Low cost audio processing...

this looks like something we should have a link to in the resource list 😉

Techpuppy, that website was the best find of the summer of 2005! Good God, Y'all - they have got some insane stuff, links and info!

[b:f9b1b3bc53] http://tmsweb.dnsalias.com [/b:f9b1b3bc53]

Pack a lunch!

You actually want to read the website in English... Been using this for quite some time now and it's nice with WinAmp or Station Playlist... There are some nice presets that can be downloaded to suit your tastes...

http://www.soundsolution.it/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

😀

Radiopilot

Ringraziarla!

Ho fatto i cambiamenti nell'elenco di risorse!

😳 😳 😳

Which means

Thank you!

I also made the change in the Part 15 resources link

😀

Sound Solution is verrrry cool indeed!

Also the following site (called the Digital Statesman) offers its version of Optimod style pre-sets for Sound Solution as well as some helpful instructions on how to get it all up and running:

http://www.geocities.com/kevtronics/soundsol/

I have tried the "Ver 1.2 CPU Economy" out on an old "corporate castoff" computer (Dell Pent Celeron 500 Mhz 64 MB RAM Win 98 SE) with WinAmp 2.95 (also DSP Stacker plug-in) and it seems to work fine with stuff played by Winamp that is on the local (small) hard drive. (I also have a couple more old castoff Win 98 SE Pent IIs available - 450 Mhz and 300 Mhz - for free.)

❓ HELP! However, maybe you all can help me on the next step. HELP!

I would like to take a different XP or Win 2K PC as the automation source or music player, not using Winamp, but initially Windows Media Player (with mp3s) and maybe later Direttore (currently free) or another automation program. Call it the "Automated Studio PC." Then feed that PC's audio card line out into the audio card line in of the Sound Solution PC. Finally take the audio card line output of the Sound Solution PC as the audio source for an FM xmtr. (Maybe also much later have the Sound Solution PC feed a streaming audio server like Shoutcast, but I am not nearly ready for also that project).

Problem is when I use that 2nd Automated Studio PC as the Line in for the Sound Solution PC, it seems to bypass Sound Solution plug in, and the output is not processed. Again, using WinAmp itself and local drive content as the sound source -- no problem.

It is probably a WinAmp or audio card setting, but I am lost here and hope some of you may have figured this out already.

(Incidentally, my feeling was that since the old PC hardware was "free" to me, to try software digital audio processing, rather than buying a hardware limiter/compressor/AGC, like a real Optimod, or more realistically an Alessis. Also I would guess that eventually we will all be headed towards software based audio processing and studio functions...)

Anyway, I would certainly appreciate any pointers or other feedback on this. Many thanks.

❓ ➡ Anyone know if there are any low cost or freeware processing programs for a mac?

I have been experimenting with the Sound Solution plugin for Winamp with the ORBAN8100 setup selected. It works very well! A great piece of software!

I have found that Sound Solution only enables itself for CDs and mp3/mp4 streams that are displayed in Winamp as 44kHz (or maybe higher, I haven't tried higher). Lower rates freeze Sound Solution and the audio comes through unchanged.

I couldn't find anything related to this in the sparse Sound Solution documentation.

Is there any way to enable Sound Solution for lower sampling rates? If it wants to see 44kHz, is there any software that converts lower sampling rates up to 44kHz on the fly?

Hi PhilB and everyone,

The Sound Solution 44khz requirement is documented somewhere. I know I read it somewhere! It can be very annoying however. I also remember reading that if you used two sound cards, one for input and one for output that the software would process live audio which might be a way around the problem. Someone will probably find the info before I do, but I'll post it if I find it again.

Phil,

Which version of Sound Solution are you using (1.31 beta, 1.2, etc.) and which pre-set was the Orban 8100? Was it ss19.dat?

Also, which version of Winamp are you using? (Try 2.95?)

You may want to try earlier versions for a lower sampling rate (like 1.2 CPU economy) although there are fewer presets available. I agree documentation is sparse, and while the program is cool, I lack the patience (really the free time) to tweak it properly.

