MAAT FiDef JENtwo Psychoacoustic Processor User Manual

MAAT FiDef JENtwo Psychoacoustic Processor

Installation & Setup

When preparing for installation of your MAAT FiDef JENtwo, we recommend that you quit all applications prior to proceeding. Also, aft er downloading the installer and prior to installation, let any anti–malware measures you may have running scan the installer. Th en, temporarily disable all anti-malware measures once scanning is complete.
To install, simply double click on the downloaded Installer for your particular operating system. Th e installation process will guide you through the install procedure. If you have an older OS version, restarting your host may be required. Don’t forget to reënable anti-malware measures or simply restart your host.

Licensing

MAAT soft ware is licensed through our dongle–free, cloud-based license control framework. If your hosts are net-connected, our licenses “fl oat,” making it easy to move from one machine to another. All you have to do is close all MAAT stuff on one machine before you open anything on another. If you’re going to use the laptop in an environment where the internet is spotty or non–existent, you can also go o ffline temporarily for up to 30 days.
To license your MAAT purchase, open yours or instantiate an example in your preferred plugin host. When licensing, we recommend you open a new session in your DAW just for this purpose.

Online Activation

Once the Activation dialog appears, paste or type in your Product Key supplied at the time of purchase. Then click on Activate/Deactivate online and follow the prompts.

Note: the online process requires a live internet connection. You must have an active internet connection for activation.

A feature of our cloud-connected system is that, if you close a DAW session that contains MAAT plug instances, then open that session on another host, the license will “follow” you onto the new host as long as you have live internet.
You can also return or park your license on our licensing server, and pick it up later on another host. Once your product is licensed, click the Activate/Deactivate Online button to deactivate your license, then repeat to reactivate.

Offline Activation

If, for security reasons you have an offline host computer or you plan on working without a reliable internet connection, it is best to go with an offline license. There are two offline options, temporary offline and full offline.

Temporary Offline

If you plan on working without a reliable internet connection, we designed the temporary offline option just for you. The temporary offline process also requires a live internet connection, but only during activation.
A temp offline license has two unique features:

• It can remain offline, without an internet connection, for up to 30 days
• It auto-renews its lease whenever it does make a server connection

So, if your internet is spotty or unreliable, or you’re heading temporarily to a location where an internet connection isn’t available, the temporary offline option let’s you work untethered to the ’net for up to a month.
By clicking the “30 Days Offline” button, your online license will become temporarily offline for a maximum of 30 days. If, however, you use the product while connected to the internet at all during that time, the “lease” duration is automatically reset, extending another 30 days.

Full Offline

Th is will license your MAAT product without the need to periodically contact our licensing server. If you anticipate working without the internet for more than a month at a time or, for security purposes, your studio machine is “air gapped” and has no internet, take a moment to surrender your online license, and replace it with an offl ine version.

Note: A full o ffline license does need to be explicitly renewed once a year.

To prepare for o ffl ine activation, you will need:

1.  Your Product Key!
2.  Some method to move your License Confirmation file to the offline host machine.

That latter requirement can be accomplished in any number of ways, but a USB flash drive is often readily available and most convenient. You will also need your Product Key that was supplied to you via email when you purchased your MAAT product.
The offline activation process starts with generating a License Request, with a “maatr” file extension, which is submitted online to our server or via email to MAAT Support support@maat.dig-ital. A License Confirmation file, with a “maatc” extension, will be returned to you, which will activate your product.
To proceed, click on the Activate/Deactivate Offline button, and follow the prompts.
In a year’s time, 365 days from the date the maatr file is created, a full offline license must be renewed using the same maatr/maatc method.

Introduction

It’s been a long journey to bring this incarnation of FideliQuest’s original FiDef™ to life. Together, we have recreated this modern, 64 bit version for even better fidelity, plus compatibility with all modern DAWs. We also use our driverless, MAAT cloud services to license your purchase anywhere, even if you’re “off the grid.” We at FideliQuest and MAAT have crafted a tool to help make your product more compelling and versatile.

