Dibiquadro Mercuryrec User manual

USER MANUAL

INDEX

Legendary. Powerfull. Bold. ...………………….…………………………

Non-Plus-Ultra Preamp………………...…………………………………...

Pwr/Cabs: Non-Linear Convolution……………………………………...

DNC+……………………….………………………………………………….

About (db)2…………………………………………………………………..

Input processing……………………………………………………………..

GUI: tooltips and Edit Mode……………………………………………....

Controls…………………………………………………………………….....

Edit Mode……………………………………………………………………..

Resize GUI……………………………………………………………………..

SET………………………………………………………………………………

PREAMP……………………………………………………………………….

PWR/CAB……………………………………………………………………...

HEAD…………………………………………………………………………...

POST……………………………………………………………………………

The Renderer…………………………………………………………………

Command Line Mode……………………………………………………...

Thanks for purchasing DiBiQuadro

MercuryRec. This is the result of a

meticulous engineering design, passion

for perfection and unforgiving

comparisons with analog counterparts.

Please take your time to read carefully

the content of this manual before using

the plugin and the renderer.

Legendary. Powerful. Bold.

MercuryRec is a highly accurate

reproduction of a guitar amplifier

famous for its rectification modes,

which is, despite of its undisputed

reputation in the Heavy Metal

environments, capable of nearly any

possible musical style. With the original

amp being used on countless of

records and many genres, in the same

way MercuryRec can cover a wide

variety of tones: from Blues and Fusion,

to Hard Rock and of course Metal.

MercuryRec is not just a simple replica

of the 3 channels version but instead a

“2 Channels + 1”: the high gain Vintage

and Modern schematics recreate the

old 2 channels vibe while the Clean is

taken from the more recent 3 channels

models.

Engage MercuryRec with the certainty

that you are getting the same nuances

of the real thing in the digital domain,

and keep in mind: with the additional

tweak section that only DiBiQuadro

provides you can add a unique touch

and finally get your very own personal

sound!

Non-Plus-Ultra Preamp:

the perfect approach to

circuit modelling

MercuryRec preamp features a built-

from-scratch 64-bit engine which is

based on general purpose hi-quality

algorithms and the most recent non-

linear models. Particular attention has

been put on the definition of the Non-

Linear Solver to get the maximum

quality and realism, without losing

details in favor of performances

(Double-Precision Non-Linear

Computing).

Also, MercuryRec brings a completely

new philosophy to the table: being

able to shape your tone by giving total

access to the circuit components.

Managing each gain stage level,

shaping the tone-stacks or modifying

the tubes characteristics: there is

virtually no limit to what you can

achieve with MercuryRec!

Pwr/Cabs: Non-Linear

Convolution

The chain made of tube power amp,

cabinet/speaker, microphone, high-

end studio preamp is sampled

together as a unique block to preserve

the correct interaction between the

specific power amp and the speakers.

Contrary to what is commonly used in

the amp simulation market we use Non-

Linear Convolution (NLC) to capture

the harmonic distortion of the power

amp, the speaker break up, and the

harmonic distortion introduced by the

high-end mic preamp.

This is not possible using the commonly

spread approach of a single IR. First,

with a single IR is impossible to

reconstruct the non-linearities of an

analog chain. Since the power amp is

generally modeled in the competitors

products, the main problem is the

missing non-linearities coming from the

speaker and the microphone preamp.

While this is somehow negligible for

some types of high wattage speakers

when dealing high gain sounds, it is

essential when the speaker break up is

part of the tone. Second, most of the

times a solid state power amp is used

to sample a speaker behavior. This

power amp despite being considered

“neutral” has its own character due to

the different impedance and

interaction with the speaker compared

to the tube amp we generally want to

capture.

The NLC engine, based on 64-bit

(double precision) processing allows up

to 40 kernels (harmonics). The amount

of kernels is selectable.

Another limit of many well-known

products on the market is the complete

absence of power amp clipping. This

aspect is not only provided by our

Pwr/Cabs but a complete sets of

parameters allows the full control over

the power amp headroom, the type of

clipping and the interaction of the

negative feedback with the Depth and

Presence knobs. This is essential to

determine the amount of signal used in

the tone shaping after the power amp

starts to saturate. The power amp

saturation adds harmonics to the

kernels already applied by the NLC

engine.

DNC+

The proprietary solutions described in

the previous paragraphs are grouped

under a common acronym: DNC+

(Double-Precision Non-Linear

Computing and Convolution).

