28th December 2012
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#1 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Milan Thread Starter Verified Member  | Your Voxengo SPAN settings
Just wondering what internal settings people are finding useful with the Voxengo SPAN analyser, and for what purposes. Do you have one particular setting saved as a preset for mastering, de-essing, "looking" at the bass frequencies only etc.?
The thing I like a lot about SPAN is how configurable it is, how smooth it runs, and how "cool" it looks, but I usually have one just one setting I stick to for viewing the track as it comes back in after the analogue loop, which I also use for sending pink noise through when I am getting the stereo tracking exact before I do the take.
I don't have my settings to hand (doh!), but the next time I'm in the studio I'll jot them down and report them here.
Just thought it might be interesting to see what settings other people use. Tracking/mixing suggestion settings welcome also! Some of the settings are not that well explained in the manual, so it would be interesting to hear why you do what you do too!
Am well aware a lot of people choose not to use/don't like analysers, but that's not what I'm asking! Have had many a client comment on how cool it looks...  | 
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28th December 2012
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#2 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jan 2010 Location: underneath the dank, cobbled streets of Landon Taaaan'
Posts: 1,858
Verified Member |
OK good idea Gregg, this is my usual mastering settings attached.
I set it like this because it is sufficiently accurate on frequencies, plus the 'lack' of a slope makes it simple to judge relative freq levels.
The slowness doesn't really bother me, I tend to only use the analyser for help with surgical cuts anyway, so would rather have the freq domain accuracy instead.
It has a second spectrum which keeps a max which I also find useful.
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28th December 2012
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#3 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jan 2009 Location: Boise, Idaho
Posts: 2,579
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Here's what I use when mixing. Yes, it's an earlier version because the newer one annoys me for some reason. I adjust the reference point (-15dB in this pic) a little this way or that way, but everything else stays pretty much the same.  | |
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28th December 2012
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#4 | | Lives for gear
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,211
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The one thing about SPAN that pisses me off is the routing matrix. There isn't a way to monitor Mid without Side. If you set a M/S group, you have to use both IIRC. The older version of SPAN didn't have window overlap settings or channel routing. For some reason, I think the dBFS spectrum was more accurate in the first versions, because in the new version a 0dBFS sine tone ends up way over 0dBFS on the spectrum display... maybe someone can explain that.
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28th December 2012
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#5 | | Gear addict
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 420
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I prefer the older versions too.
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28th December 2012
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#6 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jan 2010 Location: underneath the dank, cobbled streets of Landon Taaaan'
Posts: 1,858
Verified Member | Quote:
Originally Posted by OpusOfTrolls  because in the new version a 0dBFS sine tone ends up way over 0dBFS on the spectrum display... maybe someone can explain that. | This might be connected with the slope control?
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28th December 2012
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#7 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Apr 2011 Location: Vermont
Posts: 2,244
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use 4096 block size for 'accurate' level reading from the spectrum Quote:
Originally Posted by OpusOfTrolls ...There isn't a way to monitor Mid without Side... | the "SOLO" button does not work for this?
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29th December 2012
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#8 | | Lives for gear
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,211
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Originally Posted by stinkyfingers use 4096 block size for 'accurate' level reading from the spectrum
the "SOLO" button does not work for this? | I meant display, not monitor, my bad. That's not the problem though. SOLO only tells one group to analyze and output. I was attempting to use the routing matrix to set 4 groups, M/S and L/R, so I could use two spectrums per group, max and average. It does not do it unless the A/B swap is used. I find it irritating because there is no way to use the routing matrix for both M/S and L/R at the same time.
With the slope control set to 0dB, a 0dBFS sine wave peaks at +9dB on the spectrum, using 32768 block size. With block size 4096, it peaks at 0dB. Quite strange, every block size has a different peak value.
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30th December 2012
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#9 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Milan Thread Starter Verified Member |
OK, here are mine, sorry for delay! I'm using the latest version.
