Stereo Tool

Hi everyone, I'm not very great with computers but really like stereo tools but trying get my head round few things so any help would be much appreciated. I'm basically streaming an Internet radio station using stereo tools as my audio. I'm coming from my pioneer mixer into stereo tools then out of stereo tools into another computer to stream my audio on Internet then plugs into a small amateur radio transmitter. I'm streaming at aac format so is user friendly to people using phones etc to stop buffering. I'm trying to get the best quality sound for this type of streaming. Some people say turn pre emphasis off when Internet streaming as reduces quality on output but when I've used direct into a small transmitter using pre emphasis sound alot better, is this true? Also if anyone could point me in right direction in settings what I should be using in simple terms as I'm a beginner would be very grateful as my final sound is quite flat and quality not very good and really like this programme and would be good to get a good sound ; ) thanks

Hi...
Main problem is that Stereo Tool does not have separate pre-emphasis.. so if FM is ON (50 or 75us) same pre-emphasis will be applyed on "Normal output", wich you use for Streaming. Streaming need much less pre-emphasis or none. that's why there is separate Pre-Emphasis for Normal output. (default 10-15us). However it's always bypassed if FM and FM pre-emphasis is ON.

So ideally would be to have 2 PCs with 2 separate Stereo Tool's - one for streaming and one for FM.

@Bojcha, Wow, that shoots my idea in the foot as well. I thought Normal Out was "Normal" out. Seems, it is just another version of MPX Out?

Edit: I just did some tests and turning PreEmphasis On and Off for FM makes no difference to my Normal Output.

Clipper

you can also stream the fm signal?

I thought Bojcha was saying the FM (MPX) Out is the same signal as the Normal Out. I monitored the Normal Out and turned the Pre-Emp on and off and heard no change to the Normal Out so I am guessing they are not the same.

Which brings me to the functions in the Pre-Emp panel. "Pre-emphasis" and "Pre-emphasize Output". Pre-emphasis would turn on the Pre-emphasis at the selected time constant for the FM/MPX Output but does Pre-emphasize Output also pre-emphasise the Normal Output?

Thanks,
Clipper

Ofcourse it's not.. difference on normal output is FM pre-emphasis! And there is difference at normal output when FM is ON.

http://help.stereotool.com/6.32/images/ ... ection.png

Bojcha, thanks for your reply.
To clear my confusion we are better to wait until Hans has documentation before we proceed any further with implementing this software into the network.

Regards,
Clipper

There's currently only one signal path through Stereo Tool. That means that if you use FM processing, the Normal Output will be the de-emphasized FM signal, the signal as it would sound on your radio.

If you have a loud FM preset, the pre-emphasis will have a big effect on the highs, which will also be noticeable in Normal Output mode. If you have a less loud preset, or if you use composite clipping, this effect is much smaller.

For the best quality on both FM and streaming, the best solution is to run 2 copies of Stereo Tool, which are optimized for each target (it would for example make sense to use less clipping on the stream than on FM).