Stereo Tool

Playing with this last days ...
Not possible with StereoTool!
I maked to 'clip' (not limit) freqs from 0-400Hz, and that is, let's say ok, but if i set level more then 70% for these freqs there is voice vibrations and other distortions to sound caused by lows. Orban can do this with 95%! level of this freqs. because they have sort of compensated, canceled, probably for that band - clipper, wich cancels lows in that range to pass thru upper band (400Hz+). pfff.

Added a Linux GUI version. It has some quirks, but it should be usable. (Except for some FM things and 'Direct Sound Card access' etc.).
The good news here is that this new version uses a platform independent layer, which can also be built for many other OS's (MAC, probably also iPhone, ...).
Not everything has been converted yet. So some things won't work.
The settings for this version are saved in ~/.stereo_tool.rc; the command line version now by default also reads the settings from this file.

No further changes - Windows versions _should_ be unchanged. (But: There are a lot of code changes, I might have made mistakes).

Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 510-30.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-30.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-30.dll
VST version (No SSE2): http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-30.dll
Command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-30.exe
Linux command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-30
Linux GUI version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-30

(Transport: TODO list from page 20 or so):

What remains for version 5.10:
- Disable separate pre-emphasis and relaxed clipping when FM processing is enabled. It's currently too confusing. ■ DONE
- 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
- Add 'maximum mirror reflection' and make it configurable. ■ DONE
- 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
- Also fix the singleband behavior (AGC style on/off). ■ DONE, default is OFF again, built-in presets with Loudness get ON
- Fix Loudness distortion caused by louder bass and lower highs. ■ Appears to be partially fixed by improved Hard Limit filter and mirroring reflection
- Use 'large file mode' for command line version. ■ BUSY, waiting for reply ■ DONE
- Fix hangups for switching between Singleband AGC/non-AGC switching. ■ DONE
- Save all new settings to disk (INI and VST): 'maximum mirror reflection', 'multiband constant frequency', ... ■ DONE (?)
- Reduce Loudness window height a bit. ■ DONE (?)
- Fix settings in presets to closer match modern CD sound (less highs etc.), using the Median display. ■ BUSY
- Make VST version working again on all hosts! ■ WAITING FOR RESPONSE
- Update FM presets for louder highs ■ BUSY
- Check the new presets (I only just noticed Bojcha's post, will try to check it tomorrow).
- Check and add good new presets (also in the 'share your settings' forum).
- Release 5.10
- UPDATE DOCUMENTATION

- Make VST version working again on all hosts!
Is this still a problem? I've just tried running the Stereo Tool VST plugin in several hosts (including one that had issues before), and now it seems to work everywhere...

NOTE: If you don't SEE the window, it may be moved outside the parent window that the VST host creates for it. I still need to fix that. (VST version should not remember the last window position, but always use (0, 0) - the origin of the parent window.)

There is a memory issue in version 510_BETA30 (which was also present in ALL previous versions!) that now causes hangups when the main window is in the system tray. Fix is ready, BETA31 is building now.

BETA31 will also have adjusted FM presets (more highs, closer to Orban demo files). Also very close to the 5.02 sound by the way - with the fixed upsampler I hope that means that the sound is now ok.

- Hangup issue solved
- FM presets have more highs (using Equalizer for the highest 3 bands).

Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 510-31.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-31.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-31.dll
VST version (No SSE2): http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-31.dll
Command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-31.exe
Linux command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-31
Linux GUI version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-31

Mon Oct 18, 2010 12:55 am

Beta 510-31

VST
VST No SSE2
CLI
and Linux GUI
files not found on server !

Sorry - they are there now!

The louder US FM presets sound really bad (far too much highs for Loudness to handle) - will compare them against the Orban files to see if they are really supposed to have the same amount of highs as the Europe presets. (I hope not).

I may have a new idea for a different and potentially better Loudness algorithm - chances are though that it won't work. This new idea would allow Loudness to better preserve the original dynamics of the sound - hence less mid/low drops on loud 'S' sounds etc. It's based on the 'highs burst' filter that I recently added.

Fix: Registering and About in VST plugin caused lockups.

Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 510-32.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-32.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-32.dll
VST version (No SSE2): http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 510-32.dll
Command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 510-32.exe
Linux command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-32
Linux GUI version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... BETA510-32