James

This is virtually a repeat of my comments on the Ots forum.

If you install Ots out of the box, it will automatically grab the default Windows output device for the processed signal to go to your ears. You have no INPUT option at all. This is because Ots generates the raw audio directly from the selected track at the KERNEL level. It then passes it through the Ots Graphic Equalizer settings and on to the Dynamics Processor settings, before handing it to the selected Windows output device.

So the path is something like – Audio codec > EQ > DSP > selected Ots output device . The first three steps in this process cannot be separated, because the paths are locked into the Ots program.

The way that BAE works is to define a Virtual Audio output device (Virtual Audio Cables or VAC) which is visible to Ots as a selectable output device. This captures the output from Ots DSP stage (which should be turned OFF to avoid double processing) and routes it through BAE’s own DSP, and then on to the selected output device. Now the path is – Audio codec > EQ (Flat) > Ots/DSP (Turned off) > BAE Virtual Audio Cables as Ots output > BAE/DSP > selected BAE output device

You are trying to inject SFX into Ots to piggy-back along with the music, but there is nowhere that you can insert them, because there is no defined INPUT point in Ots. Nor is there an input point option in BAE, other than VAC, which should be visible to other programs, such as the one you are using for effects.

VAC is not fussy where its music comes from, and it is possible to define the one cable in multiple programs. I think that I mentioned this in my studio setup, where I have Ots and the output from a phono preamp/analogue to digital converter defined simultaneously. This means that I can play Ots and also play a record and both would be heard at the same time, because they share the same VAC. I can’t see why you couldn’t do the same thing, assuming that VAC is visible as an output device in your effects program.

Breakaway Audio Enhancer’s big brother, Breakaway One, has the ability to add VSTs, so it would be possible to add the effects VST into BA1, and mix all your SFX at the pre- or post-DSP stage. You still don’t get the input option you want in Ots (and never will), but you get it at the later stage once Ots has passed the signal on to VAC.

Now the path would be – Audio codec > EQ (Flat) > DSP (Turned off) > BA1 Virtual Audio Cables as Ots output > VST/SFX > BAE/DSP > selected BA1 output device if you want the SFX to be modified by the BA1 preset
Alternatively Audio codec > EQ (Flat) > DSP (Turned off) > BA1 Virtual Audio Cables as Ots output > BAE/DSP > VST/SFX > selected BA1 output device if you do not want the effects double processed.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by James.

Presets are “in the ears of the beholders”, so it depends on the genres you play and the sound that you are looking for.
I can comment on using turntables, because the worst way that you can use them is on a traditional desk or table top, simply because the very sensitive stylus can easily pick up any vibrations and therefore create a feedback loop. My radio station has the turntables hinged to a solid brick wall and suspended by chains, and this dramatically reduces resonance and feedback. I have seen other stations with a layer of thick felt, then a solid concrete block (like a paver), and then the turntable on spring legs.

Obviously, if the studio monitors are cranked too high, this will exacerbate the situation.

Great that you got something happening! Perhaps a Passthrough core would work as well and be cheaper.

Pass-through
No audio processing, but all other routing features are included.
Can be upgraded with Streaming Encoders and Livewire+/AES67 Support, making it ideal for feeding a remote transmitter site through IP.

Thankyou, Timmywa. I had a feeling that I had read that dialogue, and tried various searches to turn up the old subject, but couldn’t find the right search words. I had a feeling that Leif said he would include a control in a later release.

I’m not sure what you mean by “outside of the GUI”.
Are you saying that you want to send commands via a batch program? Are you aware of the web server interface available through your browser at {IP}:8282? This gives you the full list of parameters that you can set and/or interrogate. You can change the parameters using something like cURL.

I have raised this issue with Leif, and he has responded that he will take care of it. However, he also pointed out that there is absolutely NO advantage in installing the latest version on a Windows 8 PC. The update to 1.42 was to address a Windows 10 problem after a Microsoft update, but the BAE code was unchanged, only the VAC version.
As pointed out, version 1.40.03, which was the current version when Win 8 was the dominant OS, works perfectly.

If you are going to place subs at the front and rear, you will need to experiment with the phasing of the speakers, else they will cancel each other out. The theory behind it is that, by the time the waves get to the back of the room and meet the waves coming forward, they are a half-wave out of phase, and so cancel each other out. If your subs have a phase control, try various settings with the same piece of bass-heavy music, and settle for the one that sounds smoothest when you are in your listening position. If you don’t have phase control, try swapping the + and – cables so that one speaker is pushing forward on a positive pulse (the “normal”) and the other speaker is pushing backwards on the same pulse.

Every listening area comes with its own challenges. Rooms actually resonate anyway, although usually at rates way below our hearing capabilities. They are called “standing waves”.

Sound is produced as waves, and the lower the frequency, the more widely spaced the waves are. It stands to reason that, if you sit in certain places in the room, you will experience the top of the wave, and in others, you will feel the bottom. Furthermore, these waves bounce off surfaces and return out of phase to cancel some of the energy from the original sound. This leads to bright spots, where the reflected sound augments the original, and dull spots where the reflection cancels some of the energy. Bottom line, every room has a sweet spot, not necessarily in the centre. This sweet spot is modified by the shape of the room, the building materials, the frequencies being generated – even your own body will absorb some frequencies and bounce others.

You have many options. Moving yourself around, moving the speakers around, varying the levels of the various drivers, using mobile baffles to reflect the sound to your listening area and cancelling reflected sounds etc, etc.

Provided you can do all of this without having to appease a significant other, you should arrive at a pleasing place to enjoy your music. I can’t offer any advice for appeasing partners.

I’m interested in your comment about using compression to adjust the bass. This is not what compression does. It “squishes” the dynamic range of the music so that quiet and loud passages meet in the middle. Typically, it is used in FM broadcasts so that all the music (and voice) comes out of your speakers at about the same level, so you are not diving for the volume control in quiet passages, and then turning it down again in louder passages.