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Ginger Audio

August 2023

Table of Contents

www.gingeraudio.com

Welcome #

Welcome to GroundControl SPHERE, the professional multichannel audio routing and control room application for Mac.

GroundControl SPHERE allows you to manage and route audio signals in professional control room environments with ease. With an intuitive interface and a wide range of advanced features, GroundControl SPHERE is the ultimate tool for professional audio engineers and sound designers.

Some of the key features of GroundControl SPHERE include:

Advanced audio routing: Route signals to and from multiple sources and destinations with precision.

Signal processing: Apply real-time signal processing to individual channels or groups of channels.

Multi-channel metering: Monitor audio levels and identify potential issues quickly with LUFS metering.

Compatibility with popular DAWs and NLEs: Integrate with your existing workflow and tools.

Remote control: Control the application remotely using MIDI or OSC protocols.

Whether you’re working in a live sound environment, a post-production studio, or any other professional audio setting, GroundControl SPHERE has everything you need to manage your audio signals with precision and efficiency. With LUFS metering, you can ensure that your audio meets the loudness standards for your project and deliver a professional-sounding mix. Try it out today and see the difference it can make in your workflow!

Bass management – The fundamental principle of bass management (also called LFE crossover) in surround sound replay systems is that bass content in the incoming signal, irrespective of channel, should be directed only to loudspeakers capable of reproducing it, whether the latter are the main system loudspeakers or one or more subwoofers.

Overview And Features

Sphere can handle inputting and outputting from multiple audio devices at the same time.

Each Input and output track in Sphere can be set to

The audio signal processing signal flow is shown in the diagram below. #

Operation #

Control Room Section #

The control room section includes control room peak meters, loudness meters, and speakers arrangement layout.

The user-friendly interface allows you to easily switch between the peak meter and the loudness (LUFS) meter depending on your specific needs and preferences.

The meters display a summing level of all active inputs.

The Loudness meter has the following parameters: range, integrated, short-term, true peak, momentary, short-term maximum, and momentary maximum.

The speaker arrangement layout defines the set of physical speakers you use in your studio. *When you select the layout of your speakers you also select the corresponding main meters layout.

Speakers control section: #

Speakers Arrangement Layout #

In this section, you can configure the arrangement of your room speakers and input meters. After configuring, you can solo individual speakers by clicking on the corresponding speaker icon.

Solo groups #

The solo options are divided into five groups: side, top, front, surround, and rear.

Side = Left Wide, Right Wide.

Top = Left Top Front, Right Top Front, Left Top Side, Right Top Side, Left Top Rear, Right Top Rear.

Front = Left, Right.

Surround = Left Wide, Right Wide, Left Surround, Right Surround.

Rear = Left Rear Surround, Right Rear Surround.

Main volume knob #

This volume knob adjusts the overall level of audio output to your speakers, excluding the Cue output. To control the volume knob, you have multiple options:

Using Mac volume keyboard keys, when the “SPHERE Mon 16” device is selected as the OS audio output device.
Via MIDI, with the right-click option to activate MIDI learning.
With hotkeys, accessible from the toolbar.

* To enable the keyboard input monitor you should make sure it’s selected under Sphere settings > preferences. This will allow you to control Sphere using hotkeys even if the Sphere app is in the background.

Input section: Sources #

The system features 8 input tracks and an additional input for talkback, each of which can be assigned to any channel order layout, ranging from mono to 9.1.6, providing a maximum of 144 input channels.

Input track settings #

To access the input track settings, click on the area of the track name or on the cogwheel button located next to the track name. This will open the settings window.

In the Input Track Settings window, you can choose your Input Audio Device. Upon making this selection, an input menu will appear from which you can determine the device to handle the input, as well as its layout format.

For mono or stereo selections, you can pick a particular channel from the menu. In the case of multichannel options, first, select the desired stem format from the menu. Then, if necessary, you can modify any specific channel in the settings table found beneath. By default, channels will be arranged in sequence, beginning with input channel 1 and so on.

You can customize the input track name and color.

Track Layout indication on the top left side.

The main volume (+) and (-)buttons of the input track affect all input channels volumes together.

Send to cue On/off button and send knob – sending the signal from this input track to the cue mix output (Cue output).

The Cue is a separate bus in Sphere. There is a Main bus and Cue Bus (see signal flow).

Click on the plugin “fx” button to insert an AU plugin to your input track – this plugin affects all inputs. Ensure that the plugin format supports the number of input track channels, otherwise, some channels may be muted due to mismatches.

Sphere will try to open the plugin in the same Layout of the track, if the plugin does not support this layout it will show you the plugin layout in red as an indication of a mismatch. You can see in the plugin layout menu all the plugin available layout options.

