AGC v2.0 plugin

eyagos · Mar 21, 2005, 08:37 AM

AGC v2.0 is finished, and you have it here:

http://ciberia.ya.com/eyagos

AGC, as many of you know, means Automatic Gain Control. AGC's circuits are widelly used as parts of many analogic and digital circuits: Amplifiers, radio tuners, radars, wireless cominications, industrial applications, etc etc. This one, as most of you can supouse, is designed for audio hearing. His functioning is very simple:

1.- Reads input Level.
2.- Compares it with a reference value (the reference is -3dB)
3.- If Level is greater than -3dB, it aplyes a little negative gain each 1 sample cycle (practically instantaneous). After a few samples (50 or 100), gain should be reduced to -3dB exactly.
4.- If Level is lower than -4dB, it aplyes a little positive gain each 1000 samples cycle. So, it takes much more time to increase gain to -3dB than to reduce it to -3dB. (if not, the invent would not function). The value of 1000 samples can be adjusted to control the speed (or the Slowness) of the algorithm.
5.- But if Level is even lower than a certain Threshold(in example -40dB), the gain will not be increased. This should prevent gain to increase too much -or indefinitelly- when input is very low (noise) -or there is no input-.

The plugin is perfect for hearing Internet music. If you have a TV card, this plugin can "eliminate" differences between different channels. It can be used too for hearing mp3 or CD music, although you must take into account that AGC can change the dynamics of sound (even changes in the same song). To reduce this, sets slowness control to maximum.

And one last recomendation: Don't use more than one plugin in the same circuit, and put it allways at the end of the circuit.

As other times, any suggestion, bug repot, doubt, or coment

will be grateful. Enjoy it.

eyagos.

radiocolonel.it · Mar 21, 2005, 10:41 AM

... what a cool surprise today!!! i was looking for an AGC from long time... no words to say thanks! I just tried a bit and it seems great, audio quality is really good and now i'lsee how to make it work with my mic.... i'll tell u how it behaves.
Thanks again!

Lex Nahumury · Mar 21, 2005, 04:13 PM

Great tool eyagos. I've always liked your AGCs!

/LeMury

Russ · Mar 21, 2005, 11:00 PM

Pretty cool eyagos. I was just trying out out with some mp3's and it works great. I have a question though. What does it do, when it has no signal? It seems to hold the value from the previous signal. I wonder if it would be better to default to a midpoint value, or maybe even a little higher, to make it respond a little qucker to lower level signals. i.e. Going from straight music (especially if it lowers the level), to a low level source (voice only, etc), it takes a couple of seconds to bring the level up to an audible level (especially if there are pauses in the talking, etc).

For example: If a play a low level source, where the AGC Monitor shows around +20 to +25dB for the average gain, and then stop the signal. The AGC holds at around +20 to +25dB. So if I then play the same signal again, it is instantly audible. However, if I play a signal with a normal level (or higher level), and stop the signal, it holds at a much lower level, so if I then play a low level signal, it takes longer to bring the level up to an audible point (when listening at a low volume). I would like to see it more responsive on the low end if possible (maybe have it expect the signal to be low when it has no input, as it responds quicker to higher level, and thus can compensate quicker if the signal turns out to have a higher level). i.e. I imagine using the AGC for night time listening. I set my volume to a level where it will not disturb other people, but at the same time I want to be able to hear the quieter parts (parts that may be just barely audible, at this volume level without the AGC). As it is right now, the time that it takes to bring the lower levels up, I miss parts of the lower level audio (with the AGC slowness setting at zero).

Another option might be to allow us to set the nominal level, so that in situations like this, we can turn up the volume, so that it is at an optimal level for the lower end, and then set the nominal gain lower, so that the higher level sounds are still not too loud, etc.

Anyway, it is just an idea, and like I said, without the AGC some of these audio parts are just barely audible (at lower volume levels), so it allready helps with that in a big way. I am just wondering if it is possible to make it more responsive at the lower levels, without losing the responsiveness at the higher levels.

