THE BASICS
HOW DO I GET STARTED? Read through this FAQ. Consider purchasing one of our specialized computer hardware options (that come with the non-activated Windows plugin and VST Host DAW pre-installed) because most other computers won't handle the extremely high CPU load. You can directly download the non-activated plugin for either Windows or Mac by clicking the "DOWNLOAD PLUGIN" buttons on this website. If you do buy our recommended hardware, at least read through "How do I activate..." and "When the hardware arrives..." in this FAQ. The non-activated plugin runs in trial mode, which means there are periodic audio drop-outs. No plugin calibration or live operation required. Tips/tricks and troubleshooting are at the bottom of this FAQ. Click on the social media icons on the main page to see it in action and watch tutorial videos, especially the YouTube playlist. License sales are final. Hardware sales adhere to the terms and conditions of each supplier. Cannot ship computers to Russia or Ukraine, and cannot ship the Option 1 computer to India.
WHAT IS THE LATEST VERSION OF THIS PLUGIN? Version 1.0.6 which you can find in the plugin UI window > Show Menu > About. In VST Host specifically, click the "plugin edit" dial icon next to the blue info icon inside of the plugin instance box to open the UI window. Version history notes are at the bottom of this FAQ.
WHICH IS BETTER, WINDOWS OR MAC? The Windows platform allows our developers to maximize CPU performance in a way that Mac does not. Therefore, the Windows version will generally perform better. However, due to popular demand, we have also released a Mac version in "beta" format; it is compiled for Intel but will work on Silicon, although sometimes Rosetta is required.
WILL THE LICENSE WORK WITH BOTH MAC AND WINDOWS? Yes, the license is universal.
CAN I BUY THE LICENSE USING ANY DEVICE, EVEN MY PHONE? Yes, the license is just a set of numbers that appear on the screen at checkout, and are also emailed to you.
WHAT IS A PERPETUAL LICENSE? It lets you keep Version 1.x.x forever without having to periodically revalidate, but you should expect to only get access to free patches and sub-versions, not primary version upgrades.
HOW DO I ACTIVATE, AND WHAT IS THE LICENSE TIED TO? The license ties itself to your machine, combining certain hardware identifiers that are most likely to remain permanent over time. Before opening your DAW to activate the plugin, first make sure that you don't have any extra or temporary harddrives or other network devices or cards connected to the computer that are not a permanent part of the machine. Establish an internet connection, then open the DAW and activate the plugin by opening the UI window and clicking on Show Menu and then License Management. In VST Host specifically, click the "plugin edit" dial icon next to the blue info icon inside of the plugin instance box to open the UI window. Enter your credentials and click Activate. If any additional non-permanent hardware elements accidentally get included in the fingerprint for your machine license, this could cause problems for transfers/reactivations in the future if these hardware items come and go. We do not recommend running this plugin on virtual machines or copies of operating systems running on external portable drives, because their identifiers often shift over time. Before reinstalling the OS or sending the computer in for physical repairs, deactivate the current license on the machine so that it can be successfully reactivated again at a later point. The license exists on your machine separately from the plugin and any DAW that you run, but can only be managed through the plugin UI. A lost or damaged machine generally means a permanently lost license, so be careful!
HOW MANY TIMES CAN I TRANSFER THE LICENSE TO ANOTHER MACHINE? There are no limits on the number of times that you can transfer licenses from machine to machine.
IS THERE AN OFFLINE ACTIVATION/TRANSFER OPTION FOR MACHINES WITHOUT INTERNET? Yes, enter your license credentials, then click Activate three times and follow the prompts. For deactivations/transfers, click Deactivate twice within one second and follow the prompts. You'll need a USB key or other method of transferring text-based files between machines. Do not interrupt or cut short the activation or deactivation process or prematurely close the pop-up windows.
HOW DO I RUN PATCHES AND UPGRADES? To run a patch or upgrade, make sure the DAW is not open, delete the current plugin file and replace it with the new downloaded file in the same location, then reopen the DAW or restart your machine. Make sure the file name - including the extension - remains the same as the old file. You may also want to download the latest VST Host folder by clicking the link below the FAQ on this website and selecting the version associated with the recommended hardware option you may have purchased through our site. Make sure VST Host is not open, delete the current VST Host folder from your Desktop and replace it with the new folder inside the downloaded .zip file, then delete the .zip file. Open VST Host, and if it prompts you with a security warning, make sure you un-check the option to "Always ask before opening this file" and then run the program. Then, restart your machine to confirm that VST Host opens automatically after booting. For our recommended hardware options running VST Host, the plugin must remain on the Desktop for the stock performance settings to work.
