Stereo Tool

After fixation of issues with the tool founded by Hans , the CPU load is now good, flat and stable in time . Very good finding.

STAND ALONE 32 BIT: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 43-016.exe

CHANGED:
- Fix some more (smaller) issues reported by CppCheck.
- Try PVS-Studio for static code analysis. DONE, didn't really find anything important.
- Fix Compressor DIFF
- Show better sound card warnings (4 = IN USE etc.)

TO DO:
- Make MPX signal visible in AM mode.
- Added help pages
- Changed version number
- Add error/exception handling for non-standalone version
- Add Tex'@rt version
- Add presets
- Show Lowpass filter freq in AM and FM panel? Maybe also Downmix to Mono in other outputs (FM, stream)?
- Fix crash reported by bojcha. I might already have fixed it, not sure... Need feedback first.

OLDER CHANGES:
- AM C-QUAM clipping/limiting was happening with a twice as loud input level as it should have. Fixed.
- AM Transmitter: Added Downmix to Mono button checkbox to AM panel.
- Added translations (Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian).
- Fixed issues reported by CppCheck.

- Added separate processing for FM and Normal (or plugin host) output.
- Streaming output: Added option to send output to a stream using VLC.
- Streaming input: Added option to pass extra parameters to input VLC (just type them after the URL).
- Limiters: Greatly improved limiter behavior. Limiter (in all compressors) now works much tighter, causing less pumping and less distortion.
- Lower CPU load when using streaming with low pre-emphasis values, by using LQ Hole Protection mode.
- AM Transmitter: Added AM Transmitter panel.
- AM Transmitter: Added NRSC AM pre-emphasis curve (slightly different from the FM 75 μs curve).
- AM Transmitter: Added C-QUAM AM Stereo compliant clipping and limiting.
- AM Transmitter: Headroom slider added; no more need to abuse Post Amp to make headroom for asymmetry.
- AM Transmitter: Added Downmix to Mono button checkbox to AM panel.
- AM Transmitter audio now uses FM sound card settings (including tilt correction).
- Added auto-start with Windows option.
- Added Watchdog, regularly checks that sound card inputs and outputs are working. If no audio runs for a longer period, sound cards and later Stereo Tool gets restarted.
- Added Exception handling: Exceptions should never occur, but if they do, they are now handled gracefully: They are logged and shown to the user, an attempt is made to continue processing, if that fails (exceptions keep occurring) Stereo Tool can be restarted automatically.
- Added Event FM License (lower price, works 3 days at a time).
- Added CPU load (actually, percentage of time busy with processing) display.
- Added an error popup window if sound cards cannot be opened.
- Added translations (Dutch, Spanish, Russian, Hungarian).
- SCA frequencies are now configurable for HAM radio.
- Reduced memory usage of stand alone version.
- Merged in older changes from a separate project, should not have any noticeable effects for end users.
- Bug fix: Fixed crash that could occur when switching input from sound card to VLC and back to sound card.
- Bug fix: VLC input channels could get swapped. Fixed.
- Bug fix: VLC input with Low Quality Low Latency output hangs. Output is now disabled when VLC input is used.
- Bug fix: Opening sound cards could fail sometimes if ASIO and non-ASIO were combined using the same sound card. Fixed by opening the non-ASIO connections first, which appears to solve the issue.

Now load is back to unstable and i have issues with closing and when open again , there is no settings like when it`s closed. Just started with no preset and some weird settings.
This happened twice after close/open.
When turn back to beta 15 - again i have same not loaded like when it`s closed - need to load the preset , after that every thing work OK. Something is not good in this last beta 16.

I don`t know after what beta is present this but when i close it , and open again it always show one panel - the main Processing one. Old betas was not like this . When i close it showing Multiband section for example , it starts there showing the same Multiband panel as before closed. Or whatever panel is the last showed - it shows the same on next loading . Now it`s not like this , why ?
Beta 15 is the same but i`ll get back to it as the right showing of CPU load . May be the errors fixed with that tool for beta15 are the right for fixing (exept this for the loading of last settings used, if this is an error showed in the tool)

Edit: on Win 7 beta 15 is loading settings and panel before closed.

Also anyone know why is this difference in CPU load between XP and 7 ?

This is really weird. Everything works fine here (on both XP and Win7). I haven't changed anything that should impact these things (keyword here is probably 'should'). Can you test if this happens during opening or closing?

1. Please check if you can load a preset in version 016. (Load one that you saved in 015 or earlier).
2. If loading worked, please check if you can save a preset in version 016. Then press 'RESET' and load it again to test if it was saved correctly.
3. If that all works fine, please change a setting that will be lost, for example Pre Amp, and close Stereo Tool. Open the .ini file manually and check if the Pre Amp setting was stored or not.

They probably have different ways of controlling how threads are spread over cores. I have done some tests with placing them on cores from within Stereo Tool which on some systems gave better results.

Ok, Hans
Will test these 3 points and will tell you the result later

I have just tested it in both debug and release mode on 2 different systems (one XP, and Win7) and it works fine on both. Also tested with a memory checking tool which also didn't report anything suspicious. So I really don't know what could be happening on your end...

I just got another idea. If you haven't already, can you create a directory C:\temp that's writable? (You can test if it is by pressing the 'TEST ERROR (CRASH)' button and check if it created a file).

It could be that you're getting an exception which you don't see because the GUI is already closing. That's why I'm asking this.


Edit: I'm looking through the code. Changes between 015 and 016:
- Made a few dozen assignment operators inaccessible. This should have no effect at all (if I would be using assignment anywhere I would get an error, but I don't).
- Removed a bunch of unused variables.
- Moved a few variables to another class.
- Added better error messages for sound cards.
- Fixed compressor target level calculation to make DIFF work better.
- Watchdog restart string forcibly ends with a '\0'.
- Disabled some 32/64 bit warnings (false positives).

None of this things seem to have any relation with the behavior that you're seeing. The files that control the loading and saving of settings aren't changed at all. So - I don't get it, I hope your answers will provide some indication of where I have to look.

All seems good on the 3 points Hans
I don`t know why it gave me problem two times.
Difference between Xp load and 7 is not that big.