Working with DSP Processors

A major advantage of the Fulcrum One software environment is the tight integration with the Fulcrum PA64 and Venueflex series digital signal processors. Using one application, on-screen changes can be immediately reflected in both the simulated models and the real space using a Fulcrum DSP processor.

Adding DSP Engines to a Project

Access the DSP Engines toolbox by clicking the icon on the left side of the window. A new engine may be added by clicking the + beside the list.

The dialog box allows you to name the new engine and select the features needed for the design. Currently, you may include any of the following functionality:

1. The name of the engine,
2. The input/output channel capacity needed,
3. The need for Object-Based Mixing,
4. The need for Active Acoustics and the associated input, space and output quantities,
5. The need for Adaptive Bass processing and the number of subwoofer channels.

On the right side of the window, the dialog shows the number of convolution channels required by the configuration along with which Fulcrum DSP processors are compatible with this configuration.

Hover over a processor for more detailed information about its capacity.

Once an engine is added, the Engines list shows the inputs, outputs and other parameters associated with that processor.

Managing and Linking Physical Processors

Physical processors on the same network as One may be viewed and managed by either clicking the Processor Settings button on the home screen or from the General tab in the Project Settings window.

To link a physical processor to the engine in the project, follow these steps:

1. Highlight the engine in the Engines list and view its properties in the Properties toolbox on the right.

2. Click the "+" icon under Processors in the properties box to assign a physical processor to the engine.

3. Select an active processor or enter its IP address to link.

IO Processing

Click the icon on an input or output channel to see its processing channel strip.

Speakers may be linked to a physical output by selecting them in the output channel strip. They may also be selected from the Speaker Properties toolbox using the Outputs assignment tab.

As used in the design process, Groups can be used to control multiple inputs, outputs, or speakers from one location. Create groups using the Toolbox on the right side of the screen. Groups can have individual mute, solo and equalization settings, and groups can be overlaid, meaning a loudspeaker can be a part of multiple groups at one time.

Speakers may be assigned to groups from the speaker Properties toolbox when that speaker is selected. Use the list at the bottom and click the groups you wish for that speaker to join.

Matrix Control

All Fulcrum DSP processors contain a central mix matrix allowing signals to be routed from any input to any output with separate gain, mute, delay and polarity control at each crosspoint. Access the matrix with the Matrix tab from any output processing window:

The matrix display is a linear view of every input contributing to that output's signal. Click anywhere on the bar to control a specific crosspoint. Note that when using object-based mixing, those specific inputs will be grayed-out preventing manual control of those crosspoints but other inputs not used by OBM can still be mixed into the selected output channel.

External Amplification

By default, once a speaker is connected to an output, the output DSP path contains the optimized DSP parameters for that loudspeaker type taken from the library. There are times where this might not be preferred, for example, when using external DSP-enabled amplifiers where the actual speaker processing resides in the amplifier. In this case, enable the "Bypass Speaker Processing" option. This bypasses the use of the library DSP parameters while allowing all user speaker, group and output processing to remain active for tuning purposes.