UNFILTER User Manual V1.0.
Introducing UNFILTER What is UNFILTER? 7 7 System Requirements 8 Mac Requirements 8 Windows Requirements 8 Installation & Authorization Installation Mac 9 9 Installation Windows 10 Authorization Mac & Windows 12 Authorization Details 12 De-Activating a Machine 13 Overview 14 Applications For UNFILTER UNFILTER 2 User Manual v 1.0.
The Parameters 15 General Controls Behavior 15 General GUI Layout 18 The Header Bar 20 The Preset Manager 20 Storage Locations 20 “About” Screen & Update Check 21 The Graphic Display & Editor 22 Overview 22 Display 22 Breakpoint Editor:Overview 23 Breakpoint Editor: Operation 24 Breakpoint Editor: SNAP 25 Breakpoint Editor: Curve Type 26 Notes on INTENSITY BIAS mode 29 UNFILTER 3 User Manual v 1.0.
Notes on EQ mode 29 Learning Section 30 LEARN 30 RESET 30 DCY 30 AVG 30 NOISE 31 SAVE/LOAD 31 Process Section 32 INTENSITY 32 ƒ RESOLUTION 32 ƒ SMOOTHING 33 WEIGHTING 33 7-BAND EQ 34 Output Section 35 UNFILTER 4 User Manual v 1.0.
GAIN 35 LIMIT 35 BYPASS 35 LINK 35 High-pass Filter 35 NOISEMON(itor) 35 The Standalone pp 36 Understanding LEARN 37 Overview 37 AVG & DCY 38 Notes on AVG & DCY 39 NOISE 40 Tips on Setting up LEARN 41 FAQ 42 Questions & Answers 42 UNFILTER 5 User Manual v 1.0.
Authorization Issues Windows 43 CPU Load optimization 46 Getting Support 47 UNFILTER 6 User Manual v 1.0.
Introducing UNFILTER What is UNFILTER? UNFILTER is a plug-in that can remove filtering effects like resonance, EQ, roll-offs, the effects of comb filtering, or even synthesizer-type resonant filtering. To do this, it uses a process called real-time blind de-convolution to estimate the frequency response of the filter that was applied to your signal. UNFILTER then creates a transfer function that undoes the filtering.
System Requirements Mac Requirements ‣ Intel-based Apple Mac computer ‣ Minimum of 2 CPU cores running at 2.4 gHz or faster ‣ 1 GB of available RAM ‣ Mac OS X 10.6 or newer ‣ 60 MB free Hard-Disk space ‣ Apple AU (AudioUnits), Steinberg VST 2.4 or Avid RTAS/AAX compatible host software ‣ Internet Connection for Activation (though not necessarily on the Computer used for audio) Windows Requirements ‣ Minimum of 2 CPU cores running at 2.
Installation & Authorization Installation Mac Installing and authorizing UNFILTER on a Mac is very straight-forward. Simply expand the ZIP file you received, navigate to the Mac OS X folder in the resulting directory and mount the contained disk image file (.dmg) by double-clicking it in the Finder. Then launch the installer contained on the resulting, auto-mounted volume. Follow the on-screen instructions to install.
Installation Windows Installing and authorizing UNFILTER on a Windows system is very straight-forward. Simply expand the ZIP file you received and navigate to the Windows folder in the resulting directory. Therein, you will find the following individual installers: 1) VST 2.4 mono/stereo and 8ch plug-ins (32bit) 1) VST 2.4 mono/stereo and 8ch plug-ins (64bit) 2) RTAS mono/stereo plug-in 3) AAX mono/stereo plug-in Choose the appropriate installer and launch it.
All Windows installers will install the UNFILTER Authorizer app to \Zynaptiq\UNFILTER\. Windows Vista, Windows 7/8 users: please make sure you activate the plug-in when the activation dialog is opened during install (and NOT from within your host!). UNFILTER 11 User Manual v 1.0.
