SPECWEB (Now 2.2)

[HomerJAU]

If you over sample then it takes longer as it adds over sampling and when re-sampling steps at end - Plus SpecWeb takes longer to process since the over sampled file is larger.

You may like to check the difference between over-sampling and non over sampling. I (& others) found it resolved some MCH issues in certain files that contain frequencies like prominent snare drums and types of guitar tuning that gives a swishing effect or they sound weird/distorted.

 

[GOS]

OK Garry. I am now listening to the fruits of my patience (or lack of ) I think you have nailed it. This is just superb. The results of this upmix are outstanding. I converted Uriah Heep - very 'eavy very 'umble and it just sounds wonderful I think. You are a genius.... Serious.... This is just sweet and easy to use.

 

[zeerround]

Probably the helper should have its own thread, and then with each new release the post at the top of the thread gets updated with the latest version, and a post in the thread saying:

Post at top of thread updated with...

At least that's how I do it on the Spec dev forum. It means people don't have to read through a bunch of posts to find the latest, yet they get notified (if subscribed) when a new version is posted.

Just sayin...

 

[GOS]

And I want to say...it's not clear to me who is doing what in terms of the SpecWeb program...but props to all involved. It's a really nice program. Thanks all...

 

[HomerJAU]

OK Garry. I am now listening to the fruits of my patience (or lack of ) I think you have nailed it. This is just superb. The results of this upmix are outstanding. I converted Uriah Heep - very 'eavy very 'umble and it just sounds wonderful I think. You are a genius.... Serious.... This is just sweet and easy to use.

You need to thanks zeerround for SpecWeb. He is the genius!

 

[HomerJAU]

Probably the helper should have its own thread, and then with each new release the post at the top of the thread gets updated with the latest version, and a post in the thread saying:

Post at top of thread updated with...

Just sayin...

Yes, I agree. I was just thinking to do that.

Only issue with updating the first post is the QQ stops post editing after a couple of days or so.

But I will start a Helper thread later today.

 

[GOS]

You need to thanks zeerround for SpecWeb. He is the genius!

Well, that's what I was wondering.....who..what..where. OK - Zee! NIce job, you must be a program machine. So excellent.... I'll gladly give some money towards the effort. Well worth it.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Could somebody maybe write up a Specweb/Helper for Dummies? I'd love to try it again, but really don't have time or passion to figure out command line to make it work.
If some of us have stumbled upon good settings as a starting point, that'd be cool. So far, the defaults haven't sounded very good to me. My use case is hi-res flac - do I need the helper?
Sorry, haven't had time to read the whole thread, at this point.

 

[GOS]

So, I'm trying AC/DC next.... HIgh Voltage...that should be LOADS of fun...I'll let y'all know how it sounds.

 

[arnold_layne]

I ran Dogs by Pink Floyd from the 2011 remaster through specweb. Just default settings. Turned out pretty good.

 

[HomerJAU]

Here is the QQ Specweb Helper thread. Please post all Helper questions etc there:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...Web-Helper-App&p=278811&viewfull=1#post278811

 

[skherbeck]

So, I'm trying AC/DC next.... HIgh Voltage...that should be LOADS of fun...I'll let y'all know how it sounds.

I did Let There Be Rock from a vinyl rip... Great separation of the Young brothers guitars in the rear speakers!

 

[HomerJAU]

Could somebody maybe write up a Specweb/Helper for Dummies? I'd love to try it again, but really don't have time or passion to figure out command line to make it work.
If some of us have stumbled upon good settings as a starting point, that'd be cool. So far, the defaults haven't sounded very good to me. My use case is hi-res flac - do I need the helper?
Sorry, haven't had time to read the whole thread, at this point.

You don't need the command-line to get started (but you will have to read the SpecWeb manual to understand how to get the best out of its settings)

 

[edisonbaggins]

You don't need the command-line to get started (but you will have to read the SpecWeb manual to understand how to get the best out of its settings)

Right. Not gonna happen. At least not now. Thus, my post...
Not meaning to sound like an ungrateful ass at all. Just pointing out that, to a certain segment of the intended audience, information on how to do cool stuff is pretty obtuse, at this point. User-friendly documentation is an important part of application roll-out.

