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14th January 2006, 19:28 | #1 | Link |
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GUIDE: Converting stereo to 5.1 surround for FREE
NOTE: THIS GUIDE WAS WRITTEN IN JANUARY 2006. RECENTLY, A NEW VST PLUGIN ADD-ON FOR FOOBAR2000 HAS APPEARED THAT GREATLY SIMPLIFIES THE PROCESS. IF YOU'D LIKE TO TRY IT, CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING POST. FOR BACKGROUND AND OTHER APPROACHES, YOU CAN ALSO READ THE ORIGINAL GUIDE BELOW.
2007 GUIDE BY TEBASUNA51 2013 GUIDE Many of the stereo-to-surround conversion guides posted in this forum and elsewhere on the internet rely on Plogue Bidule or other VST hosting software such as Steinberg Cubase, Steinberg Nuendo, or Adobe Audition. These are all fine programs but they are not free. Bidule has a time-limited free version but eventually that will run out. If you can afford Plogue's $75 US for an early bird license, let me say that in my opinion, this is the best value available. You get tremendous value for your money, one of the most interesting, unique and powerful audio programs available today. If you can't afford this, however, there is a way to convert stereo to 5.1 sound and do it for free, using legal software. There may be other approaches, but this is one I'm proposing. Here's what you need V.I Stereo to 5.1 Converter Suite Foobar 2000 version 9.0. Bridge plugin for winamp DSP plugin NEW FOR FOOBAR v0.9x VST Host Winamp Bridge by Christian Budde MultiFXVST (Optional-for chaining VST effects) French site or Google translation of site johnman's wavewizard NOTE: THE FOLLOWING GUIDE WAS WRITTEN USING FOOBAR V0.83. THE BASIC PROCEDURE WITH VERSION 0.9 IS ALMOST THE SAME BUT WITH SOME CHANGES. FOR THE BASIC METHOD OF USING THE V.I PLUGINS, READ THE GUIDE BELOW. FOR THE FOOBAR2000 V.9.4 AND HIGHER PROCEDURES, INCLUDING AC3 ENCODING WITH AFTEN, SEE THIS POST. As for why these programs and plugins:
Procedure Overview You will process a stereo file three times, each time using a different V.I companion plugin from the fLfR, CLFE, and sLsR plugins to write processed files to disk. This will create three stereo files. Then you can use wavewizard to create 6 mono files or one 6-channel file for encoding. If you need a freeware 5.1 encoder, wavewizard comes with a free AC3 encoder. Part 1: Foobar and plugins
Part 2: Merging or splitting files Note: you can use other utilities to combine or split the files. For example, CDP Multi-Channel ToolKit at http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masrwd/mctools.html or Besweet as documented elsewhere in this forum. If you're going to split the files, it's a good idea to combine them first because some encoding programs that require 6 mono files will only work if the files are all the same length. Here's how to merge or split the files with Wavewizard.
Part 3: Encoding The subject of this guide is how to end up with a surround sound file using completely free (and legal) software. Unless you own commercial AC3 or DTS encoding software, there are only a couple of options for encoding to AC3 files. One option is to use wavewizard with ac3enc.dll, as I explain here.
