NUGEN Audio, DSPECIALISTS team up on upmixing/downmixing software plug-in
NUGEN Audio, creator of intuitive tools for audio professionals, and signal-processing equipment manufacturer DSPECIALISTS are collaborating on the development of a software plug-in offering upmixing/downmixing between stereo and 5.1 surround. The plug-in will use the patented ISOSTEM technology, an upmix engine that is fully compatible with stereo, delivering a surround stem that downmixes to the original stereo.
The availability of the crossmix technology in a plug-in will provide studios with convenient and powerful software mixing tool to complement the ISOSTEM real-time conversion hardware.
NUGEN Audio will develop three versions of the plug-in, which will allow audio professionals to produce a mix in the studio using a stereo mixing process, with the software automating the conversion to 5.1. An upmix plugin will provide pure upmix with flexible settings while the crossmix plugin provides upmix as well as downmix, and a third version will provide the extended functionality available in the ISOSTEM expert model.
“We are very pleased to have teamed up with such an innovative partner as NUGEN Audio,” said Jochen Cronemeyer, managing director of DSPECIALISTS. “With NUGEN Audio’s long-standing experience with audio plug-ins, we will be able to develop a really useful complement to the hardware to offer studios a very flexible way of using the unique capabilities of the crossmix technology.”
“These plug-ins will give audio professionals the tools to create a mix that works perfectly in both stereo and 5.1 at the set-top box, without any of the phase artifacts that often appear when 5.1 is collapsed down to stereo,” said Jon Schorah, creative director of NUGEN Audio. “And by automating the creation of a great 5.1 mix out of the components of a standard stereo mix, they will save a lot of studio time, too.”
NUGEN Audio extends loudness toolkit with new ISL True-Peak limiter
NUGEN has launched ISL, an inter-sample True-Peak limiter that gives complete control over peak levels in audio signals from mono to 5.1. ISL diverges from traditional approaches to limiting by measuring inter-sample peaks and allowing the user to set the true-peak limit, rather than the traditional threshold at which limiting begins.
By measuring and correcting for inter-sample levels, ISL protects against distortion that can be introduced when codecs such as mp3 and AAC are applied downstream
Like all NUGEN Audio tools, ISL is intuitive to use and lets audio professionals mix with their ears, leaving ISL to ensure compliance with loudness standards. Designed for the transparent limiting of relatively dynamic high-quality audio, ISL can also be used to hard-limit and reduce dynamic range where required.
Using the standardized true-peak algorithms of ITU-R B.S. 1770 and related standards, ISL is suitable for post-production and broadcast applications. Features include comprehensive dBTP metering, adjustable channel linking, support for audio formats from mono to 5.1, adjustable ballistics, color splits, and peak indicators.
I recently finished a ‘Between the Ears’ program for BBC Radio 3 using ISL, and I found it completely transparent. I deliberately tried pushing it hard and it just works, even with way more gain reduction than I would normally consider using in this context. The NUGEN Audio ISL True Peak Limiter is now my limiter of choice for all my broadcast work,” said independent post production engineer Mike Thornton.
ISL is part of NUGEN Audio’s new range of innovative and easy-to-use loudness correction tools, which includes VisLM and LM-Correct. ISL is RTAS/Audiosuite/AU/VST-
Software update for AUBION X.8
DSPECIALISTS and Messsysteme GmbH from Berlin, provider of development services and distributor of products for digital audio signal processing, has announced a software update for AUBION X.8, which was launched at the end of 2011.
In addition to various performance optimizations, the new software version includes higher sample rates. Until now the user could only choose between 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz: after the software update the system also allows 96 and even 192 kHz. The number of available input channels is halved at the highest sample rate. The measurement bandwidth increases to 80 kHz due to this enhancement.
AUBION X.8 is a high-quality, fully ASIO-compatible audio measurement interface with 8 inputs and 2 outputs that can be used in a standard Ethernet environment. The X.8 even comes with a built-in 2-port Ethernet switch allowing users to simply insert it in an existing network connection. The X.8 was purpose-designed for highly accurate and stable performance with professional audio measurement systems such as AFMG’s EASERA and SysTune.
The software update is available now.