With an increasing number of amplifier and processor brands adding user-accessible FIR functionality to their products, FIR Designer makes it easy for users to create their own FIR filters and load them into any FIR-supported product. Additionally, many manufacturers of loudspeakers (and other DSP-based audio playback devices) now use Eclipse Audio software to create and apply proprietary built-in FIR filters in the products they sell.
The latest update of FIR Designer and FIR Designer M introduces two new branded IIR modes - AFMG and Storm Audio. "These ensure precise matching of the IIR filter behavior with the destination processor by adjusting for brand-specific differences in IIR filter interpretation," explains Michael John, founder and lead developer at Eclipse Audio. "The two additions extend the list of existing supported brands, which includes Biamp Tesira, Blaze Audio, BSS, Lake, Linea Research, Marani, Pascal Audio, Powersoft, QSC Q-SYS, RAM Audio, RMS Acoustics, and Symetrix. The AFMG mode is unique in modeling analog filters spec'd in loudspeaker GLLs used in AFMG simulation tools like EASE and EASE Focus."
Two new export options are also now available. These include an IIR filter coefficient export option specifically for Audio Weaver, and new DTP (Direct-to-Processor) export for Lab Gruppen's IPX range of DSP amplifiers using the 'Loudspeaker Processor Interchange Format' (LPIF), a brand-agnostic JSON-based format for transferring loudspeaker EQ settings from filter design tools to DSP amplifiers & processors, developed by Eclipse Audio. (In FIR Designer M, this new DTP export includes automatic latency compensation when deploying FIR filters.)
Users of FIR Designer’s ‘Supplementary Responses View’ will welcome the new normalization option in the latest update. "A new set of loaded measurements can now be viewed in relation to the on-axis response, for both individual response plots and the polar heatmap, providing a clearer picture of the loudspeaker's radiation pattern," says John. "All main workflow processing – gain, polarity, delay, IIR, FIR - is applied to the new measurements before on-axis normalization is applied."
Eclipse Audio also recently released FIR Creator EX V2, a major software update to the application used by audio professionals to design custom filters and DSP solutions for loudspeaker and system optimization. The EX update offers significantly more functionality than standard FIR Creator, through the inclusion of several advanced features it shares with the flagship FIR Designer software, like Smaart Control for live measurement import, brand-specific IIR emulation modes and Direct-To-Processor (DTP) export for some brands.
The recent major update of FIR Creator EX V2 has greatly enhanced the level of customization available by eliminating all manual IIR & FIR filter limits for DSP design. Version 2 has also introduced more branded IIR modes, to ensure precise matching of the IIR filter behavior with the destination processor by adjusting for brand-specific differences in IIR filter interpretation.
Like the single channel FIR Designer, FIR Designer M and FIR Creator EX are available for macOS or Windows and free demos are available to download.
"FIR Designer and FIR Designer M now also look quite different to all previous versions," says John, "We’ve introduced a dark user interface option for the first time ever, allowing users to design custom DSP using either a light or dark theme."
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