed presets.
• Filter – Below Sources, a preset Filter that uses the Tags system.
• Results – List of presets (shown in the middle column) from Sources that meet criteria set in the Filter.
• Info pane – The right column shows information about the currently selected preset(s), divided into several subsections.

If available – For some preset types this button can be hidden and accessible from the contextual menu (accessible via right mouse- click on Preset display)
If available

Sources

In this section, you can choose a Source / Source(s) that you want to browse presets from.

Preset Sources
There are two resources to choose from:

• Factory – Delivered together with the plug-in and cannot be modified (read-only).
• User – Created by the user and can be freely modified or shared with other users.
• Choosing any of them will cause the results to narrow to the presets from one resource.

Filter

The section below is the Filter, which represents a preset filtering system using Groups and Tags to browse the content

Groups and tags
Each Preset is described by a few common Groups. Within each of them there may be one or more Tags from a particular set.

The Filter group

• Presets from the Factory resource were assigned Groups and Tags when they were created.
• Groups and Tags describe the content clearly, taking into account the plug-in’s purpose.
• Editing of the Groups and Tags for Factory content is limited. User presets can be described with the same Groups and Tags as Factory content, or you may define additional Tags within factory Groups and even create your own Groups with your own Tags to describe your own presets.
• The only limitation is that a user cannot remove factory Groups or Tags from Factory content.

Results

This is a list of presets from chosen Sources that meet the filtering criteria. The basic function of this section is to browse and load presets. It can also be used for editing, which is described later.

The Results list

• Click any name to choose and load the preset.
• Double-click the name to choose, load the preset and close the browser. Hitting the OK button confirms loading a preset and closes the browser. Using Cancel closes the browser but reverts all parameter changes that loading a new preset might have caused.

The OK and Cancel buttons in the browser
Using the X icon has the same effect as the OK button:

Preset filtering using Groups and Tags

The Filter section contains Groups of Tags. Each Group is represented by a rectangle with the Group name + set of Tags inside.

Group 2 with two tags set (Tag 2 and Tag 3)
The filtering process cascades from top to bottom. This means that all presets available in the selected Sources are filtered by selected Tags from the first Group (uppermost one), then the Group below and so on, until filtered by the last active Group (the bottom one).

Preset Filtering with the use of Groups
The result of the cascade filtering process is listed in the middle column, the Results / presets list section. You can also consider the Results list as an intersection of preset sets, found by filtering through every individual Group.

Basic Actions
Tags work as toggle buttons. Click to activate / deactivate a Tag; a gray background color means that the Tag is inactive, and orange means that the Tag is active.

Group 2 with two tags set (Tag 2 and Tag 3)
If at least one Tag in a Group is active, then the Group (filter) also becomes active, otherwise, the Group chosen doesn’t affect the filtering process at all.

Group operator

When a single Tag is active in a Group, only presets having that Tag set are displayed in the Results.
If two or more Tags in a Group are active, the Results depend on the Operator chosen for the Group:

The Operator button works in toggle mode and offers a choice of two alternative Operators for the Group:

• Any – Means that a preset is shown in the Results when the preset includes at least one of the active Tags from the Group.
• All – Means that a preset is shown in the Results only when the preset includes all active Tags from the Group

Filter enable / disable
You can quickly enable / disable the Filter using the toggle switch in the top-most section of the Filter:

An On/Off switch for a Group Filter

Other types of filtering

Searching by name
Alternatively, you can look for a preset by entering its name or just a piece of its name into the Find preset field:

The Find preset input
The Results are refreshed on-the-fly and they work together with the other filters.

Using the X icon clears the entire field

Filtering Favorite presets
You can mark presets as a Favorite by clicking the Heart icon while hovering on preset name . You can unmark presets by clicking the icon again (toggle mode):

• Logical OR between Tags in the Group
• Logical AND between Tags in the Group
• It’s allowed for every source (factory or user)

The flag is stored globally, meaning that a Favorite preset will be accessible as such from every other instance of the plug-in .
Once you have your Favorite presets flagged, you can quickly filter them using the toggle button with a Heart icon on it:

Favorite presets filtering
If the button is active, then only Favorite presets will be shown (considering all remaining filters).

Filtering Pinned presets
You can Pin one or more presets using the Pin icon while hovering over a preset name . You can unpin a preset by clicking the icon again (toggle mode)

Pinning a preset on the list
Unlike Favorites, this flag works locally and it’s stored with the project file (not global config), so Pins are stored individually for every instance (with total recall, so a plug-in state is recalled if saved in the context of a project).
But, similarly to Favorites, you can easily filter presets using the toggle button with the Pin symbol on it:

If the button is active, then only Pinned presets will be shown (considering all remaining filters).

