miniDSP DDRC-24 User Manual Download Page 18

Page: 18 / 50

miniDSP Ltd, Hong Kong /

www.minidsp.com

/ Features and specifications subject to change without prior notice

4.2

EY FEATURES

This section summarizes the key features of the plugin. For detailed information, see Section 8.

4.2.1

Master control

Once the plugin is online, the items in the Master Control area are active. The

Mute

button disables all audio

output:

The

Master Volume

display shows the current volume setting. The master volume can be set directly by clicking

here and typing a new value. It can also be set with a remote control:

The

Start

Dirac Live Software

button starts the separate

DiracLive

application. When this button is pressed, the

DDRC-24 plugin will disconnect from the DDRC-24 processor and then start up

DiracLive

You

must

start the DiracLive application from within the DDRC-24 plugin using the

Start Dirac Live

Software

button. If you open the DiracLive application by itself, it will not be able to detect the

DDRC-24 processor.

The

Dirac Live

button turns Dirac Live processing on and off. This function can also be accessed with a remote

control and from within the DiracLive app:

The

IP Address

and

Auto

fields are for use with networked control of the plugin using the miniDSP

WI-DG

Wifi/Ethernet to USB bridge

. See the

Wi-DG User Manual

for details.

Summary of Contents for DDRC-24

Page 1: ...DSP Ltd Hong Kong www minidsp com Features and specifications subject to change without prior notice 1 DDRC 24 ULTRA COMPACT 2 IN 4 OUT AUDIO PROCESSOR WITH DIRAC LIVE ROOM CORRECTION TECHNOLOGY User Manual ...

Page 2: ...miniDSP Dirac Live User Manual 30 June 2020 SUPPORTED OS If you are unable to run the above versions of the Windows or macOS operating system you will need to use the original version of Dirac Live Dirac Live 1 with your DDRC 24 processor Please refer to the DDRC 24 User Manual Legacy Support version Note Use of Dirac Live with macOS Mojave and Catalina requires some manual workarounds which are d...

Page 3: ...1 Download and install the DiracLive application 13 3 2 2 Download the miniDSP software 13 3 2 3 Install the miniDSP software 14 3 3 2x4 HD to DDRC 24 upgrade 15 4 Configuring with the DDRC 24 Plugin 16 4 1 Synchronizing with the processor 17 4 2 Key features 18 4 2 1 Master control 18 4 2 2 Configuration preset selection 19 4 2 3 Inputs 19 4 2 4 Input selection 19 4 2 5 Matrix mixer 20 4 2 6 Outp...

Page 4: ...3 5 Compressor 37 8 3 6 Invert and mute 37 8 3 7 Time delay 38 8 4 Custom biquad programming 38 8 4 1 What s a biquad 38 8 4 2 Using custom biquad programming 39 8 4 3 Biquad design software 40 8 5 Working with configurations 41 8 5 1 Online and offline mode 41 8 5 2 Selecting a configuration 41 8 5 3 Saving and loading configurations 42 8 5 4 Relationship with Dirac Live 42 8 5 5 Restoring to def...

Page 5: ...rect configuration of its settings As with any other product we recommend that you carefully read this manual and other technical notes to ensure that you fully understand how to operate this product The miniDSP audio processor is a powerful tool and misuse or misconfiguration such as incorrectly set gains or excessive boost can produce signals that may damage your audio system As a general guidel...

Page 6: ... to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected ...

Page 7: ...sing functions on each output channel This allows the DDRC 24 to be used for correction of a stereo signal integration of one or two subwoofers or to implement a combined two way crossover and room correction processor Combined with its selection of analog optical digital and asynchronous USB up to 192 kHz inputs the miniDSP DDRC 24 offers an unprecedented level of audio processing performance for...

Page 8: ...hole listening area not just at a single point The user has full control over the target frequency response Measurements are taken with a calibrated acoustic measurement microphone the miniDSP UMIK 1 1 In addition to correcting magnitude response Dirac Live corrects the system s impulse response which reflects how the system responds to a sharp transient such as a drumbeat Reflections diffraction ...

Page 9: ...e rates between 44 1 and 192 kHz are accepted Note the digital input accepts only a stereo PCM digital signal It does not accept encoded or multichannel digital audio such as Dolby Digital or DTS 2 2 ANALOG INPUTS AND OUTPUTS Connect an analog source or preamplifier to the RCA connectors on the front panel and connect the four analog outputs to power amplification or subwoofer s Be sure to take ca...

Page 10: ...192 kHz 2 4 DC POWER The supplied 12 VDC power supply includes a set of interchangeable power pins for USA UK Europe and Australia Fit the correct pins for your country Connect the DC plug to the 12 VDC power socket Apply power to the processor only after all input and output connections have been made The processor uses very little power and so can be left powered on If powered on and off the fol...