I run a internet station along with my AM station, one issue i run into is if i want my am to sound really good, my internet stream sounds to tinny and sounds like AM radio.. witch i dont want, becuase i broadcast is near CD quality onthe net...

So would setting up a seperate box with this software be able totake my precompressed and limited net audio feed from my mixer and be able to remix it a bit for the AM side, like pull up the highs and do a low pass on the lowend..

I guess my audio now is good but its not perfect for the AM side..

Do you think this is worth the effort for me where I already have SAM2 doing compression and limiting and soem sound shaping?

Jaosn

RadioheadC

I tried a couple of versions of Winamp and Sound Solution. They all acted the same with respect to the 44kHz limitation.

Right now I am using Winamp 5.094 and Sound Solution V1.1.

The ORBAN8100 preset is ss1.dat and the OPTIMOD S/EXPANDER is ss19.dat. With ORBAN8100 I had to back off the "OUT LEV %" control to 50 for 100% modulation on my transmitter per scope display. With the OPTIMOD S/EXPANDER preset, I had to back off the "OUT LEV %" control to 20 for 100% modulation. Comparing both presets at 100% modulation, the second one, OPTIMOD S/EXPANDER sounds significantly louder. So if you want to push the aggressive sound to the limit, OPTIMOD S/EXPANDER is better, but both are very agressive.

I pretty much play only OTR on my transmitter. Virtually all of the OTR Shoutcast and Live365 streams are low bit rate. I did find one stream on shoutcast that comes up as 24kbps 44kHz using MPEG4 encoding. This one works with Sound Solution.

I'm no expert, but it seems to me, if there were more of a need, someone could write a Winamp plugin that would convert lower sampling rate streams to 44kHz to feed the Sound Solution plugin. Of course the audio wouldn't improve, but at least Sound Solution would work.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the reply and the info on the presets. I will try them out, but it probably won't be for a while.

I am not expert, and unfortunately do not know how to adjust the streaming rate. Sorry.

Four suggestions though, in case you have not yet tried them out.

1. Try WinAmp 2.95 instead of 5.094. It may or may not help you, but I have come across a number of postings in various places that suggested using 2.95 to overcome some issues with Sound Solution and some other WinAmp plus-ins as well. There seem to be some compatablilty and other issues with the 5.0 + versions and some earlier plug-ins.

2. Try Sound Solution 1.31 beta with WinAmp 2,95. While I have not tried this myself, it is supposedly much more feature rich than 1.2 (and 1.1). However, be forewarned that 1.31 is supposedly a real resource hog and supposedly requires much more horsepower than earlier versions.

3. You can always try a post on the Sound Solution forum. I occasionally check the English language one (since my Italian is pretty weak). The url is:

http://www.soundsolution.it/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=41

They are not nearly as actuve as part15.us, but I have sometimes received a response (not always) after a couple of weeks (or longer). If you are really lucky Tomaso may even respond, under the handle Ettore. He may also respond to a direct email, if the forum doesn't help you out, but he is not always around.

4. There are aways the WinAmp forums, but I have found them a bit overwhelming.

Please let us know whether you have any luck.

Phil,

CORRECTION on my last post regarding the Sound Solution Forum.

The url is correct, but the software creator (and moderator) is Alessandro Tomassini (NOT Tomaso) who is also the creator and moderator of Direttore Radio Automation Software (www.mixtime.com). His handle is Ettore on www.mixtime.com NOT www.soundsolution.it. I am not sure what his handle is on www.soundsolution.it (probably something like admin), since I don't recall him personally posting on the www.soundsolution.it forum recently, although I believe most of the text elsewhere on that website is his.

Rich,

I came across the following

Remeber to configure Line In to stream 44100 KHz stereo samples, on the contrary Sound Solution will not process anything!

It was part of the following faq on the Sound Soultion website:

http://www.soundsolution.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=25

If I read it correctly (assuming nothing beyond poor English was lost in translation from the original Italian), it would appear that this program is designed to only work at a 44 KHz sample rate.

It might still be worth a try to either post to their forum or contact Alessandro Tomassini. If you do, please let us know what happens.