Authorization Mac & Windows To be able to use your new software, it needs to be activated. During installation of UNFILTER, the UnfilterAuthorizer app, will automatically be launched. Enter your serial number and click “Activate”. If your machine has access to the internet, you’ll be shown a confirmation of the successful authorization and you’re good to go. If the machine you’re activating on has no internet connection, you will be guided through the process.
the Zynaptiq copy protection allows the user to de-activate a system at any time, and reactivate it later - without contacting us. So essentially, you can pretty much move your authorizations around as needed. The only limitation is that in order to de-activate a machine, it needs to be connected to the internet. De-Activating a Machine To free up an activation, you can de-activate a machine. To do this, please launch the UnfilterAuthorizer app, and click “Deactivate Product”.
Overview Applications For UNFILTER UNFILTER has a lot of uses, here are some of them: ‣ Applying corrective equalization to sources in a virtually automatic manner. ‣ Removing unwanted resonance, equalization or filtering from a signal. ‣ Mastering-grade equalization of program material. ‣ Removing issues like comb-filtering, resonance and roll-offs from Dialog recordings. ‣ Enhancing intelligibility of speech in forensics and law enforcement. ‣ Matching tonal character of multiple signals.
The Parameters General Controls Behavior UNFILTER sports several control types, which have a variety of usability features. We will describe the ones with extra functionality here. “Trackball” Slider This control is a unique Zynaptiq type - it is essentially a vertical fader, that looks like a knob. The benefits of this configuration are that they are simple to control with a mouse like a fader, yet conserve GUI space like a rotary control.
“Standard” Slider This is a straight-forward slider control, which comes in horizontal as well as vertical configurations. Essentially, it follows the same rules as the “Trackball”: - Drag the thumb along the slider axis to adjust the value - Click anywhere in the slider groove to set the value directly - Hold shift while dragging for finer resolution. - When the control has focus, the up/down arrow keys and mouse scroll-wheel can be used to increment or decrement the value.
Momentary Button A momentary switch that triggers an action, such as a reset/clear. This control type comes in several sizes, but is always essentially a rectangular outline. Pull-down Selector/Menu Opens a menu on click. You can recognize this control type by its “cut off” top right corner. CTRL-click resets this to default value. Checkbox Switch Functionally identical to the Toggle Switch, this switch type is used within the display area. UNFILTER 17 User Manual v 1.0.
General GUI Layout The UNFILTER user interface is divided into 5 sections: the Header Bar, the Graphic Display & Editor Area and the Learning, Process and Output Sections. Header Bar Graphic Display & Editor Learning Section Output Section Process Section UNFILTER 18 User Manual v 1.0.
UNFILTER 19 User Manual v 1.0.
The Header Bar The Preset Manager To make working with the different plug-in formats easier, UNFILTER provides it’s own preset manager and preset format. This way, you can load your custom settings exactly the same way regardless of whether you’re working on the Mac or on a Windows machine, whether you’re using RTAS or VST.
“About” Screen & Update Check Clicking on the Zynaptiq Logo opens an “About…” screen which displays version information as well as copyright and and legal notices. Also, from within the About screen, you may check for updates manually or toggle automatic weekly update checking. UNFILTER 21 User Manual v 1.0.
The Graphic Display & Editor Overview Display The Graphic Display & Editor area serves two purposes:it displays various pieces of information and allows creating and editing a breakpoint curve that generates a frequency dependent bias (offset) to the INTENSITY parameter or serves as free-form EQ. The display shows amplitude versus frequency plots for the input (magenta) and output (mint) signals, as well as the estimated transfer curve, a.k.a. the measured filter response (red).
Breakpoint Editor:Overview The Breakpoint Editor allows creating a free-form curve defined by an arbitrary number of nodes, which are connected by line segments with user selected interpolation. The breakpoint curve can be used either as free-form EQ, or to adjust the INTENSITY BIAS parameter, adding or subtracting to the value of INTENSITY frequency dependently.
