Stereo Tool
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Stereo Tool 6.10
https://forums.stereotool.com/viewtopic.php?t=3065		 Page 76 of 213
Author:  DJ-DOGGY [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
Beta 67 : Window with options ( Declipper , AGC , Quality , FM , Limiting ect... ) in my opinion no need of this . It`s enough all the options in the main window to click them and edit :)
Or make this window close-able , because i cannot close it.
Author:  eldoradofm [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
@DJ-DOGGY, it's for blind people with screen reading software as you can read in the release information.
Author:  hvz [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
BETA068:
- Moved Pre-Emphasis to the end of the processing chain (just before Final Limiter, so no longer affects Multiband (very little difference), singleband compressors.
- Blind interface: Window only visible if "STBLIND" is set to '1' or 'YES'.
- L/R channel swap: Seems fixed now

Winamp DSP plugin: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 20-067.exe
Stand alone version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 20-068.exe
VST version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 20-068.dll
VST version (No SSE2): http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 20-068.dll
Command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 20-068.exe
Linux command line version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... ETA620-068 NOT AVAILABLE
Linux GUI version: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... ETA620-068 NOT AVAILABLE

TODO:
- Fix loading changed multiband frequencies
- Add buffer and filter for SCA output (SCA1 ok, SCA2 ok)
- Finish AGC improvement - make mono value configurable (replace checkbox by slider) 1 hour --> NO, not needed - anything else needed? -> NO
- Fix Punch
- Check what to do with new filters (such as bass AGC) - keep them, remove them, change them? --> KEEP
- Save new BASS_AGC setting in VST mode
- Loudness: Annoying cracking sound in bass. Slightly present in 5.00, worse in 6.00, maybe even worse in 6.10. Only when bass is too loud. Much worse than in Final Limiter (at same input level!) - so this clearly indicates a bug. Most likely cause: The filter that was added to remove bass artifacts....... :shock: - No, it's the louder bass. But it can be fixed by changing some settings. Default settings updated, and behavior for 'not Very strict' improved. Also Deep bass boost and Very deep bass protection are enabled for latency 512 now.
- Fix crash at program close
- Fix VST plugin version (does not run)
- Dynamically drop 'Allow louder highs, even if it causes vibrations' to 0 when bass filter suspects noticeable voice vibrations.
- Reduce Loudness CPU load
- Check and remove static variables
- Finish new de-essing filter (check what to do with the settings, remove at least some!)
- Convert Multiband input to MONO, then use arrays [2][4096] --> should give speedup. - FAILED
- Natural Dynamics: Fix or remove transient boost
- Natural Dynamics: Add expected + strength slider per band
- Finish declipping filter (clipping level detection + level reduction in dB). 1. Figure out why removal of unwanted frequencies causes flat lines at high quality setting with small overlap. This causes distortion, with this fixed repairs are MUCH better. 2. Fix MP3 correction, automatically scale down when this deteriorates the sound. --> TOP part fails!
- Declipping filter: Fix low latency behavior
- Always oversample clipping (configurable)
- Declipping filter: Change detection at lower input levels.
- "Test Right Channel" in "FM Transmitter Calibration" does not work since v6.10 (standalone) (bojcha)
- Declipper window close function - check! - Seems ok
- Scopes black background?
- Add AGC start level
- Declipping filter: Add comparting of sample history to make sure loud bursts are still detected properly (now, with 16 blocks of history, 65 samples are removed even when ignoring just 0.1%). I should also check the current block (probably with a margin of a factor 2).
- Declipping filter: Use reliability of tilt detection to determine movement speed; slowly move to default tilt (configurable!)
- Declipping filter: Far too many samples are marked as 'maybe/probably' clipped. Histogram not used or not cleared?
- Declipping filter: Optimize tilt detection for performance. SSE2 for maximum. And keep separate smaller histograms to determine the maximum (should perform much better).
