You need to set a 5.1 speaker system first in the Audigy2ZS before the bass management tab becomes active. Similar to the bass redirection option in foo_channel_mixer, this controls the sub volume and xover frequency.

Thanks skipy for trying to explain. From your explanation, your surround mode option is similar to creative's cmss3d first or second options, where only a portion of the signal is sent to the rears/center. If I simply want stereo surround (similar to cmss 3rd option), I need to use the 'copy' mode! That disables all the RiF and FiR options... Now in surround mode if I set RiF to 1 then I get true stereo from front, right? Also add LFE (BIG systems) was checked off, no wonder I was getting too much bass... I liked the settings FiR=0.8 and RiF=1.00, rear volume at 0.8. If I tried setting the volume and/or FiR to higher values I was getting quite a bit of distortion just as boombard posted.

In copy mode there are no "rear" or "front" channels - they are exactly the same. In that case, why to mix it?


Exactly.


It very much depends on a musical material. I had idea to scan tracks, as replaygain do, to automatically apply gain to the rear channels...

I have been too used to 'surround stereo' music. My old SB Live simply did this when 4.1/5.1 was selected.
I also like the stereo separation so the RiF set to 1.0 achieves this. I agree yours actually tries to send effects to different channels. Some music sounds good when this is done, on some soundstage is lost. But yes, your foo_channel_mixer is great software that is achieving very very decent surround sound effects from stereo stream. And also allows 'copy' mode and fine tuning of the surround upmixing, unlike Creative's 3 simple/stupid options. Eternally grateful...

any plan to make a profile switcher panel thingy in a futur release? you know, like a playlist switcher but for your plugin. i use my headphones 50% of the time and a 5.1 system the other 50%. i dont like having to go in the preferences everytime i want to switch profiles depending on what i'm using, headphones or 5.1 system. it would be really handy to have that little panel thingy.

thanks for the plugin by the way!

AFAIK, it's possible by hack only...
Anyway, CM's profiles is interfere with new DSP presets feature. Vote in this thread to make it more usable.

Any chance of seeing 6.1 or 7.1 support?

I've got 6.1 speakers and I'm lacking rear center.

I've found a quick workaround by setting RC as RR in Foobar ASIO, but it plays the same sound as RR, and I would like for example 50% of RL and 50% of RR into RC or maybe something different than that.

A naive question, perhaps: why is this plugin better than Creative's CMSS 3D? That is, you sure get more per-channel control, but what particular improvements does this yield for a, say, 5.1 system? A working central speaker? Does it make a sound difference?

It is definitely more per channel control, surround control, spacing control as well as sub-woofer control. e.g. you can make your center much louder. With creative you simply have no options.

I wish to add here that with fb2k 0.9, none of creative's settings (cmss3d or bass redirection) worked. I feel that maybe I had installed the beta by mistake. Therefore without foo_channel_mixer, fb2k was not quite complete. With the latest 0.9.1 from foobar2000.org, all of creative's settings now work, if foo_channel_mixer is set to bypass. Again this may be violating whatever TOS, but either way as far as the stereo separation effects to surround sound go, cmss3d and foo_channel_mixer are almost similar. As posted earlier, in my case the sound from fb2k/channel_mixer is more 'fuller' and with more low end, I suspect as a result of my sub setting to 'leave satellites intact'. This does result in them contributing since they are capable (62.5 +/- 3db). In creative's case, you have no such option - it redirects all sound below the cut-off to the sub.

Edit: Simply try it out yourself and set it to what your ears like.

I'll not promise anything. Maybe...

What position should channel_mixer have in the DSP chain (relative to SSRC, Volume Control, Noise Sharpening)?

Thanks

Unless you have other DSPs working that do something to the channel signals (like a crossfeed, for example), in most cases the last position should do best.

Hi skipyrich,

I'm using your great extension with a Audigy 2NX and the latest 0.9.1. I seem to have a problem. It stops working unless I reinstall the component. I have a Teufel 5.1 System (Magnum E). I seem to only have sound on the two frontspeakers and the bass.
For testing I'm using the 6-channel setting without touching anything else.