Double-Precision Non-Linear Computing and Convolution

About (db)2

DiBiQuadro is the result of the joint

forces of two Italian Software Engineers

with more than 15 years of experience

in several industries including

Biomedical, Military, Insurance, Travel,

Telecommunications and Pro Audio.

Our purpose is to deliver superior results

in the Audio market with ground

breaking technology and nice user-

friendly graphic interfaces.

DiBiQuadro full logo

DiBiQuadro compact logo

Input processing

MercuryRec – Plugin or Renderer – has

been designed to process exclusively

mono sources. Therefore, a dedicated

instance of MercuryRec has to be

applied to each guitar signal.

GUI: tooltips and Edit

Mode

The graphic engine conception has a

purpose in mind: keeping a clear

indication of the status of the elements

without altering their 3D rendering on

the scene. Tooltips serve this purpose

perfectly especially when dealing with

knobs status. A typical approach would

be to compress the height of the knobs

trying to prevent the user to commit

parallax errors. As a side effect the

graphic designer would be forced to

take into account this constraint by

limiting the 3D depth of the scene.

Another good reason to use a tooltip-

based approach is to allow the update

of the knobs status by using an Edit

Mode.

The tooltip

EDIT mode

When using a state-of-the-art system –

see minimum requirements on

DiBiQuadro website – MercuryRec GUI

is able to deliver more than 60 FPS at a

reasonably low CPU usage for a super

fluid knob tweaking and a hyper

realistic and fast meter response.

Controls

CLEAN. Based on the latest versions of

the hardware equivalent, the Clean

channel can give you warm cleans or

crunch tones when the GAIN knob is

increased. When the PUSH switch is

engaged you obtain tones from a

beautiful warm crunch up to a great

overdrive.

VINTAGE. Here is where the things

become legendary in the high gain

territory. The tone is full of warm

overdriven harmonics, juicy, liquid. It is

the perfect tone for both heavy rhythm

guitars and leads.

MODERN. The other legendary high

gain mode. It delivers the same gain

structure of the VINTAGE channel but

with a potentially more aggressive top

end. You can get results similar to the

VINTAGE channel depending on the

PRESENCE knob setting.

GAIN. This knob adjusts the amount of

gain of the selected channel.

TONE-STACK. Simply Bass, Mid, Treble as

you would expect on a great amp.

There is one independent tone-stack

for each channel.

DEPTH/PRESENCE. Depending on the

selected Pwr/Cab these controls may

be present or not in order to tweak

respectively the bottom-end and the

top-end of the power amp section.

CHANNEL OUTPUT. This knob represents

the channel volume of the preamp.

Since it is part of the circuit it affects the

general tone of the channel.

INPUT [dB]. This knob adjusts the amount

of signal entering the plugin and it can

be used as a clean boost before the

preamp. The INPUT LEVEL meter displays

the amount of signal in input and it is

directly affected by this knob.

OUTPUT [dB]. This is a clean volume

knob on the general output of the

plugin. Use this control to properly feed

the next plugin in the chain without

affecting the tone of MercuryRec. The

general output level is displayed by the

OUTPUT LEVEL meter.

LOAD/SAVE. The LOAD button opens a

window to select a previously saved

preset – this includes knobs, buttons,

switches, SIZE, TWEAK and SET settings –.

The SAVE button allows to save a file

containing the current settings of the

plugin.

LOAD and SAVE windows

PREV/NEXT. Use these buttons to

browse back and forth through the

preset files.

SET/PREAMP/HEAD/POST. Please refer to

the dedicated sections.

Here some useful tricks to interact with

the GUI:

•use “CTRL + click” on a knob to

reset the value to its default;

•use the mouse wheel on a knob

for fine adjustments;

•press SHIFT while moving a knob

to fine adjust.

Edit Mode

The Edit Mode is accessible by double

clicking on a knob. Once done, you

can edit the value by using arrows,

digits and “.”, “+”, “-” keys. INSERT key is

supported too: INSERT status is

recognizable by checking the cursor

inside the tooltip (“|” means INSERT

disabled, “_” means INSERT enabled).

After modifying the value press ENTER

to commit or ESC to roll-back to the

latest value before entering the Edit

Mode.

Resize GUI

Only on Windows OS GUI is resizable by

right clicking on the GUI itself and

selecting one the available options.

Two options are available:

•Normal

•Full

On macOS the GUI size is automatically

selected depending on the screen

resolution so this feature is not

necessary.

Resize GUI window (only Windows)

SET

SET window – RealTime

SET window – OffLine

You can open the SET window to

access the configuration settings for

Preamp, Pwr/Cab, PostEqualizer,

meters, ReSampler, PreRender.

