Description
Download & Install
Controls
Settings File Format
Command Line Parameters
Version History
Feedback & Notices
VVMic calculates up to 32 virtual microphone signal from a b-format input file. If exactly two microphones are being used, the output can optionally be played in real time as well. You can modify the microphone settings during playback to find the best sounding placement. There is also a VST version of this program available including a version for Mac OS X. See this page.
This program is for Windows. The latest complete install is 2.5. You can download a self-extracting zip here. Extract to a temp directory and run setup to install it. It will copy itself to the directory you choose, but no start menu entry is made. To run, navigate to the directory where you installed the program and double click on VVMic.exe.There is an executable of version 2.6 now available. It fixes a problem with using four channel files produced by Nuendo and possibly other programs that produce multichannel wave files. Version 2.5 would copy whatever tag was there in the original files. Version 2.6 sets it to WAVE_FORMAT_PCM or 1. Sorry, I haven't rebuilt the whole install yet so you have to install 2.5 then get the executable.
If you are interested in the source code for this program, contact me at david@mcgriffy.com. I am in the process of releasing this program and it's VST counterpart to Source Forge. There's a problem with this version in that I use a wave file library from Microsoft that I can't rerelease there. It shouldn't be too hard to replace but I haven't found the time. Any programmers who are interested can contact me for info.
| Input File | Files can 16 or 24 bit fixed or 32 bit float at any sampling rate. Format can be four channel wav in WXYZ order, two stereo files name <file>_wx.wav and <file>_yz.wav, or four mono files name <file>_w.wav, etc. For multiple files, open the first one of the set. |
| Auto Play | If checked, playback starts automatically when a new input file is opened or when the program starts if an input file is selected on the command line or in the vvmic.ini file. |
| Output File | Optional file name to write the resulting outputs to. This can be a multi-channel wav file or several mono wav files. In the later case the '_01', '_02', etc. is added to the file name before the .wav. |
| Output Dev | Selects which wave output device to play to if realtime output is selected |
| Real Time Output | If checked and exactly two microphones are used, plays the output to the selected output device. When not checked, output to a file goes much faster. |
| Mulitple Mono Files | If checked, several mono wav files are written instead of a single multi-channel file. |
| Master | Sets master output gain for all microphones from +12dB to -12dB. |
| Load | Loads a settings file. See the section below for format. |
| Save | Saves a settings file. See the section below for format. |
| Play | Starts playback. Starts file writing if an output file has been specified. Playback can also be started and stopped with the '/' key. |
| Stop | Ends playback and closes output file after current buffer (1024 samples). Playback can also be started and stopped with the '/' key. |
| Loop | Causes playback to be continous. Doesn't make much sense if writing a file. |
| Elev | Elevation from -90 to +90 degrees with positive pointing up. |
| Polar Pattern Display | Not really a control, but shows the current polar patterns of all microphones. The number in the lower right corner in a colored box shows which microphone is currently being set by the sliders. The lighter colored parts of the patterns represent inverted response. The black polar pattern show the sum of all the microphones, scaled down to fit. |
| Azi | Azimuth from -180 to +180 degrees with positive pointing left. |
| Width | Seperate of the two virtual microphones from 5 to 180 degrees. |
| Dir | Directionality: 0.0 for omni, 1.0 for cardiod, 2.0 for figure eight. |
| Gain | Set the gain of an individual microphone from 0 to -12dB |
| Number of Outputs | Determines how many microphone signals will be calculated. |
| Current Output | Determines which microphone the Elev, Azi, Width, and Dir sliders are currently affecting. The current output can also be changed up and down by using the square bracket keys '[' and ']'. |
| Link Pairs | If checked, the Elev, Azi, Width, and Dir sliders affect pairs of sliders, like 1&2 or 3&4, together. |
| Link All Directvities | If checked, the Dir slider sets the directivity for all microphones. |
| XY Stereo | Sets the system for two cardiod microphones at 90 degress width facing forward. |
| G-Format | Sets the system for five microphones appropriate for a 5.1 decode. |
| Circle | Sets the elevation of all microphones to zero and sets their azimuths so that the are spread evenly around the horizontal plane. |
Settings files can be used to save and recall the settings of all of the controls. They are XML which means they are at least geek readable and editable with any text editor. Settings files normally have the extension '.vvm' except for the special case of the file 'vvmic.ini'. If there is a file of this name in the default directory it will be read and the controls set accordingly at startup. If files of type '.vvm' are associated with vvmic.exe then you can double click on such a file to start the application with those settings. If that file also contains an input file and autoplay is on then playback will begin immediately.The following table show the tags and data formats used in 'vvm' files. Note that all of them are required except for the file names. See the table above describing the matching controls for an explanation of the meaning of each parameter. See here for an example.
InputFile Optional name of an input file to read at startup. This setting will only take affect if used in settings file given on the command line or in the the vvmic.ini file and even then it can be overridden by command line paraters. OutputFile Optional name of an output file. This setting will only take affect if used in a settings file given on the command line or in the vvmic.ini file and even then it can be overridden by command line paraters. Be careful as there is no file overwrite protection for files named here. NumMics An integer between 1 and 32 CurMic An integer between 1 and 32 AutoPlay 'True' or 'False' LinkPairs 'True' or 'False' LinkDirs 'True' or 'False' RealTimeOut 'True' or 'False' MultiMonoOut 'True' or 'False' Loop 'True' or 'False' OutputDev The textual name of the output device, like 'ESS Maestro'. If the given name if not found, the first device is used. Mics A section containing the number of <Mic> sections called for in NumMics Mic A section, one per microphone, with the settings below Azimuth A floating point number between -180.0 and 180.0 Elevation A floating point number between -90.0 and 90.0 Width A floating point number between 0.0 and 360.0 Directivity A floating point number between 0.0 and 2.0
VVMic.exe can be started with from zero to three command line parameters. Each one is a file name as follows:vvmic <settings> <input> <output>
e.g. vvmic g-format.vvm "c:\my files\bigfile.wxyz" "c:\my files\bigfile.wav"
The settings file can be any '.vvm' file, which can optionally contain input and output file names. If input and output files are named on the command line, these settings will overide anything in the settings file.
Releases