WHAT EXACTLY AM I BUYING? The plugin itself is fungible, it will operate on any machine in trial mode with periodic drops in audio without an active license. The paid license is tied to the specific machine you choose to run the plugin. The license is offered through Fastspring and managed by Softwarekey. Our recommended computer hardware options are offered and fulfilled through Simply NUC, and we recommend that you purchase the Focusrite audio interface through Sweetwater via the link provided on our site in association with the specific computer hardware option (unless you already have an identical interface). You can also purchase a different Focusrite Scarlett Gen4 interface, or experiment with other digital connections, but custom setup and patching in VST Host may be required.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I ORDER ONE OF THE RECOMMENDED HARDWARE COMBO OPTIONS? After you correctly fill out the computer request form (including the billing address of your payment method, if different than the shipping address), you will receive an automatic confirmation email for a successful form submission, and Simply NUC will contact you within a few business days and then send a direct payment link with applicable tax and shipping costs included. Feel free to explore alternative shipping options with the Simply NUC representative. After payment, you will receive a tiny computer in the mail. Then, you will also receive any associated analog USB interfaces in the mail that you ordered through Sweetwater.
WHEN THE HARDWARE ARRIVES, WHAT DO I DO? First, plug the interface into any of the computer USB ports. The 18i16 requires USB-C on both ends to run without a separate power cable, and this is recommended over using USB-A with a power cable. Also make sure that the USB cables are high quality data transfer cables, not merely charging style cables. Make sure the 18i16 is switched on. Then connect the computer power cable. Things will boot automatically. You'll need an HDMI screen and USB keyboard/mouse, and preferably an internet connection to get started. If you ordered your computer before Jan 1, 2025, you will want to download and install the latest version of Microsoft C++ Distributable, read through "How do I run patches and upgrades" in this FAQ, and also uninstall (and if desired, reinstall) AnyDesk as outlined in the Troubleshooting section of this FAQ. Do not have any extra or temporary harddrives or other network devices or cards connected to the computer when you go to activate the plugin (if you do, unplug them and restart VST Host) because these items may accidentally get included in the fingerprint for your machine license, and this could cause problems in the future if they come and go. Inside VST Host, click on the "plugin edit" dial icon just to the right of the blue info icon inside any plugin instance box to open the UI window, and then choose Show Menu > License Management and activate your plugin with your credentials. The first time you run things, you need to open Focusrite Control 2 and apply any updates to the interface firmware that are available while connected to the internet, then also go to Settings > System > Sound > More Sound Settings and then go into the Properties of the Focusrite interface on both the Playback and Recording tabs and make sure the use of the device is "disabled" so that the computer itself doesn't send any alerts out that interface during use. Then you can disconnect and turn off your internet, restart the machine and run it offline after that. We recommend disabling the wifi/Bluetooth and disconnecting the Ethernet, screen and keyboard/mouse during normal usage not only to cut down on CPU load from graphics rendering, but because basically all antivirus protection has also been turned off in order to prioritize audio processing. Briefly press the power button to power off, but if the machine accidentally loses power, when it comes back on or when you plug it back in, it will auto boot and recall the last used plugin setup saved as a "performance" in the DAW. You can select a different performance from the list or create/save your own. Always make sure the interface is connected (and turned on, if applicable) before powering on the computer; if it gets unplugged or turned off during use, plug it back in and turn it back on, then restart VST Host or the machine itself. Sometimes if there is a very short power outage (less than two seconds), the unit will not auto boot properly again and will need to be rebooted; best practice is to have a battery backup power supply.
HOW DO I LEARN VST HOST? Watch the YouTube video tutorial for VST Host featuring Defeedback.
THE DETAILS
WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE RECOMMENDED HARDWARE OPTIONS? There is a very long and complicated list of things we have done to the machine BIOS, operating system and the various apps and settings to maximize performance for Defeedback using the Focusrite Scarlett Gen4 audio interfaces. Even if you already have a nice computer, or a popular or expensive audio interface that is different, there is no guarantee that it will work properly with this plugin at extremely low latency. Also, do not run any additional programs, plugins, or make any changes to the OS or app settings unless we approve it, as this will increase the chances of disruptions in audio. We recommend having a dedicated hardware unit for running Defeedback, and separate hardware for running other programs and plugins, even our other plugin products.
CAN I USE MY OWN COMPUTER HARDWARE TO RUN THIS PLUGIN? Sure, give it a try. But since most people don't have hardware capable of running super CPU intense plugins reliably for live sound applications at low latency, we spent about a year testing and verifying two options that are simple and cost-effective, and we recommend choosing them instead.
