UTILITY · TIME AND PHASE ALIGNMENT · 30 NEW IN 5.2
Still Align
Lines up two mics on one source, or a fill speaker with the mains: press Find, and hear the low end come back.
Also in the Drums & Band bundle · Soundcheck bundle
What it does
Two mics on one drum or amp never arrive at exactly the same moment, and the difference thins the low end when they are mixed. Put Still Align on the mic that arrives first and send the other one to its sidechain. Find listens for a few seconds and sets the delay and polarity; Phase then turns the track at a chosen frequency, for pairs that never line up at every frequency.
The Together panel shows how much the two add up in the lows. For speakers, type the distance and it sets the delay.
Key features
- Find: measures the offset to a tenth of a sample and the polarity (works across very different mics)
- Delay 0–250 ms, to a fraction of a sample; −1 / +1 sample nudge; set by distance in m or ft (air temperature)
- Polarity; Phase 0–359 degrees at a Focus frequency (no movement in time)
- Together: lows summed (+3 dB = fully adding), correlation in the lows and across the band
- Last hit display: the key and this track overlaid; Hear with key to tune it by ear
Quick start
- Insert on the mic that arrives first (inside the kick, the DI, the close mic); send the other to its sidechain.
- Play a few hits and press Find. Delay and Polarity are set; the panel says how sure it is.
- If Find says this track is late, swap: put Still Align on the other one.
- Turn on Hear with key and turn Phase until the lows are fullest (watch Lows summed), then turn it off.
Controls
| Control | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Delay | 0–250 ms | Moves this track later; shown in samples, metres and feet. |
| Polarity | On, off | Flips this track (e.g. snare bottom). |
| Phase / Focus | 0–359 degrees / 20–1000 Hz | Turns the track at Focus without moving it in time. |
| Find range | Mics (30 ms), Speakers (250 ms) | How far Find searches. |
| Hear with key / Output | On, off / −24 to +12 dB | Monitor the two together (never saved on); level. |
FACTORY PRESETS
Default · Kick in + kick out · Snare top + bottom · Bass DI + amp mic · Guitar, two mics · Overheads to the snare · Fill speaker, 10 m · Delay tower, 40 m
GOOD TO KNOW
Measured: Find within 0.02 samples on a flipped snare-bottom copy and on a 61.2 ms speaker offset, low confidence (8%) on unrelated signals; phase within 0.1 degree at Focus with no level change; bit-exact at Delay 0. The delay is the effect, so it is not reported to the host (the host would undo it).