Stereo Tool

1. Is this DSP plugin even supported anymore? The last update is from 2012.
2. I have modified every single setting related to the declipping algorithm to various extents, with the only ones causing any audible effect being the "attenuation" (post-amp?) slider in the main window, and the "MP3 additional sample removal - nr of samples" in the extended settings window; the beep every few minutes is audible as well. However, every other slider in every options menu related to declipping, and the declipping output itself, has absolutely no audible effect. However, visually, it seems to be doing something (http://db.tt/zFgdS40C), but only the things I stated above are actually applied to the final output stream.
3. The waveforms of the input/output (in the main window, the ones in the extended settings window are fine) fail to show anything when declipping is enabled after the main window has been closed and reopened (via the notification icon).
4. Many settings do not save after I change DSP plugins/restart Winamp.
5. What's up with the configuration file being in my User folder? Why not the Winamp Plugins directory?

Perfect DeClipper DSP looks like a marvelous addition to my DSP fleet (http://db.tt/vBJkuABZ), but only if I can actually get it to do anything!

Also, the load-times for the plugin are absolutely HORRIBLE; an extra three to five seconds are added onto the previous half second to one second load-time. It's not a dealbreaker, but still horrid nonetheless.

_________________

I just started working on an update today - among others the sound will be better and the load and close times a lot lower. (3 seconds for the current version is pretty extreme though).

Now about the problems that you are reporting. Could you try the following:
- Go to http://www.perfectdeclipper.com/samples/
- Download the 'Extreme Clipping' original
- Load the declipper
- Press the RESET button
- Load the Greedy preset (see the PRESETS button on top of the window).
- Process the file you just downloaded. The result should be close to perfectly distotion-free.

What you are describing (both the no change in sound and the empty window) seem to point at something crashing internally - but I don't know what that something could be. That's why I'm asking you to start by pressing RESET, that restores any weird and potentially damaged settings.

The .ini file is placed where Windows places it when you use the Windows API to create it - and that's not in the local directory...

That was the fastest reply I've ever encountered by a developer.
I've messed with the presets, consistantly pressing reset at various times, to no effect. It must be an internal problem.
The .ini settings file is located at: C:\Users\DarkShadow6\dsp_perfect_declipper.ini

I'll delete the settings file, close Winamp with no DSP plugin selected, reopen Winamp, reselect the DeClipper DSP plugin, reset it for good measure, select the Greedy preset, and write Winamp's output to a .wav file, in that order, just to be sure. I'm sure that will make things a bit easier for you, no?

For reference, I'm using Winamp v5.63.

_________________

Okay, what. After doing all of that, it seems to have somehow fixed itself in a way I do not understand. I have absolutely no idea why.
Regardless, here's the file: ftp://ds6.us.to/extreme-clipped_wav.wav

However, this problem still persists: http://db.tt/9njCelRP
It seems to happen whenever the window is closed/reopened be it by the notification icon or simply reloading the plugin. Also, the waveforms come back after declipping is disabled (but disappear again when it's re-enabled).
I think the interoperability was caused by my multi-DSP plugin (dsp_multiple.dll), but now that I've removed the configuration file and reset it, it seems to work a good 80% of the time. Moving the plugin's execution around on the dsp_multiple stack seems to break it, as well does dis/enabling it, sometimes.
Unfortunately, if I can't get this to work with my other DSP plugins, that'll be a problem.

Edit: Ooooooooh, I think I know what's doing it.
I use the standard Winamp equalizer. I think because the equalizer is the first signal processing function applied to the stream, it mucks up the way DeClipper looks for clipping issues.
I'm not sure where to go from here. If there were an alternative to Winamp's (rather limited, admittedly) equalizer, I'd go for that, instead.

_________________

It might be a bit over the top, but there is an equalizer in Stereo Tool... It also contains the latest version of the declipper. If you want fast startup times, they will be much faster in the upcoming version 7.24 (you can find the current build in the News section of this forum).

There's a good chance that the redraw bug that you encountered is fixed in this version (after all, it's been developed a year longer).

I know that several of the DSP stacking plugins are VERY unstable - they often crash, mainly during startup or when adding or removing plugins from them.

(O and yes, using an equalizer BEFORE declipping will indeed hinder the clipping detection algorithm).

From what I've seen of Stereo Tool, it is. I'm not one for such superfluous tools, unless I really need them. I saw that. So is my hypothesis correct? Are the DeClipper standalone application or DSP plugin being really actively maintained anymore? If that's the case, I'll try out Stereo Tool. This is the most stable one I've ever used. I've never actively had any crashing directly caused by it (though by bad compatibility with certain plugins, yes, but I don't categorize that under the multi-DSP plugin being bad, necessarily). It also offers the ability to fade each one out with percentages (though that doesn't always work, with the various delays some DSP plugins have and all). Argh, that's a pretty big turn-off.
...Winamp's 10-band equalizer isn't really all that impressive, though. What kind of EQ does Stereo Tool have?
If it has more than 15 bands (or, God forbid, customizable band ranges), I'm sold.

_________________

You must see that!

So far the only real nag (besides the small problems I've been having) is this: http://db.tt/0FIhXvio. My library is 80% electronica, and that involves the host of basic, simplistic waveforms, like squares and sawtooths. (Sawtoothes? Sawteeth?). DeClipper just absolutely mutilates (sometimes in a good way) those specific types of tracks, but I'm sure some settings tweaks could fix that (the settings page is almost too big for my monitor :U). However, for pretty much every other song in my library, it works wonderfully, smoothing it out and making it much more easy on the ears (obviously since it's largely electronic there are a lot of higher pitched spikes here and there that I'd rather not hear).
I notice that DeClipper handles the usual overwhelming warble that heavy bass seems to acquire very well, as opposed to other clip-fixing applications/plugins/VSTs I've used before. It's really quite dynamic.

_________________

Free-format drawing. You can just draw an eq curve. Some people like it, some prefer frequency/Q factor sliders (which I don't have).

About unnecessary things: All the things in Stereo Tool that are not enabled don't consume any processing power. Of course they do use some memory. In total it uses about 150 MB, which is indeed more than what the declipper uses.

As I said, I'm working on a new declipper version - originally the declipper builds were coupled to Stereo Tool builds, at the end of last year I redesigned the Stereo Tool GUI from scratch, and I still need to convert the declipper plugin to use the new GUI. Once that's done the two programs will be coupled again, which means that there will be more frequent updates. I started working on it yesterday, and I have a working version now, but it looks bad - I still need to put everything at the correct spot.


About the DSP stacker: This must be another one than the ones that I tried (I never saw this blend functionality).

Not declipping tones like that will be very difficult - probably not even possible. Unless you can tell me how I can see the difference between (unwanted) clipped waveforms and intentionally topped off (square wave) waveforms. In both cases there are flat areas and harmonics.

The declipper GUI in Stereo Tool is really improved - it fits on a smaller screen and you can better see what happens. So I would really advise you to use that version - if you want you can create the settings in Stereo Tool and then load them in Perfect Declipper. Also, the default settings in the Stereo Tool version have been improved very recently, which leads to less false positives in clipping detection and hence to better restoration.