WaveWarp Users' Guide: last updated 28 February 2002

2.25-- Real-time processing of "live" audio inputs

In addition to the DirectX plugin and standalone WAV file processor capabilities, WaveWarp supports multi-channel "live" audio inputs which can be streamed on to the DrawingBoard and processed in real-time. You may build the suitable "live input" DrawingBoard from scratch by hand (simply drag one (or more) input device(s) from the "Input Soundcards" category of the Component Library and connect it up on the DrawingBoard as desired), but the probably quickest way is to select "New Live DrawingBoard" from the File menu. This will create (by default) a mono DrawingBoard for routing a live audio input straight to an audio output. You can then add any other components to create the desired effect. Figure 19 illustrates the live input functionality.

Figure 19 Example DrawingBoard illustrating the use of WaveWarp's live input functionality. In this example, the mono input from an audio card is converted to stereo (via the Zipper component), reversed (via the Flipper component), then sent to the stereo output of the same soundcard. This produces an interesting effect whereby the live input is played backwards in real-time (on a frame-by-frame basis)!

Notes :

1. Owing to the buffering processes inherent to the Windows operating system, there will always be a slight delay (latency) when streaming "live" input audio signals. The degree to which the latency can be minimized will depend on the performance of your soundcard/driver combination and on the inherent performance of your PC. Generally speaking, a fast PC with a high-end soundcard will yield the best results. For a given hardware set-up, the latency can be adjusted as described in section 7.2--.

2. In order to simultaneously utilize the input and output components of a single soundcard on a given DrawingBoard, the soundcard/driver must have "full duplex" functionality (as is the case with the "Turtle Beach Montego" illustrated in Figure 19). If it has only "half-duplex" functionality, you will only be able to use either the input or the output component on a given DrawingBoard at a given time. In such cases, you will require multiple soundcards in order to be able to listen to the processed input (i.e. by using the input component of one soundcard in combination with the output component of another).

3. For best results, it is necessary to carefully adjust the input levels of your audio source (guitar, microphone, etc), as well as the corresponding input level controls associated with the soundcard. The soundcard input level controls cannot be adjusted from within WaveWarp. They must be adjusted via the corresponding software mixer application which comes with the soundcard (and is usually installed at the same time when the drivers are installed). Consult your soundcard documentation for more information.