Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I’m not 100% sure, but I don’t think any of the sliders in Breakaway Personal (the technical name for the consumer version of Breakaway, aka… the software we’re talking about) are adjusting the threshold of the AGC.
It’s not really something that needs to be done because it only would effect the target gain going into the multiband section. A much more linear and effective way of doing this is to increase or decrease the "range" of the multiband section… which is adjustable in Breakaway Personal’s gui. And it should be adjusting the AGC’s range, and possibly other things as well to help compensate. Leif has much more insight on this, no doubt.
A side note: when the professional version of Breakaway comes out, you will be able to fully adjust everything. There are a few things about the pro core that are improved, such as linear-phase filtering, a complete (and awesome, industry-leading) FM output section, and a fully featured speaker controller. But for the most part, the core is the same as Breakaway Personal. Such a crazy deal for ~$30.
Because it’s rendering WAY more pixels. It’s kind of like turning the resolution of a 3D video-game from like 320×240, to maximum resolution. 😉
could up post a link to a PDF for one of their top-end cards that I don’t have to log in to download?
(logging in to download a SALES brochure? seriously, are they retarded?)it would be interesting to see if they are posting any real test data for their cards, like jitter performance, impulse responses, phase/frequency, impedance/frequency, etc, etc…
the delta isnt half bad, and by far the best converter that’s ever been in an m-audio
and re: my soundblaster bashing, it was related to the converters used in the actual processor, not the source. surely you wouldn’t opt for outputting from the converters used in the HDFM prototypes, through the mixer, and then being processed through software using a soundblaster live for converters. that was mainly my point. 😉
there’s no point in taking care of the studio if you can’t tell the difference at the transmitter. at least in the present terms. of course for archival purposes it would be, but you guys still see what i’m saying. 🙂 especially the quality of the output from the audio processing is paramount.
[quote author=”Leif”]it will make you the best sounding station in town[/quote]
if you have a decently high-quality audio path before your processing, a great AD/DA converter, and a decent quality transmitter as far as audio path is concerned. it’s all about the audio path, and the converters.of course the source material should be of decent quality too, but you can play great source material through a mackie or behringer or some crap like that, through a soundblaster (of any type, they all suck) or the like, consumer cards… and you won’t end up being the best sounding station in town.
it also helps to have people that are bringing in laptops have decent quality converters as well. people really should not be using on-board sound, and a soundblaster type consumer card is NOT any better. m-audio is not much better either.
bare minimum for the quality you’ll want to look for, if you have a good quality audio path in your studio, would be something like an RME FireFace 400/800. but shooting more towards Apogee, Mytek, Benchmark, etc… or else you *will* notice that on air.
But yeah, a lot of the battle is having a good enough quality of air-chain where you can notice that kind of stuff in the first place. Especially your mixer, and your processing AD/DA, and your transmitter’s audio quality itself.
</rant>
Actually though, the soundcard might be capable of AC3/DTS "pass-through" which would be sending up to 9.2 surround to be decoded by the external decoder (in this case, in the receiver) and that would bypass Breakaway since the soundcard isn’t even decoding it itself.
As to if pass-through would actually work with Breakaway selected as the default soundcard, I couldn’t say for sure (maybe Leif can) and imo it would also depend on the software & hardware itself.
I think what’s happening in this case, is the playback software is automatically down-mixing from whatever discreet surround mix there is, into a Pro-Logic II surround, and sending that as 2-channels through Breakaway, and then on out of the soundcard, etc. Depending on how you look at it, and the content you’re talking about, the final result could end up sounding WAY better and WAY more spatially defined, than if the original un-processed mix was sent in (for instance) 5.1 to be decoded. This is more & more true the cheaper the reproduction system is.
For low power, and low noise computing… check out what VIA is offering.
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/eden_ulv/
7.5 watts max, under 1 watt "average", for a 1.5gHz CPU that doesn’t even need a fan.
There’s also a few features that aren’t seen in any consumer CPU on the market, such as it’s the fastest AES encryption/decryption in x86 (hardware or software), and two quantum-based true random number generators. Stuff you might not ever use, but cool to see such a green CPU (lead free, production carbon emission free, very low power) with technological advances not matched by anyone.
If I wanted to be a smart-ass I could tell you that the optimal placement for headphones… is on your head.