Features

FiDef JENtwo takes the goal of maximum engagement to a whole new level. With multiple presets, we’ve taken the complexity out of setting the well over two dozen parameters hiding “under the hood.” Five pre-sets, suited to a wide variety of genres and material, are optimized with a high resolution implementation of the original FiDef process.

• Sample rates up to 384 kHz, perfectly suitable for high resolution DXD, DSD, game audio, sound–for–picture production and post
• New, lower perceived amplitude preset especially for wide dynamic range content
• All internal calculations are in 64 bit double floating-point accuracy for extremely low distortion

Applications

• Recording studios: tracking, mixing and mastering
• HRA production and post
•  High sample rate game audio production and post
• Broadcast production and post
• Sound reinforcement: intelligibility improvement, enhanced audience engagement and participation
• Sound design and EFX
• Spoken word restoration and forensic audio retrieval
• Subjective transmission loss correction

The Interface

FiDef JENtwo’s user interface (UI) is about as simple as it gets. For a pro user in a dimly lit room who’s face is directed toward a display all day, the UI is designed for speed and minimum visual fatigue.

Overview

The Process

FiDef® by FideliQuest (www.fi def.com) is a very low amplitude, psycho- acoustic stimulus designed specifically for audio engineers. FiDef can be thought of as “dither for your brain.” It makes a receptive brain relax and pay closer attention to an incoming audio stimulus. In brain physiology laboratory tests using functional neuroimaging techniques, FiDef has proven to excite brain activity related to perception and attention, and to enhance the subjective processes of listening and engagement.
Because FiDef is a psychoacoustic process, it may not have an impact if the listener resists its charms. We’re talking full-on Jedi mind tricks, folks. If you are like most of us audio engineers, you are very much a “left–brain” person and discount what you cannot understand or explain. You are used to dissecting what you hear, you simply can’t help it. Unfortunately, your higher-level brain function will suppress and over-ride your unconscious brain, and FiDef acts subconsciously. Result? If you try too hard to hear it, you probably won’t! Th ough this is in direct opposition to coping with the “impostor syndrome” you’ve worked so hard to overcome, there will be no noticeable eff ect if you “listen hard.” That is; analytically.
However, your clients, your spouse and most likely your second engineer will notice “something different” about FiDef’d content. That something is usually a subtle and positive improvement in engagement and enjoyment. Most folks don’t listen analytically, they listen casually and, in the case of music or dialog, for entertainment and enjoyment. That’s a right-brain thing, and that’s why some of us call our clients “creatives.” Their mindset is not, “Hmmm, I hear too much top end above 10.5k.” — It’s more like, “That synth pad is soo shiny and purple” or “That vocal is dreamy, it sounds like they’re singing right to me.”

The Effect

Cast aside your expectation bias and simply try FiDef. See if you hear an improvement…you may, or may not. Better yet, give your customer two almost identical versions of a song, the only difference being FiDef or no FiDef, and let them decide.

Introduction

Once upon a time, an audio engineer wondered why recorded music never sounded as engaging as listening live and in person. So, with the help of a physicist colleague, they spent several years digging around in the nitty gritty of digital audio. What they found was something novel and unexpected; an apparent channel in the human auditory system that responds to a specially formulated signal. This signal can not be heard consciously, it can only be felt. Once they had a working prototype, they enlisted a music and brain science expert to test their creation. Sure enough, test subjects were consciously unaware of the presence of FiDef, but their brains showed a significant increase in stimulation and attentiveness. Thus, FiDef was born.

What’s So Special

There is literally only one FiDef. Unlike “exciters,” equalizers, Schrod- erizers, M/S processors, multiband dynamics and “unmask” processors and other old skool effects, Fidef is new…and quite different. It’s a true psychoacoustic processor, creating a low amplitude correlated noise customized for:

• the content being fed to it
• the human brain and its cognitive apparatus

FiDef works on the listener, below their level of consciousness. It elicits an attentive response, enabling the user to shift focus to the audio they are hearing. Remember, FiDef is not like any other DSP or analog outboard gear. It works on your subconscious and, for you as an engineer or producer, requires a new way of critical listening…a more passive approach that lets your lower level brain activity inform your higher level, conscious experience.

