Sonic Studio Strix Series User Guide
DE158 First Edition June 2015 Copyright © 2015 ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this manual, including the products and software described in it, may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language in any form or by any means, except documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes, without the express written permission of ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. (“ASUS”).
1. English Contents Sonic Studio..................................................................................... 4 1.1 Launching Sonic Studio............................................................. 4 1.2 Sonic Studio overview............................................................... 5 1.2.1 Device selection............................................................. 9 Output device...................................................................... 9 Input device.........................
English 1. Sonic Studio 1.1 Launching Sonic Studio After finishing the driver installation for your audio device and rebooting your computer, you will find the Sonic Studio icon on Windows® desktop, Windows® notification area or the metro interface. Double-click the Sonic Studio icon to launch Sonic Studio.
1.2 Sonic Studio overview English Sonic Studio comes with advanced sound algorithms and virtual surround effects to enhance the listening experience whether you are watching a movie, listening to music, playing a video game or communicating with your friends. Screenshots are for reference only and subject to change and updates. No. Item Description 1 Signal meters See section 1.2.2 Signal meters for details. 2 Device selection See section 1.2.1 Device selection for details.
English No. 6 Item Description 1 Display Displays signal meters. 2 Output Device Select Click to select an output source: analog speakers, headphones, Line out or S/PDIF device. Right-click an output source to set as the default device. 3 Playback Volume Control Drag this slider to increase or decrease playback volume. 4 Playback Channel Click to select appropriate playback channels. 5 Sample Rate Click to select sample rate and bit rate.
English No. Item Description 13 Preset The preset manager allows users to customize settings based on preference. You can create, save, and delete presets. 14 Information Click to view driver information. 15 EQ Drag this slider to adjust gains for each different frequency band. 16 EQ Presets • Click to turn on/off EQ setting. • Click to select an EQ preset. 17 Bass Boost • Click to turn on/off Bass Boost.
English No. Item When the Playback Channel is set to Stereo, Virtual Surround is available. • Click to enable Virtual Surround. • Click to select a Virtual Surround preset. 20 Virtual Surround / Upmix 21 Reverb Gain • Click to turn on/off reverb. • Click to select a reverb preset. 22 On/Off Reverb Gain Drag the slider to adjust Reverb Gain to values between -6 to +6 dB. 23 Noise Gate • Click to enable Noise Gate.
1.2.1 Device selection English Output device Description: This area displays all the available output devices and allows you to: • Click to select an output source: analog speakers, headphones, Line out or S/PDIF device. • Right-click an output source to set as the default device. • Change the impedances of the selected device to Low (default), Medium or High. This will cause a greater volume of the selected device.
English Input device Description: This area displays all the available input devices and allows you to: • Click to select an input source: MIC in, Line in or Aux in. • Right-click an input source to set as the default device. Note: Input & Output devices support may vary with models.
1.2.2 Signal meters English This area displays signal meters. Description: This is a visualizing feature allowing you to easily view the number of audio channels used by the currently played audio file, the sound level, the power of each channel, etc. How it works: This feature contains 8 vertical sliders which are representing the 8 existing audio channels and each slider will display in real time the content of the currently played audio file. This feature varies depending on the input audio channels.
1.2.3 Main settings area English Playback volume control Drag the slider to increase or decrease playback volume. Description: This feature allows you to fine tune the global output audio volume.
English Playback volume mute Click to mute/unmute volume playback. Description: This button allows you to mute/unmute the playback volume by a single click.
English Playback channel mixer The Channel Mixer function is an independent window that can be launched by clicking the Channel Mixer button on the main settings area. Click to open the mixer and adjust the volume for each channel. Description: This feature allows you to fine tune the audio settings for each channel of the currently played audio file. Applying a positive gain on a channel will reinforce the presence of this channel compared to the others.