HOW MANY INSTANCES OF THE PLUGIN CAN I RUN ON MY COMPUTER? As many as your machine CPU will handle, given a certain buffer size.
CAN I RUN OTHER PLUGINS AS WELL ON THE RECOMMENDED HARDWARE OPTIONS? Defeedback requires dedicated hardware in most cases; our recommended hardware options have only been verified to handle the indicated numbers of Defeedback instances with nothing else running in addition. To use other plugins as well, we recommend separate hardware.
DOES IT HAVE LATENCY? No, the plugin runs at zero latency. The only latency you need to worry about is the latency introduced by your computer and audio I/O method.
HOW MUCH LATENCY DOES HARDWARE INTRODUCE? It depends. If you buy the Option 1 hardware combo we recommend, it can do one instance (mono or stereo) at 4.9ms roundtrip at 48kHz. The Option 2 "PRO" combo can do up to four mono, or two mono and one stereo, or two stereo instances, at the same latency. Some third party options (especially those with native Dante) might have lower latencies, but we haven't fully tested everything out there. We're also working on a native Dante version, but this will take time. Yamaha has a USB option for the DM3 and DM7 consoles that runs at just under 6ms latency. Be aware that using Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS) and other networked connections of this sort will usually introduce higher latencies. Also, not all USB drivers are created equal; some run perfectly, some run mostly ok, and some don't work at all.
CAN I RUN THE RECOMMENDED HARDWARE AT HIGHER SAMPLE RATES? While the plugin itself is capable of running at higher sample rates, we have only confirmed stability on our recommended hardware units with the Focusrite interfaces at 48kHz.
IS THERE A REASON TO BUY THE PRO HARDWARE OPTION IF I ONLY NEED TO USE ONE INSTANCE? Maybe. We notice that the act of connecting a screen/peripherals and opening/moving windows on the Option 1 machine can cause temporary audio glitches, whereas this does not seem to happen with the Option 2 "PRO" machine. If for some reason you absolutely need to be accessing the Desktop during live usage without audio disruptions, buy the "PRO" machine. Also, we are told by the manufacturer that this machine is better about performing well under physical stresses like heat and humidity, but we have not thoroughly tested this.
CAN I BUY THE CHEAPER INTERFACE TO GO WITH THE MORE EXPENSIVE COMPUTER FOR RUNNING JUST ONE INSTANCE? Sure, that's totally fine, but you will need to get into the routing section of VST Host to make it work right. What wouldn't make sense of course is to buy the more expensive interface for the cheaper computer, because it can't handle more than one instance anyway.
CAN I USE A DIFFERENT FOCUSRITE INTERFACE SUCH AS 4i4 or 18i20? Yes, any of the Gen4 products will work fine, but you will need to configure the plugins and patching and then save as a performance.
CAN I RUN MORE THAN 4 INSTANCES IF I USE THE 18i20? Yes, but you may have to increase the latency. For example, we tested up to eight mono instances on the "PRO" computer with just under 10ms total latency with that interface.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I LOSE OR MESS UP MY PLUGIN? Download the latest version from our website and put it in the same place or folder it was before. If you have an active license, it’ll work fine again. Don’t change the file name or extension of the plugin, and don’t move or delete any of the folders or files that the plugin creates on your computer. Also, don't rename the computer or the account.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I LOSE OR MESS UP VST HOST? Download the latest version from our website in accordance with your hardware option.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I MESS UP MY WHOLE MACHINE? We'll start with a tech support email or session. If the problem is bad enough, the machine will need to be sent back in for reimaging.
CAN I HAVE MULTIPLE PLUGIN FILES OR VERSIONS ON MY MACHINE AT ONCE? Don't try it, because having multiple of this plugin of either the same or different version or sub-version on your machine at the same time could crash the plugin. We recommend deleting the current version from your machine before downloading or placing versions of any kind on that machine. We designed the licensing system to work with only one plugin on a machine at a time, and we don’t know what could happen when there are two or more. It might cause a black hole and destroy the universe, so don’t risk it.
WHAT DOES THIS PLUGIN DO? It helps get more gain before feedback from your live microphones, and largely removes room reverb, and reduces some background noise. You can think of it as a general vocal cleaner/isolator. It does this at zero added latency (beyond your hardware I/O latency) using extremely advanced AI processing.
DOES IT WORK FOR BIG AND SMALL SHOWS/VENUES? Yes, it works for all sizes and kinds of shows and venues, however we do notice that if the mic is too close to the loudspeakers (as in less than 6ft) anti-feedback performance can begin to lessen.
DOES IT WORK BOTH INDOORS AND OUTDOORS? Yes, it works for both.