-Russ

eyagos · Mar 22, 2005, 10:01 PM

Russ, this plugin tries to adjust the level of input sounds at a confortable and constant average level (I say averge level, because a constant level is 'no sound'), but not changing the original 'dynamics' os the sound. So, it reduces gain very quickly (no average is made here) if input sound level is too loud (it prevents clipping), and increase gain very slowly (with a long averge) if input sound is too weak.
If you want to hear the quiter parts of a song or a movie louder, you should use a compressor. Try presset "Normalizer" of Dynamics Processor, and adjust the times at your taste. This could be more efective too for microphone uses, radiocolonel.it.

The Threshod value is used to avoid anoying situations.
The worst case would be this: You have AGC plugin conected, but you are not playing any sound. If threshold parameter would not exist, AGC will increase gain to the maximum (I have not tell you before, maximum gain is +60dB). If you now plays any sound at a normal volume, it should sound at +60dB until AGC could reduce the gain (it is done very quickly, but not instantenously).
Other bad situation, if you'll not had a threshold value, will be when you have a mic conected and not registering any sound: The noise floor (lets say it is at -50dB) would be amplificated. If you use a threshold value of -40dB, the plugin will not increase gain.
Well, these anoying situations are eliminated with a threshold value. But as you has said there is still a problem: AGC can mantain in memory a gain value too high, calculated from the last music. This problem could be controled with a new parameter that set the maximum gain that AGC can aply: Let's say, you don't want more amplification than +20dB... Well, this can be a good idea.

LeMury, as you can see this version can increase and decrease the volume. I think that it is a real AGC now.

Thank you guys.

Russ · Mar 22, 2005, 10:27 PM

Good stuff. I used to have a Phillips TV with SMART sound, and it was a great feature. I was looking for something that works similair to that. I will check out your Dynamics Processor, and see how well that works.

-Russ

Lex Nahumury · Mar 22, 2005, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eyagos

LeMury, as you can see this version can increase and decrease the volume.

Yes I noticed. 'Threshold' and 'Gain Increase' are valuable additions indeed.
Very clever and usefull tool in cases where one needs constant average volume
but without compression.

/LeMury

Matti · Apr 21, 2005, 10:24 AM

Have I done something wrong as I can´t get AGC work with latest "h" driver; the user interface doesn´t open etc. I had it working but after new installation it doesn´t.
Regards Matti

Matti · Apr 22, 2005, 12:38 AM

What the heg, No problems now! (shit happens when You are tired)
Thanks again! Matti

rajder · Dec 18, 2005, 04:36 PM

is there version for 3537 ?

Chester01 · Mar 27, 2006, 08:11 PM

Can you possibly recompile the agc.kxl for 3538j I can load the plugin, both agc.da and agc.kxl register but i cannot load the plugins interface... Thanks!

Russ · Mar 27, 2006, 08:19 PM

Which version did you download. The 3538i version should work with 3538j (works for me).

Chester01 · Mar 27, 2006, 09:11 PM

3538i is the version i have (of agc 2.0) and the 3538j driver

Russ · Mar 27, 2006, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chester01

3538i is the version i have (of agc 2.0) and the 3538j driver

It is actually version 2.1 (from the microcode comment), but again it works for me in 3538j, so I am guessing that something else is causing the problem.

Maddogg6 · Mar 27, 2006, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ

Which version did you download. The 3538i version should work with 3538j (works for me).

Confirmed - it works for me as well.

Maddogg6 · Mar 27, 2006, 10:02 PM

Oh - DONT register the DA - I think I only register a single KXL file...
Im thinking registering the DA messed you up...

Chester01 · Mar 28, 2006, 01:25 AM

how can i unregister and reregister the plugin?

Maddogg6 · Mar 28, 2006, 01:32 AM

There is registry entries that can be deleted... (I cant remeber the location)

or, do a global reset - but that removes all added plugins - IE puts KX back to fresh installed state, so youd have to re-resistar all other plugins as well.

Chester01 · Mar 28, 2006, 01:52 AM

global reset worked, just had to reload the plugins i use... Thanks for your help

imperia · Oct 4, 2006, 03:32 PM

can you make AGC work with 3538l?

knight23 · Nov 24, 2006, 07:42 AM

can you please post the AGC algorithm. thanks!

smyle · Mar 22, 2007, 04:09 AM

*bump*

Chiltn · Sep 11, 2007, 05:34 AM

I still can't get the interface to work...I'm running the 3538m, but I'm about to try the new 3539...anyone tried AGC with it?

