Stereo Tool

Available on the Download page.

Note: No changes in sound or behavior.

Cleaned up unused code:
# Reduced executable size by around 40%, installer by 25%.
# Reduced CPU load by 3-4%.
# Reduced memory usage by over 4 MB (from over 24 MB to under 20 MB).
# Removed part of Core Duo support from the SSE2 version (no effect on performance, only increased file size).
# Removed SSE2 support from the SSE version (which was accidentally included in it).
# Fixed Windows Vista "This program might not have installed correctly" warning.
# "VISIT SITE" button was being redrawn continuously - fixed.
# SSE (Pentium 3) version: Replaced some 'generic' code by SSE code (70% performance boost).

Hi Hans,
Good version all functions stll works good.

One thing I did not mention earlier. My Kaspersky AV 2010, always hangs when Standalone version is in installation process (about 30sec). In last few betas that's not case. Installed in 1 sec. Anyway not that's not important, but i am glad that this not happening anymore.

Hi Hans ...

i Think i found bug in AGC!

Actually .. There is difference between Standalone and DSP version.
My Maked preset in Standalone with relatively slow AGC is much faster in DSP plugin.

Up speed in DSP is faster and maybe down.
?

Can someone confirm this bug or i am missing something ?

this sites gone dead again....maybe hans is on holiday or something.

Hi Bojcha and others,

I didn't have much time lately so that's why nothing happened here... (Well I tried to create a Windows Media Player and iTunes player plugin, but for WMP it doesn't seem to work - crappy interface - and for iTunes I cannot even find the interface... So no results so far)


I don't know (still have to check) if the up speed of the AGC differs between stand alone and plugin versions (if it does, it's probably caused by the different input sample rate!).

I did notice however when playing some CD's using the default 'generic' preset that the AGC up speed in the Winamp version goes up way too fast - if a new track started it was usually too loud for a moment.

Will check.


I also noticed something else.

If you play 'Lady Gaga - Alejandro' using FM Loud (more bass) preset, during the loudest parts (much bass and much highs) the highs don't sound clear. They're not really distorted, but they don't sound good either.

Using the 'FM Hot' preset, which is equally loud or louder, the highs do sound good but there's pumping. It's in most part identical to FM Loud, but the AGC uses 1 band and is set far more aggressively. So if a bass kicks in, everything is lowered - which keeps the RMS level more constant, which means that the difficulty for Loudness stays more or less the same during the whole track (more RMS input volume = more difficult for Loudness).

I've listened carefully to lots of FM stations lately, and I noticed that they do something that I don't - if there's a lot of bass the rest of the sound gets reduced a bit. And actually that's probably less annoying than the unclear highs.

So I think that I need to put a singleband AGC somewhere in the chain. Could be directly after the current AGC, or maybe after Multiband (directly after the current AGC might be easier to configure). This should keep the volume at the level that's configured for the highs in the 1st AGC - so if there's no bass it does nothing. Then it can be configured very aggressively (high up and down speeds) with little effect on the sound, very loud bass sounds would cause a reduction of at most 2-3 dB.

Hi Hans,
I double checked this ..
In standalone any samleprate used, AGC speed is always same, In DSP however AGC is much faster in any case. Even i think multiband is faster too, but i am still not sure.
Heh.. That's what's bother me for long time. That's why i said that third and second band in agc is not complete solution and RMS correction is needed somewhere to correct this. In my last presets i use all 3 bands in AGC, but much lower then default (rise 50-53% and rise max 170-200%) to compesate for High energy bass songs to stay as is.
Well .. i still think that some AGCing is needed after multiband. In v.5.10 we tryed 2nd AGC right after 1st. This AGC should be driven more by RMS. For start, singleband AGC will be good same as this one at start of chain.

Also i think "Bass boost" filer need one option/function.
- When i turn off "Preserve louder peeks" i get much better results, because i can always limit lows at same peek-level"
That's always ~1dB lower then 0dB. So rest of sound is much less affected to be distorted by lows.
But, When some House song comes with "Bass-only" part, that space from ~1 to 0dB is wasted.
So... what is needed is some fast leveler (-2 to +2dB) to detect when no other sounds is preset (or present much less), to rise it up fast and when mids and highs comes, to put it fast down again.
lol did i explane it right?

I was wrong..
AGC is much faster in standalone with 48kHz .. at 192kHz is slower.

This is bad .. same preset will be different for FM and for streaming at 48 or 44kHz

That makes sense... And it's a bug. I guess I'm using the wrong sample rate value for the AGC speed adjustments. Should be easy to fix.

Is it not too much work for a one man company to create (and update !) three different plugin software interfaces ?
Would it not be easier to use a global system strategy (to create an own audio driver - like the programmer of ASIO4all did) to match all kind of audio independant from individual audio player software structures ?

I already use Stereo Tool (DSP version) for all audio (and all software audio/video players) on my PC.
I am using a free global winamp DSP host (instead of VAC and the standalone version), because this has the advantage that I can add even some (wrapped) VST-plugins to my processing (free transient tool and a combination of EQ and de-essing tools) and analysis tools (free TT DR meter and free rs-met Signal Analyzer, etc. and free alternative pre and post oscilloscopes and spectrum RTA).

Or is it your aim to create explicit plugins for WMP and iTunes, because you want that the (unexperienced) users can transcode their audio files inside these software players with Stereo Tool processing ?
Alternative: A tutorial how to create an additional winamp "recorder" installation.
I use this, because it is easier, faster and safer (!) than to swap the output from real audio driver to filewriter (and vice versa) inside the winamp configuration all the time without the danger to use the filewriter unintentionally !
So I have two Winamp Player installations (v5.5x and v2.95) and one Winamp Recorder installation (v2.95) plus an additional installation for the global DSP host.
That way I even can use multiple DSP instances of Stereo Tool or other plugins.

Maybe it sounds complicated (all these Winamp installations).
But it is very easy:
Simple copy, rename, paste folders and create shortcuts !

By the way:
Do you know the freeware Volumouse ?
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/volumouse.html
I cannot imagine how I lived without it, before I found it.