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Breakaway Broadcast Processor

S

stephend2

has anyone here had any experience with it? I'm currently building up a windows 2000 machine to run it on, as that is what they recommend. I also have an extra lynx two card to throw in it to test it out. Looks good on paper and I've read a few posts around that say it's really good, if it does as advertised it might be worth using.

I figure a windows 2000 pc that is isolated from everyone and everything should be pretty damn stable.
 
Breakaway Broadcast works great!

Many AM and FM stations are replacing their expensive hardware multi-band processors with Breakaway Broadcast. A big improvement. Reliable too.
Make sure you use an AMD or Intel duel core or quad core CPU processor. Breakaway Broadcast does a lot, and therefore needs a little processor horsepower to keep CPU useage percentage low.
BBP Broadcast (standard) even works with recent Soundblaster audio cards.

Link:
http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=55

A non-commercial "campus limited" FM stereo network nearby uses the low cost home version Breakaway Audio Enhancer on an old Pentium 3 computer with 512 mb of memory, Soundblaster audio card, and free Zara Radio automation. Sounds good. Cleaner and louder then most of the commercial and public FM's. This configuration runs great 24/7/365 with out re-boots, and with nary a glitch. However the CPU processor power used is usually high. It would be better to have more CPU processing power and memory "headroom" for this configuration.

Links:

Zara Radio free broadcast automation:
http://www.zarastudio.es/index.php?section=downloads&page=zrfree.php&lang=en

Breakaway Audio Enhancer (non-broadcast):
http://www.claessonedwards.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=59
 
A couple of suggestions before you make the leap:

1) Join and thoroughly read the forums at claessonedwards.com. For example, I think the Lynx card will work...but I believe I read a post, perhaps about the Lynx2 card that suggested cards costing much less performed much better. Pose questions to Leif, he's very helpful and responds fairly quickly.

2) Be sure you have all of the equipment: spectrum analyzer/good modulation monitor/scope to properly set the tilt on the soundcard and adjust the modulation, pilot injection, etc.

I wouldn't be bashful at all placing Breakaway Broadcast, particularly the latest version with stereo enhancer.... on in ANY major market. It's a tremendous player.
 
I read plenty about why not to use the lynx card, so that's out. What I do have is an m-audio delta44 which is only a 96khz card.

Not a problem though, I've got an old stereo generator that should work fairly well until we can get a good sound card. As with everything else, I've basically got to provide the hardware myself and prove this is going to work before the owner will go for it. Too many people over the years got over on him now he trusts noone.

I hope to do a test late tomorrow night and see what he thinks, anything is going to be better than the old 8100a with dried out caps we borrowed. Our dspxtra is on its way to the UK for repair, randomly stops producing any output while all the meters show good input and output.
 
I don't think it will sound as good or be as fair of a comparison unless you're running BBP and creating the MPX right on the card. But it might be good enough.

Your situation with a failed processor is one big reason why I see no problem using a computer on the air. If a computer craps out, I can pull an identical replacement or get it fixed VERY quickly. Good luck!!! Let us know how it works!
 
Breakaway Broadcast is fantastic. I run it and Zara on an old IBM thinkpad ( with XP) with 1 meg of memory, and it hasn't missed a beat in about 10 months. I can't remember the last reboot.....The audio balance, fullness, and consistency are amazing.

I'm not just considering the sound on the air monitor here, but how it sounds in the half-mile or so of coverage area.
I'd spend the money again in a heartbeat.
 
we did a test tonight, sound is really clear but the stereo gen I have is sh**. was showing 120%+ peaks on the mod monitor but sounded like 80%.

i'm going to try again when I have a proper sound card.

For now I have the comrex bric link up feeding the old 8100, just getting off that old energy onix..err I mean RVR stl made it sound 10x better. I'm figuring on keeping the old STL as a backup and running the bric link over the t1 primarily.

i wonder if I can set the bric link to run aes out, run that into the aes in on the lynx 2 card I have then use the analog outs.. the only problem I have with that card is 3 of the 4 analog inputs are gone, lightning hit at the studio about 2 months ago. everything else to do with the card still functions properly just the 3 inputs that were connected to the switcher are gone, as is that switcher. it got hit hard enough to split open every op amp on the board.
 
I've been running BBP on my in-house FM for some time (BBP>Delta Audio card with the Leif suggested bigger capacitors>Broadcast Warehouse 1 watt exciter>Inovonics Mod Monitor) and on the vast majority of programming, the peak control is great. But try playing Three Dog Night - Black And White and the first few seconds of the song modulates about 120% (more if the bass boost is increased). Leif & I have been batting this back & forth & he suggested some things to check that I haven't done yet. It may even be my mod monitor, although it handles stations with Omnias & Optimods with perfect accuracy. I'm wondering if anyone using BBP can play that particular song through it & watch the mod monitor & see if you are achieving perfect peak control? And if so, what sound card>exciter>mod monitor are you using?
 
I will surely check this out for you in the near future. I'm going to have the same card you have, with the same mods feeding a rvr exciter. I have a motorola 2 way radio service monitor on hand as well as the meter on the exciter which have both been calibrated recently.

also, has anyone here had any experience with the pira.cz modulation analyzer?

http://pira.cz/fm_broadcast_analyzer/

only product I have from there is an rds encoder which works great.
 
