Introduction

This tutorial will help you configure the playback routing and channel mapping necessary for using Bass Control and Active Room Treatment in the Dirac Live Processor (DLP). More specifically, it should help you configure your computer’s sound device with additional optional subwoofers that Bass Control and Active Room Treatment might use.

For general background on Dirac Live and the Bass Control feature, please refer to the
Bass Control Manual

For general background on Dirac Live and the Active Room Treatment feature, please refer to the Dirac Live Active Room Treatment Setup Guide

For more specific guidance on the usage of the Dirac Live Processor, please refer to the quick start guides and tutorials in "Browse PDF User Guides and Manuals" at Dirac Help Center.

Note: DLP supports up to 8 speakers for stereo input (Left + Right plus up to 6 subwoofers) and up to 16 speakers for multichannel input.

Set up Dirac Live Processor for Bass Control

If the Dirac Live Processor is not already running, start it and log in with your Dirac account's credentials.

Configure Your Playback Device

macOS

On macOS, you need to configure two devices separately: your physical output device (where sound comes out) and the Dirac Virtual Audio Device (the input side of DLP).

1. Click “macOS Audio MIDI Setup...” in Dirac Live Processor.
   

2. In Audio MIDI Setup, select your playback device. This is where the output from Dirac Live Processor will be sent.
   

3. Click "Configure Speakers...".
   -> Do NOT set this as your default output device. The Dirac Virtual Audio Device must be the system default so that all audio passes through DLP before routing it onward to your playback device.
   

4. Choose a multichannel configuration with the same total channel count as your combined speakers and subwoofers. For example, a stereo system with two subwoofers has 4 channels total, so you would choose Quadraphonic.
   

5. Click “Apply” and “Done”.

6. Select Dirac Virtual Audio Device in Audio MIDI Setup.
   

7. Click “Configure Speakers...”

8. Choose the configuration that matches your input content format, not your physical speaker count.
   -> The Dirac Virtual Audio Device represents the source signal entering DLP, so it should reflect the format of your audio content rather than your speaker layout. For example, if you have a 5.3 speaker setup but are playing 5.1 content, select 5.1; if you have a 2.4 setup playing stereo content, select Stereo.

9. Click “Apply” and “Done.”

Set up the playback device in Dirac Live Processor

The goal of this step is to set up the output channels in the Dirac Live Processor with the desired basic channel configuration corresponding to your input format, and then to add output channels for the additional optional subwoofers that may be used by Bass Control and Active Room Treatment.

1. Click “Audio Settings...” from the menu.

Example

In this example, using an ASIO driver, Left and Right speakers are connected to channel 1 and 2. Subwoofer 1 and 2 are connected to channel 9 and 10. Only the Active output channels that has a speaker connected to it is selected:

(Optional) Set up speaker assignments in Dirac Live Processor

1. If you have additional subwoofers beyond the standard 1:1 input-to-output mapping, you need to create a custom channel configuration.
   

2. Choose your input "Channel configuration", which is usually Stereo, 5.1, or 7.1 depending on the source format.
   3.Click "Add Subwoofer" for each additional subwoofer you have connected, then close the window.
   

3. Make sure to select the correct output mapping for each connected speaker using the Output dropdown menus.
   

Example

The following example illustrates a 5.3 configuration on a connected AVR via HDMI. That is, 5.1 plus two more subwoofers.

1. Configure the AVR in Windows for 7.1. This will allow the AVR to receive 8 channels from the PC.

2. In Dirac Live Processor, go to "Audio Settings..." and select the AVR as the output device. Activate all 8 outputs.

3. Go to "Custom Channel Config..." from the menu and select 5.1 as your input channel configuration.

4. Click "Add Subwoofer" twice to add two subwoofers. Reassign the physical outputs using the output number next to each speaker label if needed.

5. Finally, select "Custom" from the output channel selection drop-down in the Dirac Live Processor to enable your custom speaker assignment.
   

   You can now create a Bass Control or an Active Room Treatment filter with Dirac Live!

Select the Custom speaker system in Dirac Live Processor

Tip: If Dirac Live is not yet installed, click "Calibrate" in the Dirac Live Processor to download, install, and open it.

For further guidance, consult the Dirac Live User Manual here.