Breakpoint Editor: Operation Operation of the Breakpoint Editor is described here. While there are many rules on how this works, in practice you will find the breakpoint editor workflow to be very intuitive and fast. Adding and removing nodes - Click anywhere in the Editor area to insert a new node - To remove a node, a) CTRL-click or right-click it, b) drag it out of the editor area and let the mouse button go, or c) select it and press delete/backspace.
Moving nodes - Move a node or multiple selected nodes by dragging with the mouse, use the cursor keys on your keyboard or the mouse wheel to move selected nodes. - The first and last nodes can be moved vertically only. - Moving a node past another node horizontally will remove the other node when you release the mouse button. If you drag the first node back without having released the mouse button, the other node will re-appear. The same is true when moving multiple selected nodes.
Breakpoint Editor: Curve Type The curve type selector lets you choose the shape of the line segments connecting the nodes of the breakpoint curve. Choices are LINEAR, EASE I/O (ease-in/ease-out), PEAK/DIP, STEP EDGE and STEP MID. LINEAR simply connects the nodes with straight lines: EASE I/O creates a smooth curve between the nodes: UNFILTER 26 User Manual v 1.0.
PEAK/DIP creates a narrow peak or dip curve referenced around zero, whose width (aka “Q”) is defined by the distance to the neighboring nodes: STEP EDGE creates a stepped shape without transition, with the edge of the step being placed at the node position: UNFILTER 27 User Manual v 1.0.
STEP MID also creates a stepped shape, but the node is placed in the center of the segment, the edges being halfway between the node and its neighbors (in terms of frequency, not necessarily in terms of graphical representation): UNFILTER 28 User Manual v 1.0.
Notes on INTENSITY BIAS mode As described earlier, when the editor is set to INTENSITY BIAS mode, the breakpoint curve is added/subtracted to/from the main INTENSITY control’s value, allowing you to adjust the filtering/unfiltering amount frequency dependently.
Learning Section LEARN Activates learning. When off, the current transfer function is kept and static. When active, the transfer function estimate is continuously updated. Generally, you should keep this on until the red curve essentially “settles down”, unless you want to apply the current transfer function to another signal or want to apply the same processing to all channels (see LINK). RESET Resets the transfer function estimate to default, so LEARNing will restart from a neutral state.
NOISE When on, the LEARN function evaluates only stochastic/noisy signal components to determine the transfer function. Use this when working with signals that consist mainly of harmonic content or when using very short LEARN DCY times. SAVE/LOAD These buttons open a browser window that allows saving the current transfer function estimate as impulse response file (IR), or importing an IR as transfer function. On SAVE you can choose between linear and minimum phase modes.
Process Section INTENSITY The INTENSITY parameter controls the amount of unfiltering or filtering applied. The center position is neutral. Positive values result in the detected filter response being removed from the signal, linearizing its frequency response. Negative values will apply the detected filter response, which will exaggerate the filtering when using the same signal, or apply the filter if using a different, ideally already linear(ized) signal.
ƒ SMOOTHING ƒ SMOOTHING applies a smoothing algorithm to the process, resulting in less narrow-band boosting/attenuation. The transfer function curve in the display reflects this parameter’s effect. If you hear artifacts similar to pre-ringing or narrow band signal components “breaking out”, increase this value. WEIGHTING WEIGHTING applies a Fletcher-Munson curve to the transfer function of the plug-in. This allows for more natural sounding results when un-filtering aggressively.
7-BAND EQ The 7-BAND EQ is a mastering-grade graphic EQ intended for broad-stroke equalization after un-filtering. The sliders have a range of -6...+6 dB. The CLR button resets all sliders to +0dB. UNFILTER 34 User Manual v 1.0.
Output Section GAIN This control adjusts the output gain of the plug-in, the unit is dB. This control is pre-limiter to allow controlling the amount of limiting applied. LIMIT Activates a brick-wall limiter with a fixed threshold at 0dBFS to catch any overs. The limiter is positioned after the output gain control. This is intended for ensuring clip-free batch processing, and will not replace a fully-featured limiter (even though it is a very good sounding limiter as-is.
