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22nd September 2004, 14:37 | #41 | Link | |
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Since I'm pretty new to bidule, I would appreciate if you could explain how to make the File Recorder start recording when play is activated on a 2 ch File Player. Oh, and another question. What output connectors on the Spatdecode VST produce which surround channel? Spatdecode out 1 = ? Spatdecode out 2 = ? Spatdecode out 3 = ? Spatdecode out 4 = ? Spatdecode out 5 = ? Cheers, Peter Last edited by PDU; 22nd September 2004 at 14:39. |
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22nd September 2004, 21:34 | #42 | Link | |
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Here`s the procedure for automating the recording so the starting times are aligned:[list=1][*]Check the "Toggles signal processing" icon (6th icon from top left corner). If the small square in the upper right corner of the icon is green (for "on"), click on it to toggle the square to red (for "off").[*]Click on the Tools menu and choose Parameters.[*]In the Parameters dialog box, expand the Audio file Player in the left Source pane and select Playing. [*]Expand the Audio file Recorder in the right Target pane and select Recording. [*]Click the Link button and see that the link is listed in the bottom pane[*]Click X at top right of screen to close Parameters dialog box.[*]Providing you're not planning to monitor your playback in bidule, go to the Edit menu and make sure the Offline Processing menu item has a check mark beside it. This uses as much of PC's processing power as possible to complete the conversion as fast as possible. Without this, the file is converted at playback speed; that is, a 5-minute song would take 5 minutes to write the file.[*]Double-click on the Audio file Recorder object to open its dialog box.[*]Set your bit depth (16, 24, or 32 bits).[*]Click the button on the right with three periods. This opens a dialog box for you to name and save your 6-channel file (although the dialog box title is "Select a file"). When you close this, do not click the Start button.[*]Double-click on the Audio file Player object to open its dialog box.[*]Click on the button at the lower right corner of the Audio file Player dialog box to Open your source audio file. Navigate to the folder containing your file, select the file, then click OK.[*]Click the Play button on the Audio file Player. Notice that the Start button in the Audio File Recorder changes to Stop, but the Elapsed time counter remains at 00:00:00.[*]Click the "Toggles signal processing" icon (6th icon from top left corner) to toggle the small square to green (for "on"). The Audio File Player starts playing the file at the same time as the File Recorder starts writing a file. Notice that in offline mode, the Elapsed time readout does not always increment smoothly. Instead, it jumps rapidly in chunks of several seconds, depending on your PC's power.[/list=1]As for Spatdecode's outputs, I'm not sure as I'm at work right now. I'll try to check it out and get back to you. Steve. Last edited by ursamtl; 3rd October 2004 at 15:16. |
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22nd September 2004, 21:47 | #43 | Link |
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Hi Steve,
Thanx a lot. Very detailed instructions. I think I'll be able to make this work. I do however have another question - hope you don't mind. Since my input file is 44.1 KHz but AC-3 files should be in 48KHz I would like to make some kind of samplerate conversion. Can this be done without installing any kind of additional VST plugins? If not, can you recommend a freeware plugin for this task? I guess I could always convert my sourcefile to 48KHz before loading it into bidule but it would be nice to do it "on-the-fly". Cheers, Peter |
22nd September 2004, 22:13 | #44 | Link |
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I don't have Bidule up in running right in front of me, but I believe you are able to set the out file as 48 Khz by going to Preferences.
Regards, Josh
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23rd September 2004, 00:09 | #46 | Link |
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Probably the best freeware sample rate converter I've seen is Voxengo's R8Brain at http://www.voxengo.com/r8brain/. This is a bit of s slow program, but it produces good results.
By the way, I checked out SpatDecode and the channel layout is as I expected, F, R, C, sL, sR. Thus you could connect it the first three SpatDecode pins to the first three Audio File Recorder pins, leave the 4th Recorder pin unconnected, then connect the SpatDecode pins 4 and 5 to Audio File Recorder pins 5 & 6. By the way, the surrounds are mono. They're both simply the L-R difference signal with sR feed inverted. This is as per Dolby's specs. By putting the surrounds out of phase, localizing specific sounds is more difficult. Steve. |
23rd September 2004, 04:29 | #47 | Link |
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@ursamtl
What about hp_ssrc.exe? I've been using that for my sample rate conversions, does R8Brain yield better results? PS- The normal specs on an AC3 file is 24-bit, 48KHz... correct? Or do they use 32-bit float? What I am talking about is a normal NTSC DVD Movie, Dolby Digital 5.1 AC3 here. Thanks! Josh
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23rd September 2004, 12:59 | #48 | Link | |
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As per the AC3 bit depth, I'm not really sure. I've seen varying discussions on this but no solid answer. For sure 16-bit files should work on all playback devices but obviously 24- or 32-bit files will give better quality. From what I've read the difference between the latter two is virtually inaudible so if the software you're using only support 24-bit, don't sweat it. As a result, you don't really need dithering when reducing from 32 to 24 bits. Steve. |
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23rd September 2004, 17:05 | #49 | Link |
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Offline samplerate conversion is no problem. Both SSRC.EXE and R8Brain are part of my standard collection I was however hoping that it was possible to do the conversion inside bidule. Would make things a lot easier and would not affect the source file(s).