Cheers!

silvertones · Nov 4, 2007, 11:39 AM

Is there a version for 3538m

BuzzT · Apr 7, 2008, 10:42 PM

Is there a version of the Automatic Gain Control V 2.0 for 3541 available? I had problems to install it since 3538.

TravelRec. · Apr 8, 2008, 07:22 AM

You can use "Dynamics Processor" instead, it´s bundled with the driver.

pkozerski · Apr 8, 2008, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuzzT

Is there a version of the Automatic Gain Control V 2.0 for 3541 available? I had problems to install it since 3538.

This is my up
RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting
3541 with many plugins, AGC is also there and it works ok with 3541

Mar 21, 2005, 08:37 AM	#1
eyagos DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 259 Rep Power: 0	AGC v2.0 plugin AGC v2.0 is finished, and you have it here: http://ciberia.ya.com/eyagos AGC, as many of you know, means Automatic Gain Control. AGC's circuits are widelly used as parts of many analogic and digital circuits: Amplifiers, radio tuners, radars, wireless cominications, industrial applications, etc etc. This one, as most of you can supouse, is designed for audio hearing. His functioning is very simple: 1.- Reads input Level. 2.- Compares it with a reference value (the reference is -3dB) 3.- If Level is greater than -3dB, it aplyes a little negative gain each 1 sample cycle (practically instantaneous). After a few samples (50 or 100), gain should be reduced to -3dB exactly. 4.- If Level is lower than -4dB, it aplyes a little positive gain each 1000 samples cycle. So, it takes much more time to increase gain to -3dB than to reduce it to -3dB. (if not, the invent would not function). The value of 1000 samples can be adjusted to control the speed (or the Slowness) of the algorithm. 5.- But if Level is even lower than a certain Threshold(in example -40dB), the gain will not be increased. This should prevent gain to increase too much -or indefinitelly- when input is very low (noise) -or there is no input-. The plugin is perfect for hearing Internet music. If you have a TV card, this plugin can "eliminate" differences between different channels. It can be used too for hearing mp3 or CD music, although you must take into account that AGC can change the dynamics of sound (even changes in the same song). To reduce this, sets slowness control to maximum. And one last recomendation: Don't use more than one plugin in the same circuit, and put it allways at the end of the circuit. As other times, any suggestion, bug repot, doubt, or coment will be grateful. Enjoy it. eyagos. Last edited by eyagos; Mar 21, 2005 at 08:42 AM.

Mar 21, 2005, 10:41 AM	#2
radiocolonel.it DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Italy Posts: 192 Rep Power: 0	... just excellent ... what a cool surprise today!!! i was looking for an AGC from long time... no words to say thanks! I just tried a bit and it seems great, audio quality is really good and now i'lsee how to make it work with my mic.... i'll tell u how it behaves. Thanks again!

Apr 21, 2005, 10:24 AM	#8
Matti DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 25 Rep Power: 0	Agc Have I done something wrong as I can´t get AGC work with latest "h" driver; the user interface doesn´t open etc. I had it working but after new installation it doesn´t. Regards Matti

Apr 22, 2005, 12:38 AM	#9
Matti DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 25 Rep Power: 0	No Prob.s! What the heg, No problems now! (shit happens when You are tired) Thanks again! Matti

Mar 27, 2006, 08:11 PM	#11
Chester01 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: St. Cloud, MN Posts: 492 Rep Power: 0	Can you possibly recompile the agc.kxl for 3538j I can load the plugin, both agc.da and agc.kxl register but i cannot load the plugins interface... Thanks! __________________ COMP: Dual Intel PIII 733 Mhz; GeForce 4 Ti 4600; 1.128 Gb RAM; SB0350 (Audigy 2 ZS Platnium) STEREO(I UPGRADED):Crown Audio K1 and K2 amplifiers (4000 watts at .1% THD ), JL 13w7 Subwoofer (6.5 CF) (2) 18" PR's, Klipsch SB-1's, some cement blocks for speaker stands...

