Installation and Operation Manual

Soundtheory Gullfoss 1.9

Revision 1.1
2021-04-13

©Soundtheory Ltd. 2021

 System Requirements
▪ macOS 10.9 or greater / Windows 7 or greater.

▪ Intel, AMD or compatible processor not older than 2008 and with
support for SSE3.

▪ Graphics processor with support for OpenGL 3.2 or later.

▪ iLok License Manager for activation (dongle is not required).

▪ 64 bit plug-in host with support for AU, VST, VST3 or AAX
Native.

Specifications
▪ Mono-to-mono or stereo-to-stereo processing. Stereo processing
is compatible with M/S channels.

▪ Supported sample rates from 16 kHz to 384 kHz.

▪ Approximately 20ms of processing latency for Gullfoss and 2ms

for Gullfoss Live.

▪ Approximately 1000 auditory perception model updates per

second.

▪ Approximately 300 equalizer updates per second.

▪ Artifact-free processing enabled by perception-aware

equalization.

▪ Preservation of perceived loudness and dynamics.

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 Trademarks

VST is a registered trademark of Steinberg Media Technologies

GmbH. VST Plugin Interface technology by Steinberg Media Tech-
nologies GmbH.

AudioUnit is a registered trademark of Apple, Inc.

Pro Tools and AAX are trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc.

iLok is a registered trademark of PACE Anti-Piracy, Inc.

OpenGL is a registered trademark of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Acknowledgements

Gullfoss uses the Eigen C++ template library for linear algebra and
the KFR C++ framework. The user interface graphics engine builds
on the Skia framework.

Company

Soundtheory Ltd.
5 South Parade,
Summertown,
Oxford OX2 7JL,
United Kingdom

If you have any queries regarding Gullfoss or Soundtheory Ltd,

please email: [email protected]

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 CONTENTS
Introduction 5

Installation 6

Installation on Mac 7

Installation on Windows 8

Set up your trial license 10

Set up your purchased license 13

Getting started with Gullfoss 16

Recover & Tame 17

Bias & Brighten 18

Boost 19

The meters 20

Gain & Bypass 21

The Main Display & Frequency Range Limiters 22

Sidechain processing 24

The Info Page 26

Gullfoss Live 28

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 INTRODUCTION
Thank you for choosing Gullfoss. At Soundtheory we are proud to
provide you with the most advanced audio processing tool avail-
able to improve your sound and to make an audible difference.

By purchasing Gullfoss you are supporting our ongoing research

and the development of future products that will simplify and im-
prove the workflow of modern music production, while at the same
time respecting the artist’s intention and creative vision.

The principles employed by Gullfoss to improve your sound are the

same as those used by your brain to adapt to poor listening situ-
ations. Our process is unique in this regard, because it bases its
calculations on the information present in the signal and not some
spectral power measure. This allows Gullfoss to make more details
audible without forcing the signal into a predefined shape that
makes everything sound alike. During this process, Gullfoss per-
fectly preserves the dynamic structure of the audio. By design, it
won’t introduce audible artifacts or degrade signal quality, even
at the most extreme settings.

You can expect results that improve upon your recording’s clarity
and definition, as well as total balance and spatiality. You will find
that many issues can be solved in a mix-down that would other-
wise require access to the individual tracks. We have designed a
very simple user-interface around these features, with a small
number of parameters describing intuitive and natural concepts
that allow you to improve your signal within seconds.

This manual provides a guide to the meaning and theoretical

background of the individual parameters. It also discusses typical
use-cases and strategies for getting the best out of Gullfoss.

Our team at Soundtheory wishes you a lot of fun making music

and we sincerely hope you will enjoy our little contribution to it.

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 INSTALLATION
To download the latest versions of Gullfoss and Gullfoss Live,
please navigate to the Support page of our Soundtheory website
at

https://www.soundtheory.com/support

If you have a Mac, click the Download for macOS button. If you
have a Windows computer, click the Download for Windows but-
ton. Both Gullfoss and Gullfoss Live are installed from the same
download package.

If you are a Macintosh user and still have a non-iLok license for Gullfoss, then you
have to log in on our website and can find a legacy download link on your account
page. We strongly recommend switching to the iLok system as we are fading out
support for legacy activations. In order to be converted to iLok, you need to con-
tact our support at [email protected] or follow the instructions in your
Soundtheory account. You will then receive an iLok activation code that activates
Gullfoss on your iLok account.

