redocneXk (GUI version) released - Realtime 5.1 ac3 Encoder

Tril · May 10, 2006, 11:51 PM

This is a realtime AC3 encoder. It encodes to AC3 what you send it by using ASIO. ASIO is used to transfer audio from the sound card to the cpu. The cpu encodes the sound to AC3 and send it out of the computer by using the sound card digital passthru. You can easily do this to every sound played in windows with this program. The only inconvenient is the latency (around 180ms with WaveOut, maybe less).

For those using the kX drivers :
In the DSP, connect the first 6 pins of Surrounder+ to the pins asio0 to asio5 on epilog and activate passthru in the mixer (check 'Digital Output Only' and select "SPDIF 0" for 'Toggle AC-3 Passthru mode'). Then double-click redocneXk.exe.

Below are some pics to help set the Mixer, the DSP, the Surrounder+ and the ASIO Control Panel. This is provided to help the users that never touched ASIO or the DSP. Other settings can be used.
Mixer
DSP
Surrounder+
ASIO Control Panel

It is possible to make it work with the Creative drivers. I have included a default preset for the Creative drivers.

Version 2.05 is the latest version.

The versions 2.XX of redocneXk that contain a GUI never worked correctly. It causes stutter no matter what you do. It's not recommended to use it. It is only provided to show what a version with a GUI would look like and what it could do.

I don't plan on working on it again. I've lost interest, I no longer use a supported soundcard and I don't have the free time to work on it anymore. Sorry about that. The versions 1.XX should work in most cases.

Link : Go here to get redocneXk
Hosting nicely provided by radiocolonel.it

Screenshot : redocneXk_v2.02.png

Please report any bugs. I'm interested in knowing how well it works for others.
I'm open to suggestions on improvements.

jiiteepee · May 11, 2006, 12:01 AM

Great work!!

W/ Creative drivers, only "ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Driver" as an option is listed on ASIO Driver selection - http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/3930/redxk2bt.jpg

jiitee

Tril · May 11, 2006, 12:52 AM

jiiteepee, was it the only choice too with version 1.04?

jiiteepee · May 11, 2006, 01:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tril

jiiteepee, was it the only choice too with version 1.04?

No it wasn't.
In 1.04, I can call all installed ASIO drivers w/ -d option:

0 = ASIO directX Full Duplex
1 = ASIO Multimedia
2 = Asio4All
3 = Creative ASIO
4 = SB Audigy 2 ASIO [8400]

Only drivers 3 and 4 are working w/ 1.04 --> I suppose the v. 2.0 is not working w/ Creative drivers ATM, since you can't select the previously working drivers 3 and 4.

OS: w2k

Maybe the count of choices on that driver selection list stays "0", instead of multiple choices?

jiitee

Tril · May 11, 2006, 01:37 AM

It's a bug. I only had one ASIO driver installed so I did not notice it. I installed ASIO4ALL to get two drivers and I also see only one driver. I'll fix it tomorrow evening. Thank you for reporting this bug.

jiiteepee · May 11, 2006, 01:44 AM

Drivers (mentioned on my prev. post) -

0 = ASIO DirectX Full Duplex
1 = ASIO Multimedia

do have only 2 I/O's --> no way to get working w/ redocneXk.

jiitee

Tril · May 11, 2006, 12:14 PM

I have posted a new version (2.01). It should fix the bug where only one ASIO driver was showing in the 'ASIO Driver' combo box even thought there was more than one in the system.

Maddogg6 · May 11, 2006, 01:00 PM

I just tried it out - confirmed: bug swatted.

But - I went to set KX ASIO latency to 32ms as shown in your pics posted - and I get an error of not enough buffer??

Quote:

Error creating Buffer #10 = -2147024809 [size=6144]
GetLastError() = 2
E_INVALIDARG: Too big latency and too many channels - resetting latency...

- I dont recall changing my buffer settings (pretty sure I have not)

Anyway - thay are set as follows:
PB buffer size: 8352 Bytes (~8.70 ms)
Recording Buffer Size: 16384
Number of AC3 buffers: 4
GSIF Buffersize: 256 samples

After attempting to change KX ASIO to the 32ms shown - and got the error - it did set to 21.33 ms (1024 samples) - the setting you DON'T reccommend.

