Need Help With Foobar

Amp_Nut schrieb:

I am just testing the waters in Computer audio, and have been toying around with Foobar. The current version (0.95) sems pretty user friendly, and can be configured to look quite a bit like iTunes ( which I am quite familiar with ). However, I have not been able to figure out the following : 1. Can I create a Search Box that will help me quickly find a song, like in iTunes ? 2. How do I configure the Media Library ? Thanks for your time

You can try hitting F3 and then search. About the second thing, just select the folders you want in media library and then use the Columns UI plugin to display it.

THANKS !

Both, Purrfect Solutions !

Any other tips ?

Foobar has associated some of the album art with the relevant songs.

How do I associate album art with songs that Foobar has not linked ?

In iTunes, I simply draged and dropped the alnum art to the display area when the song was selected....

Has anyone used the convolver plugin for foobar?

Has anyone used the convolver plugin for foobar?

Pardon a basis question...... but What is it supposed to do ?

surrealistix schrieb:

Has anyone used the convolver plugin for foobar?

Would have tried it if I had a mic to measure response. The album art plugin can again be dumped into columns UI. Typically there are those tiny thumbnail files that foobar automatically displays if available. How to attach a new one? Well frankly I don't have a clue. I'll post my foobar config once I get home.

Oh btw I hope you are using ASIO for output.

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Has anyone used the convolver plugin for foobar? Pardon a basis question...... but What is it supposed to do ? :?

It takes an inverted impulse response (that you create elsewhere) and convolves it with the music playing. Then you seemingly get perfect sound

You can use a software like RoomEQ to measure your rooms response. export the response and feed it to the convolver plugin.

The Convolver plugin will then create an inverse response.

WOW ! Very interesting ! Thanks for explaining the Convolver

surrealistix schrieb:

You can use a software like RoomEQ to measure your rooms response. export the response and feed it to the convolver plugin. The Convolver plugin will then create an inverse response.

Does it? I thought it only does the convolving, and you'll need to invert the response elsewhere.

You need to create the inverse response yourself I think. However its pretty easy with any audio editor.

I think you are right, the inverse response needs to be created elsewhere.

I have installed a free software called RoomEQ and just got myself a mic from Lamington Rd, so will be trying this out and will report my findings.

What are you going to use to record? The mic and ADC will be the bottleneck if not done properly.

I don't really know much about microphones, so I blindly picked up a super uni-directional electret mic for 1100 bucks. It looks like this: http://www.imagewest.tv/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=54

I have a creative x-fi soundcard, so will hook it up later tonight and see how it works.

Do keep us posted on this. Will be really interesting to know the result.

X-fi is not renowed for its ADCs I can come over with my emu sometime

Zhopudey,

That sounds like an idea. I am free this weekend, want to come over on Saturday?

Bring your hard disk along I have added 70 odd new jazz albums mostly ripped from SACDs to Flac from my brothers collection and they sound really good. Infact a good recording makes the biggest difference in the audio chain wouldn't you agree? http://www.hifi-forum.de/images/tsmilies/3.gif http://www.hifi-forum.de/images/smilies/5.gif
http://www.hifi-forum.de/images/smilies/5.gif

Well, can't make it this weekend. We'll plan something soon

surrealistix said:

I don't really know much about microphones, so I blindly picked up a super uni-directional electret mic for 1100 bucks. It looks like this: http://www.imagewest.tv/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=54 I have a creative x-fi soundcard, so will hook it up later tonight and see how it works.

For Whatever Its Worth - the Real Traps guys ( who are into room correction) say :

1. Most of the correction ... with HUGE ( upto 30 dB ) variations in room sound occurs below 300 Hz.

2. They tested Off The Shelf El Cheapo mics... these were within 1 dB of their Expensive Calibrated mic... upto 300 Hz.

Any feedback on your experiment ?

Guys... need some help (Again ) on Foobar.

I now have switched from iTunes to Foobar as my primary (PC Based ) Music player.

I have a LOT ( about 200 ) Audiophile CDs downloaded as a Single WAV file + Cue sheet.

Foobar handles this Very well.

I have now moved to the next step... Interfacing my Ipod to Foobar.

The Foobar Plug in works well with the ipod, but ( Obviously ? ) gives an error message if I try to load the Large Wav file + Cue sheet, to the IPod.

Any solutions ?

Thanks for your time.

I had no luck with the convolver

I used RoomEQ to analyze and generate an inverse response for my room and fed it to the convolver, I can't tell any difference in sound.

I wonder what I am doing wrong.

I got my Usher speakers couple of days ago, so I am spending more time listening to music and less time analysing it for now :-)

I am spending more time listening to music and less time analysing it for now :-)

What Could Be better ! Congrats


To know just how bad, acoustically, ALL our rooms are, you dont need a mic or ANYTHING expensive or Esoteric.