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 Installation on Mac

Once you have downloaded the DMG file, double-click to open it.
Then double-click the PKG file.

Follow the on-screen prompts

to install Gullfoss. On the Intro-
duction page, click Continue.
On the License page, click Con-
tinue.

A new sub-window will appear.

Click Agree to continue the in-
stallation. On the destination
page, click Install to continue
the installation.

A new sub-window will appear prompting you to enter your local

computer password. These are not your Soundtheory account cre-
dentials. Enter your local computer password and click Install

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Software. Once Gullfoss has been successfully installed, click the
Close button.

Installation on Windows

Once you have downloaded the

ZIP file, double click to open it.
Then double click the EXE file
and select RUN.

Windows will then ask if you

want to allow this app to make
changes on your computer.
Click Yes.

The Gullfoss setup wizard will

launch. Click the Next button to
continue. On the License Agree-
ment window, click
"I accept the agreement" and
then the Next button to con-
tinue.

Select which components you

wish to install, and then click
Next to continue.

If you opted to install the VST

components, please verify the
installation path and then click

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Next to continue.

Click Install to install the selected components. If you do not have

any iLok License Support software installed, be sure to click the
checkbox and then click the Finish button.

Windows will then ask if you want to allow this app to make
changes on your computer. Click Yes.

The PACE License Support installation wizard will launch. Click the

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Next button to continue.

Click the Yes button to agree to the license agreement.

Click the Install button to begin the installation. If prompted, make

sure you restart your computer before attempting to use Gullfoss.

Click the Finish button to exit the installer.

Set up your trial license

You'll need an iLok account with PACE in order to use Gullfoss. If

you do not already have an account, please navigate to the iLok
website at https://www.ilok.com/#!registration and create a free
account. This is for new iLok users only. Please do not set up an
iLok account if you already have one.

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Once you have an iLok account,
you should ensure that you
have the latest available Li-
cense Support installed, which
includes the iLok License Man-
ager, by checking on the PACE
website. Outdated iLok soft-
ware can cause license acti-
vation issues.

Next, start your host or DAW. It

will scan for new plugins and
display an activation prompt
from iLok. Click the Try button.

Then sign in with your iLok cre-

dentials and click Next to con-
tinue.

An iLok trial license has now

been redeemed to your iLok ac-
count. If you click OK, it will ac-
tivate the trial license to the
iLok cloud. If you click No, it will
prompt you to activate the trial
license to your computer or iLok
USB dongle. If you choose iLok
cloud, then you will require an
active internet connection and
an open cloud session to use
the plugin. Activation on the
iLok dongle requires the dongle
to be plugged into the machine
that runs the plugin. You can
also move activations from one
location to another using the
iLok License manager.

If you attempt to sign in with

your iLok credentials and you

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receive a Trial Activation Error, this usually means a trial license
has already been deposited to your iLok account. It could be ex-
pired or not yet activated. To resolve the trial activation error,
sign in to the latest iLok License Manager and click the “All Li-
censes” tab. Locate your Gullfoss trial license and then click and
drag the license to the desired activation location in the left-hand
column.

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 Set up your purchased license

Once purchased, you will re-

ceive two emails. The first will
be from
[email protected] with
a copy of your order reference
number and your iLok acti-
vation code.

The second email will be from

our ecommerce platform, Fast-
Spring, with details about your
invoice.

Copy your iLok activation code

from the Soundtheory email.
Then, login to the latest iLok Li-
cense Manager and click the 2
dots at the upper right of the
application.

Paste your iLok Activation

Code. You will see green check-
marks when everything is cor-
rect. Then click Next to con-
tinue.

Now you need to select an acti-

vation location. We recommend
using an offline location like
your computer or iLok USB don-
gle.

You do not need an iLok USB

dongle in order to use Gullfoss.

You will see a Confirm Acti-

vation window. Click OK to con-
tinue.

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Next, you will see a Successful Activation notification. Click OK.

Lastly, restart your host or DAW and re-scan your plugins. Gullfoss
and Gullfoss Live should be available in the plugin list.

