XIBALBA DSP

CARVER

Dynamic spectral unmasking · User Manual

v1.0 — macOS & Windows · VST3 / AU / AAX

01 What is Carver

Carver carves out space in your mix automatically. It analyzes the spectrum of a signal you choose (the sidechain: a kick, a vocal…) and applies a dynamic, inverse EQ curve on the track it's inserted on: wherever the sidechain has energy, Carver attenuates — only there, only while it's sounding, and only as much as needed.

Think of it as a multiband sidechain compressor, but far more transparent and precise: instead of turning the whole track down, it carves out only the frequencies in conflict.

Insert Carver on the track you want to clean up (e.g. the bass, background music).
Route the track you want to prioritize to the sidechain (e.g. the kick, the vocal).
Raise Amount. That's it.

02 Installation

Run the installer for your platform and format. Both macOS and Windows installers are signed and notarized/verified — no extra steps required.

Platform	Format	Location
macOS	VST3	`~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Carver.vst3`
macOS	AU	`~/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/Carver.component`
macOS	AAX	`/Library/Application Support/Avid/Audio/Plug-Ins/Carver.aaxplugin`
Windows	VST3	`C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Carver.vst3`
Windows	AAX	`C:\Program Files\Common Files\Avid\Audio\Plug-Ins\Carver.aaxplugin`

Recommendation: in Ableton Live, use the VST3 build — AU sidechain routing is unreliable in Live. In Logic Pro, use the AU. In Pro Tools, use AAX.

License required: on first launch, Carver will ask you to activate your license (see section 13). An internet connection is needed only for activation, not for day-to-day use.

03 Quick start: connecting the sidechain

The only thing that needs setup is sidechain routing. Carver helps you here: if no signal is arriving, the display shows routing instructions for your DAW and the SC indicator turns red. Once signal arrives, it turns green with the level in dB.

No sidechain signal: the SC indicator (top right) is red and the display shows routing help for your DAW.

Ableton Live

Insert Carver (VST3) on the track you want to clean up (e.g. the bass).
On the source track (e.g. the kick): Audio To → [bass track].
In the second menu, don't leave it on "Track In": choose "3/4-Carver".
The kick will stop playing through its normal output — duplicate the kick track if you want to keep hearing it (one copy to the master, one to the sidechain), or use the device's native sidechain panel if your version of Live shows it.

Logic Pro

Insert Carver (AU) on the track you want to clean up.
At the top right of the plugin window, open the Side Chain menu and choose the source track.

Pro Tools

Insert Carver (AAX) on the track you want to clean up.
Create a bus (e.g. "SC-Bus") and send the source track's output to it.
In the Carver plugin window, open the Side Chain input selector and pick that bus.

Reaper

Create a send from the source track to the track with Carver, destination: channels 3/4.
In the FX pin connector, verify the sidechain input uses 3/4.

Always verify: hit play and watch the SC indicator. Green = the sidechain is arriving. The gray curve in the analyzer should move along with the source.

04 Interface tour

Carver's overall layout.

#	Zone	Function
1	Xibalba bar	Brand and plugin name.
2	Utility row	Channel mode, engine, SC Listen, Perceptual, presets, A/B and SC indicator.
3	Analyzer	Sidechain spectrum, reduction curve, conflict heatmap and draggable filters.
4	Controls	The six main processing knobs.
5	Output	Mix (dry/wet) and output gain.

Resizable: drag the bottom-right corner of the plugin. The size is remembered per instance.

05 The analyzer

The display's four elements.

Blue curve — the sidechain's real-time spectrum: what Carver "sees".
Gray outline — the spectrum of your own track (where Carver is inserted), always visible: you can see both signals crossing right where the conflict is born.
Amber curve — the applied reduction: where it dips, Carver is carving. Scale on the right, in dB.
Red glow — the Conflict Heatmap: it lights up at the frequencies where your track and the sidechain both have strong energy and similar level at the same time — the very definition of masking. The higher the flame, the worse the clash. Use it to decide where to set your filters.
Vertical amber lines — Low-Cut and High-Cut: drag them directly on the display. The darkened zones are excluded from analysis (Carver won't attenuate there). The heatmap keeps showing conflicts even outside the range: information, not action.

06 The controls

The control row. Amount is the hero knob — start there.

Control	Range	What it does
Amount	0–100 %	Global depth of the carving. 0 % = no effect; 100 % = maximum attenuation (up to ~24 dB per band). Start at 40–60 %.
Attack	0.1–200 ms	How fast the attenuation reacts when the sidechain sounds. Short = follows transients (kicks); long = lets the punch through.
Release	5–2000 ms	How fast the track recovers once the sidechain goes quiet. Short = agile but can "flutter"; long = smooth but sinks the track.
Rel Tilt	−100 to +100 %	Tilts the release by frequency (see section 7).
Low-Cut / High-Cut	20 Hz–20 kHz	Bound the range where Carver analyzes and acts. Also draggable on the display. Note: the High-Cut arc fills backwards — amber always means "this is being cut".
Mix	0–100 %	Parallel dry/wet (phase- and latency-aligned — no comb filtering).
Output	±12 dB	Output gain to compensate level.
Mode (Stereo/L/R/Mid/Side)	—	Which channel the carving applies to. Mid = only the center (vocal, kick, bass); Side = only the sides. The unprocessed channel passes through untouched.

