WinAmp DSP plugins for Potplayer Tomsteady

[loninappleton]

This is a new setting for PotPlayer in audio.

The Tomsteady plugin is for WinAmp.
WinAmp DSP is shown as an option in Potplayer
The Tomsteady " 'arithmetic' (recommended)" is shown as an option in Potplayer Normalization tab.

But at the PotPlayer WinAmp DSP tab, the window is empty.

What needs to be done?

The goal is to get the fully functioning TomSteady (I'll find a screen shot if needed in
an old thread) set for midnight audio-- the full compression settings to suppress loud passages.

Step one: I apparently need to get the Tomsteady DSP and install it.

[loninappleton]

I now have the Tomsteady downlaod from Winamp. For those interested here is direct link:

http://winamp.dpedu.io/Plugins/DSP%20Effect/TomSteady/

It's on the desktop and cautioned to install it to Winamp plugins folder. I do not have Winamp
on here.

Apparently Winamp needs to be installed. The DSP screen shows a _path_ to Winamp plugins.

Potplayer does have a Winamp Plugins listing in Preferences under Audio > Normalization.

Plus I need to know how to open the thing to use it's adjustment sliders.

[Marsia Mariner]

Just create the folder %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Winamp\Plugins and then copy the plugin DLL into it.

[Marsia Mariner]

P.S.: use 7-Zip for extracting the DLL and the readme from the installer.

[loninappleton]

Thanks for the help. This seems an easier solution since Winamp shows no development in the Videohelp software section since 2013.

I'll report any progress.

And I was going over old threads for all things midnight audio. hello_hello mentioned some programs for MPCHC
I never got used to using that.

What I've done when encoding is use some special programs (free) for leveling the audio for voice
and late night non dynamic viewing (no surround, none of that.) Are there any current recommendations
fort this kind of DSP besides the normalizing controls in PotPlayer?

[loninappleton]

Success.

I see that the Tomsteady is installed. Clicking on it then going below the DSP window to the Settings button opens the Tomsteady slider setup.

That's as far as I am.

"Format Sample Rate" is blinking furiously. I don't know if that's a screen refresh problem or what.

[hello_hello]

As far as I know TomSteady is built into Potplayer, so you don't need to install the plugin to use it. Just select it under the Audio/Normalise section.

If you want to try a couple of other compressor DSPs, try RockSteady or LoudMax. If you search the forum for RockSteady and my user name you should find a post with the settings I use.

http://winampheritage.com/plugin/rocksteady-2-1/1099
http://loudmax.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/loudmax-plugin-v116-released.html

I'm pretty sure RoclSteady only supports stereo audio, so you'd need to enable Potplayer's downmixing. I'm pretty sure LoudMax supports multichannel.

[loninappleton]

Greetings hello_hello.

Yes I recall you recommended Rocksteady etc WRT MPC-HT.

I'm always on the lookout for -- here the language confuses me-- compression or gain control
as with file conversion with Levelator.

I just looked for that in videohelp software and it is not in the list.
Could that be added since I've referred to it and used it so often? It's free but no longer in development.

I would post the link next time.

[hello_hello]

If you send a PM to Baldrick and ask he might add Levelator to the software list for you. You'd probably have to send him a copy of the program, or a link to it.

Personally I don't think Levelator is the best choice for compressing while converting. It was really designed for compressing/levelling speech specifically. Plus if I remember correctly you need to feed it a wave file which isn't always ideal when converting one format to another. For converting I still use RockSteady sometimes but it's a bit of a pain as it only comes as a WinAmp plugin. ffmpeg comes with the Dynamic Audio Normalizer built in and it works pretty much the same way as RockSteady (the standalone version of the Dynamic Audio Normalizer isn't as GUI friendly as the ffmpeg version).

I have a preset for converting set up in foobar2000 with the following command line. It might look a bit convoluted but it compresses with ffmpg/Dynamic Audio Normalizer, then sends the audio to QAAC for conversion to AAC.

/d /c c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\ffmpeg.exe -i - -ignore_length true -c:a pcm_f32le -af dynaudnorm=f=150 -f wav - | c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\QAAC\qaac.exe --ignorelength -s --no-optimize --no-delay -V 63 -o %d -

Or you could simply compress and convert to MP3 with ffmpeg with this command line in foobar2000:

-i - -ignore_length true -af dynaudnorm=f=150 -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 %d

It just means you can open any type of audio foobar2000 can decode (which is just about any format with the help of additional plugins) and compress it and convert to another format with a couple of mouse clicks. Or you could use a different GUI such as AnotherGUI which is quite handy for working with ffmpeg.

Compression or gain control etc.... I think the terminology all amounts to much the same thing... reducing the difference between the quieter and louder parts of audio to make the volume more consistent.

[loninappleton]

As far as I know TomSteady is built into Potplayer, so you don't need to install the plugin to use it. Just select it under the Audio/Normalise section.

If you want to try a couple of other compressor DSPs, try RockSteady or LoudMax. If you search the forum for RockSteady and my user name you should find a post with the settings I use.

http://winampheritage.com/plugin/rocksteady-2-1/1099
http://loudmax.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/loudmax-plugin-v116-released.html

I'm pretty sure RoclSteady only supports stereo audio, so you'd need to enable Potplayer's downmixing. I'm pretty sure LoudMax supports multichannel.