Mar 21, 2005, 04:13 PM	#3
Lex Nahumury DH Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 1,932 Rep Power: 64	Great tool eyagos. I've always liked your AGCs! /LeMury

Mar 21, 2005, 11:00 PM	#4
Russ HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 5,561 Rep Power: 62	Pretty cool eyagos. I was just trying out out with some mp3's and it works great. I have a question though. What does it do, when it has no signal? It seems to hold the value from the previous signal. I wonder if it would be better to default to a midpoint value, or maybe even a little higher, to make it respond a little qucker to lower level signals. i.e. Going from straight music (especially if it lowers the level), to a low level source (voice only, etc), it takes a couple of seconds to bring the level up to an audible level (especially if there are pauses in the talking, etc). For example: If a play a low level source, where the AGC Monitor shows around +20 to +25dB for the average gain, and then stop the signal. The AGC holds at around +20 to +25dB. So if I then play the same signal again, it is instantly audible. However, if I play a signal with a normal level (or higher level), and stop the signal, it holds at a much lower level, so if I then play a low level signal, it takes longer to bring the level up to an audible point (when listening at a low volume). I would like to see it more responsive on the low end if possible (maybe have it expect the signal to be low when it has no input, as it responds quicker to higher level, and thus can compensate quicker if the signal turns out to have a higher level). i.e. I imagine using the AGC for night time listening. I set my volume to a level where it will not disturb other people, but at the same time I want to be able to hear the quieter parts (parts that may be just barely audible, at this volume level without the AGC). As it is right now, the time that it takes to bring the lower levels up, I miss parts of the lower level audio (with the AGC slowness setting at zero). Another option might be to allow us to set the nominal level, so that in situations like this, we can turn up the volume, so that it is at an optimal level for the lower end, and then set the nominal gain lower, so that the higher level sounds are still not too loud, etc. Anyway, it is just an idea, and like I said, without the AGC some of these audio parts are just barely audible (at lower volume levels), so it allready helps with that in a big way. I am just wondering if it is possible to make it more responsive at the lower levels, without losing the responsiveness at the higher levels. -Russ

Mar 22, 2005, 10:01 PM	Thread Starter #5
eyagos DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 259 Rep Power: 0	Russ, this plugin tries to adjust the level of input sounds at a confortable and constant average level (I say averge level, because a constant level is 'no sound'), but not changing the original 'dynamics' os the sound. So, it reduces gain very quickly (no average is made here) if input sound level is too loud (it prevents clipping), and increase gain very slowly (with a long averge) if input sound is too weak. If you want to hear the quiter parts of a song or a movie louder, you should use a compressor. Try presset "Normalizer" of Dynamics Processor, and adjust the times at your taste. This could be more efective too for microphone uses, radiocolonel.it. The Threshod value is used to avoid anoying situations. The worst case would be this: You have AGC plugin conected, but you are not playing any sound. If threshold parameter would not exist, AGC will increase gain to the maximum (I have not tell you before, maximum gain is +60dB). If you now plays any sound at a normal volume, it should sound at +60dB until AGC could reduce the gain (it is done very quickly, but not instantenously). Other bad situation, if you'll not had a threshold value, will be when you have a mic conected and not registering any sound: The noise floor (lets say it is at -50dB) would be amplificated. If you use a threshold value of -40dB, the plugin will not increase gain. Well, these anoying situations are eliminated with a threshold value. But as you has said there is still a problem: AGC can mantain in memory a gain value too high, calculated from the last music. This problem could be controled with a new parameter that set the maximum gain that AGC can aply: Let's say, you don't want more amplification than +20dB... Well, this can be a good idea. LeMury, as you can see this version can increase and decrease the volume. I think that it is a real AGC now. Thank you guys.

Mar 22, 2005, 10:27 PM	#6
Russ HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 5,561 Rep Power: 62	Good stuff. I used to have a Phillips TV with SMART sound, and it was a great feature. I was looking for something that works similair to that. I will check out your Dynamics Processor, and see how well that works. -Russ

Dec 18, 2005, 04:36 PM	#10
rajder DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 4 Rep Power: 0	is there version for 3537 ?