 

[zeerround]

Well, that's what I was wondering.....who..what..where. OK - Zee! NIce job, you must be a program machine. So excellent.... I'll gladly give some money towards the effort. Well worth it.

Thanks. It's been a multi year (I think since about 2007 or 8) with lots of support from some folks here and others on the Surroundbyus.com and beta testing forums.

and yes Garry is doing amazing work on the QQ Helper. Way cool!

 

[zeerround]

So far, the defaults haven't sounded very good to me. My use case is hi-res flac

Most people have been very positive about the default settings, but I'll be interested to hear what you've found and like better.

With Hi-Rez it's important to up the FFT size. I'd use:

44.1 or 48Khz source use 8192 FFT size (-N8192)
88.2 or 96Khz source use 16384 FFT size (-N16384)
176 or 192Khz source use 32768 FFT size (-N32768)

Also I recommend up sampling your source 2x (if it's not already 176 or 192Khz anyway), and use the upsampled bit rate as your guide to choose the FFT size from the above table (vs. the original source rate).

All of this is stuff Garry is making easy with the helper app, along with renaming/retagging, etc. etc.

 

[HomerJAU]

Most people have been very positive about the default settings, but I'll be interested to hear what you've found and like better.

With Hi-Rez it's important to up the FFT size. I'd use:

44.1 or 48Khz source use 8192 FFT size (-N8192)
88.2 or 96Khz source use 16384 FFT size (-N16384)
176 or 192Khz source use 32768 FFT size (-N32768)

Also I recommend up sampling your source 2x (if it's not already 176 or 192Khz anyway), and use the upsampled bit rate as your guide to choose the FFT size from the above table (vs. the original source rate).

All of this is stuff Garry is making easy with the helper app, along with renaming/retagging, etc. etc.

Helper automatically uses zeerround's recommended FFT Size settings above in SpecWeb. By default Helper uses its own FFT Size setting: 'Auto (recommended)' to use above SpecWeb settings when converting to MCH. Helper 'Auto' uses either the stereo (source) sample rate or the over-sampled rate (if Over Sampling) to auto select the optimum from zeerround's list above.

 

[MC Maniac]

Right. Not gonna happen. At least not now. Thus, my post...
Not meaning to sound like an ungrateful ass at all. Just pointing out that, to a certain segment of the intended audience, information on how to do cool stuff is pretty obtuse, at this point. User-friendly documentation is an important part of application roll-out.

I have two buddies who love surround like I do - Neither are that computer savvy, and no way would they want to attempt to do conversions - they would give me CD's and ask me to do them.

The new methods here are for the most part designed to make this easy enough for a beginner. Web based - so now simple to install. With plogue, it was a real pita just to install it and get rid of those red boxes.

Zeeround is adding some things to improve it, and dropping others that have minimal impact and will simplify it even more.

Soon I plan on helping my two friends do their own conversions - I wont even show them the Spec Play Icon as neither has a 5.1 soundcard on their PC, and wont initially show them the helper - they will just use the default settings and not bother upsampling - they wont need to use the documentation which is quite good IMO..

They will be very happy with the results too..

 

[RobJam]

Garry, if I install the latest version of helper will it automatically overwright the current version, or do I need to uninstall that first? BTW I think the feature works really well, takes longer to convert but that's no biggie. Thanks for all your work on the helper.

 

[skherbeck]

Another user mentioned this earlier, but I just wanted to emphasize 'cause I experienced it and it sounds BAD when it happens... If you have an album that has a quiet intro as the first track, which then leads into a much louder song as the second track, it's best to process them both as a single track (join the flac/wav files together before running the single track through SpecWeb); if you don't, the intro will be overly loud and boomy and the transition from the intro to the follow-up track will be jarring.