07 Release Tilt (Carver exclusive)

A global release is always a compromise: fast distorts the low end, slow smothers the highs. Tilt solves this by scaling the release time per frequency, using your Release setting as the reference at 1 kHz:

0 % — uniform release (classic behavior).
+100 % — lows release slowly (clean, no pumping) while highs release fast (air returns instantly).
Negative — the reverse, as a creative effect.

Moving Release or Rel Tilt overlays this green curve on the analyzer: the actual release time at each frequency (here: Release 150 ms, Tilt +100 %). It fades out on its own.

Recipe: set Release where you like the mid-spectrum feel, then push Tilt to +40–70 %. Listen to how the bass "breathes" after each kick hit with Tilt at 0 % vs +80 %.

08 SC Listen

SC LISTEN active (lit amber).

Delta

Next to SC Listen is the DELTA button: hear exactly what Carver is removing (dry minus wet, phase-aligned). It's the most honest way to calibrate Amount: if the delta sounds like "stuff that was in the way", you're on track; if it sounds like the body of your track, back off. With the sidechain silent, the delta is dead silence.

SC Listen

Turn on SC LISTEN to hear the sidechain exactly as the detector sees it: trimmed by Low-Cut/High-Cut. It's the tool for tuning your filters by ear:

Turn on SC LISTEN with the source playing.
Drag the handles until you isolate just the part that matters (e.g. the punch of the kick, without the click).
Turn it off. Carver will now act only on that.

Note: turning on Listen switches Carver internally to the 0-latency engine so monitoring stays sample-aligned. If you were on the Mix (FFT) engine, you'll hear one brief click when switching — that's your DAW renegotiating latency compensation, not a glitch. If you'll use Listen heavily, work in the Live engine. The source keeps playing on its own track: if you hear it "doubled", mute the source track while auditioning (the sidechain still gets through).

09 Perceptual Mode (ISO 226) (Carver exclusive)

The human ear isn't equally sensitive across the spectrum: the same energy "masks" far more at 2–4 kHz than at 50 Hz. With PERCEPTUAL engaged, the sidechain analysis is weighted using equal-loudness contours (ISO 226):

Carver cuts less in the deep and extreme lows — conflicts that exist physically but are barely perceived.
Full response in the presence range, where masking actually hurts.
Result: the carved element keeps more body, without sacrificing the clarity of the priority element.

When to use it: musical mixes where the normal mode feels over-processed. For utility ducking (podcast, FX under voiceover) it's usually best left off. Compare it using the A/B slots.

10 The two engines

The engine selector, second slot in the utility row.

	Live · 0 ms	Mix · FFT
Architecture	32-band dynamic EQ in the time domain	Spectral (STFT), ~513 effective bands
Latency	0 samples	1792 samples (~41 ms @44.1k, compensated by the DAW)
At rest	Bit-perfect passthrough (audio is untouched)	Transparent
Best for	Tracking, live use, monitoring, writing while mixing	Mixing and mastering: more surgical, denser carving

Simple rule: produce and track in Live; for final critical listening, try Mix. Switching engines makes the DAW renegotiate latency (one brief click, normal).

11 Presets and A/B comparison

Preset browser (click the name to open the full menu) and A/B slots.

Factory presets — starting points by use case: Default, Kick vs Bass, Vocal Clarity, Podcast Ducking, Guitars vs Vocal, Master Glue (Mid), Side Carve, Aggressive Cut. They configure amount, times, tilt, filters and channel mode; sidechain routing is always up to you.

A/B — two complete memory slots. Work in A, switch to B and try another idea, then flip back and forth to compare by ear. Perfect for evaluating Perceptual on/off or two different Amount depths.

12 Quick recipes

Kick vs Bass (the classic)

Carver on the bass, kick to the sidechain. Preset Kick vs Bass. Adjust Amount until the kick punches through the bass without the bass "disappearing". The heatmap will show the clash at 50–150 Hz. Raise Tilt if you notice the bass "fluttering".

Vocal over music (mix or podcast)

Carver on the music, vocal to the sidechain. Preset Vocal Clarity (musical) or Podcast Ducking (utility). Try PERCEPTUAL on so the music keeps its body.

Clean up just the center

Mode = Mid: carves only the stereo center (where kick, bass and vocal live) and leaves the sides untouched — the mix keeps its width. Master Glue (Mid) starts from there.

Dialing in exactly where it acts

SC LISTEN → drag the handles until you hear only the zone that matters → turn Listen off. Confirm with the heatmap's red flame that you're covering the real conflict.

13 Activation & support

Activating your license

On first load, Carver shows an activation screen — enter the license key from your purchase confirmation email.
An internet connection is required for this one-time step only; Carver runs fully offline afterward.
Your license covers macOS and Windows and activates on up to the number of machines listed in your purchase (see your confirmation email). Deactivate a machine from your account page before moving to a new one if you've reached the limit.

Lost your license key? Look up your order using the email you purchased with, or contact support below — we can resend it.

System requirements

Platform	Requirement
macOS	12 (Monterey) or later, Apple Silicon or Intel
Windows	10 or later, 64-bit
Formats	VST3, AU (macOS), AAX
Hosts	Any VST3/AU/AAX-compatible DAW: Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Reaper, Cubase, Studio One, FL Studio…

Getting help

Found a bug or something that sounds wrong? Reach out with your DAW, OS version, sample rate, and the steps to reproduce it — that's what lets us fix it fast.

Support: Xibalba DSP — see the contact link on your purchase receipt or the product page for the current support channel.

CARVER v1.0 · © 2026 Xibalba DSP · Manual last updated: July 2026.
Licensed, not sold. See your End User License Agreement for full terms.