RESET. It restores the default values for

all configurations in the SET window.

Preamp. Enables/disables the preamp

section.

Pwr/Cab. Enables/disables the

Pwr/Cab section.

PostEqualizer. Enables/disables the

PostEquilizer section.

LEDs. It activates/deactivates the meter

LEDs.

IOPanel. This section allows to invert the

phase of the input signal (PhaseIn) and

the output signal (PhaseOut).

Gate Simple and Advanced tabs. These

tabs are displayed when the Gate is

on.

Gate Simple and Advanced

Gate Simple. A single parameter of

threshold to set the level at which the

gate starts to be applied.

Gate Advanced. More parameters:

Transition to apply a gradual gain

reduction when the signal is below the

threshold (0 for hard gate); Expansion is

the maximum gain reduction when the

signal is below the threshold; Decay

controls how quickly the signal fades

out when it is below the threshold; Knee

sets how hardly the gate switches from

ungated to gated signal (0 for Hard

Knee, 1 for Soft Knee); Hysteresis

prevents the gate from immediately re-

opening after passing below the

threshold, to avoid gain flickering.

RealTime and OffLine tabs. These tabs

allow the user to specify different

configurations for the ReSampler

depending on the current processing

mode.

RealTime tab. This mode is applied by

your sequencer when you are using a

plugin for monitoring, or when you are

playbacking tracks. We suggest to

keep the UpSamplingFactor at 1x in

case of monitoring, 4x in case of

playback @ 44100/48000Hz, 2x in case

of playback @ 88200/96000Hz.

OffLine tab. This mode is set by your

sequencer when you are bouncing a

track or the complete mix. If the

elaboration time is not a constraint for

you and you need to render hi-gain

guitars with the Overdrive Channel, we

suggest to set the UpSamplingFactor to

at least 128x @ 44100/48000Hz, 64x @

88200/96000Hz in order to minimize the

aliasing artifacts and get super high-

quality distortion. Try also to set a very

high PreRenderFactor (32x) to stabilize

the model in advance. For very long

renders, we strongly suggest to use

MercuryRec Renderer in command line

mode.

ReSamplerBufferSize. This is the

ReSampler Buffer Size in number of

samples.

UpSamplingFactor. This is the

UpSampling Factor applied to the base

input SampleRate. Use it to increase the

quality or your playbacks and renders,

but take into account that high

UpSampling factors correspond to

more samples to be processed, and

consequently longer processing times.

UpFilterTransBand. This is the

UpSampling Filter Transition Band, in

percent of the spectral space of the

input signal between filter's -3 dB point

and the Nyquist frequency.

UpFilterType. It defines the UpSampling

filter's phase response: Minimum Phase

or Linear Phase.

DownFilterTransBand. This is the

DownSampling Filter Transition Band, in

percent of the spectral space of the

output signal between filter's -3 dB

point and the Nyquist frequency. If you

are working at sample rates higher

than 44100/48000Hz, we suggest to

increase it to 43% to have a smoother

low pass filter without impacting the

audible frequencies.

DownFilterType. It defines the

DownSampling filter's phase response:

Minimum Phase or Linear Phase.

PreRenderFactor. Together with input

SampleRate and UpSamplingFactor,

PreRenderFactor affects how many

samples will be pre-rendered by the

model before the real processing. We

suggest to set it to the highest value –

32x – in Offline mode.

DONE. It closes the SET window.

PREAMP

PREAMP window

The PREAMP window gives you the

power to modify every single

component of the circuit. Even the

Triode model of the 12AX7 can be

tweaked in the NonLinearSolver tab.

Play with this window very carefully,

possibly in front of an analyzer, to get

exactly what you are looking for. We

do not guarantee that any possible

combination of values makes sense, so

it’s up to you to find a configuration

that works and satisfies your needs.

RESET. It restores the default values for

all configurations in the PREAMP

window.

Primary tabs: Normal, Overdrive and

NonLinearSolver. The primary tabs

provide access to the different

channels of the circuit and to the

12AX7 triode model. Each channel can

be tweaked independently, while there

can be only one triode model for all

triodes of MercuryRec.

Normal tab. It shows the different part

of the Normal circuit, split into 4 sub-

tabs, one for each gain stage, plus a

Tonestack tab.

Overdrive tab. It reports a sub-tab for

each of the 5 different gain stages, plus

its related Tonestack.