For now, experiment and see if you can get it to work. I tested on several files and got it to work each time. An extra bonus: stereo playback enhancement I might add that the fLfR plugin by itself can enhance stereo playback if you use it by itself and turn the front ambience up near its maximum. This won't give you the full V.I effect, but depending on your source material it can have you looking for speakers that don't exist! ). Happy surrounding! Steve. Last edited by tebasuna51; 15th August 2013 at 13:43. Reason: 2013 method |
15th January 2006, 16:00 | #4 | Link | |
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Thats a really nice guide you made
Quote:
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If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person -- they will find an easier way to do it. Last edited by johnman; 15th January 2006 at 16:09. |
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18th January 2006, 07:17 | #5 | Link |
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newbie
hi all,
may seem like a stupid question. i have installed foo_dsp_Foobar2WinampPlugin.dll in the components directory of foobar. how do i use this to load christians budde's vst host winamp bridge? thanks for your time--newhaven |
18th January 2006, 14:23 | #6 | Link |
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No it's a valid question. Be sure you copy Christian's dsp_vst.dll file to the same folder as foo_dsp_Foobar2WinampPlugin.dll, the Foobar2000 Component folder. Then restart Foobar and when you check the DSP Manager in the Properties tree, selecting Winamp DSP Plugin (see step 6 of the guide) should display VST Host DSP v.10 for WinAmp in the left side of the Plugins section of the dialog box. This is Christian Budde's bridge plugin. You just have to activate it and then load a VST dll file. This is because the Foobar2WinampPlugin searches for and lists all Winamp plugins it finds in its directory. A neat trick I've discovered is that if you make a copy of Christian's dsp_vst.dll, rename it to something like dsp_vst_2.dll and load it in the same directory, the Foobar2WinampPlugin lists two instances of it. You can then load activate both and load a different VST into each one!
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18th January 2006, 15:12 | #7 | Link |
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here is where i'm lost
ok,
when i double click on the setup icon for christian's bridge, the install box comes up and states: please select your winamp path below (you will be able to proceed when winamp is detected) (install button in lower right corner is greyed out). for my destination folder, i select the component folder of foobar. the ok button stays greyed out, and i cannot proceed any further? not sure what i'm doing wrong----i don't have winamp installed on the pc? also in the foobar winamp plugin folder i downloaded is a file called msvcr71.dll. does this go into the components folder also--i saw no mention in the instructions. thansk again--newhaven |
18th January 2006, 16:56 | #8 | Link |
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Actually sorry, it's been awhile since I downloaded and installed Christian's plugin so I forgot that it tries to install to the Winamp/plugins folder. Since I also have Winamp installed, I just let it go ahead and then copied the dsp_vst.dll file manually to my Foobar/Component folder. As for the msvcr71.dll, yes put it in the Foobar/Component folder as well. Thanks for bringing this up. I'll update the guide right away.
Regards, Steve. |
22nd January 2006, 18:03 | #9 | Link |
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Just a note to those who downloaded the software and tried this guide, the sLsR v1.0 plugin I released on January 14 contained a problem with reduced ambience. I've fixed this and released version 1.1. I think you'll find this greatly improves the surround field. Check the message at http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.ph...084#post773084 for download links.
Regards, Steve. |
23rd January 2006, 23:45 | #10 | Link |
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stuck again
steve,
when i start foobar up. i get a pop up console that says: Failed to load DLL: foo_dsp_Foobar2WinampPlugin.dll, reason: Unable to load DLL. I can't get rid of this i have tried uninstalling foobar and putting all the DLL's back in the component folder, but i still get the error message?? any ideas? thank you--new haven |
24th January 2006, 00:31 | #11 | Link |
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I haven't seen that error before. When I put the foo_dsp_foobar2WinampPlugin.dll in my Foobar/Component directory, it worked ok.
Anyone else have this problem? You might also check the foobar forum at http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...act=SF&s=&f=28. I'll let you know if I find anything out. |
25th January 2006, 16:49 | #12 | Link |
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a couple of steps closer
Steve,
i was able to resolve the issue with foobar. the link provided for the winamp plugin above, has 4 selections. 1 of the files contained a third DLL (msvcp71). put this in the components folder and no more problems loading. i am currently using wavewizard to process the files from your wonderful proggy to 6 monostreams that i want to convert using surcode dvd dts encoder (not using conversion batcher). each of the 6 streams has a 0 & 1 after the title (i.e. center & LFE channels ch0,center & LFE channels ch1, front channels ch0,front channels ch1, rear channels ch0,rear channels ch1) can you possibly tell me what each ch# properly corresponds with (example--center & LFE channels ch0 is the center channel, front channels ch0 is the front left,rear channels ch0 is the left rear and so on?) than you for your time! --newhaven |
25th January 2006, 18:34 | #13 | Link |
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Glad to hear you got the Foobar problem resolved. In Foobar Diskwriter preferences, it's possible to have the program prompt you for a filename by checking the Ask before writing checkbox. This way, you can give you generated files descriptive names. What I used during my tests was adding "flfr" to the end of the filename for the fronts, "clfe" for the centre/lfe and "slsr" for the surrounds. Then you can place them in the order flfr, clfe, slsr in Wavewizard.
