JesseG

If it’s at the same price, then that’s a very competitive piece with the ONE. Each processor of course having its own sound in some ways… but that OPTIMOD has some features that trump the ONE if you’re a multi-tower single frequency setup, as noted.

In fact… that synchronizing feature of the 5500 is genius I have to say. Congrats Bob, Gregg, & Co. 8)

[quote author=”rebel”]From what you describe about the need for a custom audio card to support the new MPX clipping, then perhaps an alternative idea is to forget the dongle and just release a custom PCI BBP-PRO sound card! If the BBP-PRO audio card/s are not in the pc then installed BBP software won’t run in full BBP-PRO mode. That should fully get around the piracy problem!

Orban do exactly that for the 1010PE streaming encoding software which won’t run unless you also have an Orban 1100 PCI audio processing card (which has its own unique hardware ID) in the same pc.[/quote]

The custom audio card was to support the copy protection scheme by making it impossible to run on a regular computer. In the case of the Optimod 1100 card, that’s different because those have actual DSP chips on them too and the processing is done on the card itself.

The rest of the ideas you have I think are great suggestions, and I know Leif likes a thoughtful suggestion, no matter what ends up happening with it in the end. He has indeed talked about doing a "more pro than pro" version, with the custom soundcard as licensing protection (you can really OWN it, in your hands, forever, and transfer license just by selling/giving the hardware to other people) but…. (there’s always a butt) at least earlier, if that ever ended up happening, it still wouldn’t be a full control version. Just a few extra controls to allow a bit more customization, in addition to making "quasi-presets" from those, day-parting, and all that jazz.

If I had to guess the future (like that’s ever a good idea), it would be that the card won’t be available by itself, for reasons I can’t explain without saying too much. Don’t hold your breath, but don’t bet that it’ll never happen either. The first thing is the release of the hardware though. That’s for sure in stone last I heard, so… Wait till that comes out, and then I’m sure Leif will have much more beans that can be spilled to everyone’s plates. 🙂

[quote author=”rebel”]Jesse, we are using WinXP Pro stripped back to a bare minimum for Sonos/MBL, running on entry level Dell pc’s, not internet connected, on UPS’s, and rarely touched. Never had a problem at multiple sites for years. (the general office XP pc’s here are a different story…).[/quote]
Hmm interesting. I mainly ask because of the up time. You’re using "SP0" then? or what? Cos I managed about 200 machines at my last (and hopefully final) day job, running XP SP1 and SP2 and they *ALL* had a problem where after exactly 365 days the audio subsystems would refuse to pass audio. So we were forced to reboot them about once a year. 😛 And you mentioned 18 months.

[quote author=”rebel”]I respect Leif’s aim to get hardware boxes on the market and I know nothing of how important that may be to his business model, but it is a pity that pc’s can’t still be the order of the day.[/quote]
Actually… the hardware IS a PC. 😉 With no moving parts other than the fans, running XP Embeded, it’s stable enough where the boxes Leif already has out on the market are basically pwning everyone else.

[quote author=”rebel”]While I don’t know the cost of manufacturing, supporting and internationally shipping dedicated hardware, I can only guess it will be higher than locally buying a pc with a SS-HD and sticking a Juli@ card in it.[/quote]
True. Although most of the cost is to back up R&D and of course support. Most places that sell hardware have 24/7 support.

[quote author=”rebel”]Is it not possible to perhaps have a USB dongle based security system to prevent this problem? It seems to work for the guys who make our Music Schedular (Aware Music master). They just send us a dongle from the US in the mail.[/quote]
Yes, it’s possible, with something like e-Licence which is about the only dongle that has barely been cracked, and literally many thousands of man hours have been spent just to crack one piece of software using it.

[quote author=”rebel”]If it could be done that way for BBP, then we get the advantage of low cost hardware, leaving more money spare to provide Leif for the software with those pioneering MPX’s clippers![/quote]
While it could make the change, the scheme Leif has for the hardware box is much improved and would be almost impossible to emulate the required hardware. While a USB dongle is only required for the copy protection, the Breakaway hardware has a unique component that is required for the operation of the processing itself – its custom soundcard.

As far as the MPX clipper backend… Leif’s hardware will almost for sure be the only way to get that. When his box comes out, it’s going to be wild fire, you watch. And the cash he makes off that is something he probably won’t ever be able to offset with the Breakaway professional products.

Breakaway Audio Enhancer on the other hand… really has the potential to make Leif a F*load of cash if he can get it into stores like Best Buy.

[quote author=”rebel”]It’s also likely you will shift more product that way, if the hardware costs can be contained to a pc & USB security dongle. Just a thought![/quote]
It’s a good thought and any good thoughtfulness these days is never a bad thing. The thing is… it’s hard to really prove if the cracking is hurting or helping the bottom line of CE Audio. I’m sure there’s lost sales, there will always be someone who could have paid for it, but just flat out enjoys stealing as much as they enjoy the product. Those people need psychological help… but that’s a whole other story. (see also: Winona Ryder)

The goal is hopefully to get people into the product more like people get into good music. Studies really do show that people who "file trade" on websites and p2p networks actually do spend more money on music than any other demographic. So hopefully people see that we’re all honestly crazy about what we do, and love every second of it, and that what Leif is doing could even be considered art.

