Post Reply 
 
Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Equalizer
15-05-2015, 22:10
Post: #1
Equalizer
Today I was listening to some old Cameo albums (word up, single life, machismo) and once again I found that they are mastered awfully. Not only at too low volume, but also with nearly no bass and on the other hand with too harsh treble. This is the same with other recordings, too, like some Prince albums, etc. I wonder why better Hifi amplifiers are missing bass and treble controls and wish, that my naim uniti had some. (Is there a comparable system on the market that offers such controls? Maybe including Loudness controls?)

I came across the idea that I could bass boost the tracks with audacity. This works and it makes much more fun to listen to these old recordings, but it is really much work to find the right settings by experimenting with audacity on a PC, copying the files to the NAS, going to the living room and test the result, only to find that the boost was too much...

So... Well I nearly do not dare to suggest it, as I already can guess the answer (the same as for reply gain support Wink ), but: Wouldn't it be an idea to include an equalizer into minimserver? It could be controlled via the web setting page. And maybe somebody could implement an smartphone app to controll it comfortably. Smile

daydreaming
Gert
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
16-05-2015, 11:43
Post: #2
RE: Equalizer
(15-05-2015 22:10)tarnkappe Wrote:  Today I was listening to some old Cameo albums (word up, single life, machismo) and once again I found that they are mastered awfully. Not only at too low volume, but also with nearly no bass and on the other hand with too harsh treble. This is the same with other recordings, too, like some Prince albums, etc. I wonder why better Hifi amplifiers are missing bass and treble controls and wish, that my naim uniti had some. (Is there a comparable system on the market that offers such controls? Maybe including Loudness controls?)

I came across the idea that I could bass boost the tracks with audacity. This works and it makes much more fun to listen to these old recordings, but it is really much work to find the right settings by experimenting with audacity on a PC, copying the files to the NAS, going to the living room and test the result, only to find that the boost was too much...

So... Well I nearly do not dare to suggest it, as I already can guess the answer (the same as for reply gain support Wink ), but: Wouldn't it be an idea to include an equalizer into minimserver? It could be controlled via the web setting page. And maybe somebody could implement an smartphone app to controll it comfortably. Smile

daydreaming
Gert

You should be able to use the ffmpeg equalizer filter to do this. See this page for some pointers. To specify the necessary filter options for MinimStreamer transcoding, you can use the stream.options property.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
16-05-2015, 19:47 (This post was last modified: 16-05-2015 19:48 by jaaptina.)
Post: #3
RE: Equalizer
(16-05-2015 11:43)simoncn Wrote:  You should be able to use the ffmpeg equalizer filter to do this. See this page for some pointers. To specify the necessary filter options for MinimStreamer transcoding, you can use the stream.options property.

Interesting! But how do you modify f.e. ** ffmpeg -i input.wav -af "equalizer=f=1000:width_type=h:width=200:g=-10" output.wav ** so that it is accepted as stream.options property? Does it work with other file types like mp3 and flac? Huh
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
16-05-2015, 20:50 (This post was last modified: 16-05-2015 20:56 by simoncn.)
Post: #4
RE: Equalizer
(16-05-2015 19:47)jaaptina Wrote:  Interesting! But how do you modify f.e. ** ffmpeg -i input.wav -af "equalizer=f=1000:width_type=h:width=200:g=-10" output.wav ** so that it is accepted as stream.options property? Does it work with other file types like mp3 and flac? Huh

You should set stream.options to the following:

convOut=-af equalizer=f=1000:width_type=h:width=200:g=-10

This should work with any valid transcoding combination of input type and output type that requires a stream converter (i.e., most combinations except FLAC input with WAV or LPCM output). In a future release of MinimStreamer, it should be possible to check the stream.options property and force the use of a converter if stream.options is set.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
16-05-2015, 22:58
Post: #5
RE: Equalizer
(16-05-2015 20:50)simoncn Wrote:  You should set stream.options to the following:

convOut=-af equalizer=f=1000:width_type=h:width=200:g=-10

This should work with any valid transcoding combination of input type and output type that requires a stream converter (i.e., most combinations except FLAC input with WAV or LPCM output). In a future release of MinimStreamer, it should be possible to check the stream.options property and force the use of a converter if stream.options is set.