Do you have any ideas ore want more information?

PS: It's also not working with channel_mixer beeing the only component in DSP-chain..

edit:
I just disabled the two frontchannels (chechboxes). The sound gets more silent and still only comes out of the two front-speakers. This time reinstalling the plugin didn't have any effect. I also noticed, that removing and adding channel_mixer stopped the playback of a file (.ogg). Unpausing didn't work - I had to click stop and start.

edit2:
sorry, I seam to suddenly have a problem with my soundsystem. The rear and the centerspeaker are only working with cmss enabled. The audiotest of the creative-drivers are also negative for center, rear-left and rear-right.


edit3:
got it back working. Hardwareacceration for audio in directx was set to low. *grrr*

Just before the "advanced limiter", that should always be last. (eliminates possible clipping).
In foobar2000 versions before 0.9, volume (if you use it) should best be after Channel Mixer too.

Great plugin! I love it but i have two problems with it.
1. If i listen to music it somtimes stops. If i fast forward och rewind it starts playing again.
2. Sometime the music slows down. If i pause and then resumes playback it continues.

Do you know why?
I'm using a integrated Nvidia SoundStorm.

I'm having the exact same problem, also using an integrated Nvidia Soundstorm on an Abit NF7-S. Music will occasionally slow down or go out of synch and will sometimes abruptly stop mid-track.

1. Try to set up "Convert stereo to 4 channels" as single DSP. Is this problem persist?
2. Run dxdiag and try to set hardware acceleration for audio to minimum. Same question...

Don't use ASIO or KS!

The "Convert stereo to 4 channels" DSP has always worked great for me. I reduced hardware acceleration from 'full" to "basic" in the DirectX diagnostic tool, and that seems to have cleared up the problem (at least in the last hour I've been listening since reducing hardware acceleration). I would like to have my hardware acceleration set to full though, anything else I can do to avoid synch/stopping issues? Thanks for the help by the way!

Why don't use ASIO or KS?

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer, sorry


While KS may work perfectly with 2-ch audio, multichannel audio may bring it down.
I had some problems with ASIO when CPU is used hard.

To test Channel Mixer please use default output device.

I'm using ASIO output because then I can make use of RC (it plays RL or RR, but it makes sound anyway).

I've got X-Fi set on Audio Creation Mode with Bit-Matched playback, DSP @ 44.1 and ASIO is working great with Your plugin.
I've never had any issues ;-)

Btw. I was wondering, how does Channel Mixer create FC channel? Is it just a plain 50/50 FR/FL or it uses some other filters?

This plugin is great, I like it better than CMSS-3D.

It is just a (FR+FL)/2.

Second that...

Plus it works when seeking ^^

And it does not lower the volume ;p

It would be nice to add ability to equalize all channels separately, so we will be able to route only hi-frequency tones on center channel.
There is a great EQ in fb2k, but as far as I know it can't be used to only one channel.
That's of course only my wish ;p

Gosh, when I'm looking at all those plugins I'd like to know how to code something like this

Just in case that the author of this plugin doesn't look into threads in the general HA area. Here is a topic where I have a question regarding the plugin's downmixing behaviour: Downmixing 5.1 to Stereo. I'd greatly appreciate a comment.

Hello skypy,

I've run into a bass problem with ChannelMixer. I've just moved from a plain stereo to a surround configuration (Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic + Inspire T6060 speaker set.)

Foobar sounds good and clean when playing in stereo but, as soon as I insert ChannelMixer in the DSP chain, it all becomes too rich in low frequencies. I've played with the configuration a bit but it doesn't get much better.

As a temporary fix, I've added in the Equalizer and set the 110 Hz band to -10 dB. I've tried other upmixers which don't exhibit this problem, however I like the sound of ChannelMixer better.

Can you please help me understand why this happens so I can fix it ?

