General Functions

Preset Manager

Neutron Elements ships with hundreds of presets, covering both common and creative use cases for all manner of music and post-production scenarios. Clicking the Preset Manager button or clicking the text displaying “Presets” brings up the Preset Manager window. Clicking on any preset in the list will immediately apply the associated parameters to all of the controllers in the Neutron Elements plug-in.

Working Settings

If you decide not to use a preset and would like to apply the last settings used that were not associated with a preset, you can select “Working Settings.”

Default

Select “Default” to reset all parameters to their initial state when first instantiating the Neutron Elements plug-in.

Preset Information

Below the list of presets in the Preset Manager, you can find some text detailing the parameter settings associated with the selected preset.

If you select a preset and change any parameters in the plug-in, the preset name in the Preset Manager’s list will have an asterisk before it. This simply indicates that your current settings differ from those associated with the preset as it was last saved. Simply click the preset name in the Preset Manager list once to return your plug-in parameters to the saved state of the associated preset.

Adding and Removing Presets

The Preset Manager includes methods for creating new presets, creating new folders, and deleting presets.

• To create a new preset:
  • Set the parameters in Neutron Elements to the values you wish to save and open the Preset Manager (as described above). You can click “Working Settings” in the Preset Manager to confirm that the settings of the plug-in are set to match your expectations of what should be saved in the preset.
  • Click the “New Preset” button in the Preset Manager. You will be prompted with an edit box to enter a name for this new preset. This will create a new preset with the parameters saved from the “Working Settings,” and will save to the same location as all Neutron Elements presets (see “Preset storage location” below).
  • If you are in a subfolder or have a subfolder selected in the Preset Manager, your new preset will be created within that subfolder, rather than at the top level of the preset directory. This preset can then be used in your workflow as you would any other preset. If you so choose, you can give your preset a custom comment by clicking the text that says “Click here to comment.”
  • For better organization, the Preset Manager also allows you to create a new folder in which to place any preset. To do this, click the “New Folder” button in the Preset Manager. You will be prompted to give the folder a name. To move any preset or even any folder into another folder in the Preset Manager, click and drag the preset or folder you want to move, place it in the expanded folder, and release the mouse.

To rename any item in the Preset Manager, click twice on the preset name or folder to bring up an edit box.

To delete any item in the Preset Manager, select the item and click the “Delete” button. A dialogue box will appear to confirm your choice.

Preset Storage Location

The presets used in Neutron Elements are stored on disk:

• Windows: C:\Users<your_user_name>\Documents\iZotope\Neutron Elements
  
• Mac: /Users//Documents/iZotope/Neutron Elements/

This folder contains the presets included with the installation and any custom presets you have added via the Preset Manager. Keep in mind that factory defaults can be restored by deleting the Presets folder and reinstalling the Neutron Elements plug-in.

Distributing Presets

As these presets are saved as .xml files on your hard drive, you may create and save presets, then distribute them across an entire organization or facility that may benefit from using the same settings.

Options Menu

General

Enable Tooltips

This allows you to toggle off tooltips should you find them distracting, or enable them should you desire the guidance and information on any parameter you mouse over.

Auto Gain

When Neutron Elements is on, all modules can affect the overall or perceived loudness of the mix. This makes it very hard to compare “Neutron Elements on” to “Neutron Elements bypassed.”

The “Automatically Match Effective Gain When Bypassed” feature solves this problem. Neutron Elements determines how much perceived gain is being added by all of the active Neutron Elements modules and then automatically adds this amount of gain when Neutron Elements is put into bypass mode. You can bypass Neutron Elements, or any individual module, and the gain is automatically adjusted so that when you A/B Neutron Elements on and off, the apparent volume is the same.

This gain processing is the only processing that is applied when Neutron Elements is bypassed, and it is of course only applied when Neutron Elements is actually bypassed. (This feature won’t work when True Bypass is enabled.)

True Bypass

Click this box to allow Neutron Elements to disengage a module’s latency when that module is bypassed. This results in a click as the audio transitions, but avoids unnecessary latency compensation and CPU usage.

