Max

I registered on this forum specifically to support Leif. That is the first thing. Second, I want to reply to the wild message written by user djdiabolix.

Dear djdiabolix. First of all, you are contradicting yourself. Reread your message: you write that in Spain you CONSCIOUSLY go with the flow and EXCEED THE BROADCASTING STANDARD (beyond 75 kHz modulation). And then you write that you want a feature to REDUCE the pilot tone so that it remains within the STANDARD 6.8 kHz on your monitoring equipment. Don’t you see the schizophrenic notes here?

Reducing the pilot tone will in no way help you achieve better sound quality. You have already ruined your sound quality by broadcasting an overmodulated signal. Read up in books on what this leads to, or better yet—connect measuring equipment to some radio receivers (take different ones, at least 10 or so) and you will be surprised: exceeding modulation causes unpredictable distortion depending on the manufacturer’s implementation of the FM decoder. In other words, by increasing the modulation and pushing it beyond 75 kHz, you said, “I don’t care how my station sounds on receivers.” Your station will sound distorted on some, highly distorted on others, and the nature of the distortion will vary.

The MPX Clipper used in Leif’s products allows you to push the loudness up to -4 LKFS, and it will even sound somewhat tolerable (and within the 75 kHz standard, within the limit). What LKFS level are you chasing that makes you want to increase the modulation? Sorry, but that sounds ridiculous. And do all the broadcasters you compete with also use Breakaway, Omnia, or Stereo Tool? I doubt it. You were already told above that Leif’s practice is to make things universally convenient for everyone. The ideology is different from Stereo Tool or other products. My advice to you: stop doing foolish things and stop posting them here. You need to read up on the basics of FM broadcasting, not beg the developer to waste time on “non-standard” features.

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Now, regarding the additional fee. Leif’s products combine convenience, excellent competitive sound, and his years of experience and research in both audio processing and creating cool, user-friendly software interfaces for its configuration. Unfortunately, his products were cracked and posted online, leading to piracy. This inevitably affects both his motivation as a developer and his financial ability to improve the program in the future. If he didn’t make money on Breakaway, he works on other projects and earns it there.

15 bucks for transferring a key is a perfectly reasonable barrier. But in my opinion, even that is not enough. For every new version of the program, you should pay a percentage of the new price, even if you already have a key. Breakaway should be installed on a pre-prepared system. Leif even has recommendations on the website—Atom Z, Celeron, etc.—this hardware doesn’t overheat and runs for decades without problems. Leif also provides instructions for installing Breakaway on Windows Embedded systems, which turns the processor into a bulletproof machine that is on par with (and sometimes better than) factory solutions from other manufacturers.

It’s one thing when you buy an Axia Livewire key or Audinate Dante drivers; they have hundreds of thousands of clients worldwide. It’s another thing for what is essentially a hobby project that has become highly professional, but is still “not for everyone,” aimed at a narrow audience—either those with tight budgets or passionate fans of audio processing. Those companies clearly do not make their money on an audio driver or a piece of software; they sell tons of hardware and maintenance to clients. In Leif’s portfolio under the Breakaway brand, there is only 1 program.

There is no need to be outraged. You would be better off offering to help him with the website, set it up properly, or help sell the program. An author/developer is rarely a good marketer (and even if they are an excellent marketer like Leif, there are only 24 hours in a day, just like for anyone else; it’s impossible to handle it all alone).

Sending rays of support to Leif. To the people who criticize here and threaten to leave: sit in the author’s chair, at least mentally, and look around. You are not in his shoes, and you are writing incoherent things.