This is the BEST foobar plugin, esp in the DSP. I have a logitech 5300 5.1 280 THX certified, and with this plugin the listeitng experience is amazing. Noene of the other DPS - 5.1/upmixing related do the job as good as this plug in! Outstanding!

One questoin:

If I have the 5.1 speakers, and chaintech 7.1 card, what setting of the plugin i need to use:

5 channel
or
6 channel

^ is the way to go if you want to control the subwoofer.

how can i fast change my channel_mixer profile? every time i must go to file->pref->dsp-> channel mixer->configure selected
i'm using headphones 5.1 and speakers 5.1 and don't want to enter there every time i need to change profile
are there any way to do if faster?

btw. someone knows any related topic to configure headphones 5.1?
already i've notice there should be bass redirection and maybe "rear in front" and "front in rear" a bit lower

2MusX
There is no way to do that thing at this moment.

You could do Control-P (in preferences stay at DSP manager), make a DSP preset for headphone and one for speakers (choose it and load).


switch to 2 channels for headphones?

Hosting site is dead. Anyone has a mirror?

Oops... I didn't check the site after changing some settings. The site is available again.

That was fast Thanks!

I got a problem with Volume in new Foobar2000 0.9.4.2, because when i activate Channel Mixer Volume Control in Foobar2000 doesn't work, i think it's because in this version of Foobar there isn't a Volume Control DSP, anyone know how to solve this problem?

2dred111: Can't reproduce on all default profiles.

hi. it's me again.
i think channel mixer is a really awesome plugin. but i think it could be updating much often. there are lots of thing to do.
i just realize how configurable is ffdshow audio decoder.
you should check it out... this matrix seems to be very usefull!


concretely what to do?

1. special presets for suitable speakers (3/3.1/4/4.1/etc..../5.1headphones/7.1headphones). not just the number of channels like now
2. tutorial how to set best delay/other settings considerating range of speakers
3. and lots more.

if you want your plugin will the best you must improve it! i've started studing computer scientist, maybe some of my skills could be helpful soon

Channel Mixer now is in total rewriting stage, that don't allow to publish any intermediate updates. BTW, your suggestion [1] is in development

great news dude! if you know any dates of first betas just drop them here so we will know when check thread again for new version

btw. 5.1/7.1 headphones are pretty rare so i think you may not consider them creating presets. anyway i would like to drop a link so you could put an eye on such headphones: http://www.genius-europe.com/en/produktdet...D=30&ID3=72
there are many USB 5.1/7.1 headphones which are in my opinion very poor cause USB isn't adaptated for sound. does you plugin work for USB multichannel sound systems?

Version: 0.9.5

- added: Realtime settings change
- changed: Maximum value of delays
- fixed: Too high subwoofer volume

http://skipyrich.com/store/foo_channel_mixer.7z

Ah, so I wasn't imagining this
As always, thanks for the update. The real-time settings change is appreciated.

skipyrich, thank you for upgrading your great plugin!

Thanks Skipyrich. I do have a question though, much obliged for a reply. Since I have a direct 6ch (5.1) connection, I had found your plugin very useful as it allowed me to also get LFE through the satellites unlike Creatives CMSS. This made the sound much much better and I have set it just almost perfectly after a lot of trial and error and different types of music, including sub-woofer volume. If I update, will I need to re-do all my settings?

2sandeep108: The current update is not major, you will need to correct LFE volume only if you previously set it to extremely low value (like 0.01) to prevent overload.

awesome! thank you buddy

Great plugin! I have a question: is the 2.1 speaker support planned, or do you think that it's not needed?

A matrix-mixer version of plugin is in development, but it eats too much CPU (~10 times slower than 0.9.5)... When I optimize it, you will able to use any channel configuration

btw. could you tell me one thing... what are the differences between your plugin and ProLogic II?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prologic
prologic2 seems to have some constant matrix-mixer... same as your plugin
soo... isn't your current version of plugin just prologicII plug for foo with different matrix-mixer?