extra boy pro ifu

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E E x x t t r r a a B B o o y y P P r r o o

E E x x t t r r a a B B o o y y P P r r o o - 1 - April 5, 2009

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Soft- and Hardware GmbH. This product 2006 Paul R. Harvey

IInnssttr r uuccttiioonnss f f oor r UUssee..

Introduction.

General.

‘Extra Boy Pro’ (name derived from 'Extract') is a tool that can be used to isolate, remove,suppress or enhance ANY part of a stereo audio track! ‘Extra Boy Pro’ operates in real-

time and is not restricted to vocal processing only. ‘Extra Boy Pro’ incorporates a unique 2DSpectral-Spatial editing mode by which individual instruments, having been visually identifiedby their Spectral-Spatial graphical signature, can simply be deleted from the mix!Alternatively, an instrument that needs a boost can be boosted by simply drawing a Region of

Interest (ROI) around its Spectral-Spatial signature and increasing the gain in that part of themix. Multiple ROIs can be drawn and deleted independently. This provides the capability todelete, isolate or boost multiple instruments.

Features.

• Unique '2D Mode' Spectral-Spatial freehand audio signature editing functionality providingarbitrary manipulation of any part of a stereo mix. (Elevayta proprietary).

• Up to twice the audio resolution compared to Extra Boy.

• High quality isolation, removal, suppression or enhancement of ANY part of a stereoaudio track!

• Vertical scrolling high resolution Spectral-Spatial display.

• Up to 200 independent Regions-of-Interest (ROI) can be selected or deleted.• Provides incredible flexibility for fine tuning. Isolate or Remove ROIs at the touch of a

button.• Boost or suppress individual instruments using a single slider.

• User configurable startup mode and latency (depending on maximum desired quality).

• Five audio quality modes 'Lowest', 'Low', 'Medium', 'High', 'Highest'.

• Selectable in real-time with full scaling of ROIs. Plan on low quality and fine tune at higherquality!

• Multi-resolution ROI planning with ROIs retained between sessions and presets.• Scrolling multi-resolution Spectrograph display with feature mapping tool for cross-

correlation of features within the Spectral-Spatial display.

• Flexible control of Spectral-Spatial display modes.

•

Full PDC Compensation (in compatible hosts).

This brief guide is intended to provide some further insight into the usage and optionsavailable in ‘Extra Boy Pro’.

Document Release Information.

Product: Extra Boy ProProduct Versions: V5.01, VB6.01, V5.02, VB6.02

Doc. Version: 6.0Doc. Release Date: April 5, 2009Author: P.R.H.

http://www.elevayta.com/







The ‘Extra Main’ Page.

Figure 1 – The ‘Extra Main’ Page.

The parameters.

‘Low Cut’ Determines the Lower cut-off frequency below which the ‘Extra Boy

Pro’ processing is not applied.

‘High Cut’ Determines the Upper cut-off frequency above which the ‘Extra BoyPro’ processing is not applied.

Note: ‘Extra Boy Pro’ processing takes place on the frequenciesbetween the ‘Low Cut’ and ‘High Cut’ frequencies.

‘Spread’ This parameter is activated only when the ‘Spreadilate’ feature isused. It is used to control the width of the region in the sound field

on which the ‘Extra Boy Pro’ processing takes place (spatiallydependent rather than frequency dependent).

‘Extra Mix’ This parameter allows to adjust the mix (gain) of the band of

frequencies over which the ‘Extra Boy Pro’ processing is applied.

‘Humidity’ Adjusts the mix of dry to wet signal.

‘Stereolize’ Enables maximum preservation of the stereo field even after thevocal/instrument is removed. This is a unique technology to ‘ExtraBoy Pro’ and key to its superior performance.

‘Spreadilate’ Enables a processing step which limits the ‘Extra Boy Pro’ processingto stereo signal within a spatial range determined using the ‘Spread’ slider. Another unique technology to ‘Extra Boy Pro’ and key to its

superior performance in vocal/instrument isolation.

Displays the stereo

frequency

spectrum of the

audio signal








‘Bypass’ Bypasses all ‘Extra Boy Pro’ processing to leave the unprocessedaudio signal.

‘Pass Thru’ A selective feature than enables certain parts of the processing pathto be bypassed while retaining others. It disables the frequency based

filtering process. Required for some of the more sophisticatedpresets.








The ‘Extra 2D’ Page.

a) ‘2D Mode’ Off.

b) ‘2D Mode’ On.

Figure 2 – The ‘Extra 2D’ page.

The 2D display indicates the signal amplitude as a function of spatial (pan) position(horizontal) and frequency (vertical). This is referred to as the Spectral-Spatial display. The full

frequency range from 0 to > 20 kHz can be examined by scrolling the vertical slider at theright hand side of the display. When ‘2D Mode’ is activated it becomes possible to draw ROIson the 2D display using the mouse.