Just a 3 MB download :

http://www.realtraps.com/test-cd.htm

Download the file, burn as a CD and play it on your system.

It needs some time and patience to listen to the CD, which will simply play out Test tones from 10 Hz to 300 Hz, at 1 Hz intervals, and plays each tone for 1 second.

You will be SHOKED and the unevenness of your Rooms response.

No need for any meter. Anyone who is not stone deaf will hear HUGE variations in the sound volumes at the listner position, even if you shift yr head by 6 inches, when resonance occurs.

Also walk to the position between the 2 speakers, where the Hi Fi gear is normally kept...

The fre response of all rooms typically goes CRAZY abound 100 Hz, 150 Hz and 200 Hz.

Will help better locate speakers, and induce you to seriously consider room treatments as yr next upgrade.

Would VERY MUCH like to receive feedback from others on this CD and its results in yr room.

surrealistix schrieb:

I had no luck with the convolver I used RoomEQ to analyze and generate an inverse response for my room and fed it to the convolver, I can't tell any difference in sound. I wonder what I am doing wrong. I got my Usher speakers couple of days ago, so I am spending more time listening to music and less time analysing it for now :-)

Do give us a detailed review, when you get the time.

Cheers,
K

Perhaps, I wasn't very clear in my earlier post. Amp_Nut, I am not having any problem with identifying peaks and drops in sound level caused due to room nodes.

I was interested to find out what the convolver can do counter room issues.


Microsoft Windows Vista has built in room correction, haven't tried it yet. I did some googling and found this interesting presentation by the Serge Smirnov from Microsoft on digital room correction.

http://www.aes.org/sections/pnw/ppt/room_correction.ppt

I will try to spend some more time with it and see if I get better results.

I've not had a good experience with Vista. Somehow it sounds a bit iffy - both with the EMU 0404 and XFi as SPDIF source. I guess Creative/EMU's ASIO driver is messed up.

surrealistix, thanks for the link. Will check it out, later today.

Can you tell me more about the Room Correction built into Win Vista ? How do I access it ?

Regarding the room correction, yes I understand that you were interested in trying out the Convolver, rather than open loop room correction or room analysis that i mentioned. My post was somewhat on the side. However, the points I wanted to bring out... which would have amn indirect relation to the use of the convolver :

1. Most of the room correction is required below 300 Hz.

2. Room Acoustics are so Grossly out of Wack, that no mic is required to identify the frequencies where there are nodes and anti-nodes.

3. With peaks and troughs of around 30 dB, most amps (and speakers) would run out of steam, trying to cope with a closed loop equalisation scheme, like the convolver.

Amp Nut,

Sorry for the late reply - to access the room correction in Vista, go to control panel -> Sound -> Speaker Properties -> Enhancement Tab.

I agree that the room nodes are quite easy to tell just by listening.

your last comment about the amp and speakers running out of steam, didn't come to my mind at all - it does seem to make sense.

Thanks, surrealistix .

Will check out on my Laptop ( which has Vista ), soon.

Today I am visiting a forum member to listen to the Top-Of-The-Line Meridian CD player

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Today I am visiting a forum member to listen to the Top-Of-The-Line Meridian CD player :)

WOW!!!
Do let us know how it sounds.
And how it compares against a EAC Ripped -> FLAC Converted -> 24Bit -> 196khz -> Studio Master Cut ... ...Just Kidding.

Nice One

Amp Nut it would be interesting to know how different the option that Abhi has mentioned sounds. Really. Seriously looking at various Music server options instead of upgrading my CDP. Thanks!

Really. Seriously looking at various Music server options instead of upgrading my CDP.

As I have mentioned earlier ... Me Too !

However, my tentative conclusion --- for now --- is that for the same money, a CDP sounds better....

I would have blindly agreed with you Amp Nut if I had not attended the Linn DS demo at Prithvi's a few days ago.
The same album played on a Linn CDP was much much better sounding when played on the DS. Yes the DS was an Accurate one level higher in hierarchy than the Majik CDP but the difference was unmistakable. Hence the sudden interest in this and I am trying to explore my options.
Jeeves
And I am not even mentioning the convenience of having music in one place in an organized and logical way, making playlists, streaming music to other rooms etc. In fact the biggest benefit may well be that I might listen to the 90% of the music I have on Cds which I don't listen to now!

Jeeves,

Dont worry we are getting the Majik DS (Already shipped) and then you can compare on par the Majik CDP with the Majik DS.

Personally I was a little confused about the DS tech, but once Adolfo came down and trained me on the DS tech, it was just awesome, it takes 5-7 minutes to set up the system. Period.

