Stereo Tool

I still wasn't too happy about the sound of version 4.01/4.02 at very high Loudness settings (> 3.0). Loud bass sounds sound out of tune and lack punch (even worse: In some cases the bass gets LOUDER after the punch, which sounds really bad), in loud highs I hear ringing (low quality MP3-like effects). These effects were not (or far less) present in version 3.55.

I have therefore added a new slider in the Loudness panel, where you can slide between "clean" (version 4.01/4.02 sound) and "punch" (close to the 3.55 processing - but still with the distortion filter of version 4.02, although it is less effective if you put the slider too far in the direction of "punch").

For high Loudness values, a high value of this slider sounds a lot better, even though there's a bit more distortion. For lower Loudness values, there's little difference - although it would make sense if the sound is also better in that case (the same artifacts are present at lower Loudness values, they are only less strong).


I have also improved the distortion filter a bit, the bass sound is now about 0.1 dB louder if loud highs and deep bass sounds are present simultaneously. This is probably not noticeable.


The version with the new slider is available here:
Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... r_BETA.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... r_BETA.exe
Command line: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... d_BETA.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... l_BETA.dll


The default setting of the slider is set close to "punch", because (at least to my ears) that sounds better.

Feedback is - as always - welcome.

i'll check it ..
meanwhile .. did you try something with MID tones to get same (better) efects with low and highs.

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control point
control point2

No... As far as I know the mid tones aren't causing any problems.

Lows below about 200 Hz cause problems because - during the peaks - there's not enough room left for other tones which makes their volume drop - and if that takes longer than about 1/200th of a second you can hear it as distortion.

Highs are problematic because they have to be amplified a lot (over +10 dB) for pre-emphasis. And if they push other sounds down, that sounds really annoying.

Mids don't suffer from either of these problems. But if you have any suggestions...

i was thinking to simple low mids and get higher lows and highs .. but i know it's not just that simple ..

i try this new slider (with transmitter) and i can't hear much difference maybe on radio are not good song examples right now.

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control point
control point2

Well, actually that's good - because you're not using a very high Loudness value.

Things that you might here are:
- Slightly more distortion.
- "high edges" as they were called by someone before.

In the track that you sent me before ("sejo1.mp3") at FM Europe (normal) preset I hear slightly more (punchier) bass. But it's very difficult to hear, and it depends a lot on the equipment you use to listen to it.


To get a very big difference: Try that same song (sejo1), select preset "FM Extreme (Europe)", in the Multiband window select Equalizer "Before multiband", and set the first equalizer slider to *3 (or higher), the second to *2 (or higher). When set to "Clean", the bass sounds horribly out of tune and lacks power. When set to "Punch", it's not - but you do get a bit more distortion instead.

I can hear the difference very good with my deep_low preset. Nice feature Hans!

Thx,

Martijn

i see (hear) now very clearly ... so this is much better? ... as you told it's less noticeable under loudness 3.00.

when you in progress for new build .. i have small suggestion for adding one small option in single-band compressor.
I don use it but maybe i found place where can be used, but i first i must test this first.

EDIT:
Ok.. test finished... so it's about singleband compressor.
For this test i needed winamp ST plugin and ST standalone. so .. in plugin i turned on only singleband compressor.
and that goes in ST standalone ...
I am back here in pre-limiter story. So .. when is by mistake two codes in pre-limiter .. and now one is removed ... that one is simulate like-compressor effect, right? .. now i simulate something like this.. i found that the main output is much constant.

So i ask is possible to add option in singleband sompressor called "before pre-limiter" and maybe "right after pre-limiter" (that i can't test) maybe that will be even better.

or.. in pre-limiter to back removed code and choose from this two codes what to use.

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control point
control point2

i see nothing about this option in pre-limiter ...

Anyway... after long time i installed v3.55... and i can hear same distortion on "S" sounds and maybe less.
i have special song now and i'll upload it here tomorrow because i want to grabb it again from original cd.

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control point
control point2

Maybe less? I have also done some comparisons, and I heard much more distortion in 3.55... I'll wait for your song...

Edit: I think you're right......... Does this mean that the sound of 3.55 was actually better than that of 4.02/4.03? I'm a bit confused right now, because earlier I have heard songs where 3.55 had a lot more distortion than 4.02...

I have done a few more comparisons, here are the results:
- In some cases 3.55 has less distortion than 4.03 (latest beta). Measurements show that the bass level in some of those cases is 1 dB higher than in v3.55, which is quite a lot - if I would reduce the bass in this situation by 1 dB the distortion would almost certainly be gone. In these cases, Stereo Tool thinks there's no distortion, so it doesn't try to clean it up.
- In other cases, 3.55 has A LOT more distortion than 4.03. This is the case in situations where the detection of distortion functions properly.

The fact that 1 dB more bass doesn't cause a huge amount of extra distortion indicates that the 4.03 processing is superior to that of 3.55. The extra bass when loud "S" sounds are present make the sound more consistent, so I cannot just turn that off (I've tried, the average bass level goes down by 0.5 dB and there's still distortion left). So I guess I'll have to find a way to improve my distortion detection.