global volume and pre amp?

Started by Modplugger, January 18, 2007, 21:59:30

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Modplugger

i just read some topic about this..
What is the best setting for modplug....?
I always had my pre amp on loudest and the global round the 40 & 50.

But the topics i read telling i'm using the wrong settings..
Can somebody help me out with  this.....?

sorry for the bad english :oops:

Thx

cubaxd

heya Railexbeatz

When the pre-amp settings is to high and you global volume is to low it may be that your music is played very very quiet on other players, because the pre-amp slider doesn't affect the modules itself but just the output.

and sorry for my bad english too :)

LPChip

Basically all the information you need is in that topic :P

Preamp should be around 33% and the global volume in the song to 128 to get you the best soundquality. A higher pre-amp value is possible, but probably will cause you to make changes to the volume at another point which will reflect in a soft song on other players.

If you want to get the best possible value for the preamp value, make a song, add a simple sample that always plays (like a chip saw or sine) and add a directx media effect: compressor. Put the gain to an absurt max value so you create clipping. Also put the global volume to 128 (max)

Turn down the volume of your system/speakers to prevent damage.

If you play now, you'll see in the general tab, that the VU Meter goes all the way up into the red part.

Open your soundsettings and lower the pre-amp value until it doesn't do this anymore. You'll see that below 33% the vu meter gets lower. The sound is still clipped, but it doesn't get clipped because it goes over the songlimit anymore. Once you have it lower than the max, use the arrow keys to move the slider one frame at a time giving you an exact place to get it to its max level (so you get it all the way up again in the red)

You'll see that the position you end is around 33% on that slider. :)

Note that in the newer version OpenMPT 3 (which is still under development btw and therefor not yet ready for download) this setting will be a fixed value if you choose a certain mix level.

I used to use the same setting as you bytheway.. Preamp all the way to the max, and global volume on 64, and used plugins to determine the final output level. Although I could get nice results with this, after discovering that I did it all the way wrong, I got far better results. It works all much more logical if you turn the 2 around, and finding the limits is muuuuuuuch easier. :)

Oh, and in case you didn't knew... Clipping is bad! :)
"Heh, maybe I should've joined the compo only because it would've meant I wouldn't have had to worry about a damn EQ or compressor for a change. " - Atlantis
"yes.. I think in this case it was wishful thinking: MPT is makng my life hard so it must be wrong" - Rewbs

Sam_Zen

Clever procedure here.
And clipping is bad indeed, because it's digital. With tape it's possible to get a peak in the red once in a while, but with digital recording this has to be strongly avoided.

The volume situation is indeed a bit fuzzy imho. You have the Pre-amp slider in the Setup/soundcard-tab, and you have the 3 sliders in the General tab : Initial global vol. - VSTi vol. - Sample vol.

It should be more clear what exactly is the order and hierarchy of each slider in this process. Because in fact, each of the four sliders could be called a 'pre-amp' slider in principle. (I state this, not having checked the named topic, I must admit)
Maybe a design of a flowchart-like image of the elements involved with their connections would help.

Quotethis setting will be a fixed value if you choose a certain mix level
Seems a nice solution.
0.618033988

Modplugger

Quote from: "LPChip"
Note that in the newer version OpenMPT 3 (which is still under development btw and therefor not yet ready for download) this setting will be a fixed value if you choose a certain mix level.


:D  :P what's the big release date for OpenMpT3

LPChip

Quote from: "Railexbeatz"
Quote from: "LPChip"
Note that in the newer version OpenMPT 3 (which is still under development btw and therefor not yet ready for download) this setting will be a fixed value if you choose a certain mix level.


:D  :P what's the big release date for OpenMpT3

Ever heard of the saying: "When its done, its done!" :P
"Heh, maybe I should've joined the compo only because it would've meant I wouldn't have had to worry about a damn EQ or compressor for a change. " - Atlantis
"yes.. I think in this case it was wishful thinking: MPT is makng my life hard so it must be wrong" - Rewbs

Modplugger

okeee ..sorry for asking  :oops:

LPChip

Quote from: "Railexbeatz"okeee ..sorry for asking  :oops:

Don't feel ashamed... I didn't ment it to sound like that... :P Its just that the developers are people with a life too, so I'm already very greatfull that they wish to devote time for this application. If they feel that they have some time to make a newer update, then I am already happy. They have announced that there will be a 3.0 build somewhere in the future, but they'll never give an exact date, and I don't ask them either.

The only time I want them to work quickly is when there's a bug that is causing enough problems to make working with MPT a pain in the ass, but these are usually the cases for them to be motivated enough so asking isn't even necessary. :)
"Heh, maybe I should've joined the compo only because it would've meant I wouldn't have had to worry about a damn EQ or compressor for a change. " - Atlantis
"yes.. I think in this case it was wishful thinking: MPT is makng my life hard so it must be wrong" - Rewbs

Snu

wait... what about 2.0? are we gonna do a winamp thing and skip a version?

LPChip

Quote from: "Snu"wait... what about 2.0? are we gonna do a winamp thing and skip a version?

No sorry, my bad..

The version will be: 1.17.03.00 :P
"Heh, maybe I should've joined the compo only because it would've meant I wouldn't have had to worry about a damn EQ or compressor for a change. " - Atlantis
"yes.. I think in this case it was wishful thinking: MPT is makng my life hard so it must be wrong" - Rewbs

tvdude

Hi Guys!

Sorry to bring this up again, but even after reading the article, I'm still unclear.  I have my sound card at roughly 33 percent, my global volume at 128, but what about my vst volume and my sample volume?  If I bring everything up to 128, it ends up clipping, even the samples that come with modplug in the gm.dls directory. ( if there are many instruments used).   If my vst volume is set to 128, I have to have the vst instrument volume (on the actual instrument itself) almost off in order to get a level that isn't overdriving the rest of the music.  What should the vst and sample volumes be set at if the global volume should be set at 128 and the sound card at 33 percent?  Thanks for the help, and sorrry to be a nuisance.
tvdude
"If you look ten feet into a five foot well, you will see what you choose to see."

LPChip

Thats a good question.

I actually forgot to mention that the Sample volume and VSTi volume are not affected, and should remain on their default (100) setting.
"Heh, maybe I should've joined the compo only because it would've meant I wouldn't have had to worry about a damn EQ or compressor for a change. " - Atlantis
"yes.. I think in this case it was wishful thinking: MPT is makng my life hard so it must be wrong" - Rewbs

tvdude

Thanks LPChip!   This helps me a great deal.  I'll submit something soon with the settings adjusted properly.
tvdude
"If you look ten feet into a five foot well, you will see what you choose to see."