Breakaway AM

[Ted Russell]

If I attenuate 3dB to compensate for that distortion, mono content will be 3dB quiet.

I need a re-read on C-Quam theory but I do seem to remember there being a difference in mono loudness vs stereo loudness, and it may be the same 3 db you are finding.

This is true. For the stereo listener, stereo content will be louder, and mono content will be about 3db down. Of course, for the mono listeners everything will sound the same because mono is the only option. This processing system would add the maximum amount of peak limiting to the amplitude modulated main carrier (L+R) as well as to the phase modulated component 1+(L-R). And yes, when you combine the two you will get stereo audio that is louder and not as tightly peak controlled, resulting in a more naturalistic sound (not as clipped) with a wide stereo signal. The C-Quam receivers were designed with enough headroom to make it work. This is why AM stereo really jumps out at the listener.
I can see where this would present problems for a webcast encoder. It sure does work well with C-Quam though. I've often wondered about what the affect and or effect would be if employing this method on FM?

Thanks for tinkering!

-TR

 

[konbaasiang]

I'm starting to understand this a little bit, finally . It's all theory since I have neither a C-QUAM encoder nor a compatible radio, but it's starting to make sense.

For example, the reason for the de-facto -70% negative modulation limit when using C-QUAM appears to be that if the carrier gets any weaker than that, there's just not enough of it left for the stereo decoder to detect the phase of it.

It would be highly non-ideal for both webcasting and FM, and result in a 6dB loudness drop with very rare peaks going all the away out to 0dB. As such, it's a dangerous button to have in the main gui, but I've implemented it so that when you hit it, loudness drops (in fact, I had to, to avoid occasionally clipping the L/R output of the sound card!).

Anyway, the feature is in! (In the code, that is -- not released yet). A simple Mid/Side checkbox, and when checked, all processing happens in the Mid/Side (or Matrix, or L+R/L-R, or Sum-and-Difference) domain. Average output level drops by 6dB for mono material, and L/R output peak control completely goes away, but once you re-matrix the L/R output of the sound card to Mid/Side, peak control comes back, and you'll have rock solid peak-control Mid and Side signals.

Certain extreme hard-panned stereo content exhibits distortion not heard in L/R processing, due to masking working very differently. I think the best solution to this might be a stereo width limiter in the future, as mixing L/R and M/S distortion cancelling will undoubtedly result in losing both some loudness and some stereo separation.

Anyway, still working on the next version -- stay tuned!

///Leif

 

[konbaasiang]

BBP 0.90.44 is out!

As promised, Mid/Side switch added! I believe BBP may be fully C-QUAM compliant now -- someone, please test .

Also Updated Amsterdam, New York and Jill FM presets. Brand new CHR preset.
More intelligent preset vs pre-emph management (more consistent sound for different pre-emphasis settings for each preset).

The slider settings for each preset are individually saved, too. Much easier to A/B compare.

Also, commercial now happens less frequently now, so it won't drive you quite as crazy when testing and evaluating .

http://bredband.leif.cx/browse/bafm

Official web site launches on monday, too .

Best regards,
///Leif

 

[oldiesstation]

Just amazing.Presets for any format,i like the helix,the new chr,heck they're all good,depending on format and taste.You guys ROCK.The New York pre fits that city just fine.They like em' loud.Congrats,at $199.00 this is a steal..i could not hear any of that dreaded IM distortion,no pumping.Maybe we can get all the HEAVY hitters to post their thoughts.Now cornelius gould has great ears,hey Mr.G jump in.I've used every brand processor made from the
2k models to the 10K O & O boxes.This software hangs with all of them.

 

[Tom Wells]

This has been running 24/7 since last weekend on the used ibm thinkpad w/pentium 1.86Ghz 1gig with no bugs or
compromises to the Zara automation running on the same machine. It runs about 35-45 % CPU usage.
I'm now streaming WFMU 128k on the same machine, with no dropouts.

The laptop I'm typing on here is a pentium @768 Mhz, 1 gig memory, and it is "right on the edge" of being able to run
both Zara and Breakaway Broadcast, even with buffers and hard drive cache turned up.
It runs about 75-90% CPU. So there's some reference for those who are wondering whether their machine will work.