Info pane

The column to the right shows information about the selected preset or presets. It also provides access to some of the preset editing functions.

There’s a preset name at the top.

The Preset name in the Info pane
Additionally, if you’ve selected more than one preset there’s information about how many more have been selected:

Below the preset(s) name there are few common sections describing selected presets:

• Tags
• Author
• Description

Browser’s visual adjustments

Folding sections
If you don’t need to see the contents of every section / subsection, you can fold some of them up using the Caret icons

Resizing columns
You can use the three-dotted handles to change a column’s width to your preference.

Editing presets

You can perform certain actions on presets, such as adjusting Groups and Tags, deletion, renaming the presets as well as their export or import. One should bear in mind, however, that some operations are only allowed on user presets but not on Factory content.

Some operations can be done on more than one preset, so you’re allowed to select more than one preset at once; in the Results section, you can choose a preset or a set of presets in the following ways:

• Click a preset – Selects (and loads) one preset from the list.
• Win ( Ctrl + Click the preset ), Mac ( Cmd + Click the preset ) – Adds another preset to an already chosen preset or a set of presets.
• Shift + Click the preset – Selects a range of presets from the last chosen preset to the preset clicked with the Shift key.
• Right-Click on any Preset in the Results section and choose the Select All option – this selects all presets:

Preset renaming
On a selected preset right-click to open the context menu and select the Rename option:

The option is available only for individual presets and won’t work on a selection of two or more presets.

Preset deletion

Once you have selected one or more presets, right-click to open the context menu and select the Delete items option
Alternatively, you can use the Trash bin button in the Info pane to delete selected presets:

Tags editing

When you select a preset or presets to change their tags, click the Pencil button next the Tags section in the Info pane to enter Edit mode for the Tags:

Or Delete option (depending on how many presets have been selected).

With the Edit mode enabled, you will see all possible Groups and Tags available for the preset(s):

• Tag buttons work in toggle mode, much like filtering. Clicking them either sets or erases a Tag for a chosen preset. If a Tag is set for a preset, it is indicated by an orange background color, whereas if a Tag is not set, it has a gray background color.
• If you choose multiple presets with existing tags, Tag buttons will appear orange if a specific Tag appears in all selected presets, and gray if it appears in none.
• When a specific Tag is set only for a few of the selected presets, it appears as half-gray and half-orange.

Changing the Tag status for one or more chosen presets sets or erases this Tag in all these presets. A status change is signaled by an Asterisk to the left of a Tag.

Tag buttons highlighted in half-gray and half-orange color (where Tag values across the highlighted presets aren’t all the same) workin a three-state system when switching between states; they turn gray if you erase the Tag for all selected presets, orange if you set the Tag for all selected presets, and return to half-gray and half-orange if the selected items remain unchanged or are returned to their initial state.

Potential changes have to be confirmed using the OK / Cancel buttons at the top part of the Tags section:

Author editing

When you select a preset or presets to change the Author, click the Pencil button next the Author section in the Info pane to enter the Edit mode for the Author field:

Once you’ve finished editing the field, confirm the operation using the OK / Cancel buttons:
****This operation is possible for user content only.

Description editing

When you select a preset or presets to change the Description, click the Pencil button next the Description section in the Info pane to enter the Edit mode for the Description field:

Once you’ve finished editing the field, confirm the operation using the OK / Cancel buttons

This operation is possible for user content only.

Setting presets as Favorites

As described in the chapters above, you can mark a preset as a Favorite by clicking the Heart icon while hovering over the preset name:

The flag is stored globally, meaning that a Favorite preset will be accessible as such from every other instance of the
plug-in .
It’s also possible to perform the operation for a selection of presets. After you select the desired presets in the Results window, right-click on the presets to open a context menu:

And select the Set favorite option.
To clear Favorite flags for the selection of presets, use the Clear favorite option instead

Pinning presets

You can Pin one or more presets using the Pin icon while hovering over the preset name:

Unlike Favorites, this flag works locally and it’s stored with the project file (not globally). This means the Pins are stored individually for every instance (with total recall, so a plug-in state is recalled if saved in the context of a project).
It’s also possible to perform the operation for a selection of presets. After selecting the desired presets in the Results window, right-click on the presets list to open the context menu:

And select the Pin option.
To clear the Pin flag for a selection of presets, use the Unpin option instead

Preset exchange

If you want to make a backup, or exchange a preset with a collaborator, you can export / import selected presets.

Export
Select a preset or presets that you’re going to export and drag-and-drop them outside your DAW into a location you’d like to store them:

The presets will be saved as individual files (one per preset) in the plug- in’s native format.

Import
If you’d like to import preset files, you can drag-and-drop preset files from where they’re stored, into the preset browser

They will be automatically imported as user presets.