DOES IT PREVENT ALL FEEDBACK? No, this first version helps to mostly prevent feedback, but if you push the gain high enough, you can potentially defeat the algorithm and things will still go into feedback. Future versions will be more aggressive, but this is hard to do without changing the sound of the vocals. We're working on it!
DOES THIS CURRENT VERSION OF THE PLUGIN CHANGE THE SOUND OF THE VOCALS? No, the plugin should not generally change the sound of the vocals under normal conditions. We do notice that with really high gain settings, this version can have some short "ringy" sounding artifacts that future versions will aim to avoid. And also, for singing, sometimes there is a slight overall loss of SPL output, and we're working to fix this.
DO I STILL NEED TO EQ THE VOCALS? Yes, you'll need to EQ the vocals to sound good, but this plugin will largely reduce the need to burn EQ bands to fight feedback. In extreme situations, you can still use some bit of EQ to "ring out" the first few frequencies that want to feed back without the plugin inserted, just to maximize overall performance.
IS THE PLUGIN LINEAR PHASE? No, the plugin is not technically linear phase, although we tried our best to keep the phase shift to a minimum, and it shouldn't be noticeable under normal usage. Also, be aware that the small bit of phase shift is not always static, it randomly changes as the AI removes the feedback.
DOES IT CHANGE THE DYNAMICS? No, it should not change the dynamic range of the vocals. We do notice however that under some rare circumstances where there is considerable background noise in the signal, or where a singer is singing with a very pure tone, the vocal level could be slightly reduced momentarily as it becomes mistaken for noise or feedback to be eliminated. Future versions will aim to avoid this.
IS IT FULL QUALITY? Yes, it can operate at all the normal sample rates from 44.1k to 96k with any bit depth allowed by the DAW. The audio throughput is full range, and the effective processing range is from 100Hz - 22,000Hz.
IS IT MONO OR STEREO? It will be mono or stereo depending on how your DAW audio channel is configured. If you intend to use it for a mono signal, it is best to make sure the channel is mono and that you do not accidentally use one side of a stereo plugin, but the stereo version is designed to function sonically like a mono version if it only receives audio on one side. In some programs like VST Host, the plugin is permanently stereo, so you can make it behave like a mono plugin by ensuring that only one side receives audio. We do not recommend trying to use the stereo version as a "dual mono" plugin with each side receiving independent uncorrelated audio inputs. The stereo functionality is designed to coordinate the slight phase shifts of the two channels so that the stereo imaging between correlated inputs is maintained, and it also somewhat coordinates the relative amount of feedback and reverb/noise reduction between the two inputs. It is best to only use the plugin in stereo mode when you have a truly stereo input source such as two microphones placed within a few feet of each other and picking up the same general content, or, if you have a mono-panned vocal with stereo reverb you'd like to remove, to name just two common examples. Also note that the stereo version does not use significantly more CPU than the mono version, they are practically about the same overall.
WHAT CAN I USE IT ON? This version is calibrated best for singular human speech vocals, it is mostly "ok" for singing, but usually not great for choirs and often destructive to the sound of instruments. Later versions will be much better about handling a wider range of sonic inputs. Some people are already using it for singers and choirs with varying levels of reported success, but we can't officially recommend this until we have done more testing. The worst that we suspect can happen for use with these is that it may momentarily reduce the overall SPL level by a few decibels as it can partially mistake the sound of the voices for feedback or noise to be eliminated.
HOW CLOSE DOES A PERSON NEED TO BE TO THE MIC? The input content can't be too ambient; it needs to be more than 50% direct sound as opposed to ambient, "roomy" or background noise.
DOES IT WORK WITH ALL KINDS OF VOCAL SOUNDS? No, vocal sound FX or the use of alternative vocalization devices may not always be handled perfectly. Future versions will aim to improve this.
DOES IT HAVE A THRESHOLD? No, anything from whispering to shouting will work fine.
DOES THE PLUGIN HAVE ANY USER DEFINED PARAMETERS? There is a strength level, where 0% is unprocessed and 100% is fully processed. We recommend leaving it at 100% for normal use. We also provided a selector for the mild noise reduction capability, as some users may not desire this functionality all the time.
ARE THERE OTHER PLUGINS LIKE THIS? Not that we know of, that's why we made this one. We got tired of waiting around for the "big" companies to solve the problem of feedback without destroying the sound through ridiculous EQ dips and annoying volume thresholds/gates and such. It was obvious that AI was the only answer, and this plugin is a good start.
HOW DOES IT WORK? Magic.