FiDef is the only concentrated carrier of deep emotional engagement available to you in your work. It requires a slightly new mindset on your part to best utilize its qualities. As you use FiDef over time, you’ll naturally arrive at a personal approach that suits your particular “head space” and way of working.
While the awareness of the FiDef effect can be more or less dependent on the listener’s individual internal state and disposition, brain research has shown that FiDef measurably increases awareness and appreciation of audio content even when the listener is not aware of their own reaction! So, the long held approach to objective assessment, A/B’ing between original and processed versions, is a less useful tool with FiDef than with quotidian EQ, dynamics or other old skool processing mentioned above.

In Use

Despite its complex underlying technology, FiDef is either on or off. There are no adjustments, only presets.

Guidance.

Some usage guidelines are in order…From us artery–hardened audio craftspeople, we suggest you try turning off your monkey brain. We know, it’s very difficult to do and not something most of us are practiced at; quite the opposite actually. When first listening with FiDef enabled, try simply turning around 180° from your normal listening position and take in the content without trying to use your eyes or mentally dissect it. Close your eyes so you’re not looking at your DAW, desk or displays…just chill. FiDef does require about 30 seconds to penetrate your wet-ware and fully activate your brain, so typical quick A/B’ing simply will not work. Extend your uninterrupted listening for full effect.

Note: in keeping with fideliquest’s original design, we have had to lock out fidef processing at dXd and higher rates in the initial release.

We are working with FideliQuest to add FiDef support up to 384k, so version 2.0 will be fully aligned with our standards. Over time, we will be adding more FiDef capabilities as well. So, stay tuned!
FiDef works best on stems or entire mixes. Creativity is good, so go ahead and try it wherever it seems appropriate. The FiDef process can be applied to individual tracks or instruments prior to mixing in order to modify or highlight that material. It can also be applied to an entire mix during mixing or mastering. Individually FiDef’d elements can be mixed, then the entire mix can also be FiDef’d with another setting. In the final analysis, FiDef is low amplitude specially correlated noise, as you’ll discover when you perform a null test. (I know, you are compelled to do it!) It can be applied multiple time and/or at multiple stages, and it will simply increase the noise floor. So, do be thoughtful before applying it.

FiDef usually “survives” modern, high bit rate lossy encoding, so go ahead and create high quality lossy children from a FiDef’d parent. That said, please do your own tests to get a sense of its abilities. Also, post-processing may diminish its impact, though EQ should not degrade the effect. Again, it’s manifest in the final product as noise, so, most DSP will not degrade FiDef too much. While on the suject of noise, redither-ing will not interfere with the FiDef signal. While dither is applied only to the LSBs or Least Significant Bits, the FiDef signal is much louder, in the range of -40 to -60dBFS.
FiDef JENtwo adds that eldritch, intangible quality that many people conflate with thermionic electronics. Wrap your head around that! Whether you call them valves, glow–FETs or hollow state, tubes seem to impart a special quality to audio that passes though them. Others bestow a similar “magic” on analog tape, with its correlated modulation noise. We are not talking about distortion, bandpass restrictions or slew rate limiting, we mean something intrinsic and apart from analog design choices. In fact, that’s how FiDef was discovered; as a vestigial signal common to all analog recordings. The exceptional sound quality created by MAAT’s engineering rigor, when combined with the indescribable deliciousness of FiDef, raises the whole to an even higher level of beauty and performance. One of our FiDef fans, a multi–grammy Award-winning mastering engineer, told us that, “…(FiDef) is like audio crack. I need more of this!”

NOTE:
FiDef is not a panacea. It does not and will not work on all program material. If you hear unpleasant sounds with FiDef engaged, try disabling it as a check.

