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Oohwee! When will it be available for download, and does it come with a driver’s manual? (I think I’ll need one) 😀
Wow !!! 😯 😯
Leif, don’t you think that there are too many settings ? 😥
-a- you can just ignore the settings if you want
-b- this now enables Breakaway Live to be a complete basic "sound system" speaker controller.
-c- you can also fine-tune your own home audio system with it, with almost all the features of $300+ speaker controllers (Breakaway likely has higher audio quality too)
-d- with all the features in Breakaway Live now, by "pre-Breakaway" pricing of broadcast/performance audio processing… it should literally cost about 10 grand or more, and that includes the offset of about $1000 for a rackmount computer and a decent audio card. those are literally STILL the kind of prices you can expect for gear like that which can (try to) compete with Breakaway…. and as far as I know, roughly NONE of them have ever combined a decent speaker controller.
Breakaway Live will also come with RTA software. The only thing missing is the sound card (duh) and a calibrated microphone, such as the $50 Behringer ECM8000.
SAME PRICE. The $129 stereo version will include separate equalization for up to eight speakers! There will be a mode switch in the I/O config, where you choose whether the first core should be in Broadcast or Audiophile mode.
In Audiophile mode, you get:
12-band (!) parametric eq per-speaker
Low and High-pass per speaker (to function as crossover)
Adjustable bass-clipping per speaker (to make the most of an inexpensive system when pushing for loudness)
Selectable Mono-sum per speaker (to drive a subwoofer amplifier)
Convenient Volume Control Popup (same as Breakaway Personal)
Volume Control API, to be able to hook it up to hardware. Personally I will use two buttons in a box, hooked up to the parallel port, to adjust volume up and down.
My "Loudness" controller. This one warrants some explanation —I’m sure you’re familiar with the Loudness button on stereo equipment. Basically, it boosts the bass and treble, usually too much. The logic behind this control is to boost bass and treble at low listening levels to compensate for the ear and the environment, and yield full pleasing sound at any volume, but the loudness control just never feels "right". It’s fixed, preset at the factory, and won’t match your environment. So, instead I implemented loudness as four parametric EQs, where you define a range on the volume control for it to take effect!
For example. Let’s say you want to boost bass at lower listening levels. You might set Frequency to 30, Width to 3.0, Gain to 12.0. Then, set "Begin" to -10, and "Full" to -22. As you turn the volume down past -10, it will start boosting the bass. As you reach -22, you have the full -12.0 bass boost.
This way, you can exactly tailor it to your environment, with great accuracy.
Other uses: Mellow out high frequencies at the very highest volume settings, to protect people from tinnitus while still yielding the "LOUD!!" experience. For clubs etc.
Now, let me explain what this upgrade is NOT:
It is NOT a broadcast eq! This EQ sits AFTER the Breakaway processing core, not before. In fact, it sits after the Breakaway core final limiter. By EQing, you ruin peak control and lose loudness. (When playing into a speaker, you do not care about peak control, but when broadcasting, you do.) 🙂
Since I foresee people violently demanding it, I will be adding broadcast eq to BBP and Live. Probably 3-band parametric (you don’t want any more than that for broadcast! trust me!) 😉. It won’t be in the next release, but it’ll be in the one after.
Best,
///LeifLooks amazing!
What kind of CPU usage can we expect compared to the current Breakaway Live?
Can this replace units like the DBX Driverack 4800?Thx, G.
Howdy!
It couldn’t completely replace a 4800 — for example Breakaway Live won’t have feedback removal. However, in most situations where you’d use a 4800, you could probably use Breakaway Live instead.
CPU usage? Somewhat surprisingly, not much worse than the current version at all! A single core celeron will be able to run it very comfortably.
///Leif
New "toys" at our hands for the summer!
Great job!!!I think it help the eye focus a bit on the individual sliders if you used some different colors to differentiate one setting from another. I believe you did this in some of the Octiv products with various pastel colors.
Stuart
Good point, Stuart. I’ll have to think if there’s a feasible way to implement it.. The green colour of the sliders is not actually an RGB value, it is a tiny green image in the skin –
– scaled and stretched in realtime to form a slider or button of any size. Perhaps I should implement a hue shifter? 🙂
///Leif
[quote author=”Leif”]Good point, Stuart. I’ll have to think if there’s a feasible way to implement it.. The green colour of the sliders is not actually an RGB value, it is a tiny green image in the skin –
///Leif[/quote]
Any reason you couldn’t just use a tiny blue image or pink etc., for the different sliders? You know, one image for each?
Stuart
Yes — creating (and perfecting) the graphics takes lots of time, and rewriting + maintaining the code would be a pain in the neck. It would be much easier to write a hue rotator algorithm and add a hue rotation parameter for each control.
Only problem is, I have no idea how to go from RGB to HSV, and back! I’ve never needed to until now. Maybe I should google it.
///Leif
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