Again, I cant test 100% (no external AC3 decoder) - so maybe it's not really a problem (ie, maybe it would work wth 21.33 ms or less ??) - but it is the first time I seen this error (im with 3538j btw), as I never tried setting asio latency so high before..?? I'm thinking maybe you have increased your buffer sizes?? And if so, little blurb about that in the readme may be helpful for others.
Maybe depends on card model, what the default values are??

Either way - I like the new GUI - sweet!

Oh, theres a couple of typos in the readme:

Quote:

The interface ias self-explanatory but I'll explain every settings.

Quote:

Thanks to hector santos.

Sorry if I'm being anal... just thought I'd point em out...

Russ · May 11, 2006, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maddogg6

But - I went to set KX ASIO latency to 32ms as shown in your pics posted - and I get an error of not enough buffer??

You probably did not notice that in the picture, Tril is using 16 bit / 48 kHz [8+8], and tried to set it to 32 ms, using 16 bit / 48 kHz [16+16].

Maddogg6 · May 11, 2006, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

You probably did not notice that in the picture, Tril is using 16 bit / 48 kHz [8+8], and tried to set it to 32 ms, using 16 bit / 48 kHz [16+16].

YUP ! that was it - sorry Trill...

Thanks for clearing that up Russ - Oh You So Smart...

Its amazing how you know how I screw up - from where your at - wait.... is there camera on me here, that you can see me in.... ?? ... lol

Patriarch · May 16, 2006, 04:20 AM

Does the implementation of a gui mean that i could use my SB102 with creative's native drivers and Recockx? Passthrough works creatives drivers Afaik. Anybody?

**dj_stick** · May 16, 2006, 04:49 AM

the GUI doesn't mean much, you'd have been able to use it with prior versions aslong as the card worked with both ASIO and AC3 Passthrough

AssassinJN · May 19, 2006, 12:13 PM

I can't wait to try and use this to pass 5.1 ac3 audio from one soundblaster to another through spdif. I hope it works as then I can theoretically have 12.2 audio (7.1 + 5.1) I realize this doesn't mean much to most since you can't buy anything with that kind of encoding, but as a sound designer doing some installation work this could be a big deal! (only options I had before this cost a couble $k's)

Tril · May 19, 2006, 02:11 PM

AssassinJN, can you explain what you want to do in details. Where does the 7.1 come from? How do you output the 12.2 audio? Remember that there is some latency to the encoding.

I'm working on the next version (2.02). I hope to release it this weekend.

jiiteepee · May 19, 2006, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tril

AssassinJN, can you explain what you want to do in details. Where does the 7.1 come from? How do you output the 12.2 audio? Remember that there is some latency to the encoding.

I'm working on the next version (2.02). I hope to release it this weekend.

Can't the latency be rounded w/ some delay plugin used w/ TobyBear MiniHost or w/ energtXT (standalone).

AssassinJN:
Are you familiar with these VSTs already - http://acousmodules.free.fr/the_plugins.htm

jiitee

bobo1on1 · May 19, 2006, 04:36 PM

I'm not getting any sound with creative drivers no matter what I do, my receiver shows dolby digital but there is no sound.

redocneXk v1.04 works perfect though.

Russ · May 19, 2006, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobo1on1

I'm not getting any sound with creative drivers no matter what I do, my receiver shows dolby digital but there is no sound.

redocneXk v1.04 works perfect though.

It is a bug. It should be fixed in the next version (2.02).

Tril · May 20, 2006, 05:56 PM

New version released.

Changelog
---------
version 2.02
- Fixed the 'no sound' bug.
- Fixed a bug related to 'delete preset'.
- Removed all the bitrates that were too low for encoding six channels.
- The preset edit boxes that are not used by the ASIO driver are disabled.
- Allow only one instance of the program to run.
- Added data validation and formatting to the numbers in the edit boxes of the
presets. You can now only enter numbers from -2 to 2.
- The edit boxes containing the value zero have grey text.
- Added a menu to the dialog and removed three buttons.
- Changed the caption "automatic startup delay" to "auto-start delay".
- Added the 'normalize' checkmark.

bobo1on1 · May 22, 2006, 10:56 AM

This works great, except when I stop it and start it again the sound is often very distorted.