The Profiles

The FiDef settings consist of five Profiles or presets. Profiles can be selected from the one and only menu. A lot is happening “under the hood,” but there are no other user controls.

1. TRUKN
   Keep on truckin’ with subtle sweetness and energy…This is the standard Profile, designed to make any mix have the juicy nuance your client is hoping for. If you’re going to use FiDef, you can’t go wrong with this setting.

2. TRUKN HUSH
   This is a low amplitude variation on the standard Profile, designed for when the FiDef signal noticeably intrudes on or becomes audi-bly separate from the material. Try it for wide dynamic range con-tent or for material that features isolated instruments or voice.

3. SUTRO
   Spread it on…This Profile is designed to draw your attention to fre-quencies above 8 kHz. The result is a widening of the overall sound
   stage and an accentuation of transient detail. Nice on some classical material to provide a touch of air.

4. RESNO
   In the air tonight…This Profile draws your attention to the upper mid frequencies. This can lend a throaty qualities to vocals, add har-monic overtones to other instruments, and thicken things up overall. Nice on rock.

5. EVOSE
   Warm forwardness…This Profile builds on the fundamentals of RESNO and then turns it up to 11. EVOSE can be effective on mix-es that have an aggressive “smile EQ” aspect. It can lend a touch of articulation and clarity.

In combination with particular content and production styles, go where your creative juices point. A last bit of advice: be open minded. Just because you may not hear it, that’s not true of others, especially your cli-ents. Have fun with your content, FiDef can help. Isn’t that what audio is supposed to be about?

User Preferences

Clicking on the gear icon in the upper right corner opens the User Preferences…

License/Info Tab

This tab contains a link to open this, the user manual; a link to activate or deactivate (“park”) your license along with a list of the contributors and their roles. Note that the current version number and installed CPU Architecture, 32 or 64 bit, is shown at bottom.

Specifications

Latency

The latency is a fixed 1354 samples. As the sample rate increases, the latency in the time domain is reduced since more samples pass through the plugin per second.

System Requirements

• Mac: macOS 10.8 and newer, 64 bit only
• Win: Windows 7 and newer, 32 & 64 bit
• Pro Tools 10.3.10 and newer
• 4GB RAM minimum

Supported Platforms

AAX, AU, VST2/3 Mac, VST2/3 Win

Supported Sample Rates

44.1 to 384 kHz

Supported Hosts

Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic, Nuendo, Pro Tools, Pyramix, SADiE, Se-quoia, Studio One & Wavelab

Updates

Please always use the latest version of the software! You can find your current version on the Info Tab of the back panel. You can download the latest version simply by visiting:
http://maat.digital/support/#installers
For optimal security and stability, you should always stay up to date with Operating System revisions, and we keep up with compatibility changes to our products. We also continue to optimize for reduced CPU load, and this very user manual gets its own improvements.
To stay up to date with the latest version and product releases, please subscribe to our occasional newsletter. You’ll find a opt–in form on our Contact page, or sign up for a copy of our free and very handy 2BusCon-trol plug–in which will also subscribe you. Don’t worry, we know you are busy so we only send out an average of 10 or 12 mailings a year.

Support

For product support, please visit: https://www.maat.digital/support

License Central

License Central, located in MAAT’s Shared directory, is a free utility that validates, repairs and logs your MAAT licenses. It also displays what MAAT products you have installed and assists in downloading both updates and demos.
License Central lists all of our products, and shows you:

• If a product is installed and what licenses you have [CLOUD, SUBSCRIPTION, TRIAL, OFFLINE and TEMP OFFLINE]
• What versions are installed, and version installers are available for download

It also provides:

• A one–click download of an update or a demo
• A button to activate or deactivate any of your licenses
• A copyable list of all your Product Keys
• One–click generation of the MAAT diagnostic report.

In Use

When you launch License Central, it scans your host computer and then attempts to match up each product found with a Product Key on our license server. That scanning happens in real time, and the process is shown as a progress bar. When quitting, this process happens in reverse.
Once all the licenses are validated, a list on the left displays all MAAT products, including License Central. Products that are not installed are grayed out, and installed products are displayed in high contrast. To the right of each product entry is a check mark, which indicated that the product is licensed.
Selecting a product entry displays information about the installed ver-sion and if an update is available for download.