Mar 27, 2006, 08:19 PM	#12
Russ HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 5,561 Rep Power: 62	Which version did you download. The 3538i version should work with 3538j (works for me).

Mar 27, 2006, 09:11 PM	#13
Chester01 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: St. Cloud, MN Posts: 492 Rep Power: 0	3538i is the version i have (of agc 2.0) and the 3538j driver __________________ COMP: Dual Intel PIII 733 Mhz; GeForce 4 Ti 4600; 1.128 Gb RAM; SB0350 (Audigy 2 ZS Platnium) STEREO(I UPGRADED):Crown Audio K1 and K2 amplifiers (4000 watts at .1% THD ), JL 13w7 Subwoofer (6.5 CF) (2) 18" PR's, Klipsch SB-1's, some cement blocks for speaker stands...

Mar 27, 2006, 10:02 PM	#16
Maddogg6 Tail Razer Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Bernyurass, AZ - USA Posts: 4,027 Rep Power: 0	Oh - DONT register the DA - I think I only register a single KXL file... Im thinking registering the DA messed you up...

Mar 28, 2006, 01:25 AM	#17
Chester01 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: St. Cloud, MN Posts: 492 Rep Power: 0	how can i unregister and reregister the plugin? __________________ COMP: Dual Intel PIII 733 Mhz; GeForce 4 Ti 4600; 1.128 Gb RAM; SB0350 (Audigy 2 ZS Platnium) STEREO(I UPGRADED):Crown Audio K1 and K2 amplifiers (4000 watts at .1% THD ), JL 13w7 Subwoofer (6.5 CF) (2) 18" PR's, Klipsch SB-1's, some cement blocks for speaker stands...

Mar 28, 2006, 01:32 AM	#18
Maddogg6 Tail Razer Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Bernyurass, AZ - USA Posts: 4,027 Rep Power: 0	There is registry entries that can be deleted... (I cant remeber the location) or, do a global reset - but that removes all added plugins - IE puts KX back to fresh installed state, so youd have to re-resistar all other plugins as well.

Mar 28, 2006, 01:52 AM	#19
Chester01 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: St. Cloud, MN Posts: 492 Rep Power: 0	global reset worked, just had to reload the plugins i use... Thanks for your help __________________ COMP: Dual Intel PIII 733 Mhz; GeForce 4 Ti 4600; 1.128 Gb RAM; SB0350 (Audigy 2 ZS Platnium) STEREO(I UPGRADED):Crown Audio K1 and K2 amplifiers (4000 watts at .1% THD ), JL 13w7 Subwoofer (6.5 CF) (2) 18" PR's, Klipsch SB-1's, some cement blocks for speaker stands...

Oct 4, 2006, 03:32 PM	#20
imperia HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sofia, Bulgaria Posts: 174 Rep Power: 0	can you make AGC work with 3538l?

Nov 24, 2006, 07:42 AM	#21
knight23 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: cebu, philippines Posts: 9 Rep Power: 0	can you please post the AGC algorithm. thanks!

Mar 22, 2007, 04:09 AM	#22
smyle DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	bump

Sep 11, 2007, 05:34 AM	#23
Chiltn DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Aussie Posts: 5 Rep Power: 0	I still can't get the interface to work...I'm running the 3538m, but I'm about to try the new 3539...anyone tried AGC with it? Cheers!

Nov 4, 2007, 11:39 AM	#24
silvertones HardwareHeaven Addict Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 283 Rep Power: 39	Is there a version for 3538m

Apr 7, 2008, 10:42 PM	#25
BuzzT HardwareHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 27 Rep Power: 0	Is there a version of the Automatic Gain Control V 2.0 for 3541 available? I had problems to install it since 3538.

Apr 8, 2008, 07:22 AM	#26
TravelRec. Alternative Audioproductions Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Germany / Sachsen-Anhalt Posts: 1,710 Rep Power: 0	You can use "Dynamics Processor" instead, it´s bundled with the driver. __________________ Always take a look behind.