Waves Audio has announced a ‘major expansion’ of its Tract System Calibration solution, offering it as a complete toolkit for PA measurement, system calibration and SPL monitoring.
The expanded Tract System Calibration suite brings together three plug-ins designed to provide live sound engineers and system technicians with a streamlined workflow from initial system measurement and tuning through ongoing sound pressure level monitoring during a show. The suite includes the original Tract System Calibration plug-in along with the new Tract Measure and SPL Meter plug-ins.
‘With the expanded Tract suite, we’re bringing more of that process directly into the Waves live environment – you can measure the system, create the correction, time-align the front fills and then monitor SPL throughout the show without constantly moving between different tools and computers,’ says Waves Live Sound Division Senior Project Manager, Val Kotler.
‘It’s about creating a more connected workflow so engineers can spend less time setting up the technology and more time mixing on an optimised, unified system.’
At the centre of the expanded workflow is Tract Measure, which enables engineers to measure a PA system directly within Waves eMotion LV1 consoles or SuperRack plug-in racks, eliminating the need for separate measurement software or a second computer for many common system-tuning tasks.
Using an engineer’s measurement microphone of choice, Tract Measure captures a system’s frequency response and delay and sends the results directly to Tract System Calibration. Tract System Calibration then uses those measurements to generate corrective EQ and system time-alignment settings.
Engineers can capture measurements from multiple microphone positions and combine them into a single correction curve, providing a more representative picture of system performance throughout a venue. Current, Last and Delta readouts provide precise timing offsets that can be used when aligning mains, front fills and delay towers.
Tract System Calibration continues to support measurements from Smaart, giving engineers two options – Tract Measure and Smaart – for bringing measurement data into the Tract correction workflow.
The addition of SPL Meter extends the Tract workflow beyond system setup and into the performance itself. Once the PA is calibrated, engineers can monitor sound pressure levels directly from their Waves live host without leaving their primary mixing environment. SPL Meter displays current and maximum SPL and provides both A- and C-weighted measurements. Engineers can establish SPL thresholds and receive warnings when levels reach or exceed predetermined limits. Measurements can also be logged throughout a performance and exported as CSV files, providing documentation for venue requirements as well as useful data for post-show review.
The plug-ins provide a unified workflow addressing some of the most important tasks surrounding PA deployment: system measurement, creating corrective EQ, aligning system components and monitoring SPL throughout an event.
Key features:
- Integrated plug-ins for PA measurement, calibration and SPL monitoring.
- Direct PA measurement within eMotion LV1, SuperRack Performer and SuperRack SoundGrid.
- Automatic corrective EQ and system time alignment.
- Time alignment of mains, fills and delay towers.
- Combination of multiple measurements into a single correction curve.
- Continued compatibility with Smaart measurement software.
- A- and C-weighted SPL monitoring.
- User-defined SPL thresholds and maximum-level warnings.
- SPL measurement logging and CSV export.