Stereo MP3 to 4 Speakers

[querschnitt]

Hey Guys!

I'm using winamp 5.666 and Windows 10 Pro
I have a Creative Soundblaster Z Soundcard and a 5.1 Speaker System connected with analog cables.

I was wondering if I can listen to mp3's also on the rear speakers? I can check "surround" in my Soundcard Config, but then the mp3 will be upmixed to all 6 channels. I just want the mp3 to be mirrowed to the rear speakers. Is that possible?

Also: When I listen to Stereo MP3 my subwoofer is not used at all (crossover frequency is configured correctly). what can I do about it?

[musicf8]

Are you connected via analog cables or optical? Is this all set up?

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by querschnitt

...

I was wondering if I can listen to mp3's also on the rear speakers? I can check "surround" in my Soundcard Config, but then the mp3 will be upmixed to all 6 channels. I just want the mp3 to be mirrowed to the rear speakers. Is that possible?

Simply disable the center channel in your 5.1 soundcard speaker configuration. Then when you enable "surround", you will only hear sound upmixed to the remaining 5 channels.

See the box with the checkmark to the left of the optional center speaker in the screenshot in the post above. Click on this checkmark and it disappears, disabling the center speaker. When you want to hear sound from the center speaker again, click in the box and the checkmark reappears, enabling the speaker again.

Alternatively, you could just select the 4.1 speaker configuration (when you don't want the center channel to be used), which would provide the same result.

Also, you can leave your soundcard speaker configuration alone and use the Windows Playback Devices controls. Go to the balance controls on the levels tab of the Speakers Properties in the control panel Sound app and set the output level of the center channel to zero.

[musicf8]

i'm thinking a plugin might be a better choice though because that keeps the 'alteration' for music only... though I am not sure which one

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by musicf8

i'm thinking a plugin might be a better choice though because that keeps the 'alteration' for music only... though I am not sure which one

Yes, there is a plug-in (https://sourceforge.net/projects/winampmatrixmix/). I use it, but some people find it difficult to setup.

[musicf8]

Thanks, i'll have to check it out when i get home

[Aminifu]

Winamp Matrix Mixer lets you simply mirror input channels to up to 6 output channels or do much more. It can resample the input and/or let you control how much of each input channel is directed to each output channel. It can also delay the sound sent to each output channel to make up for non-optimal speaker placements and/or control echo effects.

It is an output plug-in that sends it's output to another selectable output plug-in such as the Winamp DirectSound output plug-in.

[musicf8]

interesting enough it kills my sub, there's like zero output even trying to play with all the settings nothing goes to the sub

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by musicf8

interesting enough it kills my sub, there's like zero output even trying to play with all the settings nothing goes to the sub

Are you using an analog or digital connection to your speakers? Can you post a screenshot of your setup of the Mixer tab's settings in the Matrix Mixer configuration dialog?

[querschnitt]

i am using analog connection. Deactivating the center kinda works, but the music coming out from the rear speakers sound different than from the front speakers

the plugin is really confusing! I managed to get the rear speakers to work, but they are really quite! if I try to get them louder the front speakers get quiter and If I activate 4.1 I get an error when I try to play music

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by querschnitt

...

the plugin is really confusing! I managed to get the rear speakers to work, but they are really quite! if I try to get them louder the front speakers get quiter and If I activate 4.1 I get an error when I try to play music

Can you post a screenshot of your setup of the Mixer tab's settings in the Matrix Mixer configuration dialog?

If you were using your soundcard's surround feature (instead of the plug-in) that might explain why the rear speakers sound different that the front. The surround feature of some soundcards is designed to do that. A true 'surround' effect (in games and movies and multi-channel audio) is supposed to have different sounds coming thru each output channel. Try Window's audio fill feature instead, it simply mirrors the front channels to the rear and/or side channels for stereo music (and combines the front channels to send to the center and sub-woofer channels).

The configurations for the OS (Windows) sound, your soundcard, and the plug-in (if you want to use it) must not conflict with one another. It's confusing at first (because of all the options available), but once you understand how they interact with each other, it soon becomes fairly simple to direct the audio source's input channels to the sound device's output channels in various ways.

[querschnitt]

Originally Posted by Aminifu

Try Window's audio fill feature instead, it simply mirrors the front channels to the rear and/or side channels for stereo music (and combines the front channels to send to the center and sub-woofer channels).

The configurations for the OS (Windows) sound, your soundcard, and the plug-in (if you want to use it) must not conflict with one another. It's confusing at first (because of all the options available), but once you understand how they interact with each other, it soon becomes fairly simple to direct the audio source's input channels to the sound device's output channels in various ways.

