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Topic: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel. (Read 591 times) previous topic - next topic
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Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Hello!

Recently I was tinkering with EQ APO, and I was listening to a 7.1 testfile. And I thought something there was malfunctioning. But then I realized that the LFE channel is completely mute with foobar. Also with MPV, but not with my directshow player, using LAV.

I can see the sound that is supposed to be played on all visualizations.
I installed a portable instance of latest stable (2.1.5), kept it vanilla. It works the same way.

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #2 –
Nothing wrong with the provided sample. It contains a valid LFE channel and I can't replicate foobar2000 ignoring it. Downmix to stereo DSP keeps it, playing the file with default WASAPI keeps it, even in exclusive mode. Custom output components I can try play it.

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #3 –
Quote from: dexter86 on
I think there's something wrong LFE channel in that file. Check out my files that I use to test surround playback, they play fine in latest foobar.
I can see but can't hear the LFE with any of the your files either.

PS: I tried with xaudio2 output as well. No LFE that way either, but it is much louder on FB 2.1.5 instance I have for testing. (Sounds the same on my main instance, but that's 1.6.17)

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #4 –
Then it must be something wrong with Equalizer APO.
 

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #5 –
Quote from: dexter86 on
Then it must be something wrong with Equalizer APO.
It's independent of EQ APO, it plays fine in my mediaplayer. And there's no LFE in foobar with EQ APO disabled either.
I have no ideas why there's no output for LFE.

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #6 –
My reply from yesterday was incomplete. I was certain foobar2000 loses LFE intentionally in some downmix but was confused yesterday as I tested the bundled "Downmix to stereo" DSP and it retained it. And I have 5.1 speaker setup - without DSPs there is no reason to lose the LFE channel as I have a speaker for it.

The default output will lose LFE if you have configured your speaker setup not to have .1 channel. For example if you have just stereo output or 4 channel surround setup.
XAudio2 output component uses OS channel mixer, it too intentionally removes LFE if you don't have that speaker.
WASAPI exclusive mode can play the LFE even if speakers are set into stereo mode if you actually have a speaker for it.
My 'WASAPI (shared)' component retains the LFE in its internal downmix.

In conclusion, if you have only stereo setup and you want to ensure LFE stays intact, use the downmix DSP.

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #7 –
Quote from: Case on
My reply from yesterday was incomplete. I was certain foobar2000 loses LFE intentionally in some downmix but was confused yesterday as I tested the bundled "Downmix to stereo" DSP and it retained it. And I have 5.1 speaker setup - without DSPs there is no reason to lose the LFE channel as I have a speaker for it.

The default output will lose LFE if you have configured your speaker setup not to have .1 channel. For example if you have just stereo output or 4 channel surround setup.
XAudio2 output component uses OS channel mixer, it too intentionally removes LFE if you don't have that speaker.
WASAPI exclusive mode can play the LFE even if speakers are set into stereo mode if you actually have a speaker for it.
My 'WASAPI (shared)' component retains the LFE in its internal downmix.

In conclusion, if you have only stereo setup and you want to ensure LFE stays intact, use the downmix DSP.
It seems like most issues I run into is caused by Foobar trying to be smarter than it can be.

Edit:

I don't seem to have wasapi outputs available though. (Oh I see now that it's provided via components) Only "default" whatever that means. And I get "Unrecoverable playback error: Unsupported stream format: 48000 Hz / 24-bit / 6 channels (0x3F)" when I try to use exclusive mode.

Downmixing in foobar would rather defeat the purpose of the surround virtualization that I have.

Edit:
So I do get LFE with your wasapi component. But do I understand that it's outputted as stereo now?  Or was that always the case?

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #8 –
The default outputs you have without any components are WASAPI outputs since foobar2000 v1.6. The ones without "[exclusive]" in the name use shared more and they resample/downmix the signal to match Windows mixer, just as the shared mode is designed to work. They won't try to play anything else. If they did, it would only result in an error.
The outputs marked "[exclusive]" send the signal to audio drivers without any alteration. If your hardware doesn't support the format you will get an error like you quoted.

The additional WASAPI component from Peter is old WASAPI exclusive mode component. You don't need it, it's for people using foobar2000 v1.5 or older.

Quote from: mzso on
Edit:
So I do get LFE with your wasapi component. But do I understand that it's outputted as stereo now?  Or was that always the case?
Your output has always been stereo if Windows mixer says you have stereo speakers.

Re: Foobar seems to ignore LFE channel.

Reply #9 –
Quote from: Case on
Your output has always been stereo if Windows mixer says you have stereo speakers.
I see. Well, I set it to 7.1 and now LFE is heard with all outputs. Weird to have so little control over this in Foobar, and even less ability to tell what is happening. IMO it's also strange that LFE is excluded from downmixing. Well, et least it made me realize some of my configuration needed changing.