Stereo Tool

Two minor improvements:
- Loudness filter: Louder and more stable bass sound.
- Soundcard support (stand alone version, Direct Soundcard Output on plugin versions): No more stuttering when the output buffer is empty, instead a short break is inserted such that the buffer is filled again when playback resumes. (No change for ASIO output).

I can confidently describe Stereo Tool as a No.1 Professional Audio Tool.
Well done Hans,
Abdul

I play with Breakaway and ST.
Both are good.

But ST is better.

Hans, Good Job as always.

_________________
control point
control point2

@ Hans

I know Breakaway (and all the others) too.
Breakaway is something to play with (like other toys - something for the kids).

But if you really know what you want and what you do (have a little bit background knowledge) there is no doubt:
Stereo Tool is the No. 1
(audio quality and flexibility - and free for private users at home)

@ All
Please if you can, register to support Hans and the Stereo Tool development !

@ Hans

I have a question:
Are there any changes in 3.5x of the general value (in many presets) for the "Post Amp" setting.
I had version 3.40 and have installed 3.55 (over the 3.40).
Before I installed 3.55, I renamed the "dsp_stereo_tool.dll" (3.40)
to "dsp_stereo_tool_340.dll" inside the winamp plugin folder.

This way I can switch from version 3.40 to 3.55 very fast (to compare the differences).
I am using the "Normal - Compression" preset.
When I use version 3.40 the "Post Amp" setting is 1.00 (the way it should be).
But when I use version 3.55 (and even re-select the "Normal - Compression" preset) the "Post Amp" setting is 0.93 !?!?
Is this the correct (new value ?) for "Post Amp" ?
I tried other presets and many set "Post Amp" to 0.93 when I use version 3.55 (3.40 instead set "Post Amp" to 1.00).
Is this difference (0.93 instead 1.00 "Post Amp") an error (bad side effect) caused by my raw parallel usage of version 3.40 and 3.55 ?
Or is 0.93 the new (general setting) for "Post Amp" ?

Is there a better way to use different versions (parallel installations) without that kind of problems (I think I have done something wrong) ?

Welcome Michi,

Thanks

If you're using "web radio" presets, the Post Amp is set to 0.93 to avoid distortion caused by the fact that the waveforms change due to MP3 or other compression. Changes in the wave form can cause louder peaks than what's present in the original signal. So there's a good reason to set the Post Amp to 0.93 (and even lower if you're using lower bitrate codecs).

Now about the difference between versions 3.40 and 3.55: There shouldn't be any. I've also tried it here, and if I set it to 0.93 in 3.55, I also see 0.93 in 3.40... So I really don't know what's happening...

There's nothing that you can have done wrong to cause this behavior. Both versions should be reading and writing the same .ini file, and use the same value for Post Amp.

I should add to this that you might get other problems with the Final (Pre) Limiter settings if you switch back to 3.40 (3.55 should be able to correctly load the 3.40 settings, but the other way around it might not always work perfectly). Because of that the best thing you can do is to save separate preset files for both versions.

That's not the problem here, too.
Maybe my first description was a little bit confusing.
The difference (0.93 vs. 1.00 "Post Amp") only appears when I load some internal presets.

I have deinstalled Stereo Tool, deleted all DLLs (my renamed duplicates) and all the INIs.
Even the INIs for the standalone and the VST version, though it does not looks logical, but who knows - I've wanted a serious cleaning.

Now I have a fresh (and clean ?) installation of Stereo Tool 3.55.

The problem remains:
I load the internal preset "Volume Compression - Normal Compression" (for example - some other presets have the same behaviour) ->"Post Amp" 0.93 !
In version 3.40 it is "Post Amp" 1.00.
I understood your answer in the way, that this ("Post Amp" 1.00) should still be
the setting for the internal preset "Volume Compression - Normal Compression".

Than I have rebuilded the parallel installation again.
All settings with both versions are the same when I manually change them or load an external preset and switch from one version to the other.
This works as it should.
The difference is inside the internal DLL presets (I guess).
Besides "Post Amp" the two main sliders (right from compressor/limiter)
are also "infected".
They also have different values than in version 3.40 with the same internal preset "Volume Compression - Normal Compression" (when I load it).

External presets are ok.
It doesn't matter with which version I write them.
The other version reads them correctly (always same settings in 3.40 and 3.55).

I am still confused.
So if there indeed should not be any differences from version 3.40 to 3.55
with the internal preset "Volume Compression - Normal Compression" (and others) for "Post Amp" than there is something wrong.
A ghost in my machine or is it Stereo Tool 3.55 ?

Hans don't get me wrong.
The evolution of Stereo Tool (your work) is still fantastic.
And it is not a real problem, because now I know this different behaviour.
I have saved external presets with version 3.40 and the work correctly
with version 3.55.

My apologies!

I hadn't checked all the presets, and I just saw that I did indeed change the Post Amp to 0.93 for some of the presets!

Here's why:
For some of the presets, which don't aim at reaching the highest possible volume but only at getting a constant volume, I have turned OFF the "Hard Limit" filter to save some CPU processing power. Because after the Final Limiter some minor peaks still remain in the signal, I had to slightly lower the output volume to avoid distortion.

I will do some quick measurements, if there's little difference in CPU usage I'll restore the previous settings, as I can imagine that these new values can be confusing.