If you encounter any difficulties, please send an email with any

relevant screenshots and your iLok Account User ID to

[email protected]

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15/29
 GETTING STARTED WITH GULLFOSS
When you first instantiate the plugin, all five main parameters at
the top of the plugin window will be set to their default state of
zero as depicted below. This is equivalent to a bypassed state
where no processing occurs.

You can click and vertically drag up or down any of the main
parameters to change the value. You can also Alt+click to alter-
nate between zero and the previous value. This is useful for a quick
A/B for any single parameter. You can also Shift+drag your cursor
which allows for finer adjustments. When a parameter is high-
lighted, the up/down arrow keys on your keyboard may also be
utilized to change the value with the smallest possible granularity.
You also have the option to manually type an acceptable number
followed by pressing the enter key.

Using the mouse scroll wheel or the scroll gesture on a trackpad,

the parameters can also be changed. However, this method will
not properly record automation, as the corresponding movements
have no clear beginning and ending.

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 Recover & Tame

Recover and Tame are the two primary parameters of Gullfoss.

These parameters reveal masked signal components which im-
proves the clarity, detail, and spatiality of the signal. This can ei-
ther be achieved by reducing the intensity of the components that
are too dominant or by increasing the intensity of components
that are dominated by others. Recover treats the dominated com-
ponents while Tame treats the dominant components.

The range of the parameter values is between 0% and 200%.

Below you can see the effect of both Recover and Tame engaged
at their respective maximum settings. The EQ-graph in the center
of the plugin window accurately presents the current signal modi-
fication that is updated internally more than 300 times per sec-
ond.

Please note that for both Recover and Tame the EQ boosts and
cuts different frequency ranges. This combination of cutting and
boosting preserves the original dynamics and perceived loudness
of the input signal. This way you can always judge the output sig-
nal without being mislead by a slightly different perceived loud-
ness.

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 Bias & Brighten

Bias and Brighten are secondary parameters to Recover and

Tame. They only have an effect if Recover or Tame are set to a
non-zero value.

Before applying Tame and Recover to a signal, Gullfoss must de-

cide how to split the range of audible frequencies into sections
that need to be recovered and sections that need to be tamed.
Bias controls this classification by either giving Recover more
space when using a positive Bias value, or allowing Tame to con-
trol a larger frequency range with a negative Bias value. Recover
and Tame then control by how much the respective ranges are
affected.

Brighten tells the unmasking mechanism for Recover and Tame to

prefer lower or higher frequencies. For example, if you have two
pure tones of different frequency, and one is masking the other,
then there is a whole range of possible balances that uncover the
masked tone. A quiet higher frequency tone can be made just loud
enough to stand out of the masking of the lower frequency tone.
Or it can be so loud that it is quietened to just not mask the lower

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frequency tone. Or anything in between. This range of possible un-
masked outcomes can be parameterized by the resulting per-
ceived brightness. Therefore, the brighten parameter gives you a
very natural way to control the balance between low and high fre-
quencies without affecting the clarity of the result. Negative val-
ues make the signal darker, whereas positive values make the sig-
nal brighter.

The range of both parameters is between -100% and +100%.

Boost

Just as with the perceived brightness of a signal, the balance be-

tween bass, middle, and treble frequencies is genre and context
specific. The Boost parameter simulates the change of the fre-
quency balance as perceived by human listeners when the sound
volume is changed. This is reflected in the unit of Boost, which is
decibels. The perceived loudness of the output signal is still pre-
served, even if you change the Boost parameter to change the
perceived loudness frequency balance.

Increasing Boost will emphasize the bass frequencies of a signal

while reducing the mid frequencies. Use this parameter to match
the result to your taste and the intended listening situation.

Boost is a global parameter which can be used independently of

the other parameters.

The range of this parameter is between -50dB and +50dB.

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 The meters

The parameters Recover, Tame, Bias and Brighten come with me-
ters that light up when you highlight the corresponding parameter.

The brightness meter is located under the EQ graph and shows

any deviation of the perceived brightness of the output from the
perceived brightness of the input as a horizontal bar. Balancing
this meter around its zero position, so that you can hardly see it,
gives you an output that is equally bright as the input and there-
fore a good starting point for judging the effect of the unmasking
without any bias.

The Recover and Tame meters are located left to the EQ graph
and share the gain axis with it. The Recover meter only shows pos-
itive gains, the Tame meter only negative gains. They summarize
the overall action taken by the Recover and Tame parameters and
allow you to judge if your signal is processed more in one or the
other direction.

