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Guillou, I’m sorry but you misunderstood completely — I’m not trying to clone Orban’s sound.
Also, looking at that block diagram, the guy is on the wrong track 😉.
///Leif
Thank you for the vote of confidence 🙂.
I normally use a modified M Audio Delta Audiophile 192. It’s pretty good out of the box, but by adding in larger capacitors to the output, Tilt is reduced to almost nothing!
See the following instructions:
http://mpxtool.com/site/hardware-mods/3 … 2-mod.html
Most of this page deals with the INPUT. For BBP, you’re only interested in the Output — just search the page for "output" and you’ll find the instructions near the bottom.
I do not personally have an ESI Juli@, but I have all the following cards, and they all work fine with BBP:
Marian Trace 8 – 192k, 8 channels, DC straight outputs — no tilt!
Emu 0404 USB – USB 2.0, 192k, 2 channels.
Emu 0202 USB – USB 2.0, 192k, 2 channels.
Edirol UA-101 – USB 2.0, 192k, 8 channels.
Edirol FA-101 – Firewire, 192k, 8 channels.
LynxTWO – 192k, 4 channels. However, this card is EXPENSIVE, and you’d think that at this price, it’d be excellent — but it’s really not. Mediocre tilt performance, both input and output, prone to overheating etc.All the above cards support ASIO, but there’s one more variable — the available block sizes.
BBP ASIO, for optimum latency, needs ASIO block size 256 samples (at 192 KHz).
Next best is 512 samples, but any other size will mean buffering an extra latency.The EMU USB interfaces and the Edirol USB/Firewire interfaces do not have those buffer sizes due to driver limitations. Thus, I cannot recommend them unless you have no choice (i.e. running it on a laptop). They’ll work, but you’ll lose a few milliseconds of latency, and EVERY millisecond counts if you’re planning to monitor off air.
If you’re OK with using the low latency studio output, and not monitoring off air, it’s much less critical, and the USB / Firewire cards would then be absolutely fine.
For the cheapest ASIO sound card with flat response and no tilt, get the M Audio Delta Audiophile 192, and do the modification. All you need to do is to add two capacitors.
Best,
///LeifHi Niels,
Thanks for the heads-up! I’ve fixed the links.
Flac files can be created by MpxTool natively! Just type .flac in the filename. Flac encoding/decoding is built in.
///Leif
Well, EVERY processor has "uncopyable" sound. Even simple wideband compressors of different designs will sound differently simply because the algorithms are different, even if you tune them for the same attack and release time. With complex multiband processor designs, which include crossovers, multiple stages, program adaptive attack/release etc, no two processors will sound the same.
Orban sound has a very characteristic slam sound to it, which, to be quite honest, I don’t know how to duplicate. Impact/Clunk gets you part of the way there, but not all the way, and chaining several ones does NOT do it. 🙂
On the other hand.. BBP has a groundbreaking new final clipper, yielding an absolute cleanliness which THEY can’t duplicate. The Breakaway multiband core also has a very stable sound field, a "round" pleasant sound which you also can’t get from an Orban no matter how you tune it. Most things just come down to taste…
Except distortion. Distortion is an error, an undesirable which just shouldn’t be there. Nobody ever asks for more distortion — PDs may ask for more loudness, but distortion is one of the few things where everyone agrees it’s a bad thing. 😉 (Pre-emptive strike: Electric guitar distortion is different. That’s an effect, intended by the musicians. The final clipper in a broadcast processor is not.)
Best,
///LeifYes, absolutely! You can record MPX digitally that way.
However, for L/R, you don’t need 192 kHz. 44.1 or 48 kHz is just fine.
///Leif
Hi DJ Buik!
There *are* no cards that match all those specs, in that price range.
Looking at the cards that ARE in that price range, for example M Audio Delta Audiophile 192, and ESI Juli@, you get TWO analog channels — not four. It is unlikely that another manufacturer would offer more channels at the same price.
However — if you can use the Digital Output as L/R, then either of the two above cards will do the trick. Please note however that the Digital Output will be also be running at 192 kHz — whatever is receiving that digital signal will also have to handle that sampling rate.
In BBP ASIO, RDS Airomate In can come from a pipeline, so the sound card needs no channels for that. You will also be able to have a MONO analog studio line out, Stereo Digital Studio Out (192k) while also having a Analog MPX out. This basically meets your specs from standard AP192 or ESI Juli@ cards.
Best,
///LeifI believe the extra punch you get from pre-processing (which can be noticeable!) is due to phase rotation in the pre-processor. This smears transients a little bit, makes them last longer rather than being sharp and tall, so that they survive the final clipping better, and come out sounding punchier.
Using a plug-in like Impact/Clunk does exactly this — without the disadvantages of having further crossovers or compressors fighting the main compressor.
Best,
///LeifNo need for off-air MPX. Breakaway Broadcast does not have an MPX clipper, so it’s perfectly fine to record the pre-emph L/R audio output.
What pre-emph setting are you using? I.e. are you processing for FM or Web? There is a big difference, even if there is no transmitter hooked up. Transmitters are not supposed to alter the sound (if one does, it is severely broken) so a transmitter is not at all necessary to tune audio processing.
You could use a Breakaway Pipeline to do the recording, and record with your favourite audio editor! Just make sure De-emphasis is OFF.
Best,
///LeifJesse, I think "Average" is a misleading term. The average loudness of a blockbuster movie and a drama are nowhere near the same.
There’s an applicable term, and it’s "Dialnorm". It’s one of the parameters in the Dolby Digital AC3 metadata, and it sets it’s defined as the average level of the Dialog. Loud effects should actually not affect this number.
So, an action movie with lots of explosions and not much dialog, indeed has a higher average loudness than a movie with lots of dialog. If they had the same average loudness, that action movie would sound mighty wimpy, and the dialog would indeed be inaudibly quiet. 🙂
///Leif
Next version of BBP will help you maintain headroom, by having proper ITU loudness meters as input meters, adjustable reference level, and internal compensation. Thus, if you set your reference level low (let’s say -31 ITU), you’ll have tons of the headroom before the sound card clips.
For people who like the "Orban-sound", running it the way Kingniels describes is actually an excellent idea!
The weakest point in an Orban processor is the final clipper, and all the multitudes of protection limiting (hf limiting, multiband clipping, medium-soft bass clipping etc etc) the Orban processor has to do internally to prevent from overwhelming its primitive final clipper.
By using BBP in Protection Clip mode as the final clipper, you get to DISABLE all that protection crap, since the BBP final clipper doesn’t need it. Thus, you still get the essence of the uncopyable orban-sound (which comes mostly from the multiband), but without all the distortion and other baggage. And for people who don’t like Orban’s AGC, a Compellor is indeed an excellent replacement.
This way, provided you’ve set the 1100 up to not do final limiting or agc, you’re bypassing the weak parts of the 1100 and replacing them with better parts. Makes sense to me!
Kingniels, are you doing streaming or FM? I’m curious to hear your chain.
Best,
///LeifIndeed, Kevin.
The O6EXi in particular does several more strange things in the torture test. Stereo image shifts, compressor-trying-to-climb-over-a-hill phenomenon (i named that myself, I have no better name for it, but it’s extremely audible in the first couple of verses of "my heart will go on"), wideband ducking to prevent too much distortion (dixie chicks clip), for example. Try to catch’em all 😉.
///Leif