IMHO, after hearing the Akurate DS, I totally changed my mind on personally buying a Akurate CDP or a Wadia CDP for my self, have just switched to the Akurate DS after extensive listening every night, I am shocked at the amount of music I have been listening to, 1. Because it sounds better & 2. My whole collection is at my fingertips. I do not need to search for CDs & play them. Everything is on a tablet pc, at a touch of a button I can change genre, artist, album, etc.

I am not saying this because I sell Linn, but because I believe in the product and for me end of the day, its all about sound quality & that's what matter's the most to me! So here's to start saving up for the Akurate DS.

I think that this is the future and there are many others manufacturers who also think so. Not that the CDP will die down, never. Still love the Linn CD-12, Plinius CD-101, Wadia 781i & the AR Ref CDP. All awesome CD players.

My own personal system will be:
Unison Research S6
Rethm Saadhana (cant wait to unpack them)
Akurate DS (still have to save for this)
Plinius CD-101 (Because I already have & love it)
Linn LP12SE (got to save a lot for that)

To each his own

Amp_Nut schrieb:

Today I am visiting a forum member to listen to the Top-Of-The-Line Meridian CD player :)

How was it ? Waiting for your comments and if possible a nice little review .

I had said :

However, my tentative conclusion --- for now --- is that for the same money, a CDP sounds better....

I did know know that I would be proved wrong so soon ...

Yesterday, I heard the AR CD-5 CD player, v/s a Theta Gen VIII + Empirical Audio USB to SPDIF converter and a Laptop running Foobar on Windows.

IMHO, the HDD based system was WAY ahead...

I must add that the music played on both was NOT the same, but to me the HDD sound was Not hard or edgy... though certainly NOT rolled off. The HDD system sound flowed better, more space and resolution, and more relaxed, involving listening.

Ofcourse, a LOT will depend on the CD Player and the external DAC ... but both paths in this case were top notch...

All above IMHO, and the usual Yada yada ... I am not commercially associated with any of the options, and have nothing to gain personally from promoting any one over the other ...

Amp nut I have a feeling this paradigm shift will come quicker than what happened in photography-film vs digital. IMO.

You are probably correct, Jeeves.

I was skeptical when the CD was launched and they said LP would not be the mainstream format in 5 years, but they were correct.

Only setback that I envisage is that the Contect providers - Record Labels, dont want to shift to an electronic format, due to concerns on Piracy. As a result that will not make music widely avilable in Electronic form or pull the plug on CDs....

For a Hardware perspective for audiophiles, I suspect that DAC will re-emerge as 'In Fashion" ... particularly with a USB interface. The USB interface will permit relaunching "Old Wine In New Bottles ? "

Currently DACs are off the mainstream Radar, if prices on Audiogon ( and lack of Ads for new DACs being launched ) are any indication....

Amp nut perhaps with the quality of DACs bundled into the products themselves (look at the link in the Computer speakers post) evolving maybe even stand alone DACs may not be necessary. Who knows we may just a have a 1 TB pen drive with a built in DAC and a remote controller connected to active speakers?!! That will be funny.

Apologize for getting a bit tiresome! But I had to share this with you.

http://news.cnet.com/audiophiliac/

Cheers

Look what I found :

Virtual Valve Tube Simulator Plug In

http://www.enhancedaudio.com/dcvstvv.htm

Its a US $ 99 software that :

Now you can add the lush sounds of analog vacuum tubes to any music production. With the new DCVST Virtual Valve Tube Simulator, you get precise control over 10 Plus simulated vacuum tubes for warmth and an edge you can't get anywhere else.

DCVST Virtual Valve Features




The Virtual-Valve Amplifier is a computer simulation of a number of vacuum tube amplifier circuits. (Valve is the British term for electron tube. We call it the "Virtual Valve Amplifier, because that sounds cooler than "Virtual Tube Amplifier.") Its effect is to add "tube-warmth" to the sound of a recording. This is sometimes desirable to apply to today’s more “sterile” digital recordings. It can also be used to add subtle harmonics to very old recordings. A harmonic exciter is also included with the Virtual Valve Amplifier. It is important to note that the Virtual Valve amplifier is using real tube circuits, and real tube non-linear device characteristics to produce its effect. The wide range of adjustability of this algorithm will allow you to create an amplifier that runs the gamut in sonic performance from "grit-guitar" to "high-end audiophile."

Tube Types Included:
Triode 12AX7

Triode 12AT7

Triode 2A3

Triode 12AU7

Pentode 6EJ7

Push-Pull 2A3

2-Stage Class A

2-Stage Class AB

Exciter

Xformer Class AB

Any one heard or read opinions on this, earlier ?

Whatever it does, have added a bookmark!
Amp nut please let us know before we spend OUR $99!
Jeeves

I'm Not spending !

haha! There is a trial available for free. Wonder if it works.
Incidentally went and ordered a Audioengine AW1 today. In a mood for experimenting!
http://audioengineus...84031875fbd72c257058