I'm looking for an audio tool that will process all the various audio that occurs on a PC and apply AGC, multiband compression and limiting as close to real-time as possible. This seems like a simple use case but finding a program to do this is proving difficult, especially on linux systems. I have found one program for Windows that does a beautiful job at this. It happens to be made by another company that also makes broadcasting software, found at ceaudio.com. Their broadcast product appears to compete with yours - "Breakaway Broadcast Processor". It is quite expensive. However they have a consumer-based tool that does exactly what I describe (Windows only) called "Breakaway audio enhancer". It is a standalone installer that provides an audio driver that intercepts the main stereo audio mix (audio generated from any program whether it supports plugins or not), processes it, and then forwards the processed audio to the output device (line out on the built-in sound card).
I would love to see you do a version of stereo tool that works like this, so I can use it specifically with my linux home theater PC. And I'm sure Windows users would like to use it, too.
The main benefits of a non-plugin based standalone program is that it will work with any audio source- not just plugin-enabled playback programs like winamp, but also streaming video sites like Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Vimeo, etc. There is no winamp or vst plugin architecture for a web browser. YouTube is especially challenging as the volume levels of each video can be dramatically different, forcing the user to constantly adjust the volume output level on the speakers. Of course if you forget you've turned the volume way up for a poorly produced youtube video, and then play another video with a high audio level, you will never fail to startle yourself, and possibly your pets and neighbors.
It may seem counter-intuitive for a HTPC to have audio dynamcs reduced - a big part of watching a movie in a theater or a proper, sound isolated home theater is the dynamics between speech and explosions. However, many people do not have a proper home theater, including me. Their setup is in the living room, and the listening environment is not ideal. This makes it agonizing to watch a highly dynamic movie because the speech is so low, and the explosions are so loud, that constant volume adjustment is necessary just to get through a movie or TV episode. In this case, a highly compressed audio stream that acts more like broadcast television or FM is desirable.
I've tried to setup stereotool for this use case on Windows, using the 'Stereo Mix' as an input. Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off monitoring the input without simultaneously muting it, and since stereotool sends it's output back to that same stereo mix, all I end up with is a giant delay/feedback loop. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I'm using only the built-in soundcard on the computer, no extra cards with extra inputs/outputs. I'd be happy to discuss more details of this use-case with you if you are interested. There is an explosion of interest in low-power, linux-based home theater PCs (the Raspberry Pi microcomputer is $35, consumes only 7W, and has an embedded GPU that can play back 1080p video with no problems. It is becoming the new darling for users of XMBC, an open-source media center program. ) The only thing this platform lacks is a way to process audio dynamics in the way I described. Providing that product for a nominal fee (say $20) might be a valuable additional income stream for stereotool.
Thanks!
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