PREAMP window – NonLinearSolver tab

NonLinearSolver tab. Use this section to

change characteristics of all the triodes

in the preamp. It is the most advanced

and consequently the least user-

friendly feature. Browse button opens

the dialog window to select an existing

dtp file. The dtp file contains the triode

characteristic. The first time a file is

selected, it is necessary to generate the

look up tables (LUTs) for that triode by

pressing GENERATE. Change the name

in Browse text input to save a new dtp

file and then press GENERATE.

The generation has to be done each

time the triode parameters are

modified in order to make them

effective.

Once the LUTs are generated they are

stored in files in the same path of the

dtp file and automatically loaded

when selecting the dtp file with the

Browse button / dialog window.

To create a new triode characteristic

follow these steps:

1. Modify the name in the DtpFile

textbox.

2. Change one or more parameters

of the triode model1.

3. Press GENERATE button.

DONE. It closes the SET window.

If you accidentally overwrite the

characteristics of the factory triodes we

recommend reinstalling the product

from Center.

PWR/CAB

The PWR/CAB section allows to quickly

switch between 8 preloaded

Pwr/Cabs. A Pwr/Cab is the non-linear

representation of the chain including:

1. the power amp

1Have a look at https://www.dafx.de/paper-

archive/2011/Papers/76_e.pdf for more details.

2. the cabinet with the speaker

3. the microphone to capture the

sound of the speaker

4. the high-end mic preamplifier

A Pwr/Cab with only the power amp is

also provided: use this Pwr/Cab to

experiment with “larger than life” clean

sounds, or to drive an external IR (in this

case an IR loader is necessary).

MercuryRec comes with 44 selectable

Pwr/Cabs:

MercuryRec_000_100W_6L6

MercuryRec_000_V_100W_6L6

MercuryRec_001_100W_6L6_60A_1_T75_57_A12C

MercuryRec_001_V_100W_6L6_60A_1_T75_57_A12C

MercuryRec_002_100W_6L6_60A_1_T75_201_A12C

MercuryRec_002_V_100W_6L6_60A_1_T75_201_A12C

MercuryRec_003_100W_6L6_60A_1_T75_421_A12C

MercuryRec_003_V_100W_6L6_60A_1_T75_421_A12C

MercuryRec_004_100W_6L6_60A_4_T75_57_A12C

MercuryRec_004_V_100W_6L6_60A_4_T75_57_A12C

MercuryRec_005_100W_6L6_60A_4_T75_201_A12C

MercuryRec_005_V_100W_6L6_60A_4_T75_201_A12C

MercuryRec_006_100W_6L6_60A_4_T75_421_A12C

MercuryRec_006_V_100W_6L6_60A_4_T75_421_A12C

MercuryRec_007_100W_6L6_60A_2_V30_57_A12C

MercuryRec_007_V_100W_6L6_60A_2_V30_57_A12C

MercuryRec_008_100W_6L6_60A_2_V30_201_A12C

MercuryRec_008_V_100W_6L6_60A_2_V30_201_A12C

MercuryRec_009_100W_6L6_60A_2_V30_421_A12C

MercuryRec_009_V_100W_6L6_60A_2_V30_421_A12C

MercuryRec_010_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_57_A12C_A

MercuryRec_010_V_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_57_A12C_A

MercuryRec_011_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_201_A12C_A

MercuryRec_011_V_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_201_A12C_A

MercuryRec_012_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_421_A12C_A

MercuryRec_012_V_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_421_A12C_A

MercuryRec_013_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_57_A12C_B

MercuryRec_013_V_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_57_A12C_B

MercuryRec_014_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_201_A12C_B

MercuryRec_014_V_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_201_A12C_B

MercuryRec_015_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_421_A12C_B

MercuryRec_015_V_100W_6L6_60A_3_V30_421_A12C_B

MercuryRec_025_100W_6L6_M212_V30_57_A12C_A

MercuryRec_025_V_100W_6L6_M212_V30_57_A12C_A

MercuryRec_026_100W_6L6_M212_V30_201_A12C_A

MercuryRec_026_V_100W_6L6_M212_V30_201_A12C_A

MercuryRec_027_100W_6L6_M212_V30_421_A12C_A

MercuryRec_027_V_100W_6L6_M212_V30_421_A12C_A

MercuryRec_028_100W_6L6_M212_V30_57_A12C_B

MercuryRec_028_V_100W_6L6_M212_V30_57_A12C_B

MercuryRec_029_100W_6L6_M212_V30_201_A12C_B

MercuryRec_029_V_100W_6L6_M212_V30_201_A12C_B

MercuryRec_030_100W_6L6_M212_V30_421_A12C_B

MercuryRec_030_V_100W_6L6_M212_V30_421_A12C_B

The power amp is a 100Watt 4x6L6

tubes. Letter V stands for Vintage mode

(Presence control in the negative

feedback).