Right-click on the plugin “fx” button will open a menu where you can: “Show plugin” to open the plugin GUI, “Bypass” the plugin, and “Remove” the plugin.

Inputs settings channel table:

Channels:

The channels are ordered starting from channel 1 by default, but the input channel routing can be changed by selecting a different device input.

Speakers:

The speaker assignments correspond to the layout format selected earlier in the input device menu.

Meters:

The meters show the peak meter for each input channel while the settings window is open.

Solo/Mute:

Individual input channels can be soloed or muted.

Volume:

The volume of each input channel can be adjusted to align speaker levels.

Delay:

Delay can be added to each input channel.

Plugins:

An AU mono plugin can be added to each input channel. Note that when a plugin UI is open, it will consume some CPU resources from your computer. To minimize the impact on performance, it is recommended to close the UI of a plugin when not needed.

Input track metering #

Open the input track metering window by clicking on the meter icon on each channel.

To change the meter display for an input track, right-click on the meters and select the desired meter format. You can also open the meter plugin UI for this input track by clicking the “show meter view window” option. Or by clicking on the meter button

Meters options are:

Input track lock option – summing vs inter-cancel #

The function of the ‘Sum’ button is to decide if the individual input track’s ON/OFF switch will be influenced by the collective toggling between all input ON/OFF buttons. When this option is activated, the button will be incorporated into the toggle function. Conversely, if this option is deactivated, the button will remain unaffected by the toggle operation.

Output section: Monitor #

The system features 7 output tracks and one cue output track, each can be routed to a mono output and up to 9.1.6 outputs. 4 output tracks are displayed at a time. You can switch between the tracks by clicking on the “Main” or “C-E” buttons.

Output track settings #

To access the output track settings, click on the area of the track name or on the cogwheel button located next to the track name. This will open the settings window.

Output Audio Device. This will open an output menu, from which you can choose the output device connected to your speakers.

When selecting mono or stereo you can choose the specific channel from the menu.

In the case of multichannel options, first, select the desired stem format from the menu. Then, if necessary, you can modify any specific channel in the settings table found beneath. By default, channels will be arranged in sequence, beginning with input channel 1 and so on.

You can then reroute the channels as you want.

You can customize the input track name and color.

Track Layout indication on the top left side.

The main volume (+) and (-)buttons of the input track affect all input channels’ volumes together.

Bass management On/off button for enabling and disabling bass management.

Click on the plugin”fx” button to insert an AU plugin to your input track – this plugin affects all inputs. Ensure that the plugin format supports the number of input track channels, otherwise, some channels may be muted due to mismatches.

Right-click on the plugin “fx” button will open a menu where you can: “Show plugin” to open the plugin GUI, “Bypass” the plugin, and “Remove” the plugin.

Output settings channel table:

Channels:

The channels are ordered starting from channel 1 by default, but the output channel routing can be changed by selecting a different output channel.

Speakers:

The speaker assignments correspond to the Layout format selected earlier in the output device menu.

Meters:

The meters show the peak meter for each output channel while the settings window is open.

Solo/Mute:

Individual output channels can be soloed or muted.

Volume:

The volume of each output channel can be adjusted.

Delay:

Delay can be added to each output channel.

Plugins:

An AU mono plugin can be added to each output channel. Note that when a plugin UI is open, it will consume some CPU resources from your computer. To minimize the impact on performance, it is recommended to close the UI of a plugin when not needed.

Output track metering #

Click on the meter button and choose what meter you want to see on this specific output track. you can also open the plugin UI of this input track (show meter view window).

Output track lock option #

The ‘Lock’ option determines whether the output ON/OFF button is included in the toggling between all output ON/OFF buttons.

Output volume knob #

Each output track is equipped with its own output knob, enabling individualized control over the output levels for each speaker.

Master section control #

CUE track output #

This particular output track stands out from the rest. It possesses an exclusive mix bus, remaining unaffected by the main Master section controls. Actions such as ‘Cut’, ‘Dim’, and adjustments to the main volume knob will not impact this output. It is primarily designed to provide an additional cue mix output for your headphones or any other output requiring distinct settings.

CUT #

The cut button will mute all outputs except the Cue output

DIM #

The dim button will dim the volume of all outputs except for cue output, you can choose the Dim level using the dim knob.

REF buttons #

Three distinct reference volume levels are available for you to establish and recall. To set these levels, click on the three dots adjacent to the ‘REF’ button. In this menu, you have the option to either establish the current level or adjust it to your preferred level.