I am back on this job and have gotten the Rocksteady plugin from Winamp. I made an
attempt to get it into Potplayer which failed. The plugin was copied to my Winamp > plugins folder.

You are right that I think Tomsteady (showing "recommended") is a part of Potplayer install and did not
get recognized from Winamp> Plugins subfolder. Which subfolder in Potplayer holds the Tomsteady so that the drop down menu in Audio>Normalizer/Freeverb tab of Potplayer allows it to be selected? Since the previous discussion was on MPC_HC it may require new Pot player info. A search only sends me to Winamp. A related plugin thread suggests that it has to go in FFDShow but that is beyond me.

[Marsia Mariner]

.........
A related plugin thread suggests that it has to go in FFDShow but that is beyond me.

Assuming PotPlayer hasn't changed too much since the days I used it...
if you're going to use ffdshow's audio processor, first you'd better (or you'll have to) disable completely Potplayer's built-in audio processing, and then set ffdshow's audio processor as a preferred external filter.

For configuring ffdshow's raw audio filter, first create a shortcut containing this command-line:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\rundll32.exe "PATH-TO\ffdshow.ax",configureAudioRaw

Now you double-click the shortcut, and in the applet window you go to the Winamp 2 section.
Locate the Winamp directory, and configure the chosen plugin(s).

[loninappleton]

If you send a PM to Baldrick and ask he might add Levelator to the software list for you. You'd probably have to send him a copy of the program, or a link to it.

Personally I don't think Levelator is the best choice for compressing while converting. It was really designed for compressing/levelling speech specifically. Plus if I remember correctly you need to feed it a wave file which isn't always ideal when converting one format to another. For converting I still use RockSteady sometimes but it's a bit of a pain as it only comes as a WinAmp plugin. ffmpeg comes with the Dynamic Audio Normalizer built in and it works pretty much the same way as RockSteady (the standalone version of the Dynamic Audio Normalizer isn't as GUI friendly as the ffmpeg version).

I have a preset for converting set up in foobar2000 with the following command line. It might look a bit convoluted but it compresses with ffmpg/Dynamic Audio Normalizer, then sends the audio to QAAC for conversion to AAC.

/d /c c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\ffmpeg.exe -i - -ignore_length true -c:a pcm_f32le -af dynaudnorm=f=150 -f wav - | c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\QAAC\qaac.exe --ignorelength -s --no-optimize --no-delay -V 63 -o %d -

Or you could simply compress and convert to MP3 with ffmpeg with this command line in foobar2000:

-i - -ignore_length true -af dynaudnorm=f=150 -c:a libmp3lame -q:a 2 %d

It just means you can open any type of audio foobar2000 can decode (which is just about any format with the help of additional plugins) and compress it and convert to another format with a couple of mouse clicks. Or you could use a different GUI such as AnotherGUI which is quite handy for working with ffmpeg.

Compression or gain control etc.... I think the terminology all amounts to much the same thing... reducing the difference between the quieter and louder parts of audio to make the volume more consistent.

Apologies for the long quote.

Just now I did send a pm to Baldrick about Levelaor with the suggestion that the source page might not last forever as a podcast and that the free program would be well-archived at VH.

http://www.conversationsnetwork.org/levelator

Just catching up on the rest of this post, I could try one of your techniques but I mentioned to Baldrick that I think Levelator has some 'secret sauce' in it that makes it ideal for my recodes of live theatre. IOW I don't know how it could be duplicated or improved upon. I can only say that my final
output audio goes to mp3 after the Levelator runs and marks its new file as myfile.output.wav
where "output" is added to the string. Then to get it smaller I convert to mp3 and use Toolnix MeGUI etc
to remux the audio.

[loninappleton]

.........
A related plugin thread suggests that it has to go in FFDShow but that is beyond me.

Assuming PotPlayer hasn't changed too much since the days I used it...
if you're going to use ffdshow's audio processor, first you'd better (or you'll have to) disable completely Potplayer's built-in audio processing, and then set ffdshow's audio processor as a preferred external filter.

For configuring ffdshow's raw audio filter, first create a shortcut containing this command-line:

C:\Windows\SysWOW64\rundll32.exe "PATH-TO\ffdshow.ax",configureAudioRaw

Now you double-click the shortcut, and in the applet window you go to the Winamp 2 section.
Locate the Winamp directory, and configure the chosen plugin(s).

That would be a good trick but it seems to defeat the work of Potplayer and possible future development. Even so, Tomsteady looks to be pretty old. I suppose not that much changes in audio.
And I never just understood what FFdshow _does_ from it's cryptic name. I will look it up at wiki (finally.)

[hello_hello]

You might have to use a 32 bit Potplayer with the plugins (assuming Potplayer has a 64 bit version). I'm pretty sure RockSteady is only a 16 bit plugin as it's pretty old. Other than that, I can't help much because I just load them and they work.

You'd probably want to have Potplayer set to downmix to stereo if you're using RockSteady (pic 1).

If you use RockSteady, disable the built in normaliser (pic 2).

RockSteady loads fine for me (pic 3).

I don't use Potplayer though, so I use ffdshow to process the decoded audio, downmix to stereo and run RockSteady. Much of that functionality built into Potplayer was no doubt borrowed from ffdshow anyway (pic 4).

I really don't know what else to suggest to get Potplayer working with the Winamp plugins.