Two cabinets are avaible: slanted 60A

loaded with T75s and V30s and M2x12

loaded with a V30 and a T75. A

sequential number from 1 to 4 indicates

which speaker has been sampled: 1

and 2 are the top left and right while 3

and 4 the bottom left and right

respectively.

A hi-end mic preamps was used: A12C

is a top notch preamplifier that set the

standard for modern recordings.

All Pwr/Cabs are phase aligned (with

the sole exception of the power amp

Pwr/Cab).

PWR/CAB LOAD. Pwr/Cab Load gives

access to the 8 slots on the GUI. Browse

opens the window to select the

Pwr/Cab path, while Void cleans up

the slot. When a slot is void the output is

taken directly from the preamp if

enabled. The output of a Pwr/Cab is

limited to 0dB; the output of the

preamp is not limited and it can be

used to drive another plugin following

in the chain.

Pwr/Cab LOAD window

PWR/CAB SET. With Pwr/Cab Set you

can select the number of harmonics in

the Pwr/Cab section:

-Standard: 10 harmonics

-High: 20 harmonics

-Ultra: 30 harmonics

-Non-Plus-Ultra: 40 harmonics

Pwr/Cab SET

HEAD

HEAD window

Head (HeadRoom) is a powerfull tool to

shape the behavior of the power amp

section including the type of clipping

when pushed to the limit (soft/hard,

symmetrical/asymmetrical) and the

effect of depth and presence when

power amp is working in the non-linear

region. Each Pwr/Cab has its own

setting.

PWRCAB PRESET. It restores the factory

preset for the selected Pwr/Cab.

RESET. It restores the values to the

general default values.

PreGain. It sets the level of the signal in

input to the power amp.

PostGain. It defines the level of the

signal coming out of the Pwr/Cab.

ClippingType. Soft/Hard.

LowThreshold/HiThreshold. These can

be used to set the clipping thresholds of

negative and positive half waves

respectively: use different values for

asymmetrical clipping and identical

values for symmetrical.

PresenceGainPostPerc/

DepthGainPostPerc. Percentage of

Presence and Depth effect after power

amp clipping. They affect the behavior

of Presence and Depth only when

power amp is saturating.

POST

POST window

Post (PostEqualizer) is a minimum-phase

equalizer at the end of the signal chain.

PWRCAB PRESET. It restores the factory

preset for the selected Pwr/Cab.

RESET. It restores the values to the

general default values.

LoCut1/2. Low cut 12dB/oct. Engage

both at the same frequency to obtain

24db/oct.

HiCut1/2. Hi cut 12dB/oct. Engage both

at the same frequency to obtain

24db/oct.

Band1/2/3/4. Bell type intervention.

The Renderer

Renderer window

The Renderer is provided to process an

input wave file in OffLine mode. It

collects all the controls described in the

previous sections, plus you have the

possibility to specify input and output

files.

Use the LOAD and SAVE buttons to load

and save Renderer presets. The Import

button can take a specific GUI setting

from a MercuryRec plugin preset file.

There is also an additional Output

header which allows to specify the

output wave file format.

Renderer – Output header

OutputBitDepth. This is the number of

bits of information in each output

sample. It can be 16, 24, 32 or 64-bit.

OutputAudioFormat. It represents the

output encoding type: PCM (Integer)

or Floating Point.

The RENDER button will be visible only

when an existing input wave file and a

valid output wave file name have been

specified.

Renderer – RENDER button

Command Line Mode

The Renderer can be executed in

command line mode. With this

functionality, multiple rendering sessions

can be easily triggered in parallel by a

Windows batch file.

To launch a render from the Command

Prompt, first you need to create a

preset for the Renderer. Then you need

to execute the Renderer from the

Command Prompt with “-c” option

and to specify, in order:

1. the full path (absolute or relative

path + name) of the Renderer

preset;

2. the full path (absolute or relative

path + name) of the input wave

file;

3. the full path (absolute or relative

path + name) of the output

wave file.

Reminder:

MercuryRecRenderer.exe –c presetFile.drp input.wav

output.wav

Example of Prompt command

Renderer – Render in progress

DiBiQuadro Audio S.r.l.s.

P.IVA: 09771000966

Address: Via Amendola 18, 26815

Massalengo (LO), ITALY

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