Note: Clicking the Left mouse button while dragging causes an ROI to be drawn. Clicking inan ROI with the Right mouse button removes it and its associated processing. Clicking in theoverlap between ROIs, with the right mouse button, causes both ROIs to be deleted.

Clicking the ‘ROI Count’ box causes all ROIs, and their combined effect, to be deleted.

Spatial

distribution of

audio signal

Left Right

Frequency

Signature of avoice in center of

audio sound-stage

Signature of a bass

at left of audio

sound-stage








The parameters.

‘2D Mode’ When activated, enables the 2D display and 2D audio processing. The

2D display indicates the signal amplitude as a function of spatialposition (horizontal) and frequency (vertical). When ‘2D Mode’ isactivated it is possible to draw Regions-of-interest (ROIs) around the

signals of interest. In default mode, the signal within an ROI will besuppressed. The cursor position is displayed (frequency and % panposition) in the display at the top of the window.

‘ROI Off’ When activated, ROIs that have been drawn will be removed from the2D display. Audio processing continues but the ROI display issuppressed. This is useful when the display becomes cluttered with

too many ROIs.

‘Gain Slider’ In the default ‘Off’ position, the ‘Gain Slider’ has no effect on the 2Dprocessing and the signal within all ROIs is suppressed. Increasing

the ‘Gain Slider’ allows for scaling of the signals contained within theROIs. Scaling goes from –90 dB to +20 dB. Thus, it is possible tofinely control (reduce or boost) the amplitude of individual regions of audio signal (specified by the ROIs) that correspond to specific

instruments. Note: Click on the display box below the slider to reset.

‘Quality’ This parameter controls the resolution with which audio processing is

performed. Each press of the button increases the resolution. A totalof five resolutions are available. The current quality is displayed atthe top of the window. Under default configuration the quality levels

span from ‘Lowest’, ‘Low’, ‘Medium’ to ‘High’. To be able to access thefifth level, ‘Highest’, it is necessary set a parameter in the .ini file(see below). From the .ini file it is possible to specify the maximumquality level that will be available – the trade off is that higher quality

levels result in higher CPU usage and longer latency. ‘Extra Boy Pro’ operates at the maximum latency as defined by the highest qualitylevel configured in the .ini file.

‘Extra-cate!’ This parameter performs an inverse operation such that audioremoval from with the ROIs can be converted to audio isolation.

‘Isolate’ Available only in 1D mode. When activated, only the audio in the

frequency spectrum contained between ‘High Cut’ and ‘Low Cut’ isheard. Using ‘Isolate’ on its own enables ‘Extra Boy Pro’ to be used asa band-pass filter.

‘Freeze’ Available only in 2D mode. When activated, freezes the 2D display.








The ‘Extra Spectra’ Page.

Figure 3 – The ‘Extra Spectra’ page.

The ‘Extra Spectra’ page is accessible only when ‘2D Mode’ has been activated. The 2D displayon this page is a scrolling Spectrograph (Temporal-Spectral display). The horizontal axis istime and the vertical axis is frequency. The full frequency range from 0 to > 20 kHz can beexamined by scrolling the vertical slider at the right hand side of the display.

Note: Clicking the Left mouse button inside the Spectrograph display cause a marker to be

placed at the same frequency location in the ‘Extra 2D’ Spectral-Spatial display. Thisfunctionality enables features that are more easily identified in the scrolling Spectrographdisplay to be located ‘land-marked’ in the Spectral-Spatial display so than an ROI can then bedrawn at the appropriate area.

The parameters.

‘dB Intensity’ When activated, switches the intensity scale from a linear scale to a

logarithmic scale. Default is ’On’ which provides optimum display of signals from most frequencies. Applies to both 2D displays.

‘3 dB Slope’ When activated, adds a 3 dB slope along the frequency axis. This

makes visualization of signal amplitude over the whole frequencyrange more easy (in some applications).

‘Persist’ When activated causes both 2D displays to be persistent in theirdisplay. In other words, the signal intensity accumulates over alonger period of time which can make it easier to identify coherentsignals.

‘Offset’ Adjusts the ‘Brightness’ of the 2D display. Note: Click on the displaybox below the slider to reset.

‘Slope’ Adjusts the ‘Contrast’ of the 2D display. Note: Click on the display

box below the slider to reset.








‘Freeze’ Available only in 2D mode. When activated, freezes the 2D display.








‘2D Mode’ and ROI Manipulation.

Selecting an ROI.

Figure 4 – Selecting an ROI.