If I load the newest version, will I need a new validation key?
I think I'll just wait and buy the release on Monday.

Driving around in the neighborhood, it really sounds great. Not just loud, but "huge".

I'm still on Dance 0db drive, 15 power and range, speed 0, bass normal, shape -50, 16khz mono, 15 us pre, +30% asym.
Reverb on a side chain is totally unprocessed. If I turn up Breakaway settings any more "full" than presently, there isn't enough
room in the audio to perceive the reverb. This is not a complaint. Just pointing out how full Breakaway can make the density
if that's what someone is looking for.

I can't give up the wet sound of my ART VLA compressor, but Breakaway makes a much bigger improvement to the audio than the ART.
If Breakaway had come out a year ago, I dont think I'd have spent the $300 on the VLA.

 

[konbaasiang]

VERY nice, Tom!

Reverb on a sidechain, you mean before Breakaway in the chain, right? Not after, right?

The validation key should transfer fine to the newest version.

By the way, the official web site is up, along with the web store! http://www.claessonedwards.com

Latest beta is still here: http://bredband.leif.cx/browse/bafm

Official site will lag behind the beta site slightly.



I just tried it for the first time on my old Pentium M 2.0 GHz laptop. With Vista.

Just for laughs, I was sure it wouldn't work...

But it freaking did! It actually runs fine (in cpu optimized mode), with 75-80% cpu load. That's actually usable for a dedicated machine! I'm stunned.

I have also just added multithreading for the clipper. If it detects a dual-core (or P4-Hyperthreading) system, it now runs the clipper in its own thread (as opposed to same thread as multiband, sample rate converters, stereo encoders etc etc). This achieves MUCH better load balancing, and it now runs perfectly on my old Pentium-D 3.0 (essentially dual core P4), at 55% CPU in Maximum Quality Mode, and 35-40% in CPU optimized mode.

The next time someone says it doesn't run, I might just have to respond "I'm sorry, Breakaway requires a COMPUTER to run"... Nah, just kidding.

Tom, remember, you can always sell the VLA.. Label it "Vintage", someone will buy it :-D.

For a dripping wet sound with BBP, have you tried cranking up the reverb a bit (before bbp), and running French Kiss? I'll bet the slightly pumping reverb audience could sound incredible.

///Leif

 

[tomservo]

Cool toy!

Unfortunately, it doesn't run very well on my AMB Athlon XP processor 2.19 GHz. In fact in stereo mode it's completely unusable. Turn off the stereo, tick the CPU saver option and remove the high pass filter and it's good enough to play with, but super choppy in both sound card generated and pass-through processing.

If it worked, this would be one awesome little tool! Is there something about the AMD processors that keeps them from running this so well? The computer runs really smoothly otherwise, but with Breakaway and WinAmp both active it was a nightmare.

 

[Sgeirk]

It's recommended that you use a computer built fairly recently.

 

[konbaasiang]

Indeed, Sgeirk.

Zach, Athlon XP is a *very* old system -- it's been 7 years since I had one of those. There simply isn't enough power available to do a good job of realtime audio processing. For older systems, Intel tend to work better than AMD (Intel Pentium-M 2.0 GHz laptop works fine in stereo, for example) -- for newer systems, either should work.

Looking quickly at newegg.com, a Foxconn Core 2 Duo capable board is $40. An Intel Celeron E1200 dual core CPU is under $50. 512mb ram is under $10. That's enough to upgrade your whole machine, and we're still under $100 -- half the price of the product. The system requirements are pretty much moot.

Upgrade your computer already, Zach! It's high time.

The tool does work. Didn't the installer warn you that your computer wasn't fast enough to run it, before even installing?



///Leif

 

[Tom Wells]

Zach, try setting the buffer selection in Breakaway to "huge buffer" and try turning up ( in system settings) the size of cache files on your
hard drive. This was enough to make Breakaway run without a glitch on thishere laptop with a 1.7 ghz cpu, 768 mhz bus.

My (tube-based) AM modulator has 3 inputs and 2 level controls. One for "line levels" which I feed program audio, processed in Breakaway.

The other two inputs were intended for mic inputs, one for dynamic hi-z mics, and one specifically designed for CARBON microphones, with DC current source for the carbon mike. Both of these mic inputs are on the same control.
I wanted to be able to use my 1934 carbon microphone (spring-hung in a ring stand).

