Stereo Tool

IMHO it is often a basis for discussion to add a new Feature or not. I also never heard about polar Stereo before. but after reading the posts of radio700 here
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6233&p=33031#p33031
then i would say it is useful. I know this guy, what he tells is true and based on his own experience.

The classic multiband sounds nearly completely different compared to the newer ones. It is fully ok to "freeze" it like it is now and hide it in the GUI if not used, but remove? Not shure...
Perhaps there are People using the classic MB but want to test or use other new features of ST...
It doesn't disturb if it is available but hidden i think...

I`m not saying it because i hate classic MB or similar . I`m saying it because for new things, there is no room for vertical options, there is no space for the new options in panels . ST is getting on another level and must be only with "next level" options.
That is why i said there is plenty of versions that include the very old stuff - i think they are extremely enough
.Think about it - if Hans add 5-10 features and you are n Extreme tweaker mode ?! What will be ? No room for your brain to think what to edit. Well it`s been 5-6 years now with all the stuff(with new ones all in one)
It`s time to make ST up to date clean GUI featured program.

You say that we must fill the glass even when it overflowing ?

I have now again intensively tested the beta. The results are in any case very well, but I have in many respects as a scrape in the higher frequencies. But that does not concern all the songs. This occurs especially whenever much speech is present. The pitches generated sound somehow unclean and not crisp. Then another question: Is it possible that you can fit a few more configurations in the upcoming Beta? You mentioned something about a hard-coded frequency limit, and some of max 1 octave. Would it be possible that you do it configurable? I would in fact like to test further, and with the available options you can not adjust as much. Thanks in advance!

bug: The latest VST (and maybe older) in 7.85 beta makes the left channel louder with nothing enabled at all.

I spend two years tweaking the "classic multiband" for my multiple settings. I have not the time and the nor knowledge to do the same for the new multiband feature again.

Additional to that the new multiband would be a step back for me, because I cannot tweak the settings on one page (which I am constantly doing when I remaster tracks with Stereotool as VST) and I have no voice protection setting. And for newcomers the classic multiband enables them to easily understand the feature while the new one leaves newcomers out and makes Stereotool exclusive to experts. A good software makes complex processes easy to understand, so it is inclusive to many users, which many of the "classic" features did but the new ones do not anymore - Steroetool becomes more exclusive to experts. So there you have also a step back. Transfering my old settings for classic multiband to the new one is currently just a waste of time for me - I gain nothing from it plus loose functionality for me.

Besides: I bought licences, I gave money, so I am not a free leecher. I would appreciate if for my money I am able to use my own settings which massivly use the classic features - and I spend months and months to create - with new features (like the repair options and stereo options). Its a service for the users of the software.

Unfortunatly the voice protected setting creates clipping/distortions in the current versions, so I have to use 7.03 and 7.84 as an VST chain in Wavelab to remaster tracks. It would be nice if I could use the current version in Winamp without the distortion problems too.

I would switch to the new multiband if:
- there is an automatically conversion of the classic settings to the new, so they sound exactly the same under the new multiband.
- I can control the voice volume like with the old voice protection setting
- I have the basic settings for daily tweaking on one page like with the classic multiband.

Until then I stay with the classic one, because there is nothing to gain for me.

I have no plans to remove it, but I don't want new people to use it because it just sounds far less good than the new one. There were several 'problem tracks' that on ALL the Classic multiband settings would sound bad.

It might be a good idea though to combine the settings for the new MB in a single window when you're in Basic mode. In fact, by removing things that aren't really needed anymore, I'm slightly moving towards having less settings because it's just too overwhelming now.

Also I'm currently adding help texts for all the sliders and buttons, which can be made visible inside the GUI.

As a vst user of stereo tool an observation is that true bass and bass boost usually don't sound good on mastering a song so the option to turn these on or off is good.

7.85 BETA022

Windows 32 bit:
Windows stand alone: http://www.stereotool.com/download/ster ... 85-022.exe
Winamp DSP: http://www.stereotool.com/download/dsp_ ... 85-022.exe
Windows VST 32 bit: http://www.stereotool.com/download/vst_ ... 85-022.dll

CHANGED:
GUI: Added tooltips!

