SRC help

[plethorapw]

Hi,
My previous sample rate conversions were with Barbabatch. I was satisfied.

From what I've read recently, it seems that the new best options are Weiss' Saracon and Izotope RXII. I have easy access to Izotope, but there's no apparent demo for Saracon...So I need your help.

Please Advise.
Also, specifically, if you prefer one over the other, please provide the settings you use for best results!!

Thanks

[pmx]

what made you dissatisfied with barbabatch? it's still an excellent src.

for a saracon demo just e-mail them: weiss@weiss.ch

[Strut78]

Have you jumped to Mac? If so sample manager by audiofile engineering is excellent and uses the izotope conversion.

http://www.audiofile-engineering.com/samplemanager/

Also a cheaper option than RX.

[Twerk]

Have a look here and compare various SRC's.

SRC Comparisons

You'll find Izotope to be pretty much the best there is.

[Petrus]

iZotope in both Sample Manager and Wave Editor are dirt cheap and SOX is free, and both are great.

[DominicWyeth]

Saracon beat them all. I grabbed a demo from local distributor. It was beautiful. Especially in the high end.

[Adam Dempsey]

Originally Posted by DominicWyeth

Saracon beat them all. I grabbed a demo from local distributor. It was beautiful. Especially in the high end.

Hey Dom, do you mean "beautiful" as in most transparent to the source? or "beautiful" euphonically?

[DominicWyeth]

I mean to my ears it sounded better and more true to the source than all others. so transparent with a little but more crystal and in the high end.

I sound like a weather guy

the audio will be transparent tending towards crystals in the top end...watch out for a late section sub boost followed by a week of ahhhhhhh yeeaaahhhhhh

[DominicWyeth]

**perspective***
I was comparing it to samplitude built in src. R8brain. Sample manager.

[MattGray]

While Saracon was nice, I personally found it to be a touch brighter on the high end than the original source in my tests. Maybe that's the extra high end crystals you're hearing...

The iZotope SRC in WaveEditor or RX2 Advanced has all the advanced parameters (unlike SampleManager) so you can really tweak it to get the result you want.

Both are excellent though.. so is Sox if you're willing to put your Unix cap on.

[Stefanizzi]

Originally Posted by plethorapw

Hi,
My previous sample rate conversions were with Barbabatch. I was satisfied.

From what I've read recently, it seems that the new best options are Weiss' Saracon and Izotope RXII. I have easy access to Izotope, but there's no apparent demo for Saracon...So I need your help.

Please Advise.
Also, specifically, if you prefer one over the other, please provide the settings you use for best results!!

Thanks

Here in Vienna (Conservatory for Music and Dramatic Art) we tested in double blind several sample rate converter, including Izotope. We all agreed that Saracon was the most transparent, and the closest to the source. No brightness added at all.

I hope this helps
Regards

[trmchenry]

SoX is amazing. There are some good GUIs for the Windows build but the GUIs for the Mac build are really outdated the last I checked.

[MattGray]

Originally Posted by Stefanizzi

Here in Vienna (Conservatory for Music and Dramatic Art) we tested in double blind several sample rate converter, including Izotope. We all agreed that Saracon was the most transparent, and the closest to the source. No brightness added at all.

I hope this helps
Regards

Maybe I should check it out again.. at the time I heard it, it was not even released so maybe something has changed since then. It was an early version... actually I checked the website & they mentioned this...

NEW! In January 2010 we published a major upgrade to the renowned Saracon software. Saracon is now even better, more versatile, faster.

Not sure if that update included algorithm tweaks?

I'd be surprised though even with the current Saracon whether anyone could reliably pick out the differences between it & a properly tweaked iZotope SRC. What implementation of the iZotope SRC & settings were you using for these tests?

[Teddy Ray]

I really like Tony Faulkner's downsample routine... I have SARACON as well but to be honest, I use Mr. Faulkners or R8 Brain Pro more..


Where are the SOX guis for windows??

I have it built into foobar(it does it on the fly) but nothing to convert in "off line" mode

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally Posted by MattGray

While Saracon was nice, I personally found it to be a touch brighter on the high end than the original source in my tests. .

FWIW there was a bug in the earliest versions that caused that.

[Herbeck]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

Where are the SOX guis for windows??

I have it built into foobar(it does it on the fly) but nothing to convert in "off line" mode

I'm not sure, but maybe this is what you looking for?

A new resampler DSP for foobar2000 - Hydrogenaudio Forums


All the best

Herbeck

[Shy]

Yes, and conversion can be done simply with the converter in foobar2000 (right click -> convert). Add the resampler to the Active DSPs list in the converter settings.

[lowland]

Agreed Barbabatch is still good, although the SRC in Sample Manager won a shootout I did when SM was first available - not a huge improvement in fidelity as you might expect, but enough to make it my everyday SRC. Barbabatch still gets used for those times when large numbers of unusual file types are the order of the day - I'm wondering whether AudioEase have a version 5 with an improved SRC algorithm in development now they've had time to take a good look at what Izotope and Weiss have been doing.

[MattGray]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

FWIW there was a bug in the earliest versions that caused that.

Thanks Bob, good to know I wasn't just hearing things

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Shy

Yes, and conversion can be done simply with the converter in foobar2000 (right click -> convert). Add the resampler to the Active DSPs list in the converter settings.

gotya! thanks Shy and Herbeck!

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Shy

Yes, and conversion can be done simply with the converter in foobar2000 (right click -> convert). Add the resampler to the Active DSPs list in the converter settings.

what sort of dither does foobar use??

[plethorapw]

Thanks for all the feedback.
This is a great forum!!
I'm going to request a saracon demo and hear for myself. Financially, I hope Izotope RX2 wins.

[plethorapw]

Oh, also, what does Bob Katz use??

[Shy]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

what sort of dither does foobar use??

Plain but reliable noise shaped dithering, but I hardly ever use it since I only resample to 32bit floating point files and dither just the final final file with an audio editor (though it makes absolutely no audible difference).

[UnderTow]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

FWIW there was a bug in the earliest versions that caused that.

Makes you wonder how people could spend so much money on something that at the time was effectively worse than a free SRC...

Alistair