What's "IR" mean?

ksmithdc

ksmithdc

Inspired
Please don't laugh at my ignorance, but can somebody please explain to me what "IR" means? I've seen that term used frequently in the forum, and didn't know what it meant.


Thanks,



Kevin
 
It stands for IgnoRamus ;) jokes

But seriously it is Impulse Response, a way of capturing the response of a speaker cabinet for use with modellers.
 
From the Redwirez website: Red Wire Impulse Responses | High quality guitar speaker cabinet IRs for use with convolution plugins (where you can buy them)

"What's an impulse response?", you ask. Only your key to unleashing killer guitar tones at any volume. Finally, you can give the neighbors some other reason to call the cops.

For the technical among us, an impulse response (or "IR") realistically captures the characteristics, both in frequency and time, of an entire signal chain, including the sampled speaker, the microphone, the room it's in, the power amp, preamp -- even the A/D converters. Put another way, it'll capture the unique frequency curve of the speaker, any phase smearing inherent in the mechanical operation of the speaker, any cabinet resonance, the frequency response and resonance of the mic, the sound of the room, and any frequency or phase related coloration introduced by the power amp, preamp, and converters and apply that captured sound to any audio you pass through it... or so our even geekier friends tell us.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks Guys! I appreciate your help. After I read your replies, I did find the definition in the Appendix in my manual. Should've looked there first. LOL

As a quick follow up question, would you classify the IR thing as more of a sonic issue vs. a feel/response issue or a bit of both?


Thanks,



Kevin
 
ksmithdc said:
would you classify the IR thing as more of a sonic issue vs. a feel/response issue or a bit of both?
Click to expand...
For me its a sonic issue. I feel that the RedWirez cabs may be a subtle improvement over the built in cabs, but what I really like is the massive selection possible. I'm not sure what came with my RedWirez collection, but I bet its close to 1000 IRs. Lots of cab, speaker, mics and placement options.
 
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