- This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 7 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi all,
I am a newbie. We run a small local FM radio station in Africa. We are currently expanding into a new urban market where we shall install new FM transmitters to new audio processors. We dont really understand the complex world of audio processing -currently using an Omnia 3FM turbo and it sounded great (It wasnt complicated to set up). Nonetheless we are looking to upgrade our processor and there is talk of acquiring the Omnia6 or Orban Optimod 8400/8500 (we dont really understand the difference).
However! I stumbled upon this forum after spending days upon days (four days to be exact) doing research on audio processing. I see the master coder is called Leif – Hi Leif? My question though:(1) How does your software compare with the other boxes – Omnia 6, Optimod 8500 etc?
(2) Where do I start to sample your software? I downloaded the trial version from http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82 on my laptop but was not able to do anything! I clearly need more hardware??
(3) Is there someone who can take me through the process of installing and setting up the trial software? I have a dell inspiron 1525 laptop with standard I/O features, Also have a dell desktop computer. Thats it- any help please? I am really interested in exploring this option.
(4) What support is there for the software? how stable is it to be left alone in a computer on a remote transmission site- visited maybe twice or thrice per year?Greetings from Africa though!
Thanx!
M
[quote author=”Mugambi”](1) How does your software compare with the other boxes – Omnia 6, Optimod 8500 etc?[/quote]
Setup properly, BBP will be competitive, loud, and most likely better than anything from Orban and Omnia (not to mention being about 1% of the price). But…you need someone to set it up properly for that to be reality.
[quote author=”Mugambi”](2) Where do I start to sample your software? I downloaded the trial version from http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82 on my laptop but was not able to do anything! I clearly need more hardware?? [/quote]
You can use a laptop for testing. You’ll need to have your media player output to Breakaway Pipeline 1, and then set BBP up to use Pipeline 1 as input and your soundcard as output. You won’t get a real accurate perception of the complexity of setting it up from doing this, but at least you’ll be able to hear it working.
[quote author=”Mugambi”](3) Is there someone who can take me through the process of installing and setting up the trial software? I have a dell inspiron 1525 laptop with standard I/O features, Also have a dell desktop computer. Thats it- any help please? I am really interested in exploring this option.[/quote]
I think that is answered in the previous question. Reading the documentation will fill in the blanks.
[quote author=”Mugambi”](4) What support is there for the software? how stable is it to be left alone in a computer on a remote transmission site- visited maybe twice or thrice per year?[/quote]
Leif is fantastic at supporting users. This forum is your biggest ally. There are hundreds of people in here who will help you out for free, your only expense being patience. But with that said, almost any issue that you would run into has already been addressed by someone.
As far as remote monitoring capability, you would be just fine installing LogMeIn or VNC on the PC to manage it. As long the BIOS is set to turn the PC back on after a power failure, you should have no problems.
It sounds like you are very unfamiliar with this. You shouldn’t attempt an install of this product without someone qualified to properly equip the PC and install it within specs. If you’d like someone to provide consultation, up to and including installation, please contact me privately through here. I’ve always wanted to see Africa!
Adam
The most important piece of harware you wil need is a 192Khz output soundcard. For a laptop a USB one will work but not worth spending the monsy just to evaluate the software. If building PCs for the job you would need to install a pro grade soundcard, preferably a Trace Marian Alpha as this is the ultimate card for BBP.
Bear in mind that BBP is not only an audio processor but also a stereo encoder with band filtering which outperforms hardware boxes by a huge magnitude. You can also plugin the very inexpensive Airomate program which will give full RDS/RDBS capability. This is equivalent to over $15000 US of hardware for much less then $1000 when you include all the hardware required for BBP.Hi Mugambi!
I’m delighted to hear from you, and ecstatic that Breakaway has found its way into Africa as well!
1) Competitive loudness, but more natural and much cleaner sound. The reason is the algorithms under the hood — the clipper back-end is very different from traditional processors like the 8500 and Omnia 6. Of course, the only opinion that truly matters in this case is your own, but I’ve done extensive testing with both those units both before and during development, and if you have the chance to compare them to BBP, I think you’ll agree.
2) I can successfully run BBP (in Low CPU mode) on my Lenovo S10-2 Netbook (Single-core Atom N280 cpu, 1.66 GHz) with full MPX stereo out of the headphone jack! It really doesn’t take much, if your laptop supports 192 kHz output, and quite a few do nowadays thanks to HD Audio. If not, try on a desktop. You *could* get an external 192k capable sound card for your laptop, but unless you have other uses for it, it may not be worth the expense just for testing. Adam’s advice regarding Breakaway Pipeline is absolutely correct. What exactly happened the first time you tried it, when you couldn’t get it to do anything?
3) I’m currently behind the great firewall of china, so no google access — I can’t find the specs for your notebook. If you could tell me what CPU it has and what exact sound chip it uses, I can find out more.
4) At this price, the only support we can give is the forum, but there are so many skilled and helpful people here, it brings tears to my eyes! 🙂 I also of course answer questions myself.
Best regards,
///LeifJust wanted to add something to my previous post. After reading it, I wanted make sure that I made it clear that BBP is not difficult to install, but anything, when put into the wrong hands, can be broken. Not that Mugambi’s hands are the wrong hands, but you know, just sayin’.
An experienced installer could never hurt.
Adam
Hi All,
Thank you all Leif, Adam and yorkie98 for your replies.
I agree with you all. I have done a bit more research and I am convinced that this can be a good solution for us. I also agree that for such technology, experienced installations make the difference between success and failure. Just wondering though- is there a way I can get a fully installed and configured CPU with a brand new 192KHz professional broadcast audio card pre-installed? Hopefully get pre-refined software tweaking by a professional that I can just buy and start up and I am good to go?
I would then just neeed to power it up, put in a monitor, wire up the card -jacks to xlr then feed my studio audio through this cpu to the STL link?
Just wondering…M
There are companies that deliver ready-made BBP systems, for example this one:
http://www.broadcastservicenoord.nl/sdbp.html
It’s still the worlds cleanest sounding FM processor, and the price is still lower than competing hardware units, so it could be a good choice for your station.
Best regards,
///LeifThank you Leif!
However that supplier is not english, I was unable to understand anything on their site, do you have someone who has an english communication platform? however I have contacted them hoping their product interface is also english.
M
They’re the only ones I can think of at the moment, but they do speak English, so e-mailing them is the right way to go.
Best,
///LeifWe’re are using a ready-made BBP systems of broacastservicesnoord good service and sounds perfect.
Lisen here:
Gr,
Mark
- The forum ‘Breakaway Professional Products – [discontinued]’ is closed to new topics and replies.