Stereo Tool

I have been playing around with both the command line tool and the WinAmp plugin, and have been very impressed.

I have not found a way to save a full FM multiplex with Stereo encoding and RDS data to a 192kHz wave file. Is this possible using the command line tool? I did see that the output must be the same format as the input, so I am using a 192kHz wave file as the input. When I look at an FFT of the output, all I see is the mono output.

The best way i would be to record this is,
- Instal Virtual Audio Cable
- Start Stereo Tool Standalone
- Start/play winamp (or any player) with output VAC1. (any song - no need to be 192kHz)
- Set input For Stereo Tool VAC1
- Set FM Output to VAC2
- Set your RDS and MPX
- Open recorder (i use SoundForge) Start 192kHz file and record it from VAC2

Be sure to set VACs format in Control Panel.
192khz-192kHz, and 16-16bit, NC 1..2, Max Inst 20, Ms per int 1.

note: Virutal Audio Cable is not free!

Here's an easier way (and how I usually test it myself):
- Convert your input to 176.4 or 192 kHz
- Then, use it from within Winamp and in Stereo Tool just enable FM output, WITHOUT selecting "Direct Soundcard Output". IF Winamp processes everything at sample rates higher than 128000 Hz, MPX info can also be sent through Winamp (at lower sampling rates, that wouldn't be useful because it contains too high frequencies).
- In Winamp enable a "disk output" plugin (Preferences -> Plug-ins -> Output)

That should give you a .WAV file with MPX data.


Note: There's currently no way to produce MPX output using the command line version, because it assumes that the input and output is always 44.1 kHz.

Thank you both for the help! I was able to get both methods working!

Using Winamp, is there any fear of overrunning the CPU? I have a dual-core system, and Winamp takes anywhere from about 45-60% of the combined CPU while processing/recording. What would happen if the CPU could not keep up?

Thanks!

If the CPU cannot keep up the sound will start to stutter.

I'm working on a new version that's going to use much less processing power (currently about 30% less, still working on it) combined with a much lower latency. But I'm not yet ready to release it. If you want to try it, check the following thread:
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=853&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=350

The quality of that new version should also be a bit better (I've added some new filters to remove certain artifacts, and the multiband limiters are improved a lot). But some things don't work yet (among others, the singleband compressor/limiter causes really weird effects).

Bojcha, if you do this, is the data that you get from VAC completely constant - with NO spikes at all? I've tried this some time ago with the FM signal and I didn't get a perfectly constant output level.