Page 11: ... a name like DiracLive v3 0 0 Setup Windows exe We recommend that you accept the default installation settings Do not run the application yet 3 1 2 Download the miniDSP software If you purchased your processor directly from miniDSP your software will be available from the User Downloads section of the miniDSP website when your order ships To access the download you will need to be logged into the ...

Page 12: ...en to the Windows folder 2 Double click on the plugin installer to run it It will be named DDRC_24 exe We recommend that you accept the default installation settings 3 1 3 3 Install the UAC2 driver 1 Connect the processor to the computer using the supplied USB cable and power it on 2 Navigate to the WinDrivers folder of the software download and double click on the driver installer miniDSP_UAC2_v4...

Page 13: ... 0 0 Setup Darwin app We recommend that you accept the default installation settings Do not run the application yet 3 2 2 Download the miniDSP software If you purchased your processor directly from miniDSP your software will be available from the User Downloads section of the miniDSP website when your order ships To access the download you will need to be logged into the website with the account y...

Page 14: ...ftware download and then to the Mac folder 4 The installer is named DDRC 24 pkg To run it double click on it or right click and open as described above We recommend that you accept the default installation settings 5 To run the plugin locate it in the Applications miniDSP folder and double click on it To make it easier to run in future right click on its dock icon and select Options Keep in Dock 3...

Page 15: ...ect power 8 Start the DDRC 24 plugin Click the Connect button towards the top right 9 The following screen will appear 10 Click on the button Copy Activation Code to Clipboard 11 Send an email message to info minidsp com with the Subject line DDRC 24 Activation Request In the body of the email message paste the activation code from the above step 12 miniDSP will respond in normal Hong Kong working...

Page 16: ...orming Dirac Live calibration This section provides a summary of the plugin and how to use it During initial configuration of the processor it is strongly recommended that any connected amplification be powered off Upon starting the plugin it brings up a screen with various controls and a main configuration area This section describes the key features of the plugin and provides an application spec...

Page 17: ... for the currently selected configuration into the DDRC 24 Note that this applies only to data that can be changed in the DDRC 24 plugin Dirac Live filters are not changed by doing this After downloading the configuration data the plugin is online Synchronize and Upgrade This is similar to Synchronize Config but also upgrades the internal data of the processor This option may appear after download...

Page 18: ... The Start Dirac Live Software button starts the separate DiracLive application When this button is pressed the DDRC 24 plugin will disconnect from the DDRC 24 processor and then start up DiracLive You must start the DiracLive application from within the DDRC 24 plugin using the Start Dirac Live Software button If you open the DiracLive application by itself it will not be able to detect the DDRC ...

Page 19: ...et is indicated by a dark background To switch to a different preset just click on the desired button 4 2 3 Inputs The Routing tab displays two input channel status strips Note that these are status only there are no user adjustable controls They are active only when the plugin is online For more information see page 31 4 2 4 Input selection When the plugin is online the currently selected input a...

Page 20: ...evel can be set individually for each input For more information see page 31 4 2 6 Outputs The Outputs tab displays a row of four output channel control strips All output channels are identical Each channel has an individual gain adjustment slider and a graphical and numerical display of the current signal level on that channel A comprehensive set of signal processing functions is accessed with th...

Page 21: ...ser and passed to two channels of Dirac Live processing for digital room correction The outputs from Dirac Live labeled Dirac 1 and Dirac 2 in the plugin UI are routed and mixed to the four output channels Each output channel has a comprehensive set of DSP functions These are all optional you can configure them if you want to according to your particular application As indicated in Figure 1 the pr...

Page 22: ...xample let s say this is done in preset 1 If Dirac Live filters have been loaded into preset 1 the delay and gain calculated by Dirac Live are still applied even if Dirac Live is turned off It s therefore best to use a preset that hasn t had Dirac Live filters loaded at all 2 Save the configuration to a file 3 Check to make sure that preset 1 is selected Then start the DiracLive application and ru...

Page 23: ... room correction In a stereo room correction configuration the plugin is set up to route the selected input through to output channels 1 and 2 This diagram illustrates the connections On the Outputs tab Rename the output channels from left to right to Left Right Unused and Unused Mute channels 3 and 4 labeled Unused Check that the crossover filters of channels 1 and 2 Left and Right are bypassed O...

Page 24: ...channels from left to right to Left Sp Right Sp Sub and Unused Mute channel 4 Unused Set a high pass crossover filter on channels 1 and 2 Left Sp and Right Sp For example Set a low pass crossover filter on channel 3 Sub For example On the Routing tab set the matrix like this You may need to do measurements with Room EQ Wizard or a similar program to fine tune your subwoofer crossover settings as d...