The Standalone pp On MacOS X, UNFILTER comes with a simple stand-alone application, the Zynaptiq StandAlone. This application is intended for quickly previewing audio through the plug-in, and is explicitly NOT intended to be an editing application. See it as a free bonus FYC. The application allows playing files through UNFILTER, as well as recording the results to a new file. As the application is not a full-blown host, it uses the Mac system audio preferences including device & sample rate.
Understanding LEARN Overview The LEARN function lies at the heart of UNFILTER, and thus understanding it will help you getting the most out of the plug-in. Well, how does it work? LEARN first creates a distinction between spurious frequencies in your signal (such as noise), and long term stationary components that contribute more to the overall sound of the recording.
AVG & DCY Additional parameters that affect the way LEARN evaluates your signal give you additional control over how this process works. Most importantly, the parameters AVG and DCY, which control how quickly LEARN responds to changes in the signal, and how quickly it "forgets" what it has seen. AVG takes the average over time to detect components in the signal that contribute notably to the overall sound of the signal. Low values for AVG will make the estimated filter response adapt quickly to the signal.
Notes on AVG & DCY While UNFILTER will in most cases simply work great, there are some trade-offs to consider in terms of how to set DCY and AVG times when you run into a signal that is particularly tricky. Note that “tricky” doesn’t relate to how strong the resonance issues are - in fact, the stronger the resonances, the easier they are to detect. It relates to how similar the signal and transfer function are.
NOISE Another important parameter in the LEARN process is NOISE. NOISE removes foreground information from the input sounds before processing, and allows the algorithm to only focus on the background information within the signal. To hear what this sounds like with your recording turn on NOISE MONITORING. If this is on, you will hear exactly what the algorithm will hear when NOISE is enabled.
Tips on Setting up LEARN So how to adjust these values in practice? Generally, you’ll be fine inserting the plug-in with the default preset - which has LEARN set to ON and DCY set to infinite – and de-activating LEARN once the transfer function (red line) in the display has “settled down”. From there, adjusting INTENSITY is probably all you’ll need to do. If you’re not satisfied, play with the two parameters to get a feel for how they influence the result. RESET the LEARN first.
FAQ Questions & Answers Q: I am hearing ugly drop-outs/ring-modulation/distortion, what is causing that & what can I do? A: Most likely, you are overloading your CPU. UNFILTER is a computationally very “heavyweight” process. The first thing you should try is to set the I/O and/or processing buffers of your host to higher values, ideally 2048 samples or higher. This will significantly decrease the CPU use and in most cases eliminates the artifacts mentioned above.
Authorization Issues Windows Q: I am using Windows and when I try to activate UNFILTER, I am seeing an error message stating there has been an “Unknown Error” and activation fails. What can I do? A: This means that there is something interfering with the activation process. Disable any firewall, security or anti-virus software and try again. If the problem persists you should temporarily disable your internet connection (by pulling the ethernet cable, for example).
SOME-WEIRD-CODE-IS-HERE Enter the Installation ID into the webform found at the URL displayed, using a different computer to access the web: You will then receive a response code. UNFILTER 44 User Manual v 1.0.
Enter the response code into the Authorizer app, click “activate”...and your software should now be activated successfully. UNFILTER 45 User Manual v 1.0.
CPU Load optimization UNFILTER uses a lot of CPU. The mathematics involved are highly complex, so there’s a lot of computation to be done. However, CPU load is affected by a couple of variables. We’ll outline strategies to get the most out of UNFILTER on your CPU here. 1) Use large buffer sizes. UNFILTER needs to look at a certain amount of signal to be able to discern which parts of the signal are the transfer function and which aren’t.
Getting Support If you’re having trouble with UNFILTER that isn’t covered in these FAQ, please email us & we’ll get you up and running ASAP. We can be reached via http://www.zynaptiq.com/support-form/ UNFILTER 47 User Manual v 1.0.
UNFILTER 48 User Manual v 1.0.