@Steve Thanks for all your help and the pinout explanation for the Spatdecode VST. Speaking of Spatdecode isn't this really a Dolby Prologic decoder Exactly what does it do when the input file is not Dolby Surround encoded in the first place but just an ordinary stereofile? Final question - at least for now I need some guidelines for Soft Encode. I have encoded some files using the V.I. bidule. The resulting 6-track wav-file opens up nicely in Soft Encode. Some of the channels have to be rearranged for proper setup but that's not a problem. After encoding to 5.1 AC-3 files i have used Audio DVD Creator to make a DVD-Video disc for playback on my system (can't handle DVD-Audio or AC-3 files burned on an ISO disc like MPEG's). However there's no sound at all, just complete silence. If I play back the AC-3 files in Windows there's no problem. So maybe it's Audio DVD Creator that messes up the files - or I use some wrong settings in Soft Encode. Anyway, a "How to encode 5.1 AC-3 files with Soft Encode" guide would be really helpfull and highly appreciated. Cheers, Peter EDIT: It seems to be Audio DVD Creator that messes up the AC-3 files when creating it's output. Just extracted the AC-3 stream from the DVD-Video created with Audio DVD Creator and the extracted AC-3 file is only 2.0 - and it's completely silent when played back in Windows. Too bad Last edited by PDU; 23rd September 2004 at 17:26. |
23rd September 2004, 18:42 | #50 | Link | |||
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What will it do to an ordinary stereo file? Depending on how the source file was mixed, the surrounds will consist of mostly ambience. If the source had instruments, vocals, or any other sounds hard panned to the L or R channel, they will also appear in the rears. So, it will probably be somewhat effective in producing a sense of surround. If you do a search for "Hafler" in this forum, you'll find that I mentioned how I used to achieve this effect with speakers. You mentioned that you've encoded some files using V.I. <as ursamtl gleefully dons his "shameless self-promotion" hat > It also takes the ambience information present when one subtracts L-R, but it distributes the ambience throughout the 360° soundfield using a combination of ambisonic and other formulas found around the net. The main difference is that some of the ambience is distributed to the front and some of the direct sound to the rear. The overall effect is the closest I've heard to the 5.1 mixes from DVDs I rent. Quote:
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23rd September 2004, 19:30 | #51 | Link | ||
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Regarding V.I. The files I have encoded so far (1 actually) worked like a charm as soon as I muxed the resulting AC-3 file with som DivX video. My MPEG4 enabled DVD player was happy - and I was happy (Damn Audio DVD Creator). However I noticed that the levels of the rear channels are higher than the front channels. This is actually "spottable" just by looking at the channels in Soft Encode - and by listening to the file. Is this intentional? I mean is the 6 channels generated by the V.I. bidule correct in regards to levels or is some kind of leveladjustment in Soft Encode necessary? Also the LFE track level seems very low. Before I forget. I changed the pin connections in V.I. to the following: V.I. 1 -> Rec 1 V.I. 2 -> Rec 3 V.I. 3 -> Rec 2 V.I. 4 -> Rec 6 V.I. 5 -> Rec 4 V.I. 6 -> Rec 5 By doing this the resulting 6-track wavefile can be opened in Soft Encode without rearringing the channel assignments at all. Now gonna play with the Spatdecoder and Bidule. Have some MPA files (Dolby Surround encoded) that has to be converted to AC-3. Cheers, Peter Last edited by PDU; 24th September 2004 at 07:03. |
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24th September 2004, 00:13 | #52 | Link | ||
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Yes, the LFE level is low. This shouldn't matter if your playback system has bass management. It will direct bass from the main channels to the subwoofer. Some pros insist that one should never use the LFE on music, whereas others do use it. I set the LFE channel in V.I below 60Hz, which moves it out of the way of bass management crossovers and still uses the channel to give that extra bit of oomph to bass note fundamentals and drum transients for music, and all the low-frequency effects in movie soundtracks. The wave may look really small and at a low volume in Softencode but on a decent playback system, it's all you need. The option is also available in V.I to shut the LFE channel off completely. In the end, go with what works for you and enjoy it. Steve. |
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25th September 2004, 19:15 | #53 | Link | |
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Josh |
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12th October 2004, 05:08 | #54 | Link |
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Guide was updated
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83384 Suggestions/Comments welcomed! Regards, Josh |
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