Is anyone interested in a multiband compressor for the Empeg? This would work much like the Auto Volume Adjust in Hijack, but without the artifacts. The effect is not unlike what you hear on radio stations, but is adjustable to lessen its effect. The technology is said to have very low footprint and if available for the Strongarm, would likely work fine in the Empeg.

How much would you be willing to pay? We wouldn't be able to give it away because there are licensing fees behind the technology used, but perhaps it would be doable if there was enough interest.

When we get the SDK, I should know more.

Stu

I would be interested if it works significantly better than the present auto volume adjust solution, even if there is a (reasonable) price to pay.

Is this purely a software add-on? or is their hardware involved? Either way I’m interested in maybe 2-4 copies, all depending on the price. I'd say less than $100 would be doable.

Strictly software, although a standalone hardware device could also be made. If you would like an idea of how it works, try Octiv's Volume Logic plugins for Winamp (Beta) or iTunes (Final, but buggy).

Stu

I'm in.

More I think about it, though, shouldn't a good multiband compressor be something the Rio guys should look into for future products? And if so, shouldn't an appearance in a carplayer beta be a great place for field testing?

Yes, it should be something for future Rio products and yes software only, at least for now. An interface would still have to be developed for the compressor. The Octiv folks are licensing to Apple and others already. Not sure how they would feel about distributing their code free of charge.

Stu

I am trying Winamp plugin - first impressions are quite positive. One can listen to Dvorak's New World Symphony without waking up anybody, and there is still enough dynamic range left. Likewise Tchaikovsky's 1812; first bars of the choir are not too quiet to be heard, and one still can tell that cannons are intended to be loud; the limiter, of course, kicks in quite often, but it is not perceived as clipping. The only slight 'pumping' I noticed so far was in Tomita's rendering of Stravinsky's Firebird, but that could hardly be avoided: isolated loud 'instruments' over the background that is spectraly almost white.

Anyway, looks as if this might be better than old trusty VolAdj, that served us well all these years (Loren, I couldn't find original VolAdj author in somewhat neglected Hijack FAQ )

I wonder how this will be interfaced with the player? The only way I can see to do it would be to install a replacement libc or something, and use that to intercept and modify the audio in userspace.

Kernel space (Hijack or whatever) is out of the question, since it REQUIRES free unfettered distribution of source code.

Cheers

I can think of three or four people at Rio who could write a multiband compressor with their eyes closed (and probably already have most of the filters required). Unless the license was very cheap I don't see much point paying for it - especially with the GPL implications if this has to be a hijack hack.

I doubt anyone has this technology totally tied up with patents - everyone and their aunt makes them, and there are freeware examples such as C3 (which I have an idea might even be open source). Of course if nobody has the time to write one then I guess that's a factor.

Rob

C3 is only 3 band and not sure how much processor payload is required to use it. To my ears anyway, the code we're considering is the best of any I've heard from software and perhaps the most sophisicated with 5 bands of compression and very low processor/ memory requirements.

Could you guys write a 5 band compressor that would run on the Empeg?

Stu

After looking into this further, it sounds like an Empeg version will not be possible without significant new code. They do not have a version compatible with the Strongarm. It would be a great app for a Mac Mini car stereo though.

Stu