Main volume knob + – #

Utilizing the ‘+’ or ‘-‘ buttons situated above the main volume knob allows for volume adjustment in increments or decrements of 0.5 dB.

TB – talk back #

Click on the three-dot menu button to choose your TB track input. The functionality of the talkback on/off button can be adjusted with the latch/non-latch switch. That is, you have the option to either press and hold for talk mode or simply click once.

Pin button #

The application window is to be on top of all other windows on your desktop.

Rescale #

You can scale the application to fixed sizes that appear in the rescale pop-up menu. You can also do this by grabbing the right bottom corner of the application and dragging it.

Hotkeys #

Set your hotkeys to control almost any parameter in Sphere application.

MIDI #

Select the midi device you want to connect and control Sphere application. you can right-click on any parameter on the application and choose the MIDI learn option. This will start monitoring the MIDI commands from your device. Just turn any knob or press any button. You can then delete this or re-writing the learn command.

GroundControl Audio Bridge Device settings #

Find the GroundControl Audio Bridge Devices Settings option under the Toolbar section. A new window will open, which allows you to add, delete, and manage virtual audio devices with up to 128 input and output channels.

Click ‘Add Device’ to create a new device that will display at the window’s top. To rename this device, click on the brush icon to activate the renaming function. Specify the number of channels in the ‘Ins / Outs’ section. It’s crucial to hit ‘Apply’ every time you modify the channel numbers. If the ‘Apply’ button is highlighted in blue, be sure to click it to confirm your new channel numbers. Additionally, the trash can icon permits the deletion of the audio device, while the On/Off button controls the activation or deactivation of the virtual audio device in your computer’s sound settings. The virtual audio device is considered active when the box is colored blue.

You can also get to the GC Audio bridge device settings by clicking on any of the input/output device menus and choosing “Add GroundControl Audio Bridge”.

Settings #

Controllers #

EUCON support #

To Enable Eucon connectivity, go to Sphere Settings > Controllers > Eucon Settings

Check the Enable option.

Restart Eucon and connect to Sphere.

It’s recommended to lock Sphere to the Eucon monitor section so that when Sphere is in the background it won’t loos its connection to Eucon monitor and control room section. you can do it via Eucon application as follow:

To learn more about Eucon integration – watch this tutorial:https://youtu.be/L_qJsfIiFn0

Stream Deck integration #

Download the Elgato stream deck plugin for Sphere here:

https://apps.elgato.com/plugins/com.gingeraudio.sphere

OSC Settings #

Latency #

Choose your latency settings.

The latency is controlled via Settings > Latency.

Values: 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 (default), 2048.

This will affect the performance of the CPU, less latency = more CPU consumption.

If you add plugins that have latency, the latency will be added on top of this latency.

Sphere aligns all output to the Max latency of the inserted plugins.

Master clock #

You can select your Master Clock audio device in Sphere settings > Master Clock & sample rate.

Sphere will save this setting, if your master clock will be disconnected you will have an indication about this in the main UI.

When you will reconnect your master clock – Sphere will then automatically select it again.

Sample rate #

Set the sample rate of your master clock device.

USE CASES: #

Listen to Apple Music Atmos mixes for reference #

You can use the SPHERE 16 mon device to play Apple Music and system audio via Sphere.

Go to AUDIO MIDI SETUP and select SPHERE Mon 16 as your system output device.

Click on the “Configure Speakers” button

Choose “7.1.4 Atmos surround” configuration on top of the window

Make sure all SPHERE Mon 16 channels are ordered as follows:

Now open Apple Music, go to “Settings”

Go to the “Playback” tab and set the Dolby Atmos option to “Automatic”

Now you will need to set one of Sphere’s inputs to receive audio from SPHERE 32 mon and set the layout also to 7.1.4.

Dolby renderer setup with Sphere #

GroundControl Sphere can work with the Dolby renderer on the same local machine or on a remote machine.

If you are working on a local machine, you will need to set up Dolby renderer audio output device to “SPHERE 32 Mon” or “SPHERE 64 Mon”.

Next, you will need to set up the renderer outputs channels in Room Setup:

Next, you should make sure that the re-render option is ON:

Now you should set up the Live re-render layouts you want to use and set the channels accordingly.

The re-render channels order starts after your room setup channels end. so in our example, the room channels are up to channel 14. so re-render will start at channel 15 onwards.

Now you need to set up Spheres inputs accordingly. open Sphere and go to inputs tracks settings. make sure the channels order are matched both in the renderer and in Sphere’s inputs:

Input A, main 9.1.4:

Input B – re-render 7.1.4

Input C – Re-render 5.1

Input D – re-render BIN

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