lossyWAV 1.2.0 released, Added noise WAV bitdepth reduction method Options

[Nick.C]

lossyWAV 1.2.0 is released.

lossyWAV is a near lossless audio processor which dynamically reduces the bitdepth of the signal on a block-by-block basis. Bitdepth reduction adds white noise to the processed output.

Changes from 1.1.0c:

• Now compatible with FFTW (requires libfftw3-3.dll to exist on the path);
• Spreading function changed;
• Noise shaping now off by default - can be switched on to automatic or user specified value;
• Introduction of --altpreset parameter which modifies internal presets and lowers upper frequency limit used in determining noise floor to 15.16kHz;
• Major code cleanup.

Download [maintenance release 1.2.0b]:

• Executable  lossyWAV_1.2.0b.zip ( 76.17K ) Number of downloads: 482
  
• Source  lossyWAV_Source_20101122_1.2.0b.zip ( 209.64K ) Number of downloads: 207
  

This post has been edited by Nick.C: Dec 2 2010, 21:48

[Nick.C]

CODE

lossyWAV 1.2.0, Copyright © 2007,2008,2009 Nick Currie. Copyleft.

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

Process Description:

lossyWAV is a near lossless audio processor which dynamically reduces the
bitdepth of the signal on a block-by-block basis. Bitdepth reduction adds white
noise to the processed output. The amount of permissible added noise is based
on analysis of the signal levels in the default frequency range 20Hz to 16kHz.

If signals above the upper limiting frequency are at an even lower level, they
can be swamped by the added noise. This is usually inaudible, but the behaviour
can be changed by specifying a different --limit (in the range 10kHz to 20kHz).

For many audio signals there is little content at very high frequencies and
forcing lossyWAV to keep the added noise level lower than the content at these
frequencies can increase the bitrate dramatically for no perceptible benefit.

Usage   : lossyWAV <input wav file> <options>

Example : lossyWAV musicfile.wav

Quality Options:

-I, --insane         highest quality output, suitable for transcoding;
-E, --extreme        high quality output, also suitable for transcoding;
-S, --standard       default quality output, considered to be transparent;
-P, --portable       good quality output for DAP use, not fully transparent.
-Z, --zero           lowest quality preset, probably contains artifacts.

Standard Options:

-C, --correction     write correction file for processed WAV file; default=off.
-f, --force          forcibly over-write output file if it exists; default=off.
-h, --help           display help.
-L, --longhelp       display extended help.
-M, --merge          merge existing lossy.wav and lwcdf.wav files.
-o, --outdir <t>     destination directory for the output file(s).
-v, --version        display the lossyWAV version number.
-w, --writetolog     create (or add to) lossyWAV.log in the output directory.

Advanced Options:

-                    if filename="-" then WAV input is taken from STDIN.
-t, --altpreset      enable alternative preset model which changes default
                     behaviour regarding limit and shaping (if selected).
-a, --analyses       set number of FFT analysis lengths, (3<=n<=5), default=2.
    --blockdist      show distribution of lowest / highest significant bit of
                     input codec-blocks and bit-removed codec-blocks.
-c, --check          check if WAV file has already been processed; default=off.
                     errorlevel=16 if already processed, 0 if not.
-i, --impulse        force use of additional shorter FFT analysis; default=off,
                     automatic for -q 3 and above.
-l, --limit <n>      set upper frequency limit to be used in analyses to n Hz;
                     (10000<=n<=20000), default=16000.
    --linkchannels   Revert to original single bits-to-remove value for all
                     channels rather than channel dependent bits-to-remove.
    --maxclips <n>   set max. number of acceptable clips per channel per codec
                     block. (0<=n<=16) Default = (3,3,3,3,2,1,0,0,0,0,0).
-m, --midside        analyse 2 channel audio for mid/side content.
-q, --quality <n>    quality preset (0.000<=n<=10.000); (10=highest, 0=lowest;
                     default = --standard = 5; --insane = 10; --extreme = 7.5;
                     --portable = 2.5; --zero = 0)
    --sampledist     show distribution of lowest / highest significant bit of
                     input samples and bit-removed samples.
    --scale <n>      scaling factor from WaveGain, etc; (0.0<n<=8.0),default=1.
-s, --shaping [n]    enable fixed noise shaping, automatic if no value input.
                     (0.00<=n<=1.00); automatic = q/10; 0.00 = off, 1.00 = 100%
                     effectiveness, 0.50 = 50%, etc.
    --stdout         write processed WAV output to STDOUT.
    --stdinname <t>  pseudo filename to use when input from STDIN.
-U, --underlap <n>   enable underlap mode to increase number of FFT analyses
                     performed at each FFT length, (2<=n<=8); default=2.
-X, --sortspread     enable sort based spreading; default=off.

System Options:

-B, --below          set process priority to below normal.
-d, --detail         enable detailed bits-to-remove information output mode
    --low            set process priority to low.
-n, --nowarnings     suppress lossyWAV warnings.
-Q, --quiet          significantly reduce screen output.
    --silent         no screen output.

Special thanks go to:

David Robinson       for the publication of his lossyFLAC method, guidance, and
                     the motivation to implement his method as lossyWAV.

Horst Albrecht       for ABX testing, valuable support in tuning the internal
                     presets, constructive criticism and all the feedback.

Sebastian Gesemann   for the noise shaping coefficients and help in using them
                     in the lossyWAV noise shaping implementation.

Matteo Frigo and     for the excellent libfftw3-3.dll contained in the FFTW
Steven G Johnson     distribution (v3.2.1 or v3.2.2).

Mark G Beckett       for the Delphi unit that provides an interface to the
(Univ. of Edinburgh) relevant fftw routines in libfftw3-3.dll.

Don Cross            for the Complex-FFT algorithm originally used.

Link to the hydrogenaudio wiki article

Suggested foobar2000 converter setup:

lossyFLAC:

CODE

Encoder: c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe
Extension: lossy.flac
Parameters: /d /c c:\"program files"\bin\lossywav - --standard --silent --stdout|c:\"program files"\bin\flac - -b 512 -5 -f -o%d
Format is: lossless or hybrid
Highest BPS mode supported: 24

lossyTAK:

CODE

Encoder: c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe
Extension: lossy.tak
Parameters: /d /c c:\"program files"\bin\lossywav - --standard --silent --stdout|c:\"program files"\bin\takc -e -p2m -fsl512 -ihs - %d
Format is: lossless or hybrid
Highest BPS mode supported: 24

lossyWV:

CODE

Encoder: c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe
Extension: lossy.wv
Parameters: /d /c c:\"program files"\bin\lossywav - --standard --silent --stdout|c:\"program files"\bin\wavpack -hm --blocksize=512 --merge-blocks -i - %d
Format is: lossless or hybrid
Highest BPS mode supported: 24

Enclose the element of the path containing spaces within double quotation marks ("), e.g. C:\"Program Files"\directory_where_executable_is\executable_name. This is a Windows limitation.


This post has been edited by Nick.C: Apr 8 2011, 12:51

Reason for edit: Failed attempt at assigning a codebox.