VENEQA FOH User Guide

English draft · Desktop app for macOS
Applies to VENEQA FOH and VENEQA FOH Demo 1.0.1
Last updated: 16 August 2026

VENEQA FOH is a measurement and tuning app for live sound. It combines venue simulation, live transfer-function work, and a Show page for RTA, spectrogram, SPL, and recording.

This is a working draft. Labels and workflows match the current app; wording and screenshots can be tightened later.Contents

1. Editions

	VENEQA FOH	VENEQA FOH Demo
Window / About name	VENEQA FOH	VENEQA FOH Demo
Simulation / Tuning / Show	Yes	Yes
Trial period	—	14 days from first launch on that Mac
Startup dialog	—	Shows days remaining and expiry date
After expiry	—	The app will not start
Remote (Mobile)	Full Remote panel	Enable + Port only (other Remote fields are unused in Demo)

About the Demo: File → About VENEQA FOH also shows remaining days. Factory Venue Presets and Target Curves (Default, Hi-3, Hi-6) are available from the first launch.

2. Install and first launch

Copy VENEQA FOH.app to Applications (or any folder you prefer).
Double-click to launch. If macOS says the developer cannot be verified: Control-click → Open.
Allow microphone / audio input when macOS asks.
Demo only: a splash shows the trial length, days remaining, expiry date, and first-launch date.

The app creates ~/Documents/VENEQA/ on first launch and restores the last session when it can.

Measurements are a decision aid, not a certified meter. Always confirm with your ears, a known calibrator, and the actual system.

3. Screen layout

The three pages sit in the upper-right tabs: Simulation · Tuning · Show.

Page	Use it for
Simulation	Venue geometry, room materials, predicted SPL, Venue Presets.
Tuning	Live transfer function, delay, traces, target curve, EQ Mode, positions.
Show	Spectrogram, RTA, SPL meter, stereo Rec, Mobile inbox.

Menu bar: File · Preference · Setup · Tools.

4. Setup

Open Setup → Setup… (or jump to a tab from the Setup menu).

Audio I/O

Input device / Output device — choose interfaces, then Refresh if a device was plugged in after launch.
Input: Mic, Ref, L, R (each OFF or CH n).
Generator output: Gen L, Gen R for pink noise / Ring Analysis sweep.

Live TF needs Mic and Ref. Pink noise and Ring Analysis also need an output device and at least one Gen channel.

Mic Cal

Load a microphone calibration file (Load Mic Cal File…), then Apply or Remove per entry. Applied cal is used on live TF / RTA paths.

Transfer function

FFT, Magnitude Threshold + Apply Threshold
Magnitude Averaging — Polar / Complex
Link Phase & Magnitude Smoothing
Delay Tracker & Live ETC — FFT, Maximum Step Size, Averaging, Delay Tolerance
Delay Finder defaults — FFT, Averages, Bandpass, BPF center, Q width

RTA / Spectrogram / SPL Meter / Rec

RTA — FFT size: 8k / 16k / 32k
Spectrogram — octave smoothing and colormap (VENEQA, Warm, Hellfire, …)
SPL Meter — colour thresholds: Red / Yellow / Green Above
Rec — sample rate; format WAV (PCM 16-bit) or MP3 (128 kbps). MP3 needs ffmpeg on the Mac; otherwise Rec falls back to WAV.

5. Preferences

Preference → Preferences… · OK / Apply

General

Measurement System — Metric / Imperial (geometry and wavelength readouts)
Speed of Sound — linked to air temperature
Ear Height Preset — Seated 120 cm, Standing 155–170 cm, or Custom (used as the default mic height in Simulation)
Cursor — note ID on/off, readout text size
Automatically check for Updates

Audio

Shows the working sample rate (typically 48 kHz) and buffer size.

Remote

Enable Remote Access and Port (default 5005) so VENEQA Mobile Pro can send RTA averages and trigger Space-style captures. See §12.

6. Quick start (first measurement)

Setup → Audio I/O — pick input (and output if you will generate pink).
Assign Mic and Ref. For generator: Gen L / Gen R.
Go to Tuning.
Optional: Generator → Pink Noise → On.
Press Play on the Transfer Function transport.
Use Delay (Delay Finder) or Track so the TF lines up.
Press Space to capture a TF trace.
Select traces → Average. Turn on Target Curve if you want Required / PEQ overlays.
Open EQ Mode to edit the 8-band PEQ.

