SurroundByUs.com

Hi,

I stumbled on this site by accident when looking at albums online and I saw a SPEC 5.1 version available. Currently I only have 3 "super audio CD's" in DFF format. Seeing as the world is ending, I thought I might give it a go. Our band released our debut album earlier this year and I thought no better place to start than try and convert that to 5.1. So I already have the raw source WAV files... so that's the first step out of the way.

I have a quick look on the how to guides but quickly came unstuck because some of the links are dead, and I couldn't find a 32 bit version or bidule (and the 64 bit version seems to crash). I wonder if the how to guides are out of date. Am I best to start a post on the "conversions" thread to get help guiding me through my first conversion?

cheers
Nick

Hey Nick,

Yeah most of the community has gone on to other things so it's mostly crickets here, but never fear I am still doing development and using folks here: https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/forums/stereo-to-surround-upmixing.28/ for feedback.

I can work on a Spec release that works with PB 64 bit in the next few days, but in the meantime you might want to try SpecWeb. Both of those would be on windows.

SpecWeb is designed to be drag and drop easy, but still have most of the same controls that Spec has.

Nice one - thanks

I've managed to download SpecWeb & convert a few files already. Will give it a bash shortly through the "player" that comes with it. If I'm impressed - I shall send a few $$$ your/their way.

cheers!

OK. FYI the player is for doing the conversion while making adjustments. For playing files already converted you can just use something like foobar2000 or any other player that supports 6 channel files (assuming you have an hdmi or 6 channel spam connection to "speakers").

Also I just looked at the current state of Plogue Bidule version and I can talk you through a 64 bit install if you like.

PM me if so.

Cheers,
Z

Aha, yes, I realised that wasn't the player shortly after trying.

So I downloaded foobar2000, and it plays the files ok - but they are received by my AV unit in PCM 2 channel still.

I have my laptop via HDMI to to a Yamaha AV unit (plugged in to the 5.1 speaker setup). I think the file conversions are okay, as I saw on the file settings something like 3F2R format. The "setup" generally should be okay too. I say that because I've played DFF/DSF files before using the same setup of: laptop-HDMI-AV-speakers. That wasn't on Foobar though (some program with a blue icon). In fact, I just installed an SACD plugin to be able to play the DFF/DSF files - but I get nothing when I try to output in "DSD", only get audio with "PCM".

I'll give the Plogue Bidule route a pass for now, but cheers anyway. I think "baby steps" are needed right now, just keen to see it working and to test it out - and then I'll take it from there about how much I get into it. The next step will probably to use the "adjustments" rather than defaults when converting.

But if you have any pointers on getting the AV to receive in 5.1 - that would be appreciated.

cheers

I'm guessing it's the setup in foobar2000 (Assuming you have set your audio hdmi device for 5.1 or 7.1 in windows).

7.1 HDMI.png

Then just pick that device in foobar2000:

foobar HDMI Device.png

Nope - you were right about the settings in Windows, just had to set the audio device to 5.1 as it switches when I plug into my tv. So all working now and it sounds pretty good! Pretty good results for not much effort. Thanks for the help.

So if you were to tempt to spend more time investing in this what would the pitch be? Would you say you can much better quality by adjusting settings rather than leaving to the default? Is it possible to have control over which sounds come out of which speakers? When its on default conversion - is there any logic/pattern as to what to expect? For example, I noticed that the backing vocals and higher frequencies/synth came out the rear speakers.

cheers
Nick

It works based on where things are panned in the stereo, and just spreads that out across the 5.1 speakers. So, something panned hard right in stereo would be fully in the right surround speaker in 5.1.

You can control how that stereo mix gets placed with the width controls. How many degrees in a circle the whole mix will take, and what portion goes to C, Fronts, and the left over to Rears.

Yes, best results can be had by adjusting things on a per song basis.

Also if there are any artifacts, a "swishing" sound or "thin" sounding instruments, you can trade off separation for fewer artifacts by increasing either the adjspkr parameter or the rear blends parameter.

Some methodology for how to approach all this, though now data compared to current defaults, can be found in the guide in the "how to win with arctan" section.