What is the easiest way to combine impulse responses ?

[koalaboy]

I dont understand your motivation in wanting to combine multiple IRs into a single one for reuse - that seems counterproductive for creative manipulation because once you combine them that's it.

I want to combine them once I have the final result, just for ease of processing overhead, and having some 'baselines' for future work, rather than saving long FX chains.

Yes, whilst designing and creating things, I would not necessarily condense things down, but for practical purposes (and CPU optimisation) I like to reduce them when possible.

I've just found that MXXX also has an IR export which now solves my problem as well, and opens up more fun. It's not quite perfect (can't include other VSTs in the pipeline) but absolutely gets me 90% there.

[neverbefore]

I dont understand your motivation in wanting to combine multiple IRs into a single one for reuse - that seems counterproductive for creative manipulation because once you combine them that's it.

I want to combine them once I have the final result, just for ease of processing overhead, and having some 'baselines' for future work, rather than saving long FX chains.

Yes, whilst designing and creating things, I would not necessarily condense things down, but for practical purposes (and CPU optimisation) I like to reduce them when possible.

I've just found that MXXX also has an IR export which now solves my problem as well, and opens up more fun. It's not quite perfect (can't include other VSTs in the pipeline) but absolutely gets me 90% there.

[koalaboy]

Just as a final (probably) note to this, I now have a workflow.

I realised that Studio One has an IR Maker plugin - awesome, but then I notice it's only for external gear and does not provide a way to use internal tracks (very much a missed opportunity here).

Anyway, I was also looking for a way to get computer (streaming) audio into my DAW easily, and noticed this recent addition: https://vb-audio.com/Matrix/

Suffice to say, it 'just works' (after figuring out the setup) and so now I have the ability to route Windows audio into my DAW along with two Send/Return virtual channels, so I can make Studio One see itself as another device.

I drop IR Maker on one track, drop the effect (chain) I want to 'sample' on another, wire up the send/return as the track input/outputs, hit a button and a minute later have a perfectly recorded IR dropped in my sample directory.

Yes, there's still a bit of setup, but after the initial work, which can be handled with track templates, etc., I have a very simple setup to capture, mix and consolidate IRs, as hoped.

I still think there's an opportunity for a good dev to make a single plugin that allows loading another VST and provides one-button IR capture of whatever it provides... but that's for another day.

Hopefully this provided some ideas for others.

[Vee Ess Tee]

There is FenrIR by Aurora DSP which is a free IR Loader which you can combine two IRs and export them.

[kidslow]

Why does it matter if it's designed for guitar? Repurpose for your needs.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case. Just testing the demos with a close IR and a 'parking garage' IR for ease of listening, most guitar cab loaders do not work for reverb IRs - I suspect they shorten the length or similar.
Libra seemed a great idea, but playback had very little effect on the input.
faIRmageddon was similar and looked great, but crashed constantly in StudioOne and had the same lack of 'effect'.
aIR Impulse Rack was closer, but with a maximum impulse time of 500ms, which is no use for reverb.

Thank you for a very informative response. How did you determine the maximum impulse time of aIR? I can't imagine it's documented, so did you trial & error with longer impulses? Just to be clear do you mean the maximum IR length input or the length output after you combine them?

I've had one eye on Overloud Rematrix, but I can't get past the price enough to demo it, even at the recent sale discount. I wish faIRmageddon was better maintained, as it has a decent set of features for my needs, except the dev seems to not believe in updates or bug fixes.

[MirkoVanHauten]

I wish faIRmageddon was better maintained, as it has a decent set of features for my needs, except the dev seems to not believe in updates or bug fixes.

They've just recently updated their website incl. announcing the end of support for 32bit mac. Last I knew was they've prepared quite some updates and a new plugin. Seems this could be happening soon. I've experienced them pretty responsive and helpful when you get in touch.

[kidslow]

I wish faIRmageddon was better maintained, as it has a decent set of features for my needs, except the dev seems to not believe in updates or bug fixes.

They've just recently updated their website incl. announcing the end of support for 32bit mac. Last I knew was they've prepared quite some updates and a new plugin. Seems this could be happening soon. I've experienced them pretty responsive and helpful when you get in touch.

Any time I've checked in the past, seemed to be stuck on the same release for years. You'll also notice that they have an "official" support forum here on KVR that appears to be unmonitored. Sure I can email, but I like devs who are a bit more proactive. Just sayin'

[koalaboy]

How did you determine the maximum impulse time of aIR? I can't imagine it's documented, so did you trial & error with longer impulses? Just to be clear do you mean the maximum IR length input or the length output after you combine them?

When adding the module, there is a 'time' in the lower-right corner of 500ms. This seems to be the maximum process time, as it cannot be edited to more than this, and any long reverb-type impulses would just be abruptly cutoff after that time.

I may well have been doing something wrong, but I could not seem to get anything to last longer, and I suspect it's because it's designed for cabinet impulses, which would normally be much shorter.

As I found a better solution for my needs, I didn't spend too long trying to find workarounds.

[neverbefore]

If I were wanting to do this a lot then I would use or Booms Soundweaver which can be had fairly cheap if you are lucky https://www.boomlibrary.com/sound-effects/soundweaver/

[koalaboy]

I can do it easily enough now with MXXX from MeldaProduction.

[kidslow]

How did you determine the maximum impulse time of aIR? I can't imagine it's documented, so did you trial & error with longer impulses? Just to be clear do you mean the maximum IR length input or the length output after you combine them?

When adding the module, there is a 'time' in the lower-right corner of 500ms. This seems to be the maximum process time, as it cannot be edited to more than this, and any long reverb-type impulses would just be abruptly cutoff after that time.

Should have looked before asking that question. There it is right in front of me. Been awhile since I worked with it and don't think I bumped up against that limitation so I just glossed over it. I get it now why cabinet IR loaders don't fit your needs.