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an easy analysis tool : Trackalyzer


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Hi all,

 

this is my first post here and I see that you are quite active on anaysis of audio masterings, tracks, dynamic, aso...

For my personal use, I did a free software to ease this analysis task. It only works on .wav files (mono, stereo, most samplerates and bitrates) so mp3, aac, flac have to be converted before (ie with foobar). For traks with emphasis, de-emphasis is available.

 

110.png

 

Just choose two tracks to be compared and the soft outputs a picture with most important values :

here is a comparison of Beck's Morning Phase, HDtracks vs CD. You can see that despite a lower DR value, the HDtracks version has more dynamics (see histogram and timeline). Note that I don't get exact same DR values as TT-DR and I prefer to measure LRA (loudness range as per ITU 3342).

 

04_say10.png

 

Those who want to play with this tool can get it at http://www.ohl.to/audio/downloads/trackalyzer.zip

Sorry for mac and linux users, it only works on windows now. The soft needs Octave to be installed, there is a link in the setup page. The trackalyzer algorithms are open and can be checked in the trackalyzer.m file.

Have a nice day and let me know if it works fine for you.

JLO

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Great first post, so welcome and thank you! I'll take a look at this…perhaps it is the tool I was hoping TT DR Meter to be (but never found was in practice). I've been using Audacity to get more info but this looks really promising.

 

Best,

John

Positive emotions enhance our musical experiences.

 

Synology DS213+ NAS -> Auralic Vega w/Linear Power Supply -> Auralic Vega DAC (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> XLR -> Auralic Taurus Pre -> XLR -> Pass Labs XA-30.5 power amplifier (on 4" maple and 4 Stillpoints) -> Hawthorne Audio Reference K2 Speakers in MTM configuration (Symposium Jr HD rollerball isolation) and Hawthorne Audio Bass Augmentation Baffles (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> Bi-amped w/ two Rythmic OB plate amps) -> Extensive Room Treatments (x2 SRL Acoustics Prime 37 diffusion plus key absorption and extensive bass trapping) and Pi Audio Uberbuss' for the front end and amplification

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Hi JLO,

 

Thanks for creating this software - it looks neat. I've just installed it and given it a go. Here is what I get comparing my 24/192 needle drop of Pick Up Sticks (Dave Brubeck - Time Out) with the CD rip:

 

Trackalyzer vinyl_24_192 vs. CD_16_44.1.JPG

 

I think I understand everything. Essentially, the DR value and the LRA of the needle drop are higher than that of the CD rip. Perhaps you could give us a quick tutorial through the graphs, just so as we all know what we're looking at/for. I'd certainly appreciate this.

 

Thanks again for sharing your hard work.

 

Cheers, Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

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just a few comments on Mani's analysis :

- peak+rms/time is a timeline of levels, above curve are the peaks and under are the rms. The diffrence between both curves can give you an idea of the dynamics evolution of the track. In the mani example, there is a strange difference between vinyl and CD track from 60 to 120s. Why ? what was done at mastering ?

- on the rms histogram, the values under -40dB are more frequent on the vinyl, I suspect it may be noise.

- on the spectrum analysis, we see big diffrences : the vinyl has some low frequency noise under 30Hz (turntable noise ?), the Eq are different near 50Hz : is it rumble or did the vinyl mastering add some "punch" ? Above 3 kHz, the difference is huge, it can be some mastering EQ but maybe the pickup frequency response has a big peak. That may be nice here because this track is missing higher frequencies : above 1kHz, the CD curve is quickly decreasing.

I also see a problem in the soft : the peaks in the L+R level histogram should not give 0dB in the peak values on the right plot. I have to check this.

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Thanks JLO. Yeah, I think the biggest differences are probably due to rumble and noise. I also have a hunch about the extra energy above 3KHz in the needle drop, which should not be there and needs to be fixed.

 

Could you just explain the 'L+R Level Histogram' too please? Thanks.

 

Cheers, Mani.

Main: SOtM sMS-200 -> Okto dac8PRO -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Tune Audio Anima horns + 2x Rotel RB-1590 amps -> 4 subs

Home Office: SOtM sMS-200 -> MOTU UltraLite-mk5 -> 6x Neurochrome 286 mono amps -> Impulse H2 speakers

Vinyl: Technics SP10 / London (Decca) Reference -> Trafomatic Luna -> RME ADI-2 Pro

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jlohl,

 

Welcome, and quite a first post. This looks to be a very useful tool once we get some experience with it.

 

I do have a suggestion for a future enhancement. Either a Left minus Right histogram or a cumalative Lissajous plot. Gives an idea of how much channel separation is in the recorded track.

 

Plan on trying this out some with known good and poor tracks to see what it shows.

 

Thanks.

And always keep in mind: Cognitive biases, like seeing optical illusions are a sign of a normally functioning brain. We all have them, it’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it is something that affects our objective evaluation of reality. 

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Edited: solved the problem, see next post

 

Hi JLO,

 

I'm trying to use it on Mac OS X. It works except that the "tics" function is not defined (see below). If you can tell me where to find the tics function, I can make a small cross-platform UI :)

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

octave trackalyzer.m

warning: function ./subplot.m shadows a core library function

warning: function ./wavread.m shadows a core library function

GNU Octave, version 3.8.0

Copyright © 2013 John W. Eaton and others.

This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or

FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. For details, type 'warranty'.

 

Octave was configured for "x86_64-apple-darwin13.1.0".

 

Additional information about Octave is available at GNU Octave.

 

Please contribute if you find this software useful.

