General Options

The General tab lets you configure general Spectron properties.

Performance

Delay compensation The Spectron Engine breaks down audio into thousands of bands for processing. This requires the Spectron inserts a delay into its output signal. This means there will be a delay between when you change a control in Spectron and when you hear that change, and also in a multitrack environment, Spectron's track will lag behind other tracks with less delay. Fortunately, many applications provide "delay compensation" - a means for Spectron to tell the application it has delayed the signal, and the host application should "undo" the delay on the track. If your host application supports delay compensation, select this option. If your application doesn't support it, or skips/stutters with this option on, you can always manually correct the delay offset in the host application (i.e. manually edit out the short delay of silence). To help you perform manual correction, the delay Spectron introduces is shown below "Total System Delay" in both samples and milliseconds.

Process as mono You can force Spectron to process in mono, which will require almost half the CPU for half the channels. This can be useful for previewing on slow computers, just be sure to turn the option off to mixdown in stereo.

Preset changes
This determines Spectron's behavior when you change presets in the Preset Manager. "Realtime" means that Spectron will change between presets seamlessy. This option will provide the fastest changes between presets, but many host applications will drop out when changing between two very different presets. "Bypass" means that Spectron will bypass its processing while presets are changing. "Mute" is similar, but in this case Spectron will mute its output while presets are changing.

Spectron defaults to "Mute" to minimize the chance of dropouts in all host applications. If transitioning between presets sounds strange to you, try "Bypass" mode while experimenting with Spectron's Gain When Bypassed setting. The "Realtime" mode is ideal in host apps running at less aggressive latencies, but if you experience dropouts while auditioning presets, you should avoid "Realtime" mode.

Total system delay This readout shows the amount of delay, in both samples and milliseconds, that Spectron introduces into the signal chain.

View Buffers This launches the View Buffers dialog, which lets you inspect the buffer sizes which your host application is using. See Buffer Sizes for more info.

Graphics

Enable meters Although each meter has its own options, this option allows you to quickly turn off all meters.

Enable animations Allows you turn on/off the animated appearance of dialog boxes.

Enable animated focus Allows you to turn on/off the animated white brackets which indicate the control where keyboard commands are sent.

Show background grid Toggles the visbility of the grid in the background of Spectron's touchscreen display.

Frame rate limiter Allows you to set the limit the speed (frames per second) that Spectron should use to display and update meters. In most cases the default will provide smooth displays while still allowing adequate processing time for audio. If your PC hardware allows it, you can increase the frame rate for smoother animation. On the other hand, if you are running Spectron on slower hardware or notice graphics performance problems in your host application, you can set the FPS value lower to limit the amount of CPU Spectron uses for drawing.

Opacity Allows you to control the opacity or transparency of the Spectron UI. This is helpful when working with automation, for example, to be able to have the Spectron UI in front but be able to "see through it" to the automation curves on the track view of the host app. Setting partial transparency does require additional CPU, but there is no CPU penalty when opacity is at 100% (i.e. the feature is not being used). If you find this feature useful, be sure to note the keyboard shortcuts for it. The slider will be disabled in host applications that do not support this feature.

Use rendering thread Turn off this option to conserve CPU power. With the option on, a separate thread is created for graphics, providing smoother graphics at the expense of more CPU.

Other

History depth Lets you set how many levels or steps are remembered in the History dialog .

Automation interval This control only applies to DirectX versions of Spectron. It controls how often Spectron updates its processing based on your host application automation envelopes. To save CPU while previewing, you can increase the automation inverval. This allows Spectron to update less often, which saves CPU. For mixing down, you can decrease the automation interval to provide nearly sample accurate automation. In non-DirectX versions of Spectron, due to the technical details of these plug-in formats, the automation accuracy is limited by the host application buffer size.

Automation highlight This control only applies to DirectX versions of Spectron. It allows you to color higlight controls that are being modified by host application automation. Note that the highlighting will only appear around the control when the audio is playing - that is, while automation data is being sent to Spectron. In VST versions of Spectron, it's not possible for Spectron to tell with certainty when controls are being automated versus when they're being changed by the user, so automation highlighting is not available. In Pro Tools versions of Spectron, automation highlighting is built into Pro Tools, and you can use Pro Tools to set the automation highlight color as well.

RTAS Buffering

RTAS buffer size This option only appears in the RTAS version of Spectron. For optimal performance, you should set this to the same value that the "H/W Buffer Size" is set to under Setups / Playback Engine in Pro Tools. Note that this will introduce a few milliseconds of latency into Spectron's output. If this is undesirable, set this option to 32 for no additional latency but higher CPU usage. See Buffer Sizes for details.