- Declipping filter: Cleaned histogram must be mirrorred. After cleanup, mirror center is place where SIGMA above == SIGMA below! Only use on the lower end. Then run cleanup again! The result should contain approximately the same amount of data above and below. If not, that indicates incorrect detection.
- Declipping filter: Add a long term histogram, and use maximum of short term and long term start clipping level detection.
- Declipping filter: Check if 'No declipping when tilt cannot be determined' can safely be turned on.
- Declipping filter: Add setting and saving of new sliders (history size, percentage of highest samples to drop, tilt detection range start, end and precision)
- Declipping filter: Check why higher Quality settings causes cracking sounds. Answer: Rounding error, and too low filtering values to remove it.
- Move pre-emphasis to end of processing
- AGC: Separate 'Remove remaining peaks' settings for band 1 and 2
- Declipping filter: Optimize peak matching for performance: Move determination to extra preprocessing step; try to change if statements to min/max or something.
- Declipping filter: Change default values for Maximum distortion and Step size (see Bojcha's post) WAITING FOR FEEDBACK
- Finish blind interface WAITING FOR FEEDBACK TODO: TEST: Only display this window when needed.
- RDS issue reported here: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3703&p=11524#p11524 partially solved
- Save all new settings, also through VST interface DONE except for Natural Dynamics
- Channels L/R swap in stand alone version when changing filtering/quality (eldoradofm) Seems to be improved, but still occurs occasionally.
- Declipper: Fix loud bass with soft higher frequencies issue.
- Update presets? (BASS_AGC etc.) 1 day
- Natural Dynamics: Voices, especially in chorus, still sound weird.
- Natural Dynamics: Smooth out different bands more to reduce low-bitrate-MP3-like sounds.
- Natural Dynamics: Optimize situation with no interaction between bands for performance.
- Change version number 1 hour
- Release 1 hour
- Add lowpass filter for stereo signal (will cause a lot of extra latency!) - it might be possible to avoid this latency using a Hilbert transform
- Add smarter clipping detection. Maybe something much simpler suffices: Current clipping detection with threshold + flat line detection
- Declipping filter: Automatically override the 3 clipping level sliders if the clipping level is detected very clearly (clear thin spike in sample value histogram). - NONSENSE, this is already done by the histogram function. But it can be made a BIT better - I think - by automatically LOWERING the 'always clipped' slider if a lot of data is present at the highest few bins (but care is needed for DBN - Jack is Back like tracks)
- Declipping filter: Create a new histogram after declipping, clean up and subtract from original.
Author:  Luke [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
Hey guys, maybe a bit off topic but since I want to run the latest and greatest I am on the lookout for hardware.
The I7 laptop runs everything fine and so does the standard Intel T6200 powered pc ... but the desktop fails miserably with the beta's and to be honest compare 6.1 and the latest beta ... day and night.
Now the laptop is great but you are stuck with the everything onboard and I still consider a desktop to be wiser for music purposes.
Lets say I don't need a casing, hd's. so basically motherboard, memory and cpu (no games so onboard video is good enough).
I saw some of the discussions about the cache so I don't want to make the wrong decision.
Any suggestions?
Author:  Bojcha [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
Take a look on this ITX boards....
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=H67M-ITX/HT
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=H67M-ITX
There is good from Gigabyte and Asus too. Just check which CPU suits for you.
Already good soundcard Realtek! on it, DVI, VGA, HDMI ... if you add SSD that pc will rock and it will be very "small".
--------
Quote:
- Moved Pre-Emphasis to the end of the processing chain (just before Final Limiter, so no longer affects Multiband (very little difference), singleband compressors.
For me there is difference and it's not small.
MB is more constant with highs, less overall level drop on loud highs.
btw.. Advanced Extreme Highs Protection can't be turned off - after save and load it's again ON. I wanted to turn it off because it makes distortion to highs on some tracks and in latest beta even slightly more. So Old De-Esser is better for me.... for now.