Figure 4 illustrates the process of selecting an ROI. First locate a region in the Spectral-Spatial

display that you wish to suppress. Place the mouse cursor, left click and draw the ROI. Whenthe mouse is released the ROI will remain and the effect on the audio will be apparent. Instandard ‘2D Mode’ an ROI suppresses audio within the region I covers. All ROIs scroll with the

display!

Selecting Multiple ROIs.

Multiple ROIs can be drawn as shown in Figure 5. The combined effect of all ROIs is used whenprocessing the audio signal. This enables to place multiple ROIs covering the whole frequency

spectrum associated with a single or multiple sound sources (vocal or instrumental).

Figure 5 – Selecting Multiple ROIs.








Moving ROIs.

An ROI can be moved by (left) clicking on its edge with the cursor crosshair and dragging theROI to a new position while the mouse button is held down.

Figure 5a – Moving an ROI. Select with mouse and drag to new position.

Deleting ROIs.

An ROI, or group of ROIs can be deleted by placing the mouse cursor inside them and clickingthe right mouse button. Alternatively, to delete al ROIs in one go, click on the ‘ROI Count’

display at the top of the window.

Using The ‘Quality’ Function.

A good approach to suppressing a complete instrument is to start at the Lowest quality setting.

This provides the largest overview of all the frequencies and spatial characteristics involved inthe audio signal. The ROIs can be drawn to cover most desired regions.








Figure 6 – Selecting different Quality settings with ROI scaling.

When the quality is increased the ROIs scale so that they cover the same Spectral-Spatialregion and the audio quality improves. By doing this it is possible to add additional ROIs atdifferent quality settings to achieve optimal results.








The Spectrograph Display and ‘Land-marking’.

The Spectrograph display can be used to identify instruments that are more easily seen bytheir time/frequency domain (Temporal-Spectral) signature.

Figure 7 – Spectrograph ‘land-marking’.

In the example in figure 7, the 2D display was frozen and the mouse cursor was left clicked at5 locations on the Spectrograph display to mark the positions of the vocal signature. Thelocations in frequency space have been automatically transferred and displayed on theSpectral-Spatial display as represented by the green indicators in the right hand image. Having

located the vocal signature in the Spectral-Spatial display, it can be removed, or otherwise

manipulated, by drawing an ROI around the location (final image).








Boosting and Reducing Sound Sources.

ROI Gain Control.

Figure 8 – Boosting or Reducing individual sound sources.

Figure 8 shows how to boost or reduce the contribution of an array of sound sources to anoverall mix. Simply choose the ROIs and adjust the Gain Slider to scale the audio signal insidethe ROIs.

This is excellent for boosting or reducing different instruments in a mix.

The ‘Extra-cate!’ feature.

If, having selected a group of ROIs, you would now like to isolate the audio signal from onlythose ROIs, this is simply achieved by activating the ‘Extra-cate’ feature.

Figure 9 – ‘Extra-cate!’ to isolate only the audio inside the ROIs.








Changing the Color Look-up Table (LUT).

The color lookup table (LUT) determines the relationship between signal amplitude, in the 2Ddisplay, and the color used to display it. The default LUT is called “Fire”. In some cases

changing the LUT makes signal characteristics easier to differentiate. Extra Boy Pro provides achoice of 20 different LUTs to choose from. Also, when the LUT is changed, the configuration isstored with the project and automatically used the next time the project is opened.

Figure 9a – Changing the color LUT.

To change the color LUT, click on the “Elevayta” logo in either the “Extra 2D” view or the “Extra Spectra” view. When clicked, a dropdown box appears (as shown in figure 9a). Clicking

on the dropdown box provides a list of color LUTs to choose from. Select the LUT that youwant and the 2D display will change immediately to using that LUT. The dropdown box can behidden again by changing the page to “Extra Main” or “About” or by simply clicking on the

“Elevayta” logo.








The ‘About’ Page.

Figure 10 – The ‘About’ page.

Shows the latency in ms, credits, and the registration information.

Configuring Quality and The ‘Extra_Boy_Pro.ini’ file.

When ‘Extra Boy Pro’ is used for the first time, it will generate a ‘.ini’ file in the same directory

as the plug-in is located. This ‘.ini’ file contains the following information:

[StartUp]Start_Preset=0Start_Page=0MaxQuality=3

ToolTips=1

This file can be edited with a text editor.

The ‘Start_Preset’ parameter refers to the preset to use on plug-in load and can be setbetween 0-19.

The ‘Start_Page’ parameter refers to the page to show on plug-in load and can be set between0-1. This will display either the standard ‘Extra Main’ page or the ‘Extra 2D’ page.

