So, I went ahead and bought a new 1ghz G4 for the purpose of running Altiverb. Apparently, these new Macs force you to use OS X (there is no dual boot option.) I've also read that you can't even install OS 9 on them if you wanted to if it's one of the newer Macs. Problem is, I can't get Performer to run in "classic" mode of OS X, nor is my audio card supported by OS X.

Has anyone out there been succesful in using Altiverb on a newer mac, and if so, what software/hardware are you using to accomplish it?

Thanks in advance,
-sla

I don't altiverb works with OS X yet. I couldn't find anything on thier site that mentioned it was compatable.
You can still buy new g4's with os 9 from apple. your choices are limited but it is possible. Personally I would buy a used one off ebay or something.
There is a FREE PC copy of Altiverb on a site called noisevault.com. I don't know if it's good or not. worth a try.

I wish you'd posted three or four months ago, heheh. [:)]

I bought a G4 in mid-March that, much to my surprise at the time, only ran OSX. I found out I couldn't return it, and I've yet to use it. I prop my feet up on it from time to time but that's about it.

Are you 100% sure it can't start up under OS 9.2.2? I know you're not supposed to be able to do that, but have you actually tried?

i checked with the altiverb guys about osX.. no dates yet// but it will be a free update for us os9 users


i'll see if i can dig up the e.mail

100% sure, Nick. I tried all the tricks my mac user buddies knew and none of them worked. I spent about a week trying different things. Apparently there's something built into the firmware that prevents a startup from OS9.

I talked to the Altiverb guys too in March and they made it sound like OSX support was just around the corner back then too. If it isn't soon, it may be irrelevant when VSL's MIR stuff comes out.

I dare to predict that AudioEase will be faster with their update than we will be with the developement ... :-/

/Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library

Altiverb is now available for OSX for a variety of audio formats:

HTDM, MAS, RTAS, VSTi, AU, etc. More information is here:
http://www.audioease.com/

@yeehaanow said:

There is a FREE PC copy of Altiverb on a site called noisevault.com. I don't know if it's good or not. worth a try.

I've checked this out, and it could be pormising - esp. as a low-investment, saving-up-for-MIR-when-it-comes option. But I've looked everywhere for .wav format impulses of real concert halls (like there exists for Altiverb). Does anyone know where they can be found? There's lots of impulses from reverb units, but that defeats the purpose! The combination of the PC VST plugin SIR (see the link above) and some good wav impulses could be quite usable...

Anyone have any good links? These MUST exist, surely?!

Thanks,

Simon

So far I'm not seeing much about the GigaPulse in this thread but that is something to look into along this line. Its going to be like a rack of Alt verbs and then some. Similar to MIR and all real time. Hope that helps
Dave

just to underline that .... _similar_ to MIR, because the M stands for multiple ... anyway, it looks like some great development happens at tascam
christian

"So far" - was GigaPulse already announced in August? [:P]

PolarBear

Gigapulse, like GS 3.0, is likely to be vaporware, or, at the very least, will be irrelevant when MIR comes out.

I have an altiverb question for you "power" users......

I am outputting an instrument directly to altiverb for 100% wet use, but even using a Waves S1, when i use any of the large halls or churches, everything seems to be panned centrally, no matter what i do, and i cant seem to move anything to sound where i want it to in the stereo specturm...

i am getting some good distance perception, but only centrally, until i remove the altiverb and then it is fine again....

What am i doing wrong?


regards

David T

You should be getting *some* lateral positioning, but my guess is that this is happening because you're using it 100% wet. Those Altiverb samples are taken at some distance, where the angles are quite shallow.

The same thing happens with the EWQLSO far mic positions for the same reason, by the way; you don't get as precise a lock on where the instrument is sitting as with the closer samples.

Dietz suggested using a negative predelay to integrate the VSL recordings' early reflections with the Altiverb tail, and that works really well a lot of the time.

>>Dietz suggested using a negative predelay to integrate the VSL recordings' early reflections with the Altiverb tail, and that works really well a lot of the time.>>

Sorry Nick, sorry Dietz,

but what do I have to understand when speaking of an 'negative predelay'?

What is negative - is the phase inversed? Is the Delaytime set to negative values (hmmm, how to do that?)

Would you mind to describe that a bit more clearly?

Thanks,
Steff

Nothing like that! It just starts the reverb later, I think, so you get a transparent seam between the sample and the space.

I don't use it on everything, but it can be effective.

Steff,

Pre-Delay acts on the Reverb Tail. (Typically Pre-Delay is handled by separate circuitary or its software equivalent in standard reverb units).

The simplest way of thinking of this is that Positive Pre-Delay works by offsetting (delaying) the WET part of the signal whereas Negative Pre Delay acts on the DRY part of the signal.

I wish we could post pictures on this site - this next bit needs a diagram!

There is a very subtle difference between how Pre-delay works (and is implemented) in 'Standard' Reverbs and 'Convolving' Reverbs. In Convolving Reverbs the Dry signal is re-sampled (complex conjucated math 1-j and 1+j etc.) This means that the post convolved sound image contains both the Dry and the Wet. Pre-delay 'negative or positive' then acts by emphasing or de-emphasing the tail element.

In Altiverb you can add more (Pure) DRY to the mix --- this is not increasing what is sent to the Reverb but simply adding more dry signal to the mix.

In Space Designer Emagic have added additional 'circuitary' which effectively splits the Pure Reverb and the Pure Signal (It really is wrong to think of the terms Wet and Dry post convolution) - this is more akin to the standard Wet/Dry balance seen in most reverbs - this really come into effect when you use Space Designer in Synthetic IR mode.

David T,

WAVES S1 and Altiverb (or Space Designer for that matter) dont seem to want to work that well together. I agree with your findings that on large spaces you get a kind of MUSH in the middle. [NOTE - in reality you would expect some loss of Imaging in the upper frequencies, more so in multi-faceted spaces, naturally caused by subtractive phase destruction]

M-S and M-S EQ techniques might give you some improvements.

However when I changed out the S1 for the MDA Imager (FREE VST PLUG-IN that works with the VST/AU Wrapper in OSX) I got the clarity that I needed.

tattie

Tattie -

the "negative pre-delay" of AltiVerb just shortens the initial phase of the IR, it has nothing to do with the dry signal per se.

/Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library

Hmmm!, [:D] I thought that is what I said.


"This means that the post convolved sound image contains both the Dry and the Wet. Pre-delay 'negative or positive' then acts by emphasing or de-emphasing the tail element"

It will be hard to break the habit of talking about wet and dry. In convoluting Reverbs Wet and Dry are really meaningless, in the classic sense.

tattie
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