Steve. |
25th January 2006, 22:11 | #14 | Link |
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confusion
Steve,
i did what you suggested (CLFE,FLFR,SLSR) in foobar originally. my confusion comes when i load the 3 files into wave wizard. i am using a surcode dvd dts encoder----the only way i can load the files in Surcode is by having wavewizard convert the 3 WAV's into 6 mono streams (which Surcode accepts). after converting the 3 WAV's (c&LFE,flfr,slsr) to 6 mono streams i have the following: c&LFE ch.0 c&LFE ch.1 flfr ch.0 flfr ch.1 slsr ch.0 slsr ch.1 what are the 0's and 1's? (examples: c&LFE ch.0=center c&LFE ch.1=sub bass & LFE flfr ch.0= left front flfr ch.1= right front slsr ch.0=surround left slsr ch.1=surround right ) do you know what i listed in the examples is correct ? thanks again, sorry if i'm a bit "green" at this newhaven |
26th January 2006, 02:15 | #16 | Link |
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Thank You
Steve,
thanks for the kindness and patience, but MOST of ALL, THANK YOU FOR THIS GUIDE!!!!!!!! i have successfully used your method twice now, and to say i am pleasantly surprised at the final quality of the product is an understatement . WOW! is more like it. thanks again, see ya around the forums ---newhaven |
13th February 2006, 18:26 | #18 | Link |
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Disc error when playing burned CD on my DVD
I followed the steps of your guide "Converting stereo to 5.1 surround for FREE" and was able to generate the 6-channel WAV file by merging 3 stereo (2 ch) files with wavewizardv0.54b. Then I burned a CD that didn't play at all on my home theater DVD. Could it be a problem with the ac3enc.dll???
How can I create 5.1 WAV files that will play on my DVD using the FREE method?? Thanks. |
13th February 2006, 18:46 | #19 | Link |
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Go back and recheck everything. I know it took my a few tries before I got the process working correctly. I found it helpful to use CDRWs until I got things working.
One of the most common problems people run into is sampling rate. If you're burning a surround CD, the audio file has to be at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz. If it's for a DVD soundtrack, it has to be at 48kHz. People often think because a surround CD will be played back on a DVD player, they need to convert to 48kHz. Not so. The other most common problem is the hook-up between the DVD player and the receiver. It has to be a digital SPDIF or optical connection. Once the data goes through the left and right audio connections, it's already been converted to analog. A surround CD does a sort of "double trickery" on your system. First, it fools your DVD player into thinking it's a regular audio CD by being at 44.1kHz. Then the data going into the decoder has an AC3 identifier embedded, so the decoder thinks it's receiving the audio from a DVD and thus decodes it as such. You could retrace your steps and save files every step of the way. since you've installed foobar2000 to do this method, you can use it to play back the 6 channel wave file to see if it's making sounds (if you have a 5.1 soundcard/speaker setup, you can use the Directsound of Kernel Streaming outputs in foobar to hear all 6 channels in surround). Foobar also plays back AC3 files, so you can check them as well. Don't give up. You'll get it! Regards, Steve. |
13th February 2006, 22:22 | #20 | Link |
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Inside the file
I have changed the the sampling rate to 44.1 kHz but now when I open the file it looks like an ordinary PCM audio file with the same amplitude/frequency modulations as the original stereo files. Instead, shouldn't I expect to see bursts of data separated by spaces (zeros) when I visualize the file?
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