Inspired by ultimate sound.
Inspirer Immersive Aural Exciter
The Red Rock Sound Inspirer plug-in is developed to meet the growing demand for maximum apparent loudness in contemporary immersive music mixes.
While many existing techniques rely on compression and limiting to enhance modulation and create an exciting sound, the Inspirer takes these methods a step further. It can boost the loudness of virtually any audio material, regardless of prior compression or dynamic range. Moreover, the Inspirer is capable of imparting the warmth and character inherent to analog consoles.
Save time and avoid tedious manual workarounds with the Inspirer plug-in designed from the ground up for fast, efficient work on mid/side, stereo and the objects, the beds (fixed channels) of immersive mixing environments.
INPUT ROUTING PANEL
Units
This module allows you to select an Aural Exciter from four available. The Aural Exciters are arranged in series, this allows you to process channels with different Exciter settings.
For example: the first Aural Exciter is only the mid channel, the second Aural Exciter is only the side channel, the third Aural Exciter is the left and right channel. For multi-channel modes: the first Aural Exciter is only the left and right channels, the second Aural Exciter is the center channel, the third Aural Exciter is the LFE, etc.
You can rename unit Buttons for ease of use. To rename the selected Unit button, right-click on the button.
In order to turn on the solo (listen) of the Aural Exciter, double-click on the selected unit number. The unit in solo mode glows yellow, to exit solo mode, double-click again. For two-channel modes, only one unit can be solo mode. For multi-channel modes, one or more units can be soloed.
To bypass selected Aural Exciter processing, press the selected unit number one click + shift. In bypass mode, the button will glow red.
You can also copy all Aural Exciter settings to another unit. To do this, select the unit from which you want to copy the settings, then click on the copy button, then select the unit to which you want to copy the settings.
Input Routing
Input Routing lets you choose between 44 common channel setups, starting from Stereo up to 7.1.4 and 9.1.6. Simply select in the input routing module the channel setup that fits your track.
You can also create your own input routing profiles. 16 independent channels are available.
Click on the edit button next to the input routing selection display. Hold down the shift button and select the desired number of channels. Name selected channels in order. Then click save and name the profile.
Channels Selection
In this module, you can select (activate) the channels that the Aural Exciter (unit) will process.
EFFECT SECTION
Input Meters
Displays the input drive levels. Display of 1 to 16 channels is available.
The available range from -48 to 0 dB;
Input Fader
Adjusts the signal level at the input of the selected Unit.
The available range from -6 to +12 dBu;
Mix Fader
The output balance between the signal processed by Aural Exciter and the original dry source signal can be adjusted with Mix control.
The available range from 0 to 100 %;
Color Fader
Modifies the processing characteristics signal, adding a certain character to the sound.
The available range from -10 to +10;
ACC (Auto Clip Control)
When this button is enabled, signal peaks are automatically monitored and suppressed if necessary.
On/Off Button
Allows the user to bypass the Aural Exciter for before/after comparisons.
Output Meters
Displays the output drive levels. Display of 1 to 16 channels is available.
The available range from -48 to 0 dB;
Output Fader
Adjusts the signal level at the output of the selected Unit.
The available range from -12 to 0 dB;
BOTTOM SETTINGS PANEL
Global Input Gain
Main Input Gain controls the overall input level of the plug-in input, before all fx modules.
AGC (Auto Gain Control)
To activate the Auto Gain Control mode, click on the AGC switch.
Below is located Compensate display that after a while will show you the level difference. Click on it to compensate for the difference.
Auto Mode
Click on the "AUTO" switch to turn it on. If the gain difference is bigger than the "gain tolerance" then the AUTO LED becomes yellow and the plugin actively adjusts the gain (you'll see the knob slowly rotating).
Note: For more detailed settings of the AGC mode, go to "Global Preferences".
Global Output Gain
Main Output Gain Main Output Gain controls the overall output level of the plug-in output, after all fx modules.
Undo/Redo
Undo and Redo functions allow undo and redo of changes made to the plug-in parameters.
A/B
A/B buttons allows you to load two independent settings and compare them quickly.