-J

I don’t use MP3 Gain, because ReplayGain is built into my player.

an iRiver iHP-120 running RockBox
http://www.RockBox.org/

Attached the images, to save people time 🙂 And remember, the EQ here in FM Mode settings is hardware specific. You can’t just duplicate these and expect a good result unless you have the exact same hardware.

[quote author=”rebel”]We have had Sonos/MBL operating at some tx sites with more than 18 months between pc reboots and assume BBP can run unattended for similar periods.[/quote]
Using what version of Windows?

[quote author=”rebel”]5/I saw your forum post re your new method to obtain >140% L/R audio levels within the FM transmission mask. I’m curious about that. Is that likely to be a BBP software upgrade option in the future or planned for hardware only?[/quote]
The MPX clipper backend, vs the regular L/R clipper backend, will only be in the full control hardware.

DISCLAIMER: The following are my views, and I don’t directly represent the views of Leif or CE Audio. (even if they are the same views, hehe)

As for an intermediate control version, the cracking of Breakaway that has been ongoing by a certain individual has virtually guaranteed that there will NOT be a version of Breakaway any more advanced than what you currently have available… with the exception of maybe 2-3 more controls over time as people are able to convince Leif that -A- they are needed to make the product usable and -B- that he feels it’s not going to compromise his business model.

I’m not saying that can never change, I’m not Leif, but… I can tell you that the cracking has put a BIG damper on the stuff you guys have even now. And you can thank quosego of SnD for that…

That’s what happens when you get a $15,000 processor almost GIVEN to you guys by someone as generous as Leif, and certain people still refuse to pay for it. The generosity fades. So keep it up CrackDJ, GRB (who is on this forum too btw), and others… You are stealing from a ONE MAN operation which is practically giving away the software as is. Good going guys. quosego doesn’t do what he does to allow you guys to use the product for free, he- like any moral cracker – is doing it for learning and education. He is against what you guys are doing. Non-crackers that are using cracked software ARE stealing. Period. You are already reaping the "benefits" of your efforts, and punishing everyone else in the process as well.

quosego, who states the reasoning of his morals as Breakaway being "a tad bit expensive for the hobby audio person" is really showing how detached he is from the broadcast scene… and also imo shows his inability to understand the insane value that Breakaway represents even within the WHOLE audio scene, not just Broadcasting.

Leif’s processing (running in specialized hardware) is already used on everything from the SuperBowl to the Grammys, from the Academy Awards to the Olympics, and some 75%+ of all digital TV content. He doesn’t need to provide ANY software for any hobby broadcasters, nor even huge ones (of which Breakaway is running on a bunch of now).

The irony of supposedly moral crackers, is they KNOW that the general public will use their efforts to steal from the company, but still release their efforts very publicly (while also saying they don’t support the use outside of the cracking scene, YEAH RIGHT). But… the irony is in that it does nothing but cause a system that promotes the punishment of legitimate customers… which itself is the reasoning behind what the crackers do.

There are some companies that don’t have any copy protection AT ALL, like Cockos Reaper. It has a no time limits trial with no feature limitations, but it still gets "cracked" just to make it LOOK like it’s been purchased in the about box… and released on the scene with the sole purpose of allowing end users to steal from Cockos. And it’s getting released from groups that have never provided any educational materials within the scene about it.

Breakaway’s trials are almost the same, except they have actually very good protection on them. Protection which is currently working against at least partially hypocritical crackers like quosego, who does release some educational material within the scene, but also releases his efforts to the general end-users.

The use of these cracks are effecting the Breakaway product majorly. Somewhat through effecting CE Audio as a company (details of how this is known are omitted for obvious reasons), but mostly through personal effects of this on Leif himself. CE Audio is a company, but also mainly it’s a one man operation. Leif *does* have massive respect for quosego’s efforts, but massive disgust that quosego is releasing them to end users instead of keeping them iNTERAL where they belong.

Hopefully that’s sinking into some brain cells for 2-3 people that read this.

It’s way off topic, but perhaps some insight is good from time to time. Even if they are mostly my views, I have reflected a few times how Leif feels about this…. as would any of you AT LEAST. Leif is a very humble easy going guy, and he has been very generous in nearly giving away all of this to everyone here… so don’t except that generosity to be extended forever in the face of personal attacks and blatant theft by proxy that probably 2-3 of you reading this have capitalized on in the past, and might be doing right now.

Nuff said.

[quote author=”audiofreak”]I have no errors on the phase meter on the ntp with bbp[/quote]
That is not a "phase meter", it is a coherence meter which just measures L+R to L-R balances, and the integration time is slow enough where it won’t even catch much bass incoherence unless it’s constant and there’s nothing but bass. It’s more of an "average width" indicator than anything, if you ignore that "width" has way more to it than just L-R. 😉

Will be cool to hear your new samples though, hopefully minus the lasers too.