English How it works: The channel mixer window contains 8 vertical sliders allowing you to fine tune each audio channel by applying a gain between +18 dB and -36 dB. It allows you to apply a gain on a specific audio channel, not to change its volume. This way, even if you apply a maximum negative gain on a channel (-36 dB), you can still hear some sound if you are using high volume. This feature is modifying input channels.
Record volume control English Drag the slider to increase or decrease record volume. Description: This feature allows you to fine tune the global record volume. How it works: This application bases its volume settings on Windows volume. This way, the Record Volume slider allows you to fine tune the global Windows volume of the input devices.
English Record volume mute Click to mute/unmute recording volume. Description: This button allows you to mute/unmute the record volume by a single click.
English Record volume channel mixer The Channel Mixer function is an independent window that can be launched by clicking the Channel Mixer button on the main settings area. Click to open mixer and adjust input device settings. Description: This feature allows you to fine tune the input settings for each channel of the currently played audio file. Applying a positive gain on a channel will reinforce the presence of this channel compared to the others.
English Listen to Device The Listen to Device button allows you to hear the current input device in the output audio device. Click to hear the current input device in the output audio device. Description: This feature allows you to have a hearable feedback of the current input device.
Audio Config English Click to select appropriate playback channels. Description: The Audio Config area allows you to select the output format of your audio system: Stereo, 4.0, 5.1 and 7.1. How it works: This feature is an automatic feature. This application will detect and display the available formats that are supported by the current sound card and the plugged device. For example, if a headset is plugged, only Stereo format is available. If a 7.1-channel system on a 7.
English Audio format Click to select sample rate and bit rate. Description: The Audio Format feature allows you to choose the sampling frequency and the bit rate for the audio stream. How it works: This feature is an automatic feature. This application will detect and display the available sampling and bit rates that are supported by the current sound card.
English Profiles Description: The preset manager allows you to customize settings based on preference. You can create, save, and delete presets. The preloaded (not user-defined) profiles cannot be modified and deleted. The music profile applies for any kind of mono or stereo music. The gaming profile applies for any kind of stereo or multichannel video games engine. The movie profile applies for any kind of stereo or multichannel video contents, etc.
1.2.4 Audio enhancement area English Equalizer Drag the slider to adjust gains for each different frequency band. Description: This feature allows you to fine tune each frequency range of your audio experience from bass to high frequencies. This will let you define exactly what you prefers, and increase the presence of some frequency ranges.
English Bass Boost • Click to turn on/off Bass Boost. • Drag the slider to adjust low frequency harmonics to produce a deeper and warmer bass. • Drag the slider to adjust the gain of the Bass Boost effect. Description: Increases the energy in low frequencies up to +12 dB on a frequency range optimized for the audio rendering device in use.
English Voice Clarity • Click to turn on/off Voice Clarity. • Drag the slider to increase speech recognition by boosting the range of human voice frequencies. Description: Boosts the speech in movies, video games and incoming communication from 0% to 100%.
English Compressor • Click to turn on/off Compressor. • Drag the slider to tighten audio according to a set threshold. Description: Levels the energy of sub bass, bass, medium and treble to a given threshold in order to maintain a constant level of each type of frequencies. The frequency leveler rate can be adjusted from 0 to 100%.
1.2.5 Tuning area English Virtual Surround • Click to enable Virtual Surround. • Click to select a Virtual Surround preset. Description: • Gaming and Movie use: Virtualizes the multichannel audio stream from the game engine or the movie soundtrack and downmixes it in order to retrieve a multichannel listening experience over your stereo headphones or speakers. • Music use: Expands the stereo for a wider sound stage.
English Upmix • Click to enable Upmix. • Click to select an Upmix preset. Description: Upmix the stereo audio content to multi-channel content and play it on your multichannel audio system. You will fully utilize your 4, 5.1, and 7.1 channel speakers and have multi-channel listening experience.
English Reverb • Click to turn on/off reverb. • Click to select a reverb preset. Description: Increases the feeling of spaciousness by applying different types of reverbs corresponding to different room sizes. The reverb effect can be adjusted from 0% to 100%.