This is great! Recently I have bought a Behringer DEQ2496 to dampen a bass problem at 58Hz and highten the treble. If I can get Minimstreamer to do this I'm very happy. The "convOut=-af" part I don't understand but I'm happy to use. I will start experimenting with the equalizer options. This is what I'll try to accoplish:
[Image: 2015-02-22%2B18.02.16.jpg]
[Image: 2015-02-11%2B08.32.14.jpg]
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
17-05-2015, 09:25
Post: #6
RE: Equalizer
(16-05-2015 22:58)jaaptina Wrote:  This is great! Recently I have bought a Behringer DEQ2496 to dampen a bass problem at 58Hz and highten the treble. If I can get Minimstreamer to do this I'm very happy. The "convOut=-af" part I don't understand but I'm happy to use. I will start experimenting with the equalizer options.

The value of convOut is a string that is passed unchanged to the converter (ffmpeg) as an output option. In this example, the string is

-af equalizer=f=1000:width_type=h:width=200:g=-10

The string can contain anything that is accepted by ffmpeg as an output option. For more details of what you can put in the string, you will need to read the ffmpeg documentation.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
17-05-2015, 09:51
Post: #7
RE: Equalizer
(16-05-2015 22:58)jaaptina Wrote:  I will start experimenting with the equalizer options.

I use convOut=-af equalizer=f=3520:width_type=o:width=4:g=4 to give the trebble a boost. This works fine.
To apply the change hit the apply button and restart MinimServer.

The reference frequentie f is the middel of the bandwidth that is boosted.
Width_type o means the bandwidth is set in octaves.
(for octave frequenties 55, 110, 220Hz etc., see Wikipdia)

Changing the boost value g (gain) between -4 and 4 the difference is easy to hear.
Be careful not to blow your speakers with higher gain values!

You can set the bandwidth in Hz too (width_type h), however the maximum bandwith is 999Hz. In the higher frequenties (5kHz) this bandwith is to small to hear a difference.

I also tried convOut=-af equalizer=f=58:width_type=h:width=4:g=-8 to suppress the bass. This needs more experimenting on.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
17-05-2015, 10:00
Post: #8
Photo RE: Equalizer
According to the ffmpeg equalizer instructions you should be able to combine several equalizer settings by separating them with a ", ".

However convOut=-af equalizer=f=3520:width_type=o:width=4:g=4, equalizer=f=58:width_type=o:width=1:g=-4 is not accepted by MinimServer and convOut=-af equalizer=f=3520:width_type=o:width=4:g=4, convOut=-af equalizer=f=58:width_type=o:width=1:g=-4 only seems to use the last setting.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
17-05-2015, 15:29
Post: #9
RE: Equalizer
(17-05-2015 10:00)jaaptina Wrote:  According to the ffmpeg equalizer instructions you should be able to combine several equalizer settings by separating them with a ", ".

However convOut=-af equalizer=f=3520:width_type=o:width=4:g=4, equalizer=f=58:width_type=o:width=1:g=-4 is not accepted by MinimServer and convOut=-af equalizer=f=3520:width_type=o:width=4:g=4, convOut=-af equalizer=f=58:width_type=o:width=1:g=-4 only seems to use the last setting.

The convOut string can't contain a comma because this would be interpreted as a delimiter for the next option in the stream.options property. I will look into how I can provide a solution for this.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
17-05-2015, 18:11
Post: #10
RE: Equalizer
(17-05-2015 15:29)simoncn Wrote:  The convOut string can't contain a comma because this would be interpreted as a delimiter for the next option in the stream.options property. I will look into how I can provide a solution for this.

Thanks. I'll keep sharing my user experiences to ease maybe the way for other users.
Find all posts by this user
Quote this message in a reply
Post Reply 


Forum Jump:


User(s) browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)