Stereo Tool

BETA601-013:
- Updated Steepness calculation; bass should be much better preserved @ low latencies now.
Important: This may cause troubles with clipping, especially with low clipping levels!

Edit: Looks like at latency 512, band 3 'soft limit' must be increased to avoid too much bass loss.

Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 01-013.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 01-013.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 01-013.dll
VST version (No SSE2): http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 01-013.dll
Command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 01-013.exe
Linux command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... ETA601-013 [not available]
Linux GUI version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... ETA601-013 [not available]


Note: Noise gate VST may be fixed (I did find a bug and changed something, but I haven't had time yet to check if it works...)


What remains for 6.01:
- Multiband: Adjust band 3 (and others?) 'soft limit' behavior at very low latencies. Maybe: Also check clipping (also for band 3, might be re-enabled!)
- Performance: Multiband steepness: Moving UP can be done inside current loop, no separate loop needed
- Performance: Multiband: Remove sqrt(sqrt(cos())), pow(x, .75) etc. - too expensive, replace by lookup table.
- Reduce downsampling frequency because currently very high frequencies (21-22 kHz @ 176.4 kHz input sampling rate) in the input can cause spikes even if Hard Limit is used.
- And I need to check how much the performance is impacted by the latency improvements, in the case where no upsampling and downsampling is needed. This seems to be impacted way more than I expected (could also be Multiband steepness).
- MAYBE: Make Steepness smarter. That would much better preserve the audio, especially at very low latencies! How: Instead of setting all the levels at AT MOST the level of neighboring bands + a bit, combine adjacent bands, determine total output level, and then fix it such that this combined output level is approached more. (So one very low, one very high --> one a bit less low, one a bit less high instead of both low).
- Fix NOISE GATE behavior in VST plugin
- Attempt to set GAUSS back to 0 - gives MUCH better processing of most filters (no high frequency noise). BUT: Loudness effect in Bjork - It's Oh So Quiet - can that be resolved in another way?

Questions:
* Multiband: Question: Is Steepness behavior ok?
* Loudness: QUESTION: The changed Punch behavior, is that good or bad?

Check:
Check difference in behavior between 44.1 and 48 kHz input for multiband! This could potentially result in really big differences.

Hi,

Much better sound at 512 mode! With some tweaks it can sound just good.

But i notice that Whole multiband behave very strange, even at 4096!
If i lower all the way down 1st EQ band (eq after mb), whole sound is gone. With some "steepness" tune sound gets more strange.

I Checked again STv6 final, and this is not case, but again.. 1st two bands are to much joined (in some way) If i lower 40Hz, 70% of 90Hz band goes down with it.

MB Clippers: For long time i think that this is better to be replaced with limiters!

For BETA610-13 standalone the output meter is showing more red at input sample rates of 48kHz and below if the composite limiter is raised above 100% (I have been using 103%)

_________________
J0HN II

Bojcha:This behavior makes sense given the new filter design. Band 1 is set at 0.01 - that means that if band 2 can be 25% louder, it's still limited to 0.0125 etc.

I think I need to treat band amplification differences caused by equalizer settings different from differences caused by input signals. Have to think about it

John2: I have the impression that something is still wrong with Hard Limit. If I play a sweep (tone going from bass to highs), high Pre Amp value, only Hard Limit enabled, at higher frequencies there are strange 'gaps' in the signal - output is lower than I expect, and there's a soft click where that starts. Will check it. By the way: For FM broadcasts, with composite limiting, red output bars are no problem.

Tested BETA610-13 standalone when changing from 512 to 4096 stereotool hangs and music keeps repeating.

Also presets are not saved properly. When i reopen them after saving they are different.
Update: the preset was read only, so it is working now. Maybe add a warning when the file is read only?

In my opinion i think 512 and 1024 sound much better now than they did before...now i can hear bass at low latencys...perfect for what i need stereotool for.. ( well done hans super work. )

The composite signal does appear to be normal but I was just noting that the red bars are constant at input sample rates of 48 kHz and lower. It does not happen at all with the higher input sample rates (my actual audio input sampling rate is 44.1 kHz).
I am also noticing that sometimes switching to 4096 latency from a lower latency value(especially 512) while processing causes stereotool to crash. I have tested every beta from the 5.02 series into the 6.01 series and have not had any problems with crashes before.

_________________
J0HN II

Ok, it seems as if loading of STS presets for Noise Gate is now correct with Beta 013.
There is only still this minor bug (first slider position and showing 9.99 instead of 10.00) in Noise Gate GUI, but the sound is correct (loading presets).

The odd problem with original 6.00 VST plugin is, that for rendering the whole Noise Gate settings are more or less ignored.
My latest tests with dBpoweramp leads to this conclusion, because the output sounds too loud and seemingly without noise removal (or far too little - as if especially some mid range bands were completely dead !?) - compared with DSP rendering and realtime listening.
But using it (6.00 VST) for realtime listening it is the other way round (loading my preset without manual correction in GUI):
It sounds as if there is not only one Noise Gate active, but two or three at the same time (with maximum expansion !) !

Important:
This workaround (to move sliders in Noise Gate GUI) that works for realtime processing, does not work for rendering (I guess based on the host to plugin communication that takes places when you start the rendering process).
For example dBpoweramp scans the plugin and reads and saves every parameter (and possibly before rendering it sends these saved parameters back to the plugin).
And that's why it does not help to move sliders before you start the rendering process.
Hans, maybe it is possible for you to build an intermediate (silent) update for the VST version only (stable version 6.01 takes it time) ?
You can replace the original 6.00 VST plugin on download page with this new build (same as 6.00 except the fixed Noise Gate preset loading).
Maybe as VST 6.00b ?


Question about steepness option in Multiband:
Is 250% the correct value to have the same sound as in version 6.00 ?
Is 250% = steepness off ? - if not, could you add an option to switch it off (maybe as part of FFR option - if this is off then steepness, too) ?

OFFTOPIC ...or.... ON...TOPIC .. ))

SCA encoders inside Stereotool ...not yet implemented

How much money do u need for making such a code as standalone program or implemented on stereotool version..maiby ?

please