DSP Recommendations

[gigantic]

13 hours ago, babadono said:

Cool---good find @gigantic looks comparably priced to the Peavey and has FIR to boot. Peavey must be a re brand of their non FIR unit or they both get'em from some manufacturer in China. If the app is identical there is some relationship going on. How do you like it? Is it quiet at no signal? Or should I be asking these questions over at AK?

10 hours ago, babadono said:

13 hours ago, babadono said:

ew..eww..the Thomann has noise gating...ew..eww. Wonder why the Peavey don't?

 

 

10 hours ago, babadono said:

OK I am an idiot...how do you generate the FIR files? @gigantic

 

It's a private label unit, made by an undisclosed manufacturer. I've seen the FIR also offered from an Italian brand. 
the FIR DSP has a lot of features, noise gating, limiting, compression... none of which are needed for our purposes, but in a pro setting could be valuable. 

 

generating the FIR files is done with a program called RePhase. I have yet to cross that bridge with mine, I've been using it with IIR filters per Chris Askew's "zeroth order" guidelines. I will hopefully do my final measurements this weekend, after which I may start learning RePhase if I haven't gotten the phase response where I want it. to my ears, it's pretty incredible, but we'll see what the measurements say. 

[Marvel]

Is the xilica use a 96khz sampling rate or 48?

[babadono]

3 hours ago, Marvel said:

Is the xilica use a 96khz sampling rate or 48?

96

[Schu]

peavey wont read existing xilica files, as those .xdat and the peavey are .prs unless those files are converted, I didnt check on connectivity, but the peavey software functions in the same manner in terms of computer connectivity.

[babadono]

why wouldn't one use a noise gate on a home system?.....I use them all the time. Anyone with a Xilica uses one also even if they don't may not know it.

[gigantic]

On 7/4/2024 at 5:22 PM, babadono said:

why wouldn't one use a noise gate on a home system?.....I use them all the time. Anyone with a Xilica uses one also even if they don't know it.

It's been my experience working as a recording engineer and live sound engineer, that noise gates negatively impact the sound and dynamics of a recording or performance, excessively attenuating the high end decay in the signal. They're were always something that we didn't use unless we really needed to cut noise present in the signal or inhibit feedback. I've not fount the need for it in my home system.

[babadono]

@gigantic

I set the threshold on the ones I use extremely low so that when there is no signal any residual noise gets gated out and the system is as quiet as possible that's all. And yes it could be set such that it would definitely gate sounds that you do not want to lose and would make recordings sound horrible. I should probably spend some more time evaluating whether I really need them anymore with the improvements I have made with amplification and room treatments.

[gigantic]

7 minutes ago, babadono said:

@gigantic

I set the threshold on the ones I use extremely low so that when there is no signal any residual noise gets gated out and the system is as quiet as possible that's all. And yes it could be set such that it would definitely gate sounds that you do not want to lose and would make recordings sound horrible. I should probably spend some more time evaluating whether I really need them anymore with the improvements I have made with amplification and room treatments.

I simply haven’t found the need to use it. I would likely be more inclined to replace the offending component than mask it with a noise gate. 

[babadono]

3 minutes ago, gigantic said:

replace the offending component

Might be an expensive solution in some cases. But I also use dbx 4bx range expanders in my system that some say sound horrible. Also starting to explore using a multiband compressor/expander plug in to try and recover squashed dynamics.

[gigantic]

My setup, apart from the active crossover, is pretty simple. Sources, a Schiit Bifrost DAC for the digital ones, phono and preamp for analog, a Schiit Freya preamp, balanced output to the FIR DSP408; 4 class D mono blocks and an el84 valve amp to my horns. I use PEQ for crossover filters and to tame resonances for a frequency response that’s +/-3db from 23Hz to 20kHz, but other than that, I don’t use tone controls or dynamic range expanders. I’ve considered putting in a BBE sonic exciter into the chain, but I’m moving towards all balanced connections, I’d rather not introduce any additional noise and ultimately, I haven’t found the need for it. 

[babadono]

2 hours ago, gigantic said:

I’ve considered putting in a BBE sonic exciter into the chain,

Don't they have those with balanced connections? The whole purpose of that piece is to COLOR the sound isn't it?

[gigantic]

I’ve only seen them with 1/4” and RCA connections. It may be possible that the 1/4” were balanced TRS, but I’m skeptical of that. 

[babadono]

this one is balanced looks like:

http://bbesound.com/products/manuals/882i_manual_rev4.pdf