And then be serious about it. 😛But jokes aside… generally headphones have MUCH more accurate reproduction of the source’s spaciousness because they are as perfectly separated between L & R as the signal your AD/DA converter (if your signal path uses one) and your headphone amp provides to your headphones. 🙂
Hopefully that answers your question?
quote :Did you ever work (or consider working for) Orban or Omnia here in the US?Both considered and worked, but I’ll let Leif answer that one. 8)
A well designed installation of Windows running inside a machine where nobody can install & mess with stuff is sooo much different than your average workstation. 😉 For instance, when I worked at "a #1 net-radio channel & network" I managed hundreds of production audio windows machines, and the only problem I found with XP is that the "Windows Audio Service" has a limitation where it will not make sound, no matter what, after exactly 365 days on the nose.
So what I’m saying is I had almost 200 windows machines all with uptimes of AT LEAST a year, but I had to reboot them cos of the silly bug. And although they were firewalled, they were on the net too. So, as far as I’m concerned, a good installation of Windows can go a long long way. 🙂
Also something to think about, even the processors running SHARCS etc, are using Linux for the front-end interfaces & controls, and networking. The stability they have also comes from how well the installation is designed & configured. I would LOVE to hear of an installation that has had near 200 even partly dsp-based digital processors, and had not a single one go down (for whatever reason) for 365 days.
In fact, other than my yearly rebooting, they ran like that for almost 5 years, before said net-radio company moved the production gear to another NOC.
Was there 19 in VL v1.0?
Anyways… there will be more presets added over time. I’m currently working on Zenith Heavy, and another possible preset that I don’t want to promise just yet. Other people are working on more too, and I know Leif had a few things in mind himself 🙂
If I may say so myself… Breakaway completely blows away Omnia A/X. 🙂
re: getting only meters… yeah, it’s too bad the "meters" option doesn’t make that happen more often.
Here’s a screenshot of the smallest size I could find in a few minutes, where it will only show meters, and not the scopes, attached. 🙂
Also in windows media player… make sure your EQ, SRS, and auto-volume stuff is ALL turned off & disabled.
I used to work as Chief Engineer at thee #1 internet-radio channel & network online, and… for windows media player, that was by far our #1 FAQ that our support team directed people towards, when they were having quality issues with windows media player. and more than 9 times out of 10, that was the problem.
Secondly, we also had guides on how to properly adjust the volume levels within the soundcard, and the master output section levels too, if being plugged into an external device, like a "home stereo" receiver.
Anyways… In your case, it sure seems to be something within WMP11, probably the built in fx, that are causing it to overdrive like that. If that is the case, then are you surprised that you hadn’t heard it before? And do you think that it was Breakaway audibly helping you hear how bad it was distorting, and/or do you think it was the "scopes" that helped you tune into the distortion with your hearing? If it’s not WMP11’s fx, then ignore the above. 😛
Another word on high-pass filtering in broadcasting, or any stage post-mastering in general… Today’s modern producing and mastering techniques can use technology that is capable of shifting the frequencies that bass sounds/notes take up, without changing the perceived sound of the bass/notes.
This is most commonly experienced through a phenomenon knows as Missing Fundamental Harmonics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_fundamentalWhen the bass is high-passed after that kind of processing, it can throw off the balance of the bass spectrum as designed by the producer(s) and/or mastering engineer(s), so that certain notes become much louder or softer sounding than they should have been, even after processing with something as advanced as Breakaway.
So yes generally, it’s best not to filter the audio for any specific system in mind. Actually, a lot more can be done in the way of getting better translation of your "signature sound" across the mass of playback systems, by pre-processing the bass in certain ways… much involving missing fundamental harmonics themselves. 😉
But it’s not really something a listener should be concerned with. It’s much better just to upgrade your system, if it doesn’t even have a right proper frequency response to begin with. (and there’s a LOT more factors than frequency response that make a speaker sound good). Don’t bother polishing the turds.
But for a broadcaster, you have to always be thinking of how to polish turds… turdly reproduction systems, and also a lot can be done to pre-polish for turdly hearing that some people have too. I’ve done a lot of research into that. 😉
Anyways, that goes way beond the scope of what I even intended to add to this thread. So, I’m done, for now. 😛
there might be bass "enhancements" happening in your soundcard’s control panel. i suggest trying to go into that, and see if you can disable all "enhancements" and EQs in your soundcard, and of course in Winamp too.
what soundcard are you using? also, i assume you’re not running the audio into a phono input. 😛 but just thought i’d throw that one out there too.