Enable Analytics

Click this box to allow Neutron Elements to occasionally upload data on your usage patterns of the plug-in to iZotope’s servers. This info is completely anonymous, and allows us to better understand how users use Neutron Elements in order to provide the best updates possible in the future.

Updates

Neutron Elements allows you to check for updates from iZotope with recurring frequency. Check Now is an instant check, but you can also define periodic, automatic checks.

These options are:

• Never
• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly

Authorization

This section allows you to authorize and deauthorize Neutron Elements. Clicking on “Authorize” will load the authorization window discussed in detail in the earlier chapter. Clicking on “Remove Authorization” will remove the authorization from your machine to facilitate transfer to another computer. This is specific to local authorizations and will not affect iLok.

Clicking on “More information…” will take you to the authorization help section of iZotope’s website.

Metering

Meter Type

This allows you to switch Neutron Elements’ metering between a Peak+RMS combo meter and a Peak+Short-term loudness combo meter.

The combined Peak+RMS meter displays a lower bright bar representing the average level (RMS) and a higher dimmer bar representing peak level. There is also a moving line above the bar representing the most recent peak level or peak hold.

Short-term loudness is a level measurement used originally in audio post production, but now much is used in music production as well due to it being a much more perceptually accurate measure of volume than RMS. It is a calculation of loudness over the course of a moving window of three seconds. This measurement is useful in monitoring immediate trends of loudness in your audio.

Detect True Peaks

By default the Input/Output meters will only indicate clipping which occurs within the digital domain. To accurately measure the signal that will result from digital to analog conversion, select “Detect True Peaks.”

Spectrum Type

• This feature lets you select between four types of spectrums:
  • Linear: A continuous line connecting the calculated points of the spectrum.
  • ¹⁄₃ Octave: Splits the spectrum into bars with a width of ¹⁄₃ of an octave. Although the spectrum is split into discrete bands, this option can provide excellent resolution at lower frequencies.
  • Critical: Splits the spectrum into bands that correspond to how we hear, or more specifically how we differentiate between sounds of different frequencies. Each band represents sounds that are considered “similar” in frequency.
  • Full Octave: Splits the spectrum into bars with a width of one full octave.

Average Time

This feature averages the spectrum according to this setting. Higher average times can be useful for viewing the overall tonal balance of a mix, while shorter average times provide a more real-time display.

Show Peak Hol

This shows or hides the peak hold in the audio spectrum behind the EQ. Note this is different to the level meters.

Peak Hold Time

Peak hold time determines how long peaks are displayed after they are detected.

• Choices include:
  • 5 ms
  • 250 ms
  • 500 ms
  • 1,000 ms
  • 5,000 ms
  • Infinite

Social

This tab links you to iZotope’s social media networks, as well as a few other online areas that contain useful educational content.

Equalizer

Show Spectrum

Check this box to display a real-time spectrum analyzer signal underneath the Equalizer curve. This can be very useful in showing the frequency balance of your mix and how it is changed as you apply equalization.

Show Musical Units

When this setting is checked, it allows you to display frequency labels as notes (for example, A4) in addition to the conventional EQ measurement of Hz.

Spectrum Frequency Scale

Allows you to adjust the scale of the EQ frequency spectrum.

Alt-Solo Q

Sets the bandwidth (Q) of the Alt-Solo Feature, which allows you to solo bands and sweep through the spectrum when holding Alt and left-clicking.

Undo History

The Undo History window is a unique and powerful feature for comparing settings in Neutron Elements. To access the History list, click on the “History” button in the top menu bar of the plug-in. As you tweak controls, each movement is captured and displayed in the History list.

To go back and hear a previous setting, simply click on the list at the point you want to audition. The changes that you’ve undone will show up in a lighter color.

Clear button

Click the “Clear” button to clear the history list at any time.

Close button

Click the “Close” button to close the History window. Processing resumes from the point you had last selected, so you can continue building on the History list from an earlier point.

A, B, C, and D Buttons

You can assign up to four points in the History list to A, B, C, and D buttons. This is useful for A/B’ing many different settings all at once. To do so:

• Select the point in the list you want to capture
• Click on the “Set” button below the A, B, C, or D button.
• Clicking on the appropriate button will then recall the setting assigned to that button.