Importing and saving memory

Seeding memory with audio

Drop audio files onto the plug-in window, or click Import Audio…. WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Ogg, MP3, M4A and CAF files are supported.

Each file is cut into traces of the current trace length, starting at the beginning of the file, and every trace gets its address exactly as if it had been played in. You can seed memory with a drum break, a phrase or a field recording, then let your playing recall pieces of it.

  • Imported traces join memory as the newest traces. If memory is full, clamped traces are kept first, then the newest, so imports win over older unclamped traces.
  • Turn on Clamp imports to protect them from being replaced (within the Clamp Budget; raise it if you want to clamp a lot).
  • Silent stretches are skipped. A last piece shorter than a quarter of a trace is dropped.
  • Files are resampled to the session’s sample rate. Decoding runs in the background; audio never stops.
  • At most Memory Capacity traces are imported at a time.
Tip

Set the trace length before importing. With Sync = Tempo at 1 bar, a 4-bar loop at the session’s tempo becomes 4 aligned traces; with Sync = Free and 40 ms, it becomes hundreds of grains.

Saving and loading memory

Save Memory… writes the whole memory to a folder: one WAV per trace plus manifest.json, which holds every trace’s address, clamp state, age, strength and history, and the parameters in use. The default location is ~/Music/MINERVA Space Echo/Memories.

Load Memory… replaces memory with a saved folder (choose the folder or its manifest.json). Memory saved at another sample rate is resampled. If the folder holds more traces than Memory Capacity, clamped traces are kept first, then the newest.

The format is described in File formats. The offline renderer can load and save the same folders.

Memory in the Live set

Memory is not saved with the Live set by default: a set with a full memory can get large (about 23 MB per minute of stored audio). Turn on Save Memory With Set (Control page) to embed it. Without it, a reopened set starts with an empty memory, but all settings are restored.

Memory also survives changes of sample rate or channel count (it is resampled or mixed down) and offline bounces.