Importing Patterns
Specifically within the Pattern browser, it’s possible to import:

• Native Phoscyon 2 patterns.
• Banks from legacy versions of the plug-in (Phoscyon 1.x) – which will be accessible as alternative Sources, after you drag-and-drop them into the Browser.
• Patterns from Audiorealism ABL 2 or 3 instruments – which will be included in User patterns after import.

Creating custom Tags and Groups structure

Adding custom Tags
Users are allowed to add their own custom Tags to both their own content and factory content. To add a new Tag to an existing filter Group, click over the Group’s name to pull down a menu and select the Add Tag option :

You can do this either in the Info Pane (right column, while the Tag edit mode is enabled) or Filter (left column).

This operation is allowed for a user’s Groups only

Editing custom Tags

There are a few edit options available for a user to perform on their own Tags, which are available by right-clicking a Tag’s name in the Filter section:

You will see a context menu with all the available options:

• Rename – Changes the name of a Tag.
• Move to – Moves a Tag to another Group.
• Remove – Deletes a Tag.

The menu is accessible only for a user’s own Tags.

Adding custom Groups

You can add a custom filter to Groups by clicking the Filter label and selecting the Add Group option from the pull-down menu:

From here, you can add Tags to that newly created Group (see above), or move Tags from other Groups. You can also add a custom filter to Groups in the Info Pane (right column) or Filter (left column).

Editing custom Groups

There are a few edit options available for a user to perform on their own Groups. Click on a Group’s name in the Filter section:

You will see a context menu with the following options:

• Add Tag – Adds a new tag to the Group (described earlier).
• Rename – Changes the Group’s name.
• Remove – Deletes the Group, possible only when all Tags in the Group have also been removed.
• Move up – Moves a Group up in the Filter. Possible unless the Group is already the topmost one.
• Move down – Moves a Group down in the Filter. Possible unless the Group is the last one.

These operations are possible only on user Groups.
Groups in the Filter are ordered with Groups from Factory content first, then user groups below.
You can edit user Groups in either the Info Pane (right column, while Edit mode for Tags is enabled) or Filter (left column).

Unassigned Tags

When you receive content from a collaborator who uses different Tags and Groups, some Tags may show as Unassigned. This happens if the filter structure made by a preset’s author is different.

You can move the Tags across your Groups to make them fit your scheme, or re- tag the collaborator content entirely.

Configuration

MIDI Learn

Right-click any plug-in parameter to open the context menu:

Left-clicking outside the menu area closes it automatically.
Clicking the bottom arrow expands the menu and displays all available options:

Linking a parameter to MIDI CC

The Learn function enables a quick assignment of physical controllers (from a MIDI controller) to plug-in parameters.

1. Click the Learn button to put the plug-in into a pending state before moving any MIDI CC controller.
2. Once the CC is recognized, click OK to save the change or click the Cancel button to restore the previous setting.
   

Unlinking a parameter from MIDI CC

You can also delete a MIDI CC code attributed to a parameter from the context menu:

1. From the context menu, click the Clear button:
   

2. Then confirm using the OK button.

Loading / Saving a MIDI CC Map

These options are available in the MIDI submenu, accessible under Cog icon in the left-upper corner:

• Save Map – Saves the current MIDI CC map to a file.
• Load Map – Loads a MIDI CC map from a stored file.

Quality settings

The Quality submenu under Cog icon in upper-left corner allows to choose sound quality for Real-time or Offline modes.

The higher the quality, the bigger the impact on the CPU.

GUI

The Size, System Scale and Theme options are accessible from GUI submenu under Cog icon in upper-left corner of the plug-in. With these, you can adjust look of the plug-in, according to the pixel density and resolution of your screen:

Size
This option lets you choose one of several default skin sizes to best match the plugin to the resolution of your computer monitor.

System Scale
System Scale controls the rescale factor for the whole plug-in. For the best visual results, you should set it to the exact value from your system settings (screen properties).

Theme
The Theme allows you to choose skin color variant according to your preference

Default Settings

You can save your current settings so that the plug-in will default to them for each new instance, or restore the plug-in to load with its factory settings.

Changing default settings

1. Click the Cog icon in the left-upper corner of the plugin.
2. Go to the Default State submenu and choose the Save current option.
   

With this option, the current plug-in state will be saved as the default / initial state for when you insert a new instance of the plug-in.
The plug-in state includes: sound parameters (default preset), views, preset filters, sound quality settings, loaded / created MIDI CC map and GUI settings.

Restoring factory defaults

To return the default state for new instances to factory settings:

1. Click the Cog icon in the left-upper corner of the plugin.
2. Go to the Default State submenu and choose the Restore factory option.

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