1.2.6 Mic area English Noise Gate • Click to enable Noise Gate. • Drag the slider to remove the noise between words and sentences during voice communication. Description: Removes the background and the digital noise between words and sentences during your voice communication. The Noise Gate can be adjusted with a threshold (dB). The Noise Gate threshold needs to be adjusted in accordance with the type of microphone in use.
English Perfect Voice • Click to enable noise reduction. • Drag the slider to reduce remaining noise during voice communication. Description: Contrarily to the Noise Gate, the Perfect Voice removes the remaining sound that the Noise Gate has left on top of your words and sentences. The Perfect Voice level can be adjusted with a 0 to 100% slider.
1.2.7 Advanced Plug-in English The Advanced Plugin contains exclusive features such as Sonic Radar Pro and Raid Mode. Raid Mode (Strix RAID DLX/ Strix RAID PRO only) Description: The Raid Mode is a special feature on the control box that allows you to customize and lock a special effect from the Sonic Studio so that you can control and adjust effects spontaneously in game. On the Control Box, press On to enter Custom Mode or press Off to exit Custom Mode.
Sonic Radar Pro English Application name Description: The application name area is a specific area that you can ever find on the left top corner of the Sonic Radar screen.
Display tab English Description: This tab allows you to set up Sonic Radar’s presets for each application. For a currently played game, this tab allows you to set up: • Whether to display Sonic Radar. • If so, where to display Sonic Radar on the game screen. • The transparency of the radar and signals, as well as it’s remnant of the radar signals. When another tab is open, the Display tab will display a global summary of the current game settings.
English Display tab - Sonic Radar display Description: The Sonic Radar display area shows precisely the direction of the current played sound. It also allows you to fine tune and preview your settings such as Location, Transparency, and others. The sound visualization feature works with all kind of files (from stereo to 7.1) and even with virtualized music.
Display tab - Application list English Description: This area lists the games detected by Sonic Radar. When a game is detected by Sonic Radar, it will be added to this list. You can fine tune Sonic Radar’s settings for this game. To fine tune these settings, you will need to select the game for which you want to fine tune the Sonic Radar’s display. The Display area (marked in blue) will be updated to fit your game settings.
English Display tab - Location area Description: This area contains a game screenshot and visualized Sonic Radar. It allows you to choose where to display Sonic Radar on the game screen and view your settings including: • The Radar Transparency, • The Radar Size, • The Signal Transparency, • The Signal Remnant. You can click on the game screenshot to adjust Sonic Radar’s position and modify the settings without having to switch between the game screen and Sonic Radar screen.
Display tab - Reset English Description: The reset button allows you to restore the selected game’s default settings.
English Display tab - Test Description: When you click the test button, it will play a sound and show Sonic Radar’s behavior in real time on the Sonic Radar display area.
Display tab - Radar transparency English Description: The Radar Transparency slider allows you to set up the transparency for Sonic Radar to display on the selected game screen.
English Display tab - Radar size Description: The Radar Size slider allows you to set up the size for Sonic Radar to display on the selected game screen.
Display tab - Signal transparency English Description: The Signal Transparency slider allows you to set up the transparency for Sonic Radar’s bars to display on the selected game screen.
English Display tab - Signal Remanency Description: The signal remnant shows how adaptive/responsive the radar signal is. When the value is set as high, the radar signal will adapt slowly and show remnant signals. This is particularly useful when you want to sniff out a trail of path of your enemy as you can see the visual signals of which direction they were at. When the value is set low, the signal is highly adaptive and responsive.
Controls tab English Description: The Controls tab allows you to set up all the available shortcuts. These shortcuts are set up per applications and can be specifically defined for each selected game. When another tab is open, the Controls tab will display a global overview of the shortcuts defined for the selected game. With these shortcuts, you do not need to exit the game to change Sonic Radar’s settings.
