Stereo Tool

BETA81:
- Removed 'Filter' setting, and turned that filter OFF
- Fixed Punch behavior (if incoming level is (too) high, punch is now reduced (before it was way too loud, causing distortion, voices pushing the bass down far too much etc.)
- Some slight preset changes

* I expect no changes from the new Punch behavior for most of the presets *

The missing 'Filter' will also impact the sound a bit. If in total it's not worse than BETA79 it's great, otherwise I'll need to turn something on again.

Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 510-81.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-81.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-81.dll
VST version (No SSE2): http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-81.dll
Command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-81.exe
Linux command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-81
Linux GUI version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-81

Phoenix: If I didn't make any mistakes, this should be identical to version BETA80, except that you cannot turn 'Filter' off anymore. (So basically this is BETA80 with 'Filter' hardcoded turned on - in BETA81 it's hardcoded turned OFF)
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 10-80B.dll

Just tested beta 81. Good enough for my taste. I am actually finding it better than beta 70A which I was holding in high regard so far(something like 'reference' despite other glitches ).

Anyways the point is highs and sibilances are fine which is what I needed. Punch to me is not quite impacted by the filter changes. Atleast not in my preset or Bojcha's Addiction. So double thumbs up from me!!!

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Some late findings with beta 81...

Well two things have improved vastly (there's difference of day and night):
1. Bandpass Filter: The clarity and reproduction of highs that I acheived at say >~16.4KHz, I hear them even at mere 15.5~15.8 KHz. So good for those who intend to make FM Broadcast presets.
2. Loudness Filter: Its spitting venom of sheer awesomeness! No headroom fight between frequencies(if it's there then surely the problem is with the source). Just clean audio. More importantly, in previous versions the punch used to remarkably diminish with increase of loudness, specially after 2.2~2.3 mark. Well not any more. This is a welcome news for creating LOUD FM presets!

But there is a big challenge. With all that high fidelity to its credit, new beta presets need to be slightly improvised because the punch is now very airy because of flat-ness of audible spectrum, I mean every frequency has found 'equal quota'. So obviously highs are making their presence felt a bit more. Probable ways to circumvent this:
i. Get the bandpass filter to constrain highs...not a good idea IMO.
ii. Use the Max Highs burst Strength Filter...still not as effective and highs begin to sound weird
iii. Use Max De-Esser...now this sounds somewhat promising. Decreasing the default 65536 to something like 25000 gives me roughly the same effect as older versions(like beta71~75).
iv. Decrease Stereo Boost Strength...though that means missing 'sweet-spot' in quite a few tracks and that feel of stereo-widening.

Still trying for more possibilities. Will update as it happens.

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Phoenix, does this mean that in the end this version is less good than BETA70A?

Not by miles.

Something more important here. Hans, what changes precisely did you make(which sections of ST were affected) when you tried to redress the VST plugin's muffled audio issue. Honestly I never felt VST version sounded muffled at least not at 44.1 KHz. It sounded different at different sampling rates. Let me just download the standalone version and check its performance...

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So, BETA81 is still the best version. Then I'll release it tonight, and will look at the improvement things later.

(VST change: Only corrected the sample rate issue, before EVERYTHING was considered to be 44.1 kHz, and hence processed incorrectly).

v 6.00 ? Isn't too big jump?

Version increment step size is directly proportional to the number of beta releases!

Jokes apart, updated my preset for the final release.
Please refer:viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2804&p=7755#p7755

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seems this is already v6.00