Windows Audio fill feature sounds exactly like what I need! But I never heard off it. I will google it and try to activate it.

and of course I've disabled surround in my creative software so there's no conflict

here are the screenshots:



The error is the one I get when I enable 4.1

[Aminifu]

Hi querschnitt,

The matrix mixer is not setup correctly for the result you are trying to accomplish. Set your overall volume control to a very low level. Change all of your settings on the Mixer tab to what is shown in the screenshot below. This will set up basic mirroring of the left and right input channels to the left and right front and rear/side output channels and the sub-woofer output channel. Click on the attached image for a larger view. Each column in the mixing matrix corresponds to an input channel and each row corresponds to an output channel.

The reason this setup works is a bit technical (geeky) to explain. I'm happy to provide the reasoning and point you to some technical documentation, if you're interested.

It is also important that your OS sound and soundcard output format configurations be setup to correspond with the plug-in's output format settings (i.e. number of channels, number of bits, and frequency). The error message you got is probably due to the OS sound and/or the soundcard configurations not being set to 2/2 quadro.

To establish a baseline for this mirroring mode, be sure that all of your soundcard's other special features (i.e. crystal sound, cinematic, mixer, equalizer, etc.) and Winamp's equalizer are disabled. You can reapply 1 or more of these features, as appropriate, after you know what the basic mirroring mode sounds like. Check that the output channel levels in the OS sound configuration are all set to the same value (ask if you need help with doing this).

Start some music playing and slowly increase the overall volume. You don't want to overdrive your speakers! This could cause distortion and may damage your speakers. Monitor the graphic representation of your input channel levels while the music is playing. If either input level frequently goes all the way to the top, use the input gain controls (on the plug-in's Gains tab) to lower the appropriate input level(s). Enter values in "-0.1" increments.

If any front or rear/side output channel is much louder relative to the others, then use the output gain controls (on the plug-in's Gains tab) to lower the volume of the loud channel(s). If the sub-woofer is too loud, then change the values in the mixing matrix row for the Sub output from "1" to "0.707" or "0.3535" before adjusting it's gain control. A value of "1" sends the full input level to the output, "0.707" sends 50%, and "0.3535" sends 25%.

After all this is working, I suggest you enable the full range options for your front and surround speakers in both the OS sound and your soundcard's configurations. If this causes distortion, then disable these full range options.






P.S.
The decoder info in your screenshot shows that the music you were playing is encoded with 24 bits. If most of your music is encoded with 24 bits, then select PCM 24 instead of PCM 16 in the plug-in and OS sound configurations (soundcard configuration too, if applicable).

If the decoder info is showing 24 bits because you used the Winamp option to resample your music (and your music files are not actually encoded with 24 bits), I suggest you disable that Winamp option. Winamp doesn't do true resampling to 24 bits, it just adds zeros to turn a 16 bit value into a 24 bit value.

[webchaat]

Thanks, I was also looking for this.

[querschnitt]

Originally Posted by Aminifu

Hi querschnitt,


P.S.
The decoder info in your screenshot shows that the music you were playing is encoded with 24 bits. If most of your music is encoded with 24 bits, then select PCM 24 instead of PCM 16 in the plug-in and OS sound configurations (soundcard configuration too, if applicable).

If the decoder info is showing 24 bits because you used the Winamp option to resample your music (and your music files are not actually encoded with 24 bits), I suggest you disable that Winamp option. Winamp doesn't do true resampling to 24 bits, it just adds zeros to turn a 16 bit value into a 24 bit value.

Hey! First of all i am really thankful for your help! i really, really appreciate it and your patience with me! thx

With your help I managed that the Front and Rear speakers sounding equal, but i'm still not 100% happy. I'm also not sure if I understand everything correctly

I'm not quite happy with the subwoofer. I can configure a crossover frequency in my soundcard software. My Subwoofer manufacture suggest a frequency of 150hz. Do I still need to configure the frequency in winamp just like in your screenshot?

And yes I have audio in 24 bit and also in 16 bit. Do I really have to change it every time? :-\ because that would be pretty annoying! I just wanna listen to some music. If the solution to my problem is gonna be this complicated I'll probably stick with 2 speakers

here are new screenshots:

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by querschnitt

Hey! First of all i am really thankful for your help! i really, really appreciate it and your patience with me! thx

With your help I managed that the Front and Rear speakers sounding equal, but i'm still not 100% happy. I'm also not sure if I understand everything correctly

No problem. I enjoy trying to help people with this kind of stuff. Here is a link to some documentation for "AC3 Filter", which this plug-in is based on (http://www.ac3filter.net/wiki/AC3Filter). The layout of the configuration tabs are not exactly the same in this documentation, but the info on how to use the various options still applies. You can google for the definitions of any technical terms you don't understand and/or post questions. There is no such thing as a dumb question. I don't have all the answers, but I'm happy to share what I know.

