USING HARBALL AS AN OFFLINE EQ

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Triniti
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USING HARBALL AS AN OFFLINE EQ

Post by Triniti »

WE ALL KNOW HARBAL IS A MASTERING TOOL BUT THAT DOSE NOT MEAN WE CANNOT USE IT AS THE ULTIMATE OFFINE EQ AND WTH THE VST SUPPORT COMING SOON WE CAN USE IT AS A REAL TIME EQ.

PLEASE ANY ONE WHO IS USING HARBAL IN THIS FASHION DO TELL OF YOUR EXPERIECNES
HarBal
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Post by HarBal »

Other than the normal EQ'ing I've used it to test room acoustics in a manner that allows me to get a better handle on where the problem lies.

At present I'm working on upgrading the convolution engine in HarBal to support arbitrary process buffer sizes and when that is complete and functioning then creating a VST plugin version should be a pretty simple operation. Progress has been good so far and the solutions seems easier than I'd initially thought.

Looking beyond the VST version and Mac ports into the more distant future, we have plans for a "HarBal Live" product version tailored toward live performances. This version would have the convolution and analysis engines in an external DSP hardware module (for robustness reasons) and would interface to a PC/Mac via USB interface. The PC/Mac would have controlling software that would behave in a manner very similar to the current version of HarBal. The main difference would be that the average spectrum estimate would be maintained on a real time basis (i.e. updated regularly with the music currently routed through HarBal Live), with a reset button available to clear the current spectrum average and start afresh.
However, being a hardware solution it will obviously cost considerably more (most likely in the $1000 US region) but that in itself can give it added flexibility. For example, you could use such a module as a room EQ module in a Pro studio or domestic HiFi. You'll have the quality of the HarBal EQ in the reliability of hardware. But this is quite a way off yet. I'm just mentioning this to give you an idea of where our thinking lies.

Regards,


Paavo.
jammer
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Re: USING HARBALL AS AN OFFLINE EQ

Post by jammer »

Triniti wrote:WE ALL KNOW HARBAL IS A MASTERING TOOL BUT THAT DOSE NOT MEAN WE CANNOT USE IT AS THE ULTIMATE OFFINE EQ AND WTH THE VST SUPPORT COMING SOON WE CAN USE IT AS A REAL TIME EQ.

PLEASE ANY ONE WHO IS USING HARBAL IN THIS FASHION DO TELL OF YOUR EXPERIECNES


yup, i absolutely use it like this already. the vst support will indeed be an awsome addition to this great EQ ...

are you using har-bal in this manner yet or are you just experimenting at the moment?
dbmasters
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Post by dbmasters »

HarBal wrote:Other than the normal EQ'ing I've used it to test room acoustics in a manner that allows me to get a better handle on where the problem lies.


Could you elaborate exactly how you do that? That would be great to use it to tune rooms as well, I never thought of that.
HarBal
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Re: USING HARBALL AS AN OFFLINE EQ

Post by HarBal »

Which bit are you referring to?

The initial parts of this thread a very old and aren't areas that we are actively pursuing (VST and hardware solution). Incorporation of room compensation EQ is being planned for though.

Using Har-Bal to aid in room tuning is simple enough. Get a pink noise source played back through one of your monitors (should test one monitor at a time) and record the sound with a measurement microphone at the listening position. Then take that recording and analyse it with Har-Bal and you should have a spectrum that is nominally flat up to 1-2kHz and then taper off at the top end to be between 5 to 10dB down at 20kHz depending on your taste in listening environments. If there are problems you can then try various treatments and repeat the experiment to see what effect they have on the balance.

You might have thought the ideal is to have a flat response all the way to 20kHz but that isn't actually the case. It is generally accepted that auditoriums for music performance should have shorter reverberation times at higher frequencies as it results in a warmer more musical sound. Only auditoriums meant for speech only are designed to have flat responses. If you were to listen to recorded music in a flat response room, most people would regard the sound as being bright rather than balanced.

cheers,


Paavo.
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