Russ · May 22, 2006, 01:03 PM

Seems to work good Tril

As you know, I have a 10k1 card, so my testing procedure is not ideal, but what I do, is connect my TV audio to Line In ,and upmix it to 5.1, and connect that to ASIO. This way, the only sound that goes to my speakers, is the encoded (by recodneXk) / decoded (by kX) audio. i.e. Something like this setup... it works pretty good. I do not know if the kX decoding adds any extra latency or not, but even so, I am getting pretty good results.

-Russ

Tril · May 22, 2006, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobo1on1

This works great, except when I stop it and start it again the sound is often very distorted.

bobo1on1, I haven't been able to reproduce that on my system. Can you please tell me some info about your system.

Which audio drivers are you using (kX drivers, Creative drivers)?
Which ASIO driver are you using?
Which Audio Renderer are you using (WaveOut or DirectSound)?
What are the settings of the ASIO control panel (latency, format, sync, etc)?
What's your CPU (model, frequency, single core or dual core, etc)?
What's your sound card model?

Does it always work correctly the first time you start it? If you stop it and restart it 10 times, how many times out of 10 does it produces distorted sound?

Tril · Jun 18, 2006, 10:54 PM

New version released. You can now get version 2.03 in the first post of this thread.

Changelog
---------

version 2.03
- Fixed some minor bugs.
- Fixed some memory leaks.
- Changed the caption of some labels and settings.
- Changed the name of some settings in Settings.xml to make their usage more obvious.
- Added validation to the data entered in the delay input box. If you leave it blank,
it shows zero. The maximum value is limited to 600 seconds (10 minutes).

- Added an 'Advanced Settings' menu. It is used to :

- change the LoadatWindowsStartupWaitTime setting in Settings.xml

- change the priority of the program

- Fixed the LoadatWindowsStartupWaitTime functionality (the delay was always 5 seconds).

- Added prompt to the user when saving and deleting presets.
- Added a tootip to the icon in the tray that says if the encoding is ON or OFF.

tagerrung · Aug 13, 2006, 07:08 PM

hey guys, im brand new here and sum1 on another forum linked me to your forum. I just want to say thanks alot you guys are saving me, this was gonna be the first computer i get with surround sound and i was pretty dismayed to find that i couldnt get surround working, anyways i download the first link here
http://www.asio4all.com/
when i downloaded your latest version it recognized my driver and when i ran it, i played a movie, the rfeceiver said it was reading in Dolby D, but no sound came from it, i did the exact settings as you did in your image (in your first post) and i couldnt find all of that stuff you were talking about
"For those using the kX drivers :
In the DSP, connect the first 6 pins of Surrounder+ to the pins asio0 to asio5 on epilog and activate passthru in the mixer (check 'Digital Output Only' and select "SPDIF 0" for 'Toggle AC-3 Passthru mode'). Then double-click redocneXk.exe."
incase i was using a Kx file without knowing it...anyways, i was just wondering if you guys could help me out and give me any suggestions or anything
hope to hear from you soon!

tagerrung · Aug 13, 2006, 07:44 PM

while we're at it, im trying to download the driver that you have, but for some reason, i cant find ANYWHERE to download ASIO drivers ...im using a Realtek HD Audio 7.1 Built in Card

tagerrung · Aug 13, 2006, 07:51 PM

also, redsocneXk is only displaying line 0 and 1....????

Russ · Aug 13, 2006, 10:16 PM

The kX drivers are for certain Creative Sound Blaster Live and Audigy cards only, they will not work with your card.

ASIO4ALL only has one stereo input afaik, so redocneXk will not work with ASIO4ALL. You would need a real ASIO driver for your card, which you are unlikely to find, if the manufacturer does not offer it in their driver.

BTW: You did not make it clear as to why you would need a program like redocneXk in the first place. It is an AC3 encoder, you would not use this program for playing Dolby Digital movies, as they are allready encoded.