Preset Display
Factory presets are included in the plug-in installation, installed in the following locations:
Mac: Users\[user name]\Music\Red Rock Sound\RRS Inspirer\Patches
Windows: C:\Users\[user name]\Documents\Red Rock Sound\RRS Inspirer
You can save the current settings as the Default preset. - Full Reset – is the default preset
Load
Load button allows loading of presets not stored in the locations described above.
Save
Save button allows for save of user presets.
Oversampling
OS x_ activates 2x, 4x or 8x oversampling, 1x disables oversampling.
(note that when the HQ mode is on, CPU will be loaded more than usual).
HQ mode (HQ)
HQ mode is for oversampling, it adds a higher order antialiasing filter. It improves processing quality, but also leads to an increase of the CPU load.
Global Preferences
Button opens Global Preferences menu.
AGC SETTINGS
RMS Time
By default, the RMS time (the averaging time for loudness calculation) is set to 2 sec. You can change it from 0.6 sec to 10 sec when the time indicator is displayed.
Filter Type
Flat
This means that the signal is not processed (Flat) or filtered before measuring.
K-Weighted
This means that the signal is filtered (K-Weighted) before measurement (it's used by default).
Suspend Comparison
It is useful when you're in AUTO mode and your track has silent areas.
By default when "Suspend comparison" is enabled and the signal is very low, the plugin will not perform any activity (will not compare levels, cause the signal is too low, and will not adjust the gain in the AUTO mode).
By default the threshold for "suspend comparison" is set to -60 db.
AUTO
Auto gain tolerance (the amount of gain difference that makes AUTO active).
The right value is the maximum value of gain that AUTO can apply.
Maximum Positive or Negative Gain Adjustment
Use separate limits for gain adjustment allows you to set negative and positive auto limits independently. This way you can have AUTO adjustments ranging (for example) from -20 to +10 dB, or from -18 dB to +4dB, etc.
D3D / OGL / CPU (Windows)
This switch allows you to choose between GUI rendering engine:
Normally, no need in switching rendering mode manually, plug-in try to initialize D3D9 then OGL (if D3D9 failed) and CPU (if OGL failed) automatically. But if you have problems with the GUI, you can manually switch and test different rendering methods at work.
This switch is available only in the Windows version of the plugin. For the Mac version, this is not necessary.
Note: Drivers of some video cards (for example, Intel Arc A380) in D3D mode adversely affect the plug-in (periodic noise or whistle), if you encounter a similar phenomenon, use OGL or CPU.
SIMD optimization
This switch enables or disables SIMD optimization, it can be used by multichannel processing with high oversampling. It is undesirable to use in mono and stereo modes, SIMD only slows down the plug-in due to the overhead of splitting the data for optimization.
(Currently in beta testing)
SIMD MacOS
- In the ARM version, you can enable or disable NEON; - In the Intel version, you can enable or disable SSE2.
SIMD Windows
- In the Intel version, you can enable or disable AVX (if supported), or SSE2.
The Windows version has a limitation: if the CPU does not support FMA, then the optimization will not work, even if AVX or SSE2 is supported.
Note: Enabling/disabling SIMD is saved in the project for each plugin individually. i.e. if a specific instance of the plugin slows down, then you can enable SIMD for it, and others, if they are in the project, will not be affected by this optimization.
COMPATIBILITY
System requirements
All Red Rock Sound products require a computer with appropriate DAW host software (none of which are included).
Plug-in Activation requires Internet connection!
You can go offline as soon as plug-in is successfully activated.
Versions from 1.0.0 and newer of the Red Rock Sound plug-ins have the following minimum requirements:
Mac OS X 10.14.6 or higher for AU.
Mac OS X 10.14.6 or higher for VST.
Mac OS X 10.14.6 or higher for AAX. Latest version of iLok license manager.
Windows 7 or higher (Windows XP not tested).
Mac: Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 / Xeon / Full Apple silicon support (M1 or higher).
Windows: Intel Core i3 / i5 / i7 / Xeon / AMD Quad-Core or newer.
In theory, any AAX, VST, VST3, AUv3 compatible host application should work. However, due to plug-in host differences between DAWs - and our own rigorous testing standards - we only officially test our plug-ins and instruments in the most recent versions of Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, Studio One, Reaper, and Bitwig. Red Rock Sound plugins are not tested in non-listed systems, but they most likely work as long as the system requirements are met. We cannot guarantee a solution for issues in unsupported systems.