Impulse Response
Impulse Response Generator
Simulate an acoustic room and generate an IR WAV File
Impulse Response Generator
Generated.
What is an Impulse Response?
An Impulse Response (IR) is a fundamental concept in systems theory, signal processing, and acoustics. It describes how a system reacts over time to a very short input signal—called an impulse.
In simple terms:
Imagine you clap your hands in a big empty hall. The sound of the clap is immediate, but you also hear echoes and reverberation. The way the hall responds to that quick clap—that’s the impulse response of the hall. It's like the acoustic fingerprint of that space.
More technically:
An impulse is a signal that happens in a single instant—ideally, infinitely short and infinitely high (in reality, just a very short, sharp burst). The Impulse Response is the output of a system when that impulse is used as input.
In linear time-invariant (LTI) systems, the impulse response fully characterizes the system.
Once you know the impulse response of a system, you can predict how it will respond to any input signal using a mathematical operation called convolution.
Applications:
Audio and acoustics: Measuring how a room, speaker, or microphone responds to a sound.
Electronics: Describing how a circuit reacts to a sudden change in voltage.
Control systems: Understanding how mechanical or feedback systems behave over time.
Original script by Alan deLespinasse.
How do I use an Impulse Response /wav file?
Using an impulse response WAV file is common in audio processing, especially to simulate how audio would sound in a specific space, through a certain speaker, or with a particular effect like reverb. Here’s how you can use it:
🔊 What is an IR WAV file?
An IR WAV file is a recording of an impulse response stored as a standard audio file (usually mono or stereo). It captures how a system or space responds to an impulse, like a short sweep or burst of noise.
🎧 How to use it — step-by-step:
1. Choose or load your IR WAV
You’ll need an impulse response file in .wav format. You can simulate a room and generate the .wav file in our Impulse Response Generator on this page.
2. Use a convolution reverb plugin
In your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation, like Ableton, Logic Pro, Reaper, etc.), load a convolution reverb plugin. Common ones:
Space Designer (Logic Pro)
ReaVerb (Reaper)
Convolver (FL Studio)
Pulse (for guitar cab IRs)
MixIR3 or NadIR (popular for guitar)
These plugins let you load the IR WAV file and apply it to your audio.
3. Apply the IR to your signal
Route the audio you want to process into the convolution reverb plugin:
For our generated reverb IRs: apply it to vocals, instruments, etc.
4. Adjust parameters
Most IR plugins allow you to tweak:
Mix level (wet/dry)
Pre-delay
Length/truncation of the impulse
EQ or filtering
🎸 Common use cases:
Room simulation: Make your audio sound like it was recorded in a concert hall, cave, church, etc.
Guitar cabinet emulation: Run an amp sim into an IR loader with a cab IR to get a realistic guitar tone.
Creative sound design: Use unusual IRs (e.g., metal pipes, ping pong balls) to get unique effects.