The Bias meter is displayed left of the Recover and Tame meters.
The Bias meter indicates whether Recover or Tame processes a
larger frequency range. If the meter leans down towards the Tame
side, then the tamed ranges are greater. The meter going up indi-
cates that Recover is processing a larger frequency range.

The input and output peak level meters are located below the EQ-
graph and come with a peak-hold for levels greater than -12dBFS
that can be reset by clicking the meter.

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 Gain & Bypass

Right of the EQ-graph Gullfoss displays the global output Gain

control. While the processing performed by Gullfoss is compen-
sated for perceived loudness, you may still find the gain control
useful to keep the peak level matched or to correct for the loud-
ness of a single relevant element in the mix.

For example, while your processed mix may be of the same loud-
ness as the unprocessed mix, the lead vocal may have become
slightly quieter in relation to other elements in the mix. The gain
control can then be used to increase the total loudness, restoring
the perceived loudness of the vocals within the mix.

The Bypass button is designed

to be used as a tool for latency
and loudness matched com-
parison between the processed
and the unprocessed signal.
The processing engine is not
disabled when Bypass is en-
gaged, so you won’t see any
reduction in the CPU load
caused by Gullfoss.

You can temporarily bypass all instances of Gullfoss in your ses-

sion by shift-clicking on the bypass button of any instance. The by-
pass button will blink with a red indicator and the EQ graph will
display “Session Bypassed”. A second click on the bypass button
will restore the previous bypass state for all instances.

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 The Main Display & Frequency Range Limiters

The way Gullfoss processes a signal can be compared to an equal-

izer that is continuously adjusted to improve the clarity of the sig-
nal at every moment. The basis for this adjustment is a highly ad-
vanced model of human auditory perception that allows Gullfoss
to understand what your signal really sounds like and how it can
be improved.

The main equalizer graph display provides you with real-time in-
formation about the processing that Gullfoss performs. You can
use this graph to understand the problems that Gullfoss is trying
to fix in your signal.

For example, if you observe that the frequencies above 4kHz are
consistently lifted by around 6dB, then you can implement this as
a change in your mix to improve the sound independently of Gull-
foss.

Similarly, if you notice a very strong amount of low or high fre-

quencies being lifted, this is usually indicative of the original audio
not having very much information in these areas to begin with. In
this and similar cases it can be helpful to tell Gullfoss to disregard
certain frequency ranges during its unmasking calculations, be-
cause these ranges do not contain useful audible information.

For these cases, Gullfoss offers two draggable vertical bar con-
trols inside the EQ-graph. These two range limiters restrict the ac-
tion of Tame and Recover to frequencies above the first limiter
and below the second limiter.

In the default order, the left frequency range limiter will exclude all
frequencies below it for unmasking and the right frequency range

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limiter will exclude all frequencies above it, leaving the frequency
range between the limiters for processing. If you reverse the order
of the two limiters you can exclude the frequency range between
them from processing.

The transition between active processing and inactive processing

is smooth and the strength of the processing is indicated by the
red shade of the graph background. Even outside the processing
frequency range you will find that the equalizer graph shows some
processing. This is the result of any non-zero settings of the Boost
parameter and the dynamic loudness compensation.

If the frequency range limiters are not visible, they can be dragged
into the EQ-graph from the edges of the graph. Placing the mouse
pointer over the edge makes the limiters visible.

Clicking and dragging in the

equalizer graph display will
reveal a small popup with in-
formation about the fre-
quency and gain at the
mouse pointer position. This
makes it easy to identify is-
sues in your mix as they keep
getting processed by Gullfoss.

Using the mouse wheel or the

scroll gesture on a track pad
with the equalizer graph dis-
play changes the gain scaling
of the graph. Dragging the
vertical gain axis up or down
has the same effect. Clicking
on the gain axis changes the
scaling by one step. The gain
scaling setting is not persistent and will reset when the plugin is
restored from a saved session.

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 Sidechain processing

Starting with Version 1.9.0, Gullfoss gains an auxiliary sidechain

input. The signal fed into the sidechain can be routed to the an-
alyzer section of Gullfoss while the signal on the main input will be
processed by the equalizer responding to the sidechain input and
routed to the main output.