Performance
Delay compensation	The Spectron Engine breaks down audio into thousands of bands for processing. This requires the Spectron inserts a delay into its output signal. This means there will be a delay between when you change a control in Spectron and when you hear that change, and also in a multitrack environment, Spectron's track will lag behind other tracks with less delay. Fortunately, many applications provide "delay compensation" - a means for Spectron to tell the application it has delayed the signal, and the host application should "undo" the delay on the track. If your host application supports delay compensation, select this option. If your application doesn't support it, or skips/stutters with this option on, you can always manually correct the delay offset in the host application (i.e. manually edit out the short delay of silence). To help you perform manual correction, the delay Spectron introduces is shown below "Total System Delay" in both samples and milliseconds.
Process as mono	You can force Spectron to process in mono, which will require almost half the CPU for half the channels. This can be useful for previewing on slow computers, just be sure to turn the option off to mixdown in stereo.
Preset changes	This determines Spectron's behavior when you change presets in the Preset Manager. "Realtime" means that Spectron will change between presets seamlessy. This option will provide the fastest changes between presets, but many host applications will drop out when changing between two very different presets. "Bypass" means that Spectron will bypass its processing while presets are changing. "Mute" is similar, but in this case Spectron will mute its output while presets are changing. Spectron defaults to "Mute" to minimize the chance of dropouts in all host applications. If transitioning between presets sounds strange to you, try "Bypass" mode while experimenting with Spectron's Gain When Bypassed setting. The "Realtime" mode is ideal in host apps running at less aggressive latencies, but if you experience dropouts while auditioning presets, you should avoid "Realtime" mode.
Total system delay	This readout shows the amount of delay, in both samples and milliseconds, that Spectron introduces into the signal chain.
View Buffers	This launches the View Buffers dialog, which lets you inspect the buffer sizes which your host application is using. See Buffer Sizes for more info.
Graphics
Enable meters	Although each meter has its own options, this option allows you to quickly turn off all meters.
Enable animations	Allows you turn on/off the animated appearance of dialog boxes.
Enable animated focus	Allows you to turn on/off the animated white brackets which indicate the control where keyboard commands are sent.
Show background grid	Toggles the visbility of the grid in the background of Spectron's touchscreen display.
Frame rate limiter	Allows you to set the limit the speed (frames per second) that Spectron should use to display and update meters. In most cases the default will provide smooth displays while still allowing adequate processing time for audio. If your PC hardware allows it, you can increase the frame rate for smoother animation. On the other hand, if you are running Spectron on slower hardware or notice graphics performance problems in your host application, you can set the FPS value lower to limit the amount of CPU Spectron uses for drawing.
Opacity	Allows you to control the opacity or transparency of the Spectron UI. This is helpful when working with automation, for example, to be able to have the Spectron UI in front but be able to "see through it" to the automation curves on the track view of the host app. Setting partial transparency does require additional CPU, but there is no CPU penalty when opacity is at 100% (i.e. the feature is not being used). If you find this feature useful, be sure to note the keyboard shortcuts for it. The slider will be disabled in host applications that do not support this feature.
Use rendering thread	Turn off this option to conserve CPU power. With the option on, a separate thread is created for graphics, providing smoother graphics at the expense of more CPU.
Other
History depth	Lets you set how many levels or steps are remembered in the History dialog .
Automation interval	This control only applies to DirectX versions of Spectron. It controls how often Spectron updates its processing based on your host application automation envelopes. To save CPU while previewing, you can increase the automation inverval. This allows Spectron to update less often, which saves CPU. For mixing down, you can decrease the automation interval to provide nearly sample accurate automation. In non-DirectX versions of Spectron, due to the technical details of these plug-in formats, the automation accuracy is limited by the host application buffer size.
Automation highlight	This control only applies to DirectX versions of Spectron. It allows you to color higlight controls that are being modified by host application automation. Note that the highlighting will only appear around the control when the audio is playing - that is, while automation data is being sent to Spectron. In VST versions of Spectron, it's not possible for Spectron to tell with certainty when controls are being automated versus when they're being changed by the user, so automation highlighting is not available. In Pro Tools versions of Spectron, automation highlighting is built into Pro Tools, and you can use Pro Tools to set the automation highlight color as well.
RTAS Buffering
RTAS buffer size	This option only appears in the RTAS version of Spectron. For optimal performance, you should set this to the same value that the "H/W Buffer Size" is set to under Setups / Playback Engine in Pro Tools. Note that this will introduce a few milliseconds of latency into Spectron's output. If this is undesirable, set this option to 32 for no additional latency but higher CPU usage. See Buffer Sizes for details.