OLD CHANGES:
- Added exciter (rest of list removed)
- Added (not yet fully ok) Polar Stereo support for OIRT FM stations.
- Error (crash) on some systems should be solved
- Show something in settings that have been changed (for example a dot next to the name of the setting).
- Add license check function: extern "C" bool stereoTool_IsLicenseValid(gStereoTool* st_instance);
- Make scope skinnable
- Bug: i found one malfunction in the BS412 Section: If your switch off the FM Option and leave the BS412 Limiter in On-Position the Advanced Clipper only works in a reduced way: You can´t change the Clipper drive even if you pull the handle. The BS412 Limiter is greyed out instead so maybe someone doesn´t find the failure. If You switch the BS412 to off everything works fine again! Just a small detail, but maybe someone will have problems… -> I think I have fixed it (but there are a lot of different combinations of settings that can impact the result, I hope I haven't missed any). The next version shouldn't have this problem anymore, also, when BS412 is used I have now disabled the Advanced Clipper Drive slider.
I've been busy hiding a lot more deprecated features (if they are set to their default value). This should make the GUI a bit simpler. Stuff that's now hidden (still there and still functional if you really want to use it):
- "Bass AGC (Old)" panel
- "Classic Multiband Compressor" panel
- "Classic Singleband" panel
- "Pre-limiter" panel (in Advanced Clipper)
- "Leif's clipper efficiency modification" checkbox
- "Composite clipping Strictness (CPU)" checkbox
- Phase rotation: ""At start of processing" checkbox
- AGC "Compatibility & behavior" header
- All Singleband and Multiband "Compressor type" (Analog/Digital) pull-downs
- Multiband and Natural Dynamics "Compatibility mode (bad)" for Flat Frequency Response checkbox
- "Bass protection (Deprecated)" header in Advanced Clipper -> Bass
- "Highs gap protection: *" in Advanced Clipper -> Highs
- "Smooth slope" in Advanced Clipper -> Distortion
- "Upsampled highs clipping (useless)" in Advanced Clipper -> Distortion
- Stokkemask: "Force Stokkemask even if not using Composite Clipping (bad for audio)"
- BS412: ""De-basser non-ITU.1770 compatibility mode (bad)"
- Right clicking now restores default again, mid or double right clicking restores last loaded preset (or startup) value.
Bug: If you use FM and Normal output, with separately processed audio for streaming for Normal output, and for FM output enable pre-emphasis but *not* pre-emphasize output, then Normal output is not processed separately!
- What is the pink line in the BS412 display? Maybe remove it. http://i.imgur.com/70mWvqp.png -> Ah no, it's the adjustment of the compressor thresholds. Needs to be added to Help page.
- BS412 has VERY narrow jump on de-basser from 240 to 250 Hz. (Jump of multiple dB's). -> No, brown line jumps but actual output is smooth, so no problem.
- BS412 bass filter doesn't use ITU1770 as it should but some weird other shape that goes up to about 250 Hz.
- Need to support 2 default values and a RESET TO LAST LOADED VALUE reset option.
- Hide not selected deprecated stuff - partially working!
- Move Copyright stuff etc. also to command line version (maybe just copy it?)

TODO:
- GUI: Remove dots in changed settings for some buttons on top of the screen.
- Blog post pre-processing, MP3 and declipping
- Exciter: Try to improve tone behavior (should also reduce whole area around a spike I think - maybe configurable?)
- Exciter: Improve further, and make it configurable.
- Add Polar stereo viewtopic.php?f=16&t=6233&p=33031#p33031
- MP3?
- Try adding phase delay compensation
- O skin
- Also show tooltips for blocks of parameters.
- Continue with finding parameters to hide

Nice, the issue with Polar Stereo is gone now!

The new Tooltips are also very nice, but there seems to be an issue: when a tooltip pops on, and I move the mouse cursor afterwards, the GUI freezes (using 32-bit standalone).

Edit: This happens sometimes only, not always...

Ah, confirmed. Seems to depend on the window size. Will check!

Edit: Solved. Was a threading issue. Next beta will be ok again.