NO BUT REALLY? It works by training our boutique AI model with many terabytes of customized audio data, telling it to listen for feedback, room reverb and background noise, and then eliminate those from the vocal signal in real time with no latency. Easier said than done of course.
WILL THERE BE MORE VERSIONS? Yes, we're already working on them, but AI tech is hard and we're only comfortable releasing what has proven to be stable and reliable. We plan to come out with about one new primary version per year, if we manage to raise the funds necessary to continue R&D, with patches to existing versions along the way.
HOW MUCH BETTER WILL FUTURE VERSIONS BE? It depends. If lots of people buy this first version, we'll have the funds to reinvest into a better and faster AI training computer, and we'll be able to hire more staff and generate more training data, etc. The degree to which we can progress is highly proportional to the amount of new training data we can compile, and the time it takes to create and train new models.
CAN I SELL MY LICENSE OR HARDWARE TO SOMEONE ELSE? Sure, but be aware that we only support our product up to two degrees of ownership transfer. This means that we support you and the next person you sell it to, but nobody after that. We also don't support renters, you are expected to be the line of support to renters if you rent out our products. Also note that it is against the Windows IoT Enterprise license agreement to make copies of the OS or disk.
HOW CAN I HELP THIS PROJECT SUCCEED? Tell everyone you know about it! Post success stories on social media and tag Alpha Sound, our partner company. Also, let us know privately how we can improve the plugin, and be honest.
WHAT IS ALPHA LABS? Alpha Labs LLC is a software company partner to Alpha Sound. The plugins Alpha Labs develops were firstly intended for use by Alpha Sound, but are now available for sale to the public. Enjoy!
TIPS AND TRICKS
WHERE IN THE SIGNAL CHAIN SHOULD I INSERT IT? We recommend creating a subgroup on your mixer that has the plugin inserted, and then you can throw vocal channels into it. Be aware that too many vocals happening simultaneously can trick the plugin into thinking the input content is more like noise than vocals, so we recommend having minimal discrete vocal signals running through any individual instance at once, and this may require the use of individually inserted plugins per vocal channel for ideal sonic performance. Technically, the plugin works best with the raw uncompressed vocal signal, but for most situations it is fine to run a post-EQ/dynamics and/or post-fader signal into the plugin. In either case, just be careful not to clip the inputs of your interface.
USING YAMAHA USB: To connect the computer to a Yamaha DM3 or DM7 console via USB, download the Yamaha Steinberg USB driver (pre-installed on our recommended hardware options as of Jan 1, 2025) and select the Yamaha ASIO device in the DAW, then go to the ASIO control panel and set the latency to one of the lowest settings. On your Yamaha console, select the USB as the I/O. A good arrangement is to send channels to a mix instead of to the stereo bus, then send that mix to the stereo bus, but insert the mix through the USB going to the computer. This way, you can run multiple vocal channels through a single instance of the plugin, but be sure that no more than two or three vocalists are talking/singing at the same time.
CAN I USE MIC AND/OR LINE LEVEL INPUTS ON THE RECOMMENDED OPTIONS? Yes. On the Solo (using the default performance) you can plug into either the XLR or the 1/4" inputs and they will be summed together into the one plugin instance, and the plugin output is mirrored on both interface outputs. On the 18i16 (using the default performance) each of the channels 1-4 inputs are summed with the corresponding channels 5-8 inputs, and each of the four summed pairs goes into its corresponding plugin instance and then out to the corresponding output. Be aware that the +48V Phantom Power on the 18i16 defaults to off when the unit is fully power cycled... we've asked Focusrite to fix this.
TROUBLESHOOTING
FOCUSRITE CONTROL 2 SOFTWARE WON'T OPEN AFTER UPDATING FIRMWARE. Install the latest x64 version of Microsoft C++ Distributable.
AUDIO DISTORTIONS FROM FOCUSRITE OUTPUT EVEN AFTER UPDATING FIRMWARE. Make sure your USB cable is a data transfer cable, not merely a charging cable.
ANYDESK HAS ADDRESS [1 811 905 542] OR [1 585 450 973], AND SOMETIMES DISCOVERS OTHER DEFEEDBACK MACHINES. Click on hidden icons in lower right corner of screen, right click and close AnyDesk. Search Settings for "Add or Remove Programs" and uninstall AnyDesk. If desired, redownload and install AnyDesk.
VERSION HISTORY
V1.0.6 released on December 28, 2024 added beta test versions for Mac, improved the offline deactivation sequence to avoid accidental deactivations, and fixed minor bugs.
V1.0.5 released on December 12, 2024 added stereo and allowed for offline activations/deactivations and fixed minor bugs.
V1.0.0 released on November 11, 2024.
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