Voxengo SPAN

Zero Four wrote:

I have seen lots of different views on settings of SPAN, I wondered what is everyone’s preferred setting and why?

Is there a specific one that shows more information

I’ve seen videos of Icicle and Joe Ford, where they showed how they have SPAN set up, and saved each as User Mode presets (top right area of SPAN). I like the Joe Ford settings, and added a 2nd spectrum that shows the Max spectrum underneath the real time information. Here’s that preset:

The ? button is pretty good at describing whatever parameter you’re hovering over. Tinkering could help give a few different perspectives on how to use it. I like having a fast response, plus an idea of where frequencies are maxing out.

Joe is definitely great at explaining his Span setup, and his mixdown workshop SG class is well worth the 5 clams or so, if you don’t already have it.

I have studied this subject a lot over the last few years, and have arrived at some settings that work best for me after lots of tweaking.

It’s a variation on what Harry described. I start with the “dual mono” preset (check the dropdown arrow next to “Routing” at the top), and then the “Left” (yes, in mono…it’s a strange convention) is my active graph, shown in green, responding in real time…then the “Right” is underneath, shown in pink, and that is a (much!) slower moving graph that basically just kind of pegs the last second or so at max. I prefer 8192 points of data, no smoothing, and I keep my ceiling high. I don’t like my graph filled, I’m sure I am just weird in that sense…

I haven’t found a better spectrum analyzer than Span, and I’ve tried nearly all of them. I’ve even considered a hardware unit, the TC Electronic one, for using with external gear, but we have one at work and it’s just not all that great. I use Span Plus, but I don’t know that there is much value over reg free Span. Master the spectrum and your mixes will greatly improve.

The only downside to Span (and all Voxengo) is that horrid interface, but at least you can change the colors…ffs please change the colors.

Zero Four wrote:

I suppose its about having well rounded music production knowledge in all areas rather than concentrating on one part.

I think so too, if you’re working solo, and it can be tough. I think when people create duos, trios, etc., then it can get in to splitting the work by strength. There is a recent Back To Back podcast with one of the guys from Delta Heavy, and he touches on this a little bit. I forget which of the two guys it is, but he said he’s good at the main parts of the tunes, the loops, while his partner is better at things like musical aspects and intros.

Oh thank god! Love the OP for asking this and those who responded. I’ve always had so much trouble with SPAN not ever looking or performing anything like what I see in others videos as well.

There’s a master class where Icicle uses it while making some drums and I couldn’t for the life of me get span to look or respond anything near what I was watching. To make things worse, I’d have span and Ableton’s native spectrum analyzer open at the same time and both of them would look and respond it drastically different. I just figured I was an idiot and went back to using my trusty (but not so trusty) ears more and Ableton’s native analyzer here and there.

Can’t wait to get back home and dig into these dancers/responses more.

Can’t wait to get home and