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LowFire Manual

Patches/Presets

Saving Patches

To save a patch, click the floppy disk icon in the top right of the UI. Enter a name for your patch and click the secondary floppy disk icon on the write the patch file to your computer.

Loading Patches

To load a patch simply select the patch you want from the dropdown list at the top of the plugin UI.

Installing Presets/Patch Banks

Assuming you have not changed your patch location, all that you need to do to install 3rd party patches is place the unzipped patch (.lf) files into the C:\ReplicatAudio\lowfire\ directory on your computer.

If you have changed the patch location in the settings menu, simply put the patches there instead.

Note: Patches must be unzipped and they must be in the root of the directory (they can not be in sub folders).

Settings Menu

To access the settings menu, click the gear icon in the top right of the UI.

Patch Location

The default patch location is at C:\ReplicatAudio\lowfire\ but you can use this input box to set LowFire to look for patches in any valid location.

Updates

Leaving the updates option enabled will ensure that LowFire is able to connect to the ReplicatAudio servers and show you information about new updates that are available for LowFire as well as other ReplicatAudio news and information.

Note: The data submitted and retrieved through this process is very minimal.

MOTD

Once you have seen a new message of the day (ReplicatAudio update) once you will not see that message again unless you choose to do so by clicking the "motd" button in the settings menu.

Version Number

The current version number is displayed in the bottom left corner of the settings menu.

Other Features

Oscilloscope / Spectrum Analyzer

LowFire features a fairly simple but useful stereo oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer.

You can pause/lock the scope screen at any time simply by clicking on it. To unlock the screen just click it again.

Tip: Locking the scope screen is a useful way to examine your signal without it changing on you. It is also a good way to save CPU cycles if you find that this plugin runs somewhat slowly on your system.

Reload Patch Button

Clicking the circular arrow button in the top right of the UI will reload your current patch to the last version you have saved to your computer.

Clip Light

To the bottom right of the main screen is a small light that will change color as your amplitude increases. This is a simple VU meter that can be used to check if your signal is clipping. As the signal approaching a clip the light will turn a a dark red. If the signal is indeed clipping the light will turn to a bright red.

FX Breakdown

Overdrive

The overdrive effect is emulates a overdriven amplifier.

The "gain up" knob will add gain/overdrive to your signal and the "gain down" knob will decrease the signal at the end of the overdrive sub-chain.

Noise

This effect adds white noise into your signal chain. Depending on the selected routing algo, this can be used to alter your tone in a variety of ways.

Downsample

The down sample effect in LowFire comes in 4 varieties.

Clean Downsample will attempt to preform anti-aliasing techniques which result in a cleaner, less "buzzy" sound.

Dirty Downsample will not attempt to perform any anti-aliasing.

Accumulative Averaging Downsample will average each sample in your new "chunk" accumulatively.

Noisy Downsample will add a small amount of randomization to the down sample algorithm creating an old-school radio tuning type distortion.

Note: The difference between these 4 types of down sampling is very subtle when compared on a "busy" or low frequency signal. See the routing algorithms section for more info on selecting your down sample variety.

Bit Crush

Increasing the amount of bit crush lowers the bit depth of your signal. That being said, the bit crush algorithm in LowFire is not a traditional bit crush effect. Instead of proper integer bits, the amount of bit depth is represented as a floating point (fractional) number. So it is possible to have for instance, a bit depth of 1.5 as opposed to only 2 bits or 1 bit.

Filter Sections (HP/LP)

LowFire includes 2 fairly powerful filters. A high-pass filter used for removing unwanted low frequency sounds and a low-pass filter used for removing unwanted high frequency sounds.

The resonance (quality) of these two filters has a somewhat high maximum value. This allows for creating some very interesting sounds but in turn creates the potential for somewhat unexpected clipping.

Tip: If you are experimenting with high filter resonance values it is highly recommended that you use an external limiter plugin placed at after LowFire in your processing chain. Alternatively, you can also ensure that the "soft clip" knob in LowFire is set to 100%.

MonoFire

MonoFire is an effect that allows you to narrow your stereo image as much as you would like. The higher this knob is set to, the more stereo averaging happens and the more similar your stereo channels will become.

Soft Clip

The soft clip effect uses TanH to ensure that the signal leaving LowFire is not clipping. This is a fairly basic effect that sounds something like analog tape saturation.

Note: The "soft clip" effect is actually amplifying your signal by up to 2x at its maximum value. This happens to "encourage" the incoming signal to clip.

Mix

This effect preforms a dry / wet mix that will allow you to send a partial LowFire signal to the rest of your processing chain if desired.

Routing Algos

KEY:

OD = Overdrive
NS = Noise
DC = Down Sample Clean
DD = Down Sample Dirty
DA = Down Sample Accumulative Average
DN = Down Sample Noisy
BC = Bit Crush
FS = Filter Sections (HP/LP)
MF = MonoFire

I

OD->NS->DD->BC->FS->MF

Useful for creating all kinds crunchy of lo-fi sounds.

II

OD->NS->DC->BC->FS->MF

III

OD->NS->DA->BC->FS->MF

IV

OD->NS->DR->BC->FS->MF

V

OD->NS->DC->BC->FS->MF

VI

MF->NS->DA->BC->OD->FS

VII

NS->MF->DR->BC->OD->FS

Note: All chains end with Soft Clip and Mix.

Troubleshooting

I installed the paid version but still see the lite version in my DAW

To ensure that all your project settings can carry over between the lite and pro versions, each version of the plugin shows the same name to your DAW. To ensure your DAW loads the right plugin, just delete the lite version or move it to a folder outside of where your DAW looks for VSTs.

None of my presets/patches are showing

In the settings menu (gear icon) you can see and set the location that LowFire will look for patches/presets. Please ensure this is where your patches are actually located. It is also important to note that LowFire will NOT look inside of sub-folders to find patches. It will ONLY look in the root of the folder you provide to it.

My DAW keeps muting/clipping

Depending on the current patch and input signal, LowFire may cause audio to clip. Some DAWs will respond to this by muting the offending track. You can avoid clipping by using a limiter plugin after LowFire or by ensuring that the "soft clip" knob within LowFire is not bypassed and turned to 100% (fully to the right).

My issue isn't listed here

Sorry about that. Come join the ReplicatAudio Discord Server and we will help you get your issue sorted out as quickly as possible.