For RTA / spectrogram, switch to Show and press Play on RTA / Spectro. Space captures the current RTA Avg into the PC trace list.

7. Simulation

Predicts SPL from speakers, room surfaces, and mic position. Save a Venue Preset before you use Add Position on Tuning.

Display

Surface reflections: Floor / Ceiling / Left / Right / Front / Back (outdoor: Ground, optional Front)
Mode overlays: Mode @Current, Mode @Center, Node @Current · dip
Section On / Off

Geometry (Side view / Top view)

Select and drag: Speaker L/R, L/R/C Sub, Mic
Array type: Point Source or Line Array (Top H, Bot H, coverage, tilt, toe-in)
Subs: ON/OFF, Sub Delay (ms), Auto Delay, Link L/R
Arrow keys nudge the selected object

Room / Venue Presets

Name the venue, set W / D / H, Outdoor, and surface materials, then Save.
Presets are .vqv files. Load from the Venue Presets list, or File → Import / Export Venue Preset.

The main graph is predicted SPL vs frequency. Change octave smoothing on the graph. Click-drag to read Δf between two frequencies.

8. Tuning

Live TF (magnitude + phase), captured traces, target, and EQ.

Transport and delay

Play / Pause / Stop on the Transfer Function panel (glyph buttons).
Meters: Meas (Mic) and Ref.
Delay opens Delay Finder → Find Delay → Insert.
Track follows delay automatically (see Setup → Transfer function for tracker limits).

Plot toolbar

Control	Meaning
Aud	Audience / predicted overlay from Simulation.
Ref TF	Reflection TF capture / overlay (also captured with Space when on).
ETC	Energy-time curve.
Norm	Normalize reflection overlay.
Wt	Audience mix 0 / 25 / 50 / 75 / 100%. How much of that audience delta is added to the live curve.
Low / Mid / Hi	Reflection time windows (ms).
Phase / Mag smooth	Octave smoothing (No, Third, Sixth, …).
TF Live / Fast / Med / Slow	Time averaging speed.
Unwrap	Phase unwrap.

Traces

Space captures the current live TF into the list (native .vqt).
Off hides selected traces. Average builds an average of the selection.
Menu — folders, import/export .vqt or ASCII, sort, rename, reset offset, delete.
File menu Import / Export Trace and ASCII do the same for selected TF traces.

Target Curve, EQ Mode, Add Position

Target Curve — show/hide the target; ▲/▼ nudge offset. Edit presets from Tools → Target Curve Edit.
Display overlays: EQ, Required EQ, PEQ Pred Resp.
EQ Mode — full-page 8-band PEQ (FRQ, GAIN, Q/BW, bypass per band). Overlays: Avg, Target Curve, Required EQ, PEQ Pred Resp. Back returns to Tuning.
Add Position — save a mic position against the current Venue Preset (save the venue on Simulation first). Selecting a saved position can restore that venue and mic.

Generator

Pink Noise → On / Off. Needs output device + Gen L/R. Level and routing stay in Setup → Audio I/O.

9. Show

Spectrogram on top, RTA below, meters / traces / Rec on the right.

RTA / Spectro transport

Play starts live RTA and spectrogram. Pause freezes. Stop clears the live buffers.
Space stores the current RTA Avg in RTA Traces → PC.

RTA toolbar

Dec — decay hold (0.1–4.0 s)
Avg t — average time constant (3 / 5 / 10 / 15 s)
Dec sm / Avg sm — octave smoothing
Avg Reset / Peak Reset
Toggles: RTA M, RTA R, Avg M, Avg R, PEQ, Q/BW, Peak, CF (crest factor)

RTA Traces

Two columns: PC (local captures) and Mobile (inbox from VENEQA Mobile Pro). Folders, rename, offset, and delete work like the Tuning list.

SPL

Four slots. Right-click a slot to pick a mode (FsPeak, PeakC, A/C Fast/Slow, Leq, Crest Factor, …), Leq time, and optional 80 Hz LPF. Most SPL modes need Tools → SPL Calibration; uncalibrated slots show __.