Small suggestion... Separate "Remove remaining peeks above" for Band1 and Band2 in AGC (?)
For my specific AGC settings "Remove remaining peeks" does not work for Band1 sometimes.
Author:  hvz [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
Quote:
Advanced Extreme Highs Protection can't be turned off - after save and load it's again ON. I wanted to turn it off because it makes distortion to highs on some tracks and in latest beta even slightly more. So Old De-Esser is better for me.... for now.
Hm, I usually use both. But without 'Advanced Extreme Highs Protection', I really hate the volume drops that occur. Can't you improve things by changing the settings a bit? (lower Strength, higher 'Between spikes, raise highs clip lvl', maybe reduce 'Maximum reduction')

In my opinion this filter is one of the biggest improvements in version 6.20 compared to 6.10 (except for the declipper of course ;-) )

Can you name some tracks that sound bad with it?
Quote:
MB is more constant with highs, less overall level drop on loud highs.
Is 'limit output' set to 100%? I've compared the old and new versions and - as long as 'limit output' is set to 100% the change does not affect the lows and mids at all.
Author:  Bojcha [ Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
Quote:
Can't you improve things by changing the settings a bit? (lower Strength, higher 'Between spikes, raise highs clip lvl', maybe reduce 'Maximum reduction')
hmm.. just doing that.. and i have 400-50-5 %. But in combination with old De-Esser at 0.00dB (FM)
Quote:
Can you name some tracks that sound bad with it?
MOSAR - Indian Lake
Author:  hvz [ Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:31 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
Quote:
But in combination with old De-Esser at 0.00dB (FM)
You do know that 0 dB is really high, right? The default value is -2.5 dB... This reduces the input level of the 'Advanced Highs Protection' (which is placed AFTER the de-esser!) a lot.
Author:  Bojcha [ Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
yes ..
but with loudness Over x2.. there is more-black-color on De-Esser. Even more, if more highs comes from MB.
i don't have distortion for now.

I found some tracks that badly comes from declipper... i'll upload it later..
Mostly when bass kicks and under bass is long whoosh (highs / distorted)
Author:  hvz [ Mon Jun 20, 2011 1:06 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Stereo Tool 6.10
Quote:
yes ..
but with loudness Over x2.. there is more-black-color on De-Esser. Even more, if more highs comes from MB.
i don't have distortion for now.

I found some tracks that badly comes from declipper... i'll upload it later..
Mostly when bass kicks and under bass is long whoosh (highs / distorted)
Black color just means that it's working. No black = de-esser not active!

I'm starting to think that I need to build something specifically to avoid unnecessary declipping when loud bass sounds are present. It appears that all the tracks that still have issues have this in common. (Which makes sense: A low bass sound means that a large block of audio is treated as 'unreliable' and hence restored. For high frequencies only short periods are restored, which 1. is much easier and 2. is far less noticeable if it's not done correctly.

Basically, the issue occurs when there's a loud bass sound with soft higher frequencies - for those higher frequencies a relatively large blocks gets marked as 'clipped' due to the loud bass sound (waveform stays near the peaks for a long time).

Just thinking aloud here (and keeping notes for myself):
1. Find the loudest tone
2. Use a bandpass filter to get only this tone (and some surroundings, say +/- 1 octave - maybe 2?) This may not catch everything, but it will catch all the cases where a single frequency (sine wave) is present. Which might not be good enough: For example in DBN - Jack is Back, the waveform looks flattened.
3. Calculate histogram of this tone, and subtract it from the total signal histogram. (before or after cleanup?)
4. Then use the result of that to bass the clipping level detection on.

For this to work I think I also need an 'auto' setting for the Maybe clipped slider. Or turn declipping off completely when the 2 histograms resemble each other too much.


EDIT: MUCH BETTER IDEA! I need to change the behavior of the HISTOGRAM CLEANUP FUNCTION when I *know* that one frequency is much louder than the rest. (Basically this means lowering the sensitivity, so less samples are found to be clipped, because in case of loud tones too many samples are detected as clipped).
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