Stereo Tool

Hello!

So I've been using Stereo Tool 6.20 (in conjunction with SAM Broadcaster) with great success on a fairly modern Window 7 machine. Now, I'm trying to get it to work on a much older/slower Windows XP machine (again, in conjunction with SAM), and upon the first try, it brought the machine to a near-halt.

What kind of setting changes can I make to ST for an older/slower machine so that it will run as good as possible without compromising sound quality?

Well, you'll always loose something, but here are some ideas (how slow is that pc anyway?):

1. Lower the Quality slider in the main window. Yes, it costs quality, but if you could move it all the way down (you can't!) it would reduce the CPU load by half. So it has quite a big effect.

2. Turn the declipper off. It uses a lot of processing power. If you really need it, lower the quality, and lower the 'step size' slider. And maybe also the 'maximum distortion' slider.

3. In the Loudness section, set all the Strictness sliders lower. If you set them very low there will be quite big spikes left (which then need to be removed by Hard Limit). If you're streaming, you can also turn Hard Limit off.

4. Are you broadcasting on FM? Then you might need to set 'FM Volume Overdrive' to 1.00x (off).

5. In Stereo Boost, turn 'Remove excessive reverb' off. You can also turn AZIMUTH correction off if you don't need it.

Once things are running, increase the main window Quality slider as far as possible.


Please let me know if this helps - or how far you're getting.