Rec

Record / pause / stop. Timer 00:00:00.
Files go to ~/Documents/VENEQA/recordings/.
Wave — waveform trim / save. Browser — open the recordings folder.
If the last session crashed while recording, leftover files are recovered as VENEQA_*_recovered.wav.

10. Tools

Tool	What it does
SPL Calibration	Put a calibrator on the measurement mic. Set Calibrator Level (default 94 dB), choose input device/channel, press Calibrate (~4 s), then Save.
Target Curve Edit…	Edit the target, HPF / XO (LR or BW), save named presets, Apply / Close.
Ring Analysis…	Plays a log sweep on Gen L/R and ranks ringing bands from the Mic capture. Start audio and open generator output first, then press Ring.
Delay Alignment…	Tuning only. Select Main / Sub traces, set target phase (0° or ±90°), hover the TF plot to read alignment delay.
XO Filter Study…	Compare BW / Bessel / LR crossovers, polarity, sub delay, sum and group delay.
Frequency Calculator…	Linked Frequency (Hz), Period (ms), Wavelength. Uses Preferences speed of sound.

11. Files and data

Root folder: ~/Documents/VENEQA/

Location	Contents
`settings/`	Last session, demo license, recent settings
`traces/`	TF traces (`.vqt`)
`rta_traces/`	Saved RTA traces
`presets/`	Venue presets (`.vqv`)
`tuning/`	Target curves
`recordings/`	WAV / MP3 captures
`mic_cal/` · `spl_cal/`	Calibration files

File menu

Save / Load Settings… — session file (.veneqa.json). Recent Settings submenu.
Reset to Default Settings… — Input, Calibration, Graph, and Setup only. Preferences are kept.
Import / Export Trace — .vqt (legacy .npz import)
Import / Export ASCII — Smaart-style text traces
Import / Export Venue Preset — .vqv
Check for Updates… · About VENEQA FOH · Quit

12. Mobile Pro link

On the Mac: Preference → Remote → Enable Remote Access. Status should show Listening…
Note Send to this IP (use the address marked for Mobile).
On the phone (VENEQA Mobile Pro): Settings → PC Destination — that IP, port 5005.
Allow Local Network on the phone if iOS asks.

Avg → PC on the phone lands in Show → RTA Traces → Mobile.
Phone PC Space is the same as pressing Space on the desktop (TF on Tuning, RTA on Show). The phone does not measure TF itself.

13. Keyboard shortcuts

Where	Key	Action
Tuning	Space	Capture live TF
Show	Space	Capture RTA Avg
Trace lists	Delete	Delete selection
Trace lists	F2	Rename
Tuning	Tab / ⇧Tab	Cycle visible traces
Tuning	i	Trace Info
Tuning / Simulation	⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z	Undo / redo
Simulation geometry	Arrow keys	Nudge selected object
EQ Mode / Show PEQ	Tab, arrows	Band / parameter

14. Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to try
No live TF / meters dead	Setup → Audio I/O: input device, Mic and Ref channels. Press Play on Tuning. Allow mic access.
Pink / Ring will not start	Select an output device and Gen L / Gen R. Confirm the generator device opens.
TF looks noisy or delayed	Find Delay or enable Track. Check Ref level and Magnitude Threshold. Confirm pink or program is present on both Mic and Ref.
Add Position disabled / error	Name the venue on Simulation, Save a Venue Preset, start Live TF, then Save the position.
SPL shows `__`	Run Tools → SPL Calibration on the measurement channel.
MP3 Rec became WAV	Install ffmpeg (`brew install ffmpeg`) or keep WAV in Setup → Rec.
Mobile inbox empty	Enable Remote, matching IP/port, same LAN. Use Avg → PC on the phone (Space captures PC inputs, not the phone Avg).
Demo expired	The trial is 14 days from first launch on that Mac. Contact info@veneqa.audioabout the full version.
macOS will not open the app	Control-click → Open. Notarized builds should open without that after the first trust.

Glossary

.veneqa.json — session settings

TF — transfer function (Mic / Ref)

RTA — real-time analyzer

ETC — energy-time curve

PEQ — parametric EQ

Ref — reference channel

Gen L / Gen R — generator outputs

.vqt — VENEQA TF trace

.vqv — venue preset