Controls

There are two persistent buttons along the top. At upper left is Check for Updates, which refreshes the list of installed products, and pings our server again for currently available versions to download. It also recreates your Product Key list.
At upper right, the Activate/Deactivate button brings up the familiar blue and orange MAAT license window, allowing you to deactivate or return your license to the Cloud, and to switch to a 30 day temporary offline license. If you have requested a 365 day full offline license, use the Create License Request function in the MAAT license window, and have received your “.maatc” confirmation file, you can also take your license offline. Finally, you can also paste in a Product Key to activate a new license.

Note:
Switching to 30 day temp offline requires that your license be already activated. 365 day full offline licenses require a license confirmation file as supplied by MAAT’s support department.
If any product is out of date, a third Download Update button will ap-pear when that product is selected. This button is an express method for updating you MAAT products.
At bottom left of the License Central window is an Auto-Refresh check box, which is selected by default. Deselecting that will prevent License Central from frequently scanning your host for changes including new installs. It starts a scan every 3 seconds, waiting for completion of that scan, then begins a new 3 second countdown before starting the next scan. If you find that License Central is interrupting you workflow while scanning, then disable Auto–Refresh.

Preferences

In License Central, the Preferences’ gear icon brings up the Preferences window with four tabs.

Paths

For those who set up alternate directories for the management of their plugins in a DAW, two alternate plugin paths can be defined. These directories will be also included when License Central searches.

Keys

This tab lists all of your Product Keys that are known to our license server. Please take a moment to copy all of your Product Keys, paste them into a text or word processor file, and print out a hard copy. Your Product Keys are your proof of purchase and, without them, your purchase will not work and we cannot provide product support.

Troubleshooting

The Troubleshooting tab has one button, which generates a Diagnostics Report. This report, automatically written to the Desktop, gathers useful, non–personal information about your machine’s state that our support team can use to diagnose any problems.

Info

As with all our products, the Info tab lists credits, copyright information, and the version number you are running.

Support

For product support, please visit: https://www.maat.digital/support

Would you like to help MAAT? Help support MAAT by sharing the love…Like us on Facespace: https://www.facebook.com/maatdigital/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/maat_labs/and
Twitter: https://twitter.com/maat_digital and please tell your friends about us!

Credits

• FiDef Concept & Realization Jayson S. Tomlin
• FiDef DSP & Algorithms Dr. Jeff Wilson
• Initiator, Product Management & UX Oliver Masciarotte
• Plug-In Programming Nils Karl Magnus Petersson

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH FiDef is a registered trademark of FideliQuest Incorporated

About This Manual

Afterword

This manual was written in Adobe InDesign CC 17, and is set in Robert Slimbach’s Minion Pro and Myriad Pro. The cover page is set in Aldo Novarese’s modernist geometric Eurostyle.
This documentation, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may only be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. The information in this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by MAAT Labs GmbH. MAAT Labs assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document.
Except as permitted by such license, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of MAAT Labs GmbH.

Notice of Liability

The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein. However, the information contained in this document is provided without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, MAAT Labs, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages to be caused either directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book, or by the software or hardware products described herein.
MAAT LABS GMBH MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE APPLE SOFTWARE. MAAT LABS GMBH DOES NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE MAAT LABS GMBH SOFTWARE IN TERMS OF ITS CORRECTNESS, ACCURA-CY, RELIABILITY, CURRENTNESS, OR OTHERWISE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE RESULTS AND PERFORMANCE OF THE MAAT LABS GMBH SOFTWARE IS ASSUMED BY YOU. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.
IN NO EVENT WILL MAAT LABS GMBH, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR INDIRECT DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, AND THE LIKE) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE MAAT LABS GMBH SOFTWARE EVEN IF MAAT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAM-AGES. BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

References

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