There are two steps to enable sidechain processing. First, you

must connect a signal to the sidechain inputs. This step is de-
scribed in the documentation of your host software. Second, you
need to tell Gullfoss to use the sidechain input as the signal source
for the analyzer. The sidechain button in the bottom left corner of
the main display facilitates this. It maps to a regular parameter
and can be automated in your DAW.

Enabling the sidechain while there is no sidechain input connec-

tion from your DAW will either feed silence to the sidechain or the
main input signal will be replicated on the sidechain, depending on
how your DAW handles unconnected inputs.

Sidechain processing can be useful in a number of situations. In

particular, it enables you to render stems for stem mastering that

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make it sound like Gullfoss has been processing the sum of the
stems. This technique requires driving the Gullfoss instances on
each stem by the signal of the sum of the stems. Other uses of
sidechain processing include creative sound design and ducking
of signal content that interferes during a mix.

A word of caution when using sidechain processing: Gullfoss is

very sensitive to timing differences between the main signal and
the sidechain signal. Some DAW host applications do not properly
compensate for delay between the main and the sidechain inputs
of a plugin. Such a delay cannot be detected by Gullfoss and can
result in a deviations from the expected result. In such a case we
recommend checking and adjusting the delay between the inputs
manually.

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 The Info Page

Clicking on the Gullfoss Logo in the top left corner reveals the Info
Page. A dialog window that offers information about your Gullfoss
version and options to customize its visual appearance as well as
the audio quality.

The first two settings control the plugin window size and the re-
fresh rate of the equalizer graph. With version 1.9.1 we have also
added the default gain axis scaling as a user preference. These
settings are global and will only take effect when creating a new
instance of the plugin. If you would like to update all existing in-
stances with the new settings, please close and re-open your cur-
rent project or restart your host application.

The Huge setting doubles the window size compared to the Nor-
mal setting. Tiny halves the window size. Please keep in mind that
both window size and refresh rate have considerable impact on
the workload of your graphics card. The default setting of Normal
with a refresh rate of 30Hz will take up eight times less bandwidth
than Huge with a 60Hz refresh and eight times more than Tiny at
15 Hz. That means there is a total GPU bandwidth factor of 96 be-
tween the lowest setting and the highest setting.

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The audio quality controls are per-instance settings and take im-
mediate effect when you restart the host playback. These settings
are stored with the other plugin parameters, so that you can use
a default preset to control their default values.

We have optimized the audio processing quality of Gullfoss to

give you the best results, without adding any artifacts or creating
any distortion. For most users, the Normal setting will be more
than sufficient. The Better setting adds just a little safety margin
on top and is a good choice for serious mastering work with the
highest quality requirements. If you want to really go insane and
squeeze even the last bit of quality out of Gullfoss, then Best is
your setting. Be aware that the higher quality settings come with
the price of a higher CPU load. Depending on your CPU architec-
ture, expect up to four times the load from Best compared to Nor-
mal. Better is somewhere in between.

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 Gullfoss Live

Gullfoss Version 1.9.0 introduces Gullfoss Live, which is a special

variant of Gullfoss that is optimized for low latency scenarios.
Gullfoss requires knowledge of a 20 milliseconds time-frame to
make an EQ decision and therefore introduces a latency of around
21 milliseconds. Gullfoss LIVE uses a set of trade-offs to redue the
latency to approximately 2 milliseconds. This reduced latency
comes together with a change of how the resulting signal will
sound. Lower latency means that certain processing decisions
cannot be made with full information about the signal content. In
some situations Gullfoss LIVE has to try to predict the future. This
mostly affects quick changes in the signal and may impact the
ability to accurately process percussive elements separated from
the rest of the signal.

We recommend that you try Gullfoss Live not just for low latency
situations like tracking or live audio but that you also experiment
with the different sound character compared to Gullfoss.

Gullfoss Live does not offer any processing quality settings. Qual-
ity has been fixed internally and is part of the low-latency trade-
off. Other than the change of color scheme and the absence of the

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quality settings on the settings page, Gullfoss Live has the same
user interface and controls as Gullfoss and offers the same func-
tionality.

Gullfoss Live is authorized by the same license as Gullfoss. That

means if you have a valid Gullfoss activation, Gullfoss Live will be
available to you.

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