Page 25: ...connections On the Outputs tab Rename the output channels from left to right to Left FR Right FR Left W and Right W Set a high pass crossover filter on channels 1 and 2 Left FR and Right FR For example Set a low pass crossover filter on channels 3 and 4 Left W and Right W For example On the Routing tab set the matrix like this You may need to do measurements with Room EQ Wizard or a similar progra...

Page 26: ...puts tab again Use Room EQ Wizard or a similar program to measure each individual driver woofer and tweeter and equalize their response flat with the PEQ blocks This procedure is the same as for the 2x4 HD as described in our app notes at this link Set up your high pass and low pass crossover filters This procedure is the same as for the 2x4 HD as described in our app notes at this link This is a ...

Page 27: ...the miniDSP DDRC 24 is described in the separate miniDSP Dirac Live User Manual It can be downloaded from the DDRC 24 product page on our website Be sure to start the DiracLive application from within the DDRC 24 plugin using the Start Dirac Live Software button If you open the DiracLive application by itself it will not be able to detect the DDRC 24 processor ...

Page 28: ...Live filters have been loaded Vol Reduce or increase the volume Each press changes the volume in 0 5 dB Holding down a button will accelerate volume change to 3 dB steps Mute Mutes and unmutes audio output The DDRC 24 can also learn the control codes of your current remote if it supports one of the following remote control codes NEC Sony Philips RC6 Apple old silver remote only To initiate the lea...

Page 29: ...oth for streaming audio and configuration 7 1 MAC OS X Open the program Audio MIDI Setup in Applications Utilities Clicking on DDRC 24 in the list on the left hand side will show the input and output channels and allow sample rate and word length to be set To set the DDRC 24 as the default audio output device right click and select Use this device for sound output Individual audio playback program...

Page 30: ...r size Buffer tab We recommend that you leave these settings at their defaults If you are having an issue with inadequate output volume over USB playback check the Volume tab To set the DDRC 24 as the default output device open the Windows Control Panel and navigate to the Audio Devices section On the Output tab select DDRC 2x4n and click on the Set Default button Individual audio playback program...

Page 31: ...el Displays the current signal level in real time Dirac Live level Graphical and numerical display of the gain in dB that Dirac live has set for this channel Dirac Level delay Numerical display of the delay in milliseconds that Dirac live has set for this channel 8 2 ROUTING The Routing matrix mixer is used to direct input channels along the left to output channels along the top To turn on routing...

Page 32: ... on it type a new label up to eight characters and press the Return key 8 3 2 Level metering and gain adjustment Level meter current RMS level Display the current signal level both graphically and numerically in real time The plugin must be online to display signal levels Gain adjustment current gain The gain of each channel can be adjusted by moving the Gain Adjustment slider or by typing the des...

Page 33: ...g the combined response of all enabled parametric filters on that channel For example the screenshot above shows a response curve created with a low shelf boost filter at 100 Hz a dip at 500 Hz and a high shelf cut filter at 5000 Hz Hovering the mouse over the curve brings up an overlay showing the frequency and the gain at that frequency Each channel can be linked to one other channel When a chan...

Page 34: ...UB_EQ filter reduces the number of available filters on that channel from ten to nine Frequency For the PEAK and SUB_EQ filter types this is the center frequency of the peak or dip For the HIGH_SHELF and LOW_SHELF filter types this is the frequency at which the gain is half of the set value Gain For the PEAK and SUB_EQ filter types this is the gain in dB at the center frequency For the HIGH_SHELF ...

Page 35: ...ignal sent to the tweeter When integrating a subwoofer high pass filters are used on the speakers and a low pass filter on the subwoofer A crossover filter can also be used to limit low frequency content delivered to a speaker or subwoofer to help protect it from over excursion Unlike conventional analog crossovers the flexibility of DSP allows a completely arbitrary mix of different filter slopes...

Page 36: ...ee types of filter Butterworth BW Available in 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 and 48 dB octave Butterworth crossover filters are 3 dB down at the cutoff frequency Linkwitz Riley LR Available in 12 24 and 48 dB octave Linkwitz Riley crossover filters are 6 dB down at the cutoff frequency Bessel Available in 12 dB octave only a Bessel filter gives a more gradual roll off through the crossover region Bypass Cli...

Page 37: ...20 dB so the compressor will activate when the signal on that channel reaches 20 dB relative to full output The ratio is set to 2 so if the input signal level to the compressor then increases by 10 dB the output level will increase by only 5 dB If the input signal level to the compressor is at full scale 0 dB then the output level will be limited to 10 dB Two additional parameters control the acti...