English Controls tab – Hide/Unhide shortcut Description: The Hide/Unhide shortcut allows you to hide or show Sonic Radar by pressing shortcut keys in a game.
Controls tab – Switch GameEQ shortcut English Description: The Switch GameEQ shortcut allows you to quickly switch to the EQ you want to use. Go to the GameEQ tab to see the available EQs.
English Controls tab – Switch between the selected GameEQs shortcut Description: The Switch between the selected GameEQs shortcut allows you to quickly switch ON or OFF the current EQ.
Controls tab – Increase Opacity shortcut English Description: The Increase Opacity shortcut allows you to easily increase Sonic Radar’s opacity from the game.
English Controls tab – Decrease Opacity shortcut Description: The Decrease Opacity shortcut allows you to easily decrease Sonic Radar’s opacity from the game.
Controls tab – Radar Position shortcut English Description: The Radar Position shortcut allows you to easily switch between the available Sonic Radar’s positions from the game.
English Controls tab – Radar Size shortcut Description: The Radar Size shortcut allows you to easily switch between the available Sonic Radar’s sizes from the game.
Controls tab – Shortcut selection English Description: You can change the default shortcuts and define a new one. To change a shortcut, you can do either of the following: 52 - Click the shortcut field to select a shortcut; - Press the shortcut keys you want to use on your keyboard.
English Controls tab – Shortcut reset button Description: The shortcut reset button allows you to reset the shortcut to the default value.
GameEQ tab English Description: The GameEQ tab allows you to select and activate the EQ you want to use in the selected game. The GameEQ tab will display a summary of the Game EQ that are enabled for the selected game.
English GameEQ tab – Gun Fire Description: The Gun Fire EQ allows you to hear much more clearly the gun shots and visualize them in Sonic Radar.
GameEQ tab – Bomb English Description: The Bomb EQ allows you to hear much more clearly the “ticking” of the bomb and visualize it in Sonic Radar.
English GameEQ tab – High range Description: The High Range EQ increases the sound intensity which are corresponding to Firings, Footsteps, Running steps, etc. It will also display these specific sounds on Sonic Radar and this will let you know if there are enemies around you.
GameEQ tab – Mid range English Description: The Mid Range EQ increases the sound intensity which are corresponding to Firings, Voices, etc. It will also display these specific sounds on Sonic Radar and this will let you know if there are enemies or partners around you.
English GameEQ tab – Bass range Description: The Bass Range EQ increases the sound intensity which corresponds to Explosions, Vehicule, etc. It will also display these specific sounds on Sonic Radar.
GameEQ tab – Enabling/Disabling GameEQ English Description: The checkbox beside an EQ allows you to switch enable or disable a GameEQ. Tick a checkbox to enable an EQ or untick a checkbox to disable an EQ.
1.3 Exiting Sonic Studio Sonic Studio Strix Series User Guide English To exit Sonic Studio, right-click the Sonic Studio icon on the Windows notification area then click Exit.
2. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) English General 1) Can I install Sonic Studio on other OS than Windows® 8? Yes, but Sonic Studio is optimized for Windows® 7 (32-bit/64-bit), Windows® 8 (32-bit/64-bit) and Windows® 8.1 (32-bit/64-bit). We cannot ensure that you will get the best user experience on other OS.
1) English Audio effects Can I activate Sonic Studio’s audio effects with other audio effects (like Dolby’s for example)? Concerning devices where Sonic Studio audio processing is available, it is not appropriate to have Sonic Studio’s effects and other effects from a different audio processing simultaneously. For example, you can have Dolby’s effects, or Sonic Studio effects, but not both at the same time.
Device management English 1) What is a default device? It is the device (playback and / or recording device) selected by default in the Windows® Device Manager. This will be the predominant device you use to hear sound. 2) What is Windows® Device Manager and how do I access it? Windows® Device Manager is the control window which shows a complete list of playback and recording devices on your computer. This window also allows you to enable / disable / set as default your playback and recording devices.
