Suggestions for bundled GVerb plugin

[Edgar]

Hey Steve...

What is this all about (from the README)?:

"You will need libfftw version 2 or 3 installed with 32 bit float support (eg. for FFTW3 use --enable-float), for FFTW recommend you specify the approriate SIMD isntruction set for your CPU with --enable-sse, --enable-sse2, --enable-k7 or --enable-altivec. You can get FFTW from http://www.fftw.org/."

If I have any spare time this next few days I will try to compile on Win7--I just grabbed MinGW.

[mrevilkiwi]

edit: ignore this

[Edgar]

can someone tell me who compiled the various plugins for the latest audacity binary packages?

This specific plugin is dated 9/25/2006 in Audacity's Windows installed version. I do not find any indication of the source code in Audacity's "trunk", I suspect it was incorporated directly as a library not compiled specifically by an Audacity Developer. If I can get Steve's patch to compile on Windows we would have to beg a Mac Developer (on the Audacity Team--I know of no non-Developer Mac compiling person to ask) to test the patch as well. Then we would have to lobby for the patch to be adopted -- I will not guess as to the likelihood of that!

[mrevilkiwi]

I would imagine they would be eager to tweak this very old plugin to juice it for best use.

Audacity will be taken more seriously when it is more usable for beginners in more ways.

I've always found GVerb to be lacking. The previous one was better but i think we should try to move forward!

I've just tested the default settings as is now and they clip my original before.ogg.

this proves they are not up for the job, the new settings need a little more volume but i think this is a good improvement!

[steve]

Is the problem you described here:

There's some limitations to what the default values can be.
Each slider can take one of the following values:

0,
100,
minimum,
1/4 scale,
1/2 scale,
3/4 scale,
maximum.

fixable by switching to another type of slider or setting the number entry box etc? that sounds like a weird problem, a bug in the LADSPA implementation or a lack of functionality?

These are the "hints" that LADSPA provides for the settings. These hints do not have to be acted on by the host program, but fortunately Audacity does act on them.

Some info I found on the Internet:

Code: Select all

 Hint LADSPA_HINT_DEFAULT_* indicates that in the absence of
>    other information (such as a preset or user preferences) a port
>    should be set to the suggested initial value.

As far as I can tell, GVerb does not supply any other setting to suggest the default (initial) values other than the hints, and as I'm not a programmer I've no idea how other values would be implemented.

What is this all about (from the README)?:

"You will need libfftw version 2 or 3 installed with 32 bit float support (eg. for FFTW3 use --enable-float), for FFTW recommend you specify the approriate SIMD isntruction set for your CPU with --enable-sse, --enable-sse2, --enable-k7 or --enable-altivec. You can get FFTW from http://www.fftw.org/.

Building the LADSPA plug-ins does require libfftw, but on Linux I was able to simply install libfftw3 and libfftw3-dev through the package manager.

Steve I like the default sound you're proposing although I think the treated track ends up extremely quiet,

You're not using the settings that I've set as the default.
"The default dry level is 0 dB"

I think that you have the "dry" level set to minimum (-70 dB on the original G-Verb)

With that particular source sound, the new G-Verb defaults will have little noticeable affect as the source sound is already quite reverby. Try applying the new defaults to a dry voice recording or a click track.

This specific plugin is dated 9/25/2006 in Audacity's Windows installed version. I do not find any indication of the source code in Audacity's "trunk", I suspect it was incorporated directly as a library not compiled specifically by an Audacity Developer.

The Mac version is linked from Ardour's web site.

I've always found GVerb to be lacking.

For Windows users I'd recommend "ANWIDA Soft DX Reverb Light".

[Edgar]

The supplied "configure" script is not compliant with Windows. Someone might be able to cross-compile on Linux for Windows (but not me).

[steve]

The supplied "configure" script is not compliant with Windows. Someone might be able to cross-compile on Linux for Windows (but not me).

That's a shame. (and not me either).
There isn't anything here that helps is there? http://code.google.com/p/audacity/sourc ... lugins-win

[Edgar]

There isn't anything here that helps is there? http://code.google.com/p/audacity/sourc ... lugins-win

Yep, that got me compiling. I'm running into a totally strange situation! Your patch would not compile so I am manually doing it step by step until I hit the problem:

Code: Select all

@@ -373,8 +373,8 @@
 		port_names[GVERB_DRYLEVEL] =
 		 D_("Dry signal level (dB)");
 		port_range_hints[GVERB_DRYLEVEL].HintDescriptor =
-		 LADSPA_HINT_BOUNDED_BELOW | LADSPA_HINT_BOUNDED_ABOVE | LADSPA_HINT_DEFAULT_MINIMUM;
-		port_range_hints[GVERB_DRYLEVEL].LowerBound = -70;
+		 LADSPA_HINT_BOUNDED_BELOW | LADSPA_HINT_BOUNDED_ABOVE | LADSPA_HINT_DEFAULT_MAXIMUM;
+		port_range_hints[GVERB_DRYLEVEL].LowerBound = -60;
 		port_range_hints[GVERB_DRYLEVEL].UpperBound = 0;

in the line:
port_range_hints[GVERB_DRYLEVEL].LowerBound = -60;

any value between -70 & -63 inclusive compiles but any value -62 and greater (-61, -60 etc.) fails to compile:

error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol _gverb_flush referenced in function _activateGverb gverb_1216.obj LADSPA_plugins-win

Likewise for all the other -70 changes--all have to be -63 or less. I cannot understand why!

[steve]

any value between -70 & -63 inclusive compiles but any value -62 and greater (-61, -60 etc.) fails to compile:

How very peculiar. It's not really a big deal if those ranges go a little lower, it just means that the defaults are a bit more subtle.

I was aiming for a default level in the region of -24 to -30 dB for the "Early reflection" and "Tail" levels.
Will it compile with a value lower than -70, for example -100? If it does then you could try pushing LADSPA_HINT_DEFAULT up from MIDDLE to HIGH for [GVERB_EARLYLEVEL] and [GVERB_TAILLEVEL], which would give defaults of -25 dB.

error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol _gverb_flush referenced in function _activateGverb gverb_1216.obj LADSPA_plugins-win

One thought is that you may need to make similar changes in gverb_1216.xml. It doesn't seem to make any difference on Linux, but may be important on Windows?

Whatever values are used, I think that the last three sliders should all have the same range.

[mrevilkiwi]

You are correct Steve I must have set one of the settings incorrectly, your settings are actually extremely subtle and are the sort of thing you'd use to colour vocals.