Explore the Orban site and 8100 manual. I would consider feeding left and right from a processor like this into the stereo geni portion of an 8100A, before trying any other combination. The 8100 contains carefully defined filters just to prevent overshoots you are describing.

Recapping an 8100 is not difficult, mostly you need to replace the 5000 mfd filter caps, the pair of caps on the regulator board on the back panel,( 47 mfd if I recall right) and the caps on the +/- rails, which are also mostly 47 mfd.

I am using just such a "naked" 8100--one with the transmitter cards from an 8100a/ST package, to feed my back-up transmitter. In these dual chassis configurations the input cards, 3 & 4, are replaced with cards containing nothing more than a isolation stage. In my case, an Omnia 3T is our main processor--but both composite outputs are in use, one to the main, one to an STL to a booster, so the processed left and right feed the 8100A, thence to the backup exciter (MX-15) and transmitter. Used it this morning, in fact, when the idiot power company scheduled a "planned outage" for 6 in the morning. My geni can't run the 3 phase main, just the lower power single phase backup.

If you follow the flow chart in the 8100 manual, you'll discover that you can configure a standard 8100 the same way using strategically placed jumpers on the back plane, although you need to be careful about placement of the processor and the design of the the output audio stage to avoid introducing hum and noise.
 
that might be an option, except we do not own the 8100a, it is borrowed. I ordered a m-audio audiophile 192 card this morning, and I'm planning on disabling the high pass filter on the input a/d converter and adding some caps to the input and outputs to bring it up to snuff to generate the composite signal directly.
 
stephend2 said:
has anyone here had any experience with it? I'm currently building up a windows 2000 machine to run it on, as that is what they recommend. I also have an extra lynx two card to throw in it to test it out. Looks good on paper and I've read a few posts around that say it's really good, if it does as advertised it might be worth using.

I figure a windows 2000 pc that is isolated from everyone and everything should be pretty damn stable.
Click to expand...

The breakaway is great! I use it to give my airchecks more smack. Overall it Brightens up everything and the levels are perfect. I do notice it tends to be a little bassy even when I have the bass flat. I've also noticed it can DULL the voice somewhat. Other than that I mainly like it for its AGC control.
 
Still hoping that someone will play Three Dog Night- Black And White through BBP as I described in an earlier post & tell me what kind of peak control is achieved on the first few notes of the song.
 
I'm still planning to do that - on the air late one night and see how it does. I'm still waiting on my rackmount case and sound card to show up then I'll be on the way to getting breakaway on the air.
 
We are using the basic Breakaway on the on-air computer at WRPO-LP in Russell's Point.

It is impressive...the sound quality on the station improved radically...and the more consistent levels it produces has seemed to help a little in fringe coverage areas.

We do have plans to purchase the Breakaway Broadcast version for our transmitter, as soon as we can come up with a comparable computer to run it.
I really think that will improve our signal's sound by a factor of about ten...
 
I'm going to run my own comparison between breakaway asio and the BW DSP-XTRA when we get it back from repair. I think one of the comparisons done on mpxtool.com was with the dspx-mini and dspxtreme.
 
BobOnTheJob said:
Still hoping that someone will play Three Dog Night- Black And White through BBP as I described in an earlier post & tell me what kind of peak control is achieved on the first few notes of the song.
Click to expand...
Just to keep my Three Dog Night request at the top of this list...
 
Trying out "Black and White" in 20 seconds on AM1620.........

I'm very happy with the first few notes. I can tell the piano and bell are of two very different levels, the cowbell really stands above the piano, yet both are full enough to carry well, and I hear no straining or pumping to go back and forth between them.
The bass comes in and I can hear it pulling in a wee bit, but at no time do any of the peaks distort.

No pinching off on the o'scope display. I am using +150 asym mod, and it sounds like WLS did in the old days, but no ducking or sucking.

I admit I am still using it run very conservatively, and follow up the output with an ART Pro VLA (adding two more steps of compresssion,
where the first it quick attack for peaks, then another much slower.)

I'm still extremely happy with my purchase, and would spend the money again for Breakaway Broadcast in a heartbeat.
 
Tom Wells said:
Trying out "Black and White" in 20 seconds on AM1620.........

I'm very happy with the first few notes. I can tell the piano and bell are of two very different levels, the cowbell really stands above the piano, yet both are full enough to carry well, and I hear no straining or pumping to go back and forth between them.
The bass comes in and I can hear it pulling in a wee bit, but at no time do any of the peaks distort.

No pinching off on the o'scope display. I am using +150 asym mod, and it sounds like WLS did in the old days, but no ducking or sucking.

I admit I am still using it run very conservatively, and follow up the output with an ART Pro VLA (adding two more steps of compresssion,
where the first it quick attack for peaks, then another much slower.)

I'm still extremely happy with my purchase, and would spend the money again for Breakaway Broadcast in a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
I too am delighted with BBP...it's a pleasure to listen to for hours on end. Black & White sounds superb. Problem I'm having is when the composite signal is generated from the sound card & fed directly to an exciter (the "real world" method), I get 20-30% over-modulation on the first few notes of Black & White. I need to figure out if that's something I'm doing wrong or if everyone has the same problem. Is there a way that BBP can be fed directly to the transmitter without the other stages of processing to see if the peak control on Black & White is still perfect?
 
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