Page 38: ...ould be used to time align drivers in the case of a two way loudspeaker and to optimize subwoofer integration when the DDRC 24 is being used to drive one or more subwoofers 8 4 CUSTOM BIQUAD PROGRAMMING Custom biquad programming is available in the PEQ and Crossover blocks Its purpose is to allow you to directly provide the low level parameters aka biquad coefficients that control the digital filt...

Page 39: ...ulated using a design program see Biquad design software for suggestions Parametric EQ advanced mode In the parametric EQ blocks advanced mode allows each individual filter to be specified by its biquad coefficients After pasting in the coefficients click on the Process button Parametric EQ file import REW integration Multiple biquads in the parametric EQ block can be set at once by importing a co...

Page 40: ...o take effect 8 4 3 Biquad design software Following are programs that can be used to design your biquad coefficients 8 4 3 1 Biquad calculation spreadsheet The community developed biquad calculation spreadsheet allows many filter types to be calculated including notch filters Linkwitz transforms and filters with arbitrary Q factor Access this spreadsheet here requires Microsoft Excel http www min...

Page 41: ...terface will be made locally only The next time the plugin goes online these parameters will be downloaded to the processor as long as the Synchronize Config button is selected The configuration contained in the miniDSP hardware unit cannot be uploaded back to the computer Therefore you must save your configuration to a file if you wish to recover from any changes you make while offline 8 5 2 Sele...

Page 42: ... menu select Load and then Load configuration to current slot If the plugin is online the new configuration data will be downloaded to the processor immediately If the plugin is offline the data will be loaded into the user interface only and will be downloaded to the processor the next time it is synchronized To copy a configuration from one preset to another save the configuration to a file then...

Page 43: ...t will take place in the user interface only and the new configuration data will be downloaded to the processor next time it is synchronized 8 6 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS The DDRC 24 plugin supports the use of the keyboard for many operations Tab The Tab key moves the focus from the current user interface element to the next A blue grey surrounding box usually indicates the user interface element with th...

Page 44: ...tputs Unbalanced analog audio 4 channels on RCA connectors Max output 2V RMS Output impedance 560Ω THD N 0 001 USB to RCA Dynamic range 103dB Audio resolution 24 bit input and output resolution 48 kHz internal sample rate Audio processing 32 bit floating point processor Flexible matrix mixer Dirac Live user programmable IIR filtering individual delays and gains per channel Filtering capabilities D...

Page 45: ...eck your Routing and make sure that you are routing inputs through to outputs 4 Check your crossover settings If there signal on the output meters but still no sound 1 Check that output cabling is connected to the right connectors on the rear panel and to the correct inputs on downstream equipment e g amplifiers 2 Check that downstream equipment e g amplifiers is not muted turned down or turned of...

Page 46: ...wnloads section of the miniDSP website then extract it on your computer on Windows right click and select Extract All on Mac double click DO NOT DISCONNECT THE USB CABLE OR POWER FROM THE DDRC 24 WHILE FIRMWARE UPGRADE IS IN PROGRESS DOING SO MAY BRICK YOUR DDRC 24 9 3 1 Windows 1 Connect the DDRC 24 to your computer via USB if not already connected and power it on 2 Navigate to the XMOS_Firmware ...

Page 47: ...ad folder and select the firmware file It will have a name like DDRC 24_XMOS_v1 7 bin The version number v1 7 may change 5 Click on the Start button 6 You will get a progress bar as upgrade proceeds 7 Once the firmware upgrade completes you will see a message that the upgrade completed successfully 8 Click on Exit 9 That s it You re done You can now use your DDRC 24 with the new functionality ...

Page 48: ...ange without prior notice 48 9 3 2 macOS OS X 1 Connect the DDRC 24 to your computer via USB if not already connected and power it on 2 Navigate to the XMOS_Firmware Firmware_Upgrade_Tools Mac folder of the software download 3 Double click on the DFU Utility app program to run it ...

Page 49: ...older of the software download It will have a name like DDRC 24_XMOS_v1 7 bin The version number v1 7 may change 5 Click on the Start button 6 You will get a progress bar as the upgrade proceeds 7 Once the firmware upgrade completes you will see a message that the upgrade completed successfully 8 Click on Exit 9 That s it You re done You can now use your DDRC 24 with the new functionality ...

Page 50: ...sue has already been raised and a solution provided 2 Contact miniDSP via the support portal at support minidsp com with a The product information obtained from the DDRC 24 plugin s About button and the DiracLive application b A clear explanation of the symptoms you are seeing c A description of troubleshooting steps see Trouble shooting playback issues performed and your results ...

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