Stereo Tool

Hmmm....

_________________
The Power of Sound

''Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.'' - Plato

I've recently found, on an old HDD, an e-mail exchange that i had with Leif Claesson almost 10 years ago. He was back then the creator of Octimax. Time flies!
My request to him was if he could make me a preset for Octimax that could sound like 8200 (little did I know back then haha!)
The files sent to him were these 2
the unprocessed jingle
http://www17.zippyshare.com/v/82939799/file.html
and the one that went through 8200
http://www47.zippyshare.com/v/82301135/file.html

His response, among other technical explanations was this:

The 8200 uses clipping. Clipping is what happens when you turn the volume control up too loud on your boombox, or increase the level of a digital signal that is already at full volume. Basically, you get squarewave. As Bob Orban says (I used to work for him) - Squarewaves are loud. I can't disagree with that - squarewaves are loud and punchy, and in short duration, they can pack a lot of punch. This is why a jingle like the one you sent can sound so punchy and still be that loud.
OctiMax uses look-ahead limiting instead of clipping for peak control. Look-ahead limiting, unlike clipping, doesn't add non-harmonic distortion. However, this non-harmonic distortion is what makes clipping sound so punchy (when used right).

Bottom line, we couldnt duplicate the Orban sound back then in 2004 and we cant do it now with StereoTool or any other processing software for that matter. ST is a realy nice plugin and it can be tuned to sound loud and clean in the same time but in the way that it works now, no matter how much you play with all the options that is has you wont be able to get that punch and those dirty highs that Orban's got.

Here's my latest attempt. Getting pretty close...!
http://www69.zippyshare.com/v/11226453/file.html

Please tell me which version you prefer? (Split is in the middle)


This is the preset:

Yeah, very close.. but not same. Bass is totally different. Also For ST you need more compression/limiting then clipping overall sound. For highs more (that) dirty clipping.

Just a more mellow variation of it...

I'm working on a new filter in the Advanced Clipper to allow extra distortion which does attempt to remove intermodulation distortion in the mids (= distortion caused by bass). Hope to have something ready tomorrow evening.

I must say I'm really starting to *hate* this sound when listening with headphones. But on my laptop speakers it sounds better.

One other thing: I'm starting to think that a very small amount of this might actually be a good thing. I already know that it is for highs - but allowing a few percent extra distortion on all frequencies might give the clipper some "room to breathe", making it sound less restrained, without immediately adding a noticeable amount of distortion.

Next BETA (732-003) will have better intermodulation distortion protection, and I must say that I'm really starting to like the effect that this new filter has on very loud presets - it really opens up the sound, which is both warmer, louder and more open/less 'restrained'.

Hi guys, hope everyone's having lovely weekend all around the globe.

hvz, I absolutely love your preset. I gotta say that sounds 'W.O.W' aka Wicked.Or.Wonderful
I completely love punchy bass, even I can clearly hear stereo and it has that specific radio sound. Music with your preset sounds amazing. Not sure what you have there but you are very talented. I bet God for you and Bojcha gave a true gift - 'golden' ears You guys Rock!!!

Bojcha, your updated preset sounds nice too. Million times THANK YOU!! Ok, well it might be too much for some but your preset sounds really really cool. Sorry, I love hearing so much power into the music. I love when music has so much energy in it. And your brillian work makes music sound great. Thank you guys for being creative, sharring your work with the rest of the 'gang'.

I am honestly looking forward to more of simmilar sound. Cause from this we always want more, more and more

Thank you both Bojcha and hvz again. I simply love this forum.

Decided to give the "Pirate" preset a try. While I am sure it's fantastic from a technical perspective (having been done by the author of the plugin itself), it does not suit my personal taste. It's a little too hollow for my liking (i.e. REALLY lacks in mid-range) whereas SairraD's "Continuous Balance Boost Mod3" appears to be more to my liking. If there was only a way to bring more life to the rest of the sound, this would probably be even better in my opinion but it seems many others already like it as is.

Lol, I definitely wouldn't say that. I just tried to replicate the sound of a recording of another station... And honestly, I never tested it further than with the one track that I just to calibrate it! It was not much more than a 'proof of concept' - yes, a similar sound can be created with Stereo Tool. And once I knew that I stopped again (Well not completely, I added a new feature to add a controlled amount of distortion which is available now in the new 7.32 beta's).