Why did do I this? I'm a nut. When we had to completely design a superhet AM back in 1980 in school, I was the only one who asked if
we could design a tube superhet.

As it is, I seldom use the carbon mike, but the super-low level input for dynamic mics turned out to be just the perfect place to plug in the
output of the Hammond spring reverb tank. The audio from Breakaway goes through a 15 band eq set flat now.
The output of this is direct to the line input of the modulator.
The audio from the 15 band eq also goes to a 15w Mc Gohan 1950's hifi mono tube amp that drives the input of the reverb tank.
The output of the reverb goes into the low level input, so I can adjust straight-through audio for maximum modulation,
while reverb is on the other knob.

There ARE no dynamics from a reverb, it's all slush, so there's not much point in processing it.
The input already has been through Breakaway.
If Breakaway has the audio "full to the top", there isn't any "space" left to hear reverb "in".
It is a delicate balancing act to have the reverb at a perfect level. I usually turn it down if I am streaming audio from a format
that is not my usual fast/loud music. When set perfectly you almost don't notice it until there's a lone voice in the audio.

I'm in Minnesota now. When I get home, I be pushing the BUY button on the other computer.

 

[tomservo]

Upgrade your computer already, Zach! It's high time.

Why? It works fine on everything else I do. Anyway, I don't have the money, or a job for that matter at the moment. I make extensive use of Sound Forge and it works flawlessly. I can usually run three or four chained processing plugins at a time with it with only 4-5% CPU useage. With Winamp running with plugin in the background with 4-6 other programs the CPU seems to hover around 20%, which is plenty of overhead.

It did give a blurb about the processor maybe not being fast enough, but I decided to go ahead anyway. When I was installing, there were a ton of programs running, more than usual. Opera, Outlook, Windows Live Search, Sonic Stage, Sound Forge, my HTML editor, MS Streets and Trips, Open Office Calc and god only knows how many little hidden system tray programs. It may be old, but with 2 GB of mem the hard drive doesn't do any swapping!

I'll keep the installer around and if I get access to some other faster computers I may give it a shot again - it really is a cool tool, and I don't do any broadcasting anymore.

 

[konbaasiang]

Fair enough, Zach.

For a good audio processor that will run properly on your computer, try Breakaway Personal.

It sounds very similar to Breakaway Broadcast but doesn't do clipping or pre-emphasis, so it's very cpu efficient. Pretty much the same user interface -- meters, DPO scopes, presets etc.

///Leif

 

[tomservo]

Fair enough, Zach.

For a good audio processor that will run properly on your computer, try Breakaway Personal.

It sounds very similar to Breakaway Broadcast but doesn't do clipping or pre-emphasis, so it's very cpu efficient. Pretty much the same user interface -- meters, DPO scopes, presets etc.

///Leif

Well no matter, thanks for your hard work on this - I can see why it gets such praise from the pros! I'll give the personal one a try.

For the record, I had set the buffer to smallest thinking that would help the problem. Going the other way, to 'huge', really helped things, as did turning off real time processing. It still won't do stereo smoothly, BUT in mono it now runs at just 75% CPU time which means smooth audio, even with me toying with the settings. Too cool. I played some podcast talk shows off minidisc and it really adds a LOT to the listening experience with some of the lighter presets.

 

[jesseg]

To go slightly off AM topic for a split, Helix sounds great for widely varied content imo (but i'm biased, i made it), and I wouldn't surf YouTube or Podcasts without it.

Back on topic, I'm going to do a talk preset for BBP. And maybe we'll see how it sounds in Breakaway Personal too.

 

[konbaasiang]

Back on the AM topic:

New feature in BBP 0.90.50

Anti-Ringing .

Two parameters: Anti-Ringing Width and Anti-Ringing Slope (Depth in 0.90.50, will be Slope in 0.90.51 and forward).

These parameters adjust the main low pass filter shape, changing it from a brick wall to a more gentle slope. Not desirable for FM, but can completely remove the ringing when using 12 kHz bandwidth or lower. Big improvement for AM!

http://bredband.leif.cx/browse/bafm

Official web site is up too (still version 0.90.49): http://www.claessonedwards.com

///Leif