BULLSEYE AUDIO CROSSFIRE Crossfeed Plugin VST3 Audio Unit User Manual

: July 24, 2024
: BULLSEYE AUDIO

Table of Contents

BULLSEYE AUDIO CROSSFIRE Crossfeed Plugin VST3 Audio Unit
Specifications
Product Information
Installation
Usage Instructions
Installation
System Requirements
Overview
Crossfeed
FAQ
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

BULLSEYE AUDIO CROSSFIRE Crossfeed Plugin VST3 Audio Unit

Specifications

Plugin Formats: VST3, AU and AAX
Operating Systems: MacOS and Windows
Free Trial Period: 14 days

Product Information

CROSSFIRE is a crossfeed emulation software designed to bring realistic free field speaker listening experience to headphones. It utilizes advanced digital signal processing techniques to calibrate stereo field presentation for an authentic sound experience.

Installation

Open the installer, select file types, and click continue.
Click install, allowing the installer to complete the process.
After installation, run a new plugin scan if necessary for your DAW.
To activate, open the plugin, click Demo or Enter License, and enter your email or license key.

Usage Instructions

Rule One: Headphone Listening Only

CROSSFIRE processing should be applied when using headphones as speakers already have built-in crossfeed.

Rule Two: Position in Master Chain

CROSSFIRE should always be the last plugin on your master chain to ensure all audio signals are processed by the crossfeed. Placing CROSSFIRE on a mixer channel will only process audio passing through that specific channel.

Installation

Open the installer, select your ﬁle types, and click continue

Then click install, and our installer will do the rest

After installation, run a new plugin scan if your DAW requires it

Open your plugin and click the button labeled “Demo” or “Enter License”

Then simply enter your email and or license key to begin using CROSSFIRE

System Requirements

Plugin Formats: VST3, AU and AAX
Operating Systems: MacOS and Windows

Note: All Bullseye Audio Software has a 14 day fully functional free trial period

Overview

CROSSFIRE is a crossfeed emulation software designed with the intent to bring highly realistic free ﬁeld speaker listening to all headphones. By leveraging advanced digital signal processing techniques, CROSSFIRE calibrates the stereo ﬁeld presentation in order to deliver sound as its intended to be heard.
CROSSFIRE is powered by a custom-designed convolution engine and is equipped with several highly optimized and individually tailored FIR crossfeed ﬁlter impulses.

Understanding our Corrective Processing Implementation

Audio Input (optional pre-processing with Input Gain Slider)
Crossfeed Algorithm
Listening Position to Speakers: 6ft
Filtered Multichannel Delay Line
Left Channel Dry Signal
Left Channel Crossfeed Signal
Left Channel Dry Signal Copy
24db/Oct Low Pass Filter at 1600Hz
Delay Time: 500μs
Processed Left Channel Signal Sent to Right Channel
Right Channel Dry Signal
Right Channel Crossfeed Signal
Right Channel Dry Signal Copy
24db/Oct Low Pass Filter at 1600Hz
Delay Time: 500μs
Processed Right Channel Signal Sent to Left Channel
Master Quality —> Linear Phase Low Pass FIR Filters
Zero Latency —> Optimized Minimum Phase Low Pass FIR Filters
Audio Output (optional post-processing with Output Gain Slider)

Usage

CROSSFIRE has three basic rules for usage. Let’s walk through them all together.
RULE ONE: The ﬁrst rule is that CROSSFIRE processing should only be applied when listening on headphones. Speakers already have crossfeed as a feature, so there is no need to add more.
RULE TWO: The second rule is that CROSSFIRE should always be the last plugin on your master chain. This is to ensure that all of the audio signal gets processed by the crossfeed. If CROSSFIRE is loaded on a mixer channel, only the audio that passes through that speciﬁc mixer channel will be processed.
RULE THREE: The third rule is that CROSSFIRE should always be bypassed before exporting. CROSSFIRE is a reference plug-in that is speciﬁcally designed to simulate a free ﬁeld speaker listening environment for headphones. If CROSSFIRE is not bypassed, the sonic characteristics speciﬁc to crossfeed processing will essentially be embedded into the exported audio.