Originally Posted by querschnitt

I'm not quite happy with the subwoofer. I can configure a crossover frequency in my soundcard software. My Subwoofer manufacture suggest a frequency of 150hz. Do I still need to configure the frequency in winamp just like in your screenshot?

In order for me to try and help you, you need to be specific (more descriptive) about what you're not happy with.

You can change the crossover frequency for the Bass redirection feature in the plug-in (just change the "45" to "150"), but I suggest you either use the Bass redirection feature in the plug-in or the one in your soundcard configuration (not both at the same time). Also, sub-woofers are not normally used for generating bass frequencies. They are best used for producing very low frequency sounds. These are sounds that you feel more than you actually hear. The speakers in old stereo component systems usually had at least 1 of 3 different types of speakers in each speaker cabinet. A tweeter for treble (high) frequencies, a woofer for bass (low) frequencies, and a mid-range type for the frequencies between treble and bass. Here is a link to an article that explains which frequencies do what (http://digitalprosound.digitalmedian...le.jsp?id=8953).

Today, the speakers in most speaker systems made for use with computers, use 1 kind of full range speaker that generates the treble, mid-range, and bass frequencies. It may sound better to let the full range speakers generate the low end of the bass frequencies than redirecting them to the sub-woofer.

This is why I suggested enabling the full range options in both the OS sound and your soundcard configurations. The image attached below shows the Windows 10 dialog for doing this. The image in post #2 above shows these options on a soundcard configuration panel. I assume your soundcard configuration panel looks similar.

Originally Posted by querschnitt

And yes I have audio in 24 bit and also in 16 bit. Do I really have to change it every time? :-\ because that would be pretty annoying! I just wanna listen to some music. If the solution to my problem is gonna be this complicated I'll probably stick with 2 speakers

Since you have some music files encoded with 24 bits, then you should use the Winamp option to "Allow 24bit" and also change the output format in the plug-in from "PCM 16" to "PCM 24". Also make sure the OS sound configuration is also set up to use 24 bits. The image attached below shows the Windows 10 dialog for doing this. Optimally (for best sound reproduction), you should use the number of bits values encoded in your actual music files, but you don't really need to change back and forth from 24 bits to 16 bits. Just set everything up for the largest number of bits values your music files will ever have.



Winamp will pass thru the 24 bit values from your 24 bit music files unchanged and turn 16 bit values from your 16 bit music files into 24 bit values (like I explained in my last post). The plug-in will then work with these 24 bit values without changing them. As you can see in the Decoder info box on your Main tab screenshot, when the plug-in is set for "PCM 16", it downsamples 24 bit input values to 16 bit output values (which you don't want it to do). The OS sound configuration will also upsample or downsample values to match what it is set for (which you also don't want to happen). It is best to do any resampling in 1 place (i.e. let Winamp do it) and then have everything else work with the same number of bits values.

Of course if you use Winamp to play music files encoded with values greater than 24 bits, it will downsample the values to 24 bit when the "Allow 24bit" option is enabled (or 16 bit values when it is not). But that is a problem for another day.



Sorry this post is so long, but there is 1 more thing I want to mention and I have a question.

First, I suggest you set the master gain option in the plug-in to "0" and use the controls on the Gains tab to adjust the input and/or output levels on a channel by channel basis. Each channel will normally rise to different levels as music plays, but you don't want any channel to regularly rise to it's maximum level. It's ok to get close to maximum and momentarily reach it from time to time, but it can distort the sound and may damage your speakers if any of the levels stay maximized. Also use 1 control for overall volume. I set the Winamp volume control to 100% and use the volume control on my speaker system to change the overall volume. It may be more convenient for you to do the reverse (i.e. set the speaker system volume control to a certain level and use the Winamp volume control to change the overall volume). Make sure that the levels for the OS sound output channels you use are set to the same value. The image attached below shows the Windows 10 dialog for doing this.



Second, why are using the plug-in's AGC (automatic gain control) option? If some of your songs are soft and others are loud for the same overall volume level, there are better ways to deal with volume leveling between songs than using this AGC option.

[estherbcn]

plugin might be a better choice

[darkseid]

For my listening, music wise, I wouldnt want my stereo simulated into a 5.1 sound. 2 mains and one subwoofer or 2 subs in my case, is good. In the subs case, you are eliminating the need for your main speakers to reproduce the low base sound which makes the bass sound cleaner/tighter and lets the mains handle the middle and high freqs.