ARC2 Speaker Correction VST For Windows Audio Via Voicemeeter Inserts Using Cantabile Lite as Host
Channel: Creator's Media Tools
Date: 2017-08-31

How to use the ARC2 Speaker Correction VST to playback System Audio Via Voicemeeter Inserts Using Cantabile Lite as Host
Full Checklist Below!

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/arc2/
http://www.vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/banana.htm
https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/
https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/download/

ARC 2 Speaker/Room Correction Software optimizes your listening environment. IK Multimedia recommends listening to everything you can using the correction so you get used to the sound of corrected speakers with properly mixed music and video sources, so you become accustomed to how those mixes sound in that optimized environment. 

We use Voicemeeter as the default playback device in Windows, and its inserts to send out to and back from Cantabile Lite as a host to the ARC2 VST plugin. 

Voicemeeter sends out the insert pre-fader to the host application which runs the audio through its effects and sends it back to Voicemeeter also pre-fader. The fader then adjusts the results. 

Both Cantabile Lite and Voicemeeter allow you to save and load setups, and they both start up with the last used settings intact, so they are easy to use together to optimize your environment for all your listening experiences.

1. Download and install Voicemeeter Pro

2. Download Cantabile -- 64-bit or 32-bit depending upon your machine and/or plugins available.

3. Install ARC2 into your VSTPlugins folder, usually in C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins

4. Run Cantabile - select "Lite" version

5. Run Voicemeeter Pro

(Always in that order - Cantabile first)

6. Select A1 output in Voicemeeter - to your ASIO Hardware is always best (at bottom)

7. In Windows' Audio Control Panel, set Voicemeeter as the "Default Playback Device"

8. Select A1 button in VAIO slider for monitoring, sending the ARC2 conditioned output to the speakers. If also recording and need a WDM signal (such as into OBS) Use B2. (B1 might appear as being "busy" already to your recorder using this setup.)

9. Enter Cantabile and go to Tools/Options

10. First set the Audio Engine to "Voicemeeter Insert Virtual ASIO"

11. Now set the Audio Ports, adding Stereo Ins and Stereo Outs as needed, by first adding the input  port and naming it (I call that one "Windows Audio VAIO Insert In"). The left and right channels will initially be unassigned. Hit the ADD button to assign the left and right channels to the appropriate insert number (VAIO slider uses Insert #4, so INS#4 Left and INS#4 Right). Then add the output port and name that (I called it "Windows Audio VAIO Return") and follow the same procedure to assign the left and right channels.

12. In Cantabile's Plugin Options area, select your plugin folder. Then click OK, and from Tools, perform a plugin scan so it can see your ARC2 and other plugins there.

13. Now on the main screen, Click "Add Object" and add the ARC2 plugin. 

14. Beneath the ARC2 plugin, click "Add Route", select a Stereo Output, and then your "Windows Audio VAIO Return" output we'd created.

15. Now in the Input Ports section, click "Add Route" and select your "Windows Audio VAIO Insert In" input. Select as its Preset/Destination the ARC2 plugin. All the connections are complete now on the Cantabile end.

16. Back in Voicemeeter, go to "Menu--System Settings/Options" and turn on the inserts for the VAIO slider: Inserts #4 left and right.

17. Test that the loop is working - you can turn off the plugin's output route to test this, or just play with the plugin.