Crossfeed

Crossfeed is the fundamental diﬀerentiating factor between headphones and loudspeaker listening. Both headphones and stereo loudspeaker setups alike have two dedicated sound propagation devices that are fed either the left or right-channel audio signal. In simpler terms, there exists a speaker or headphone driver for both the left channel and right channel respectively. The diﬀerence between the two systems is that sound from speakers does not travel directly to the eardrum in the same way the sound from headphones (particularly IEMs) do.

~ The diagram above illustrates how sound travels from each speaker to both ears. Due to the fact that the direct sound path from each speaker to their associated ear is shorter than the crossfeed sound path, the crossfeed signal has a slight time delay. Our crossfeed is based on the user and both speakers forming and equilateral triangle with a 6ft distance for both direct sound paths, and approximately 6.55ft distance for the indirect sound paths with a time delay of 500μs from the direct signal.

~ It’s important to note that not all of the indirect crossfeed signal reaches the opposite ear. High frequency sound is directional in nature and does not curve around the head to the same extent as low frequency sound. The head in this case is essentially acting as a low pass ﬁlter of the crossfeed signal (a phenomenon is commonly referred to as the shadow eﬀect of the head). We emulate this by applying a 24db/Oct low pass (FIR linear phase for Master Quality Mode and IIR minimum phase for Zero Latency Mode) ﬁlter to each of the crossfeed signals. Below illustrates the perceptual diﬀerences between standard headphone listening and headphone listening with crossfeed.

Why introduce crossfeed into our audio path? Doesn’t crossfeed compromise the integrity of the original signal? Yes, that’s correct actually, it does, but if all stages of the audio production and editing process are inﬂuenced by crossfeed (given the eﬀect is consistent enough to reliably program, which is true of crossfeed), then it is an essential feature to replicate in order to perceive the audio in the way the creators intended to deliver it.
Crossfeed from speakers is an artifact, it’s not good or bad, it just is and its always been and due to the fact that it’s signiﬁcant enough to modulate our stereo ﬁeld perceptions, its sonic imprint has embedded itself into
nearly all of the audio we listen to on a daily basis.

Interface Part 1 of 2

Bullseye Audio Logo: Clicking this toggles CROSSFIRE processing on and oﬀ and color theme from full range color to greyscale
CROSSFIRE Logo: Clicking this will open the registration or account window
Quality Mode Button: Clicking this will toggle between Master Quality Mode and Zero Latency Mode (note: Master Quality Mode features linear phase FIR ﬁlters for crossfeed processing while Zero Latency Mode features minimum phase FIR ﬁlters for crossfeed processing.)
Settings Gear Button: Clicking this toggles between the Quality Mode Button and the Bass Compensation Mode Button Interface Part 2 of 2
Bass Compensation Mode Button: Clicking this will toggle between Neutral and Natural Bass Modes (note: Neutral Bass Mode applies additional equalization to correct for the additional bass caused naturally by crossfeed, while Natural Bass Mode relays the natural, bass boosted crossfeed signal)
6a, 6b, 6c – Displays the audio input volume with each large bar representing 24dB increments from -48dB on the right to 0dB on the left, the small white bar on the far left indicates that the audio input is clipping, the raw decibel value for the audio input is the decibel value on the bottom left
6d – Audio Input Gain Slider: Controls the volume of the audio input
7a, 7b & 7c – Displays the audio output volume with each large bar representing 24dB increments from -48dB on the left to 0dB on the right, the small white bar on the far right indicates that the audio output is clipping, the raw decibel value for the audio output is the decibel value on the bottom right 7d – Audio Output Gain Slider: Controls the volume of the audio output