For more information, visit Get Involved

 

Read Bugs to learn how to submit bug reports.

For information about changes from previous versions, type 'news'.

 

size_wav1 =

 

9226896 2

 

fs1 = 44100

duration_wav1 = 209.23

.

.

.

size_wav2 =

 

9226896 2

 

fs2 = 44100

duration_wav2 = 209.23

.

.

.

peak + rms, time in s

error: 'tics' undefined near line 35 column 3

error: called from:

error: safetics.m at line 35, column 3

error: trackalyzer.m at line 216, column 52

Home: Apple Macbook Pro 17" --Mini-Toslink--> Cambridge Audio DacMagic --XLR--> 2x Genelec 8020B

Work: Apple Macbook Pro 15" --USB--> Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 --1/4\"--> Superlux HD668B / 2x Genelec 6010A

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0) Install homebrew, if you haven't already:

ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/go/install)"

 

1) download and install AquaTerm

 

2) open the terminal and execute the following commands (<Return> after each line):

sudo mkdir /usr/local/include/aquaterm

sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/AquaTerm.framework/Versions/A/AquaTerm /usr/local/lib/libaquaterm.dylib

sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/AquaTerm.framework/Versions/A/AquaTerm /usr/local/lib/libaquaterm.1.0.0.dylib

sudo ln -s /Library/Frameworks/AquaTerm.framework/Versions/A/Headers/* /usr/local/include/aquaterm/

brew tap homebrew/science

brew update

brew upgrade

brew install gnuplot --aquaterm

brew install gfortran

brew install octave

octave

pkg install -forge plot

<Ctrl>-<D>

 

3) download Trackalyzer

 

4) unpack Trackalyzer

 

5) open "trackalyzer/files/octave/trackalyzer.m" in a text editor

 

6) adjust the paths for the two WAV files to compare

 

7) open Terminal and execute the following commands

cd ~/Downloads/trackalyzer/files/octave

octave trackalyzer.m

 

8) For further comparisons, repeat Steps 5 - 7

 

Cheers,

Peter

Home: Apple Macbook Pro 17" --Mini-Toslink--> Cambridge Audio DacMagic --XLR--> 2x Genelec 8020B

Work: Apple Macbook Pro 15" --USB--> Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 --1/4\"--> Superlux HD668B / 2x Genelec 6010A

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I did not do anything with AquaTerm but execute the .pkg from the .dmg.

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

P.S.: Let me know whether it works.

Home: Apple Macbook Pro 17" --Mini-Toslink--> Cambridge Audio DacMagic --XLR--> 2x Genelec 8020B

Work: Apple Macbook Pro 15" --USB--> Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 --1/4\"--> Superlux HD668B / 2x Genelec 6010A

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I do have a suggestion for a future enhancement. Either a Left minus Right histogram or a cumalative Lissajous plot. Gives an idea of how much channel separation is in the recorded track.
I prefer to avoid adding more graphs. So following your suggestion, I've added a (Lrms-Rrms) in the timeline to check channel separation.

 

See picture :

 

tracka16.png

 

Those graphs show very diffrent kind of recordings :

- first is overly compressed and limited, less dynamics, with lots of bass added : poor job of recording/mastering

- second track is spectrally balanced, not compressed nor limited, great dynamics : a very good work

You can see that the difference between peaks and rms values on the timeline is a good indication of the real dynamic range of a track.

 

I also did some other minor mods :

- bug removed : the spectrum was not shown when track had real silences (samples of value 0, often seen on mp3 files)

- rms histogram is normalised to highest value

 

Release is available for download at same place : http://www.ohl.to/audio/downloads/trackalyzer.zip

Have a nice day !

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jlohl,

 

You are doing such great work here. I am so impressed. Thank you…

 

Were you able to work with Peter on the Mac version?

 

John

Positive emotions enhance our musical experiences.

 

Synology DS213+ NAS -> Auralic Vega w/Linear Power Supply -> Auralic Vega DAC (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> XLR -> Auralic Taurus Pre -> XLR -> Pass Labs XA-30.5 power amplifier (on 4" maple and 4 Stillpoints) -> Hawthorne Audio Reference K2 Speakers in MTM configuration (Symposium Jr HD rollerball isolation) and Hawthorne Audio Bass Augmentation Baffles (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> Bi-amped w/ two Rythmic OB plate amps) -> Extensive Room Treatments (x2 SRL Acoustics Prime 37 diffusion plus key absorption and extensive bass trapping) and Pi Audio Uberbuss' for the front end and amplification

Link to comment
I prefer to avoid adding more graphs. So following your suggestion, I've added a (Lrms-Rrms) in the timeline to check channel separation.

 

See picture :

 

tracka16.png

 

Those graphs show very diffrent kind of recordings :

- first is overly compressed and limited, less dynamics, with lots of bass added : poor job of recording/mastering

- second track is spectrally balanced, not compressed nor limited, great dynamics : a very good work

You can see that the difference between peaks and rms values on the timeline is a good indication of the real dynamic range of a track.

 

I also did some other minor mods :

- bug removed : the spectrum was not shown when track had real silences (samples of value 0, often seen on mp3 files)

- rms histogram is normalised to highest value

 

Release is available for download at same place : http://www.ohl.to/audio/downloads/trackalyzer.zip

Have a nice day !

 

Thanks for adding the channel separation on the time line. That will work just as well. Nice program.

And always keep in mind: Cognitive biases, like seeing optical illusions are a sign of a normally functioning brain. We all have them, it’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it is something that affects our objective evaluation of reality. 

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