Stereo Tool

It happens that some presets created with older versions does not work in newer versions the way they were intended.
I have created presets in Beta-3 using the singleband compressor/limiter which have to be adjusted manually after loading, because in later Betas the new AGC style is enabled (loading presets from older versions without AGC style option !).

It would help if you add a function that when you save a preset the Stereo Tool version information (important: including Beta versions !) is written to the STS preset file.
And when you load a preset this information should be read out and a window with a warning should appear, for example: "The preset you want to load was created with version x.yz and it is possible that it does not work the way it was intended.
Do you want to continue to load this preset"->"Ok"-"Cancel" Option.

And to give an advice in the sharing settings forum to all users that want to upload their presets here to add an version prefix to their preset/STS names.
For example:
510b8 Holy Grail.sts
etc.

Bojcha: Nice preset! It's completely different from the others but it sounds really good. There are some issues with the AGC (you can hear the volume going up a bit during silent periods), but except for that it's great. (So not I also know why you want that parametric AGC so badly)

because... No need for any fancy parametric EQ (but it would be good). Enough is EQ like in multiband.

What remains for version 5.10:
1. Disable separate pre-emphasis and relaxed clipping when FM processing is enabled. It's currently too confusing. ■ DONE
2. Remove remaining spikes -> behavior is incorrect, it should partially maintain spikes that are really big (= difficult to get rid of). ---> Looking into this I found that I need to do something very different, and I also need to do that for normal (non-web based) processing: ■ DONE
2a. Add 'maximum mirror reflection' and make it configurable. ■ DONE
2b. Add an extra slower Hard Limit phase, or let the volume come up slower when the peaks get really loud, to avoid bass artifacts in xylophone sounds. Easy to do where hard_limit_volume[] is used. ■ DONE
3. Fix settings in presets to closer match modern CD sound (less highs etc.), using the Median display. ■ BUSY
3a. Also fix the singleband behavior (AGC style on/off). ■ DONE, default is OFF again, built-in presets with Loudness get ON
4. Check the new presets (I only just noticed Bojcha's post, will try to check it tomorrow).
5. Fix Loudness distortion caused by louder bass and lower highs.
6. Check and add good new presets (also in the 'share your settings' forum).
7. Use 'large file mode' for command line version. ■ BUSY, waiting for reply
8. Fix hangups for switching between Singleband AGC/non-AGC switching. ■ DONE (?)
9. Save all new settings to disk (INI and VST): 'maximum mirror reflection', 'multiband constant frequency', ... ■ DONE (?)
10. Reduce Loudness window height a bit. ■ DONE (?)
11. Release 5.10

You forgot the documentation which is important particularly in the complexity of the various settings.

It is totally useless to post a cover of v5.015.02 and then have docs for v3, it doesnt compute in my mind.

Why not take time aside and update the documentation for stereotool thus whenever a new change has been implemented all you have to do is to plug in the new info.

Mapleleaf: You're right.... I was thinking about creating something that's easier to keep updated (for example a Wiki, or adding comment sections at the bottom of every page). That way relevant questions could be answered immediately, on the page where the description is.

On the other hand, I would still like to have some kind of printable documentation (like a PDF file). Of course both should be automatically generated from the same source. I'll check online to see if there are any good methods of creating and maintaining documentation.

I'm also looking into "Simplified Technical English", which offers a clearly understandable and unambiguous way to write technical information. (Actually that should help a lot, the most difficult thing in writing documentation is to describe things, especially audio effects, in a way that is clear and understandable. That's also why I was considering a Wiki, using that people could replace my descriptions by something that might be clearer; in the end, English isn't my native language, and it's often difficult to precisely describe the effect a slider has on the sound.).

In short, Simplified Technical English means that you avoid long sentences and ambiguous words (like close, which can mean 'shut' but also 'nearby'), and that you create a dictionary for the technical domain that you're going to describe, and then stick to the terms in that dictionary. This sounds promising, and better, it might even reduce the time that I need to write the documentation.


Bojcha: After listening to your new preset a bit more and comparing it to my own (which, based on the 'modern music' settings
I determined earlier using the median display, sounds remarkably similar to yours), I finally understand what you mean by locking the 1st band to the 2nd. The 2nd band is already locked to the first - meaning that the volume cannot drop below that of band 1. But now I think the 1st band should also be adjusted such that it doesn't drop too much below band 2, especially if the difference between the two bands isn't too big. That would enable using 2 bands (hence removing most of the 'gain rise' on parts with no bass), without loosing too much bass if there's more bass in the sound (Video Phone is the most obvious example of that, but there are many more).

I think I should do this BEFORE I start working on the presets, so I've placed this on top of my TODO list.

Ohhh
Finally you think exactly what i mean! AGC can be done and like that.

but...
I already tryed AGC from audio proc with stereotool. That AGC works like that! With AGC like that many other parameters need to be adjusted again, but result is much better.
1. Better Keep multiband in same compressing level
2. Because 1. - Limiter and loudness can be better adjusted.
3. Song like ABBA Gimme! Gimme! and other Super Loud track are almost same (rms)
4. Songs like video phone is more as original and bass is stronger and more natural
For that song most rms power is in bass, and thru StereoTool + audioproc agc, stay same!
5. When is part in track without bass.. AGC wil NOT rise so much .. because it's driven more by mids and lows. So, much better/safer control when bass starts.
etc..

Here is the test tone 0Hz-20kHz sine tone thru audioproc AGC:

From stereo tool is flat.
We can see how much lows (0-80Hz) are ignored in AGC
---------

Bass Bosster.Clipper need to be after Singleband Compressor/Limiter and AGC2!
Why?
Because there is option "Limit Bass before Loudnes" - That option limits bass by peek! Not needed when Bass Booster/Clipper is doing that and much better.
Even AGC2 should have EQ settings from AGC1 so it will leak bass to Bass boster/clipper.

1st band locked to 2nd band is working now - and it really sounds better. I'm starting a build now, will probably upload it tomorrow morning.

What I changed:
IF band 1 gets below band 2, it's kept at band 2 level unless it drops too much.

So basically:
If
Band 2 volume = 0.20

Then
Band 1 = 0.25 -> 0.25
Band 1 = 0.20 -> 0.20
Band 1 = 0.15 -> 0.20 (no drop yet!)
Band 1 = 0.10 -> 0.15
Band 1 = 0.05 -> 0.10
...

For 'Video Phone' the bass still gets reduced a bit more than the rest of the sound, for nearly all other tracks that's not the case.

There is an unwanted side effect, which is that in some cases now the highs drop a bit below the bass. Shouldn't be too bad though (and it might even be a good thing).

Latest version:
Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 510-10.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-10.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-10.dll
VST version (No SSE2): http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-10.dll
Command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-10.exe
Linux command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-10

See the new slider "Keep band 1 at band 2 level if it stays less than ... above band 2 output level".
(Any ideas for a better name are welcome...). Default value is 50%, 0% is the original behavior.

Hello Hans,

There is a small bug in the vst-version since version 510-09
It opens in a window with a maximum size of the default start window of stereo tool.
If you open for example multiband settings, it is impossible to access to each slider in the same time.
Claude

It it not possible to enlarge that window?

Actually there was a bug in all the older versions that caused the Stereo Tool window to be 'dead' in at least one VST host. So now I'm telling the Stereo Tool window that it's a child window of the VST application's window. I've done the same thing for all child windows - I guess I should make those a child of my main window instead to fix this.


Edit: I think I've fixed it, building now...