The ‘MaxQuality’ parameter determines the maximum allowed quality setting for ‘Extra BoyPro’. It can be set between 0-4 (i.e. 0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4). The setting has an influence on themaximum audio quality attainable which also influences the latency of the plug-in. The defaultsetting is 3 which enables quality setting up to the ‘High’ setting. This should be suitable for

most purposes. To achieve ‘Highest’ quality setting, the value of 4 needs to be set for ‘MaxQuality’.

The ‘ToolTips’ parameter can be set to 0 or 1. When set to 0, tool tips are disabled in the user

interface.








If you run into problems, just delete the ‘.ini’ file and all will be reset.








The ‘Extra Boy Pro’ Presets.

Figure 11 – The Presets.

‘Extra Boy Pro’ is supplied with 20 presets. The second group of 5 are the same as the firstgroup but utilizing the highest resolution processing available.

Vocal Out – Mode 1.

Uses the ‘Stereolize’ functionality to remove vocals from an audio signal. The ‘Low Cut’ and ‘High Cut’ sliders are optimized to cover the typical vocal frequency range. Hint: Try loweringthe ‘Low Cut’ slider to about 160 Hz – 200 Hz for improved vocal removal in some cases.

Vocal Out – Mode 2.

Uses the ‘Spreadilate’ functionality to realize vocal removal. Frequency dependent processingis disabled by application of the ‘Pass Thru’ button.

Full Spectrum.

This is similar to Vocal Out – Mode 1 except that the frequency filter is performed over thewhole audio spectrum rather than just the region occupied by vocals.

Vocal Band Only.

Allows only the region in the vocal frequency range to be heard (uses the ‘Isolate’ feature).








Isolate Vocal.

One set of optimized settings for vocal isolation.

Notch Filter.

Use ‘Extra Boy Pro’ in 1D mode as a notch filter.

2D Mode – Normal Qual.

Default quality 2D mode.

2D Mode – Lowest Qual.

Lowest quality 2D mode.

2D Mode – Highest Qual.

Highest quality 2D mode.

2D Mode – Flat ROI Gain.

2D mode in which the ROI gain setting is set to 1. Drawn ROIs have no effect on the audiosignal.

2D Mode +3 dB ROI Gain.

2D mode in which the ROI gain setting is set to +3 dB. Drawn ROIs will increase the volume of the audio signal within the ROI.

2D Mode –6 dB ROI Gain.

2D mode in which the ROI gain setting is set to –6 dB. Drawn ROIs will decrease the volume of the audio signal within the ROI.








FAQs.

1) Why is there such a long latency when using ‘Extra Boy Pro’ in a host that doesn’t supportPDC?

A: ‘Extra Boy Pro’ uses sophisticated processing that cannot be performed without some

latency. In a PDC compliant host, this is not a problem.

2) ‘Stereolize’, ‘Spreadilate’ what’s that?

A: These are names for specific processing functions that are absolutely unique to ‘Extra Boy Pro’. These processing steps are considered proprietary to Elevayta and willnot be disclosed.








Summary.

This guide was intended to provided a brief introduction to the features of ‘Extra Boy Pro’. Asyou, the user, gain experience using this plug-in, many more possibilities will becomeapparent. Your own imagination is the only restriction.

Constructive feedback is always appreciated. Please send comments and suggestions to:

[email protected]

Enjoy this product and look out for more to come from Elevayta.

mailto:[email protected]







Disclaimer.

This software ‘Extra Boy Pro’ is provided ‘as is’ without warranty of any kind. The authormakes no guarantee of correctness, accuracy, reliability, safety or performance. You alone are

responsible for determining if this software is safe for use in your environment. Neither theauthor, Elevayta, nor anyone else who has been involved in the creation or delivery of thisproduct shall be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages arisingfrom the use or inability to use such product even if the author has been advised of thepossibility of such damages.

Copyright Statement.

This product, publication and all aspects of design, are copyright 2006 Paul R. Harvey, withall rights reserved world-wide.

VST is a trademark of Steinberg Soft- and Hardware GmbH.

A Message for the Software Pirates.

Some elements of the code used in this software have been bought, by me, from small scaledevelopers in Russia, Chile and China. Some software is expensive, I agree – but not this. It’s

a challenge to crack the code and show off – if that’s what turns you on. But, come on now,what’s so impressive about cracking $20 worth of code? Why not spend that time being a bit

more creative and generate some useful software for somebody else. Who knows, if you goabout it in the right way, perhaps somebody will want to buy your software and you can earnsome money for yourself! That would be much more constructive than using your talents todestroy the business of others. I put money back in to the world software development pool,and that directly benefits the small scale developers in an environment dominated by large

corporations – don’t destroy my business – use your imagination more constructively – don’ttake that opportunity away from yourself – I might want to buy your software also one day!



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