Routing: Dual Mono (So you can see L & R separately, I use this for lining up stereo)
Settings (same for Left & Right):
Spectrum Analyser
FILLED DISPLAY: No (I prefer lines)
2nd SPECTRUM: No (looks too messy, but sometimes good if set to RT MAX)
TYPE: RT AVG
2nd TYPE: RT MAX (if active)
BLOCK SIZE: 8192
OVERLAP: 93.8 (very smooth)
AVG TIME: 6000 (very slow)
Display Range
Smoothing: 1/6 OCT (Or larger for general "overview")
FREQ LOW: 9.9
FREQ HIGH: 22.1K
RANGE LOW: -66.1
RANGE HIGH: -17.8
SLOPE: 3.00 (Gives a flat line with pink noise, that I use for lining up stereo signals)
I usually have the meters and stats hidden, as I am using other plugins for these (Sonoris Meter, Elephant etc.)
As you can tell, mine is a very averaged/slow setting which I like for seeing the overall "shape" of a track, although it therefore doesn't show much quick transient information.
huejafink and wado, thanks for posting your presets, will check them today.
Interesting that quite a few people like the earlier version more. I stuck with that for a long time too, as the new version wouldn't work well on my old PC, but I switched to the new one after I upgraded.
I think it's weird that the block size affects level... Might have to set mine to 4096 instead. Would I be right in thinking that a higher block size will be better for looking at lower frequencies specifically?
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30th December 2012
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#10 | | Gear nut
Joined: May 2006 Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 140
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Originally Posted by sanddigger1 I prefer the older versions too. | Agreed on the older version. Thanks everyone for this discussion. Not to hijack the thread but I would like to hear your comments comparing Span to BlueCat's FA.
-D
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30th December 2012
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#11 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Milan Thread Starter Verified Member |
Never tried the BlueCat, is it also free?
Anyone have a link for the older SPAN now? Think I deleted it...
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30th December 2012
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#12 | | Gear nut
Joined: May 2006 Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 140
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Originally Posted by Babaluma Never tried the BlueCat, is it also free?
Anyone have a link for the older SPAN now? Think I deleted it... | BCFA Free HERE
-D
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30th December 2012
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#13 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Milan Thread Starter Verified Member |
Thanks, will check it out.
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30th December 2012
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#14 | | Lives for gear
Joined: May 2012
Posts: 1,211
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Originally Posted by Babaluma I think it's weird that the block size affects level... Might have to set mine to 4096 instead. Would I be right in thinking that a higher block size will be better for looking at lower frequencies specifically? | Yes it is better in so far as resolution, but the transient events will be slower unless window overlap is used. FFTs do not like transients without good windowing and overlap.
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31st December 2012
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#15 | | Gear maniac
Joined: Apr 2011 Location: zurich
Posts: 264
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;-)
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2nd January 2013
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#16 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Jul 2006 Location: NY
Posts: 1,421
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Originally Posted by Babaluma ... Might have to set mine to 4096 instead. Would I be right in thinking that a higher block size will be better for looking at lower frequencies specifically? | Yup, the higher the resolution here the better one can track the low frequencies with accuracy.
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2nd January 2013
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#17 | | Gear Head
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 48
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Hi Guys,
At least in Soundscape, SPAN forgets all of its RMS, Peak and frequency display maximum values after closing the GUI and re-opening it.
Does this happen to you also in other DAWS?
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2nd January 2013
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#18 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Milan Thread Starter Verified Member |
No, you can save a preset and then set it to "use as default" and it will always be the default, despite what software you use it in.
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3rd January 2013
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#19 | | Gear Head
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 48
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Babaluma, I don't mean the paremeters but the maximum registered values for peak, RMS and so on...
Let's say you want to know what the maximum peak value of your song is, but close the SPAN GUI. When you open SPAN again it won't show the maximum peak value for the time its GUI was closed....
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3rd January 2013
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#20 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Milan Thread Starter Verified Member |
ah, i see what you mean! i think it does that in my software too (audiomulch and samplitude).
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26th March 2013
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#21 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,221
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any of you know how set up routing for multi track analysis with span in pro tools?
seems possible, can't find any tuts on how to do this in pro tools though.
thanks.  | |
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27th March 2013
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#22 | | Lives for gear
Joined: Feb 2006 Location: Milan Thread Starter Verified Member |
Apparently, you can't use SPAN for multi-track, if you want that functionality you have to buy the GlissEQ, but I could be wrong, check the manual and the Voxengo forum.
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