Cabinet: hear speaker filtering without adding distortion

What this example does—and does not—contain

The input below is one original, eight-second synthesized harmonic phrase. Its decaying overtones suggest a plucked string, but it is neither a microphone recording nor an electric guitar through an amplifier. The example contains Cabinet alone. There is no hidden amp stage, pedal or upstream clipping to supply extra harmonics. That limitation is useful: it lets you hear speaker filtering without changing distortion at the same time.

Begin with Speaker 4x12, Microphone Near On-Axis, Dynamic and Dry/Wet 100%. Compare the first note with Dry/Wet at 0%, then return to 100%. Follow the bright beginning and the lower body separately. A darker or more concentrated sound is not necessarily a quieter version of the input; frequencies may have changed by different amounts. Keep playback at a comfortable level.

A useful order for three overlapping choices

1. Keep Dynamic and Near On-Axis fixed. Compare 1x12, 2x12 and 4x12, listening for where the note seems to carry its weight. Choose the response that leaves the pitch easy to follow.
2. Keep that speaker and change Near On-Axis to Near Off-Axis. Listen for a shift in the attack edge rather than assuming one position must always be darker on every source.
3. Compare Dynamic with Condenser last. Repeat the same notes; a microphone label describes a selectable response, not a guarantee of greater detail or quality.

Far is another position choice, not a continuously adjustable distance. Likewise, 4x10 and 4x10 Bass are separate speaker options, not speaker-count controls you can interpolate. If a combination removes too much attack, return to the previous microphone position before changing the speaker again. Small, isolated comparisons tell you which choice actually solved the problem.

Why a burst can explain more than a note

A pitched note only contains its own harmonics. It cannot reveal a filter feature where the input has little energy. This second eight-second example uses original synthesized noise bursts, with a quiet noise floor between bursts. Noise spreads energy across many frequencies, making broad tonal changes easier to identify. Start quietly: noise can be more tiring than the musical phrase.

It starts on 1x12, Near Off-Axis, Condenser, fully wet. Switch only the position to Far and listen for changes in the burst body and its end. Then return to the harmonic phrase to decide whether that response is musically useful. A conspicuous difference on noise is a diagnostic clue, not a reason to choose a setting for a song.

A response, not a room or a new performance

Public Cabinet generates its mono impulse responses from original speaker and microphone filter designs, rather than recordings or captured responses from another device. Speaker, microphone type and position select the design. These synthesized responses sound different from the retained private reference responses. Their gain is bounded to avoid the filter amplifying input peaks; this is not automatic loudness matching between choices.

An impulse response describes a filter’s behaviour over time. Convolution applies that response to the incoming audio. The processing remains linear: it can alter spectral balance and short temporal detail, but it does not provide the input-dependent clipping of an amp. Far is therefore not a substitute for a controllable room reverb.

Response changes crossfade between two convolution slots. The Mono/Dual Mono output switch currently does not change the audio graph, so it is not a stereo-width experiment. Dry/Wet is an output blend: reducing it brings back the original bright harmonics and mixes them with a filtered signal whose phase also differs. If a halfway blend feels hollow, compare fully wet before rejecting the response. For a complete distorted amp sound, use an actual amp stage; do not mistake this isolated lesson for a full chain.