User Manual

5.1 EarlyReﬂectionSetup 5 REALISTIC ROOM SIMULATION

Start with a neutral setting, with WIDTH and TAPER in their mid position, FEED ALONG

and FEEDBACK at minimum, and LF ROLL-OFF (in the INPUT section) at minimum

(mostly HF content).

It should now be possible to perceive the space changing when you adjust the SIZE

control. Initially, set this to something appropriate.

Toggle through the SHAPE selection buttons, noting the diﬀerence between them, and

decide on one that most suits what you are looking for.

At this point the FEED ALONG setting can be increased, noting the eﬀect it has on overall

complexity in the reﬂections and the timbre of the space. For realistic spaces, settings

around the mid position are often best, but experimentation of the full range is

encouraged.

Listening carefully to the resulting reﬂections, adjust the FEEDBACK fader with the

PHASE SELECT button selected (the default), to introduce some reiteration into the

space, noting that the space becomes more resonant and the reﬂections more diﬀuse.

Without feedback, the reﬂections will end abruptly when they are ﬁnished. This is useful

for creating dry spaces often appropriate for percussion tracks. However, for realistic

spaces, an amount of feedback is required to produce a more natural dispersion and

timbre. Too much feedback will result in ringing eﬀects, which can be particularly intrusive

for smaller spaces.

To give the space a realistic absorption and frequency response character, start

increasing the LF ROLL-OFF control to tailor the HF response caused by the reﬂections

over time. There is no ﬁxed rule for what works best, and creative freedom should take

precedence. However, generally speaking, larger spaces require greater absorption

settings than small spaces, since a major cause of absorption in real spaces is the

distance that the sound travels in air.

The WIDTH and TAPER controls can now be adjusted to give an appropriate stereo

spread and reﬂection character to the simulation. Some interplay between the FEED

ALONG and the TAPER controls may be required to arrive at the best overall sound

character, as both can give the eﬀect of increasing the prominence of the reﬂections.

At this point it is worth adjusting the POSITION fader to determine the listening position

within the virtual space. It should be possible to perceive the eﬀect of entering the space

as the setting moves oﬀ the back wall (minimum setting) into the virtual space. It is

important to bear in mind that the primary reﬂection from the back wall can get quite fast

in smaller spaces if the position is too far forwards, so although the simulation may sound