Article: Introducing Hang Loose Convolver From Accurate Sound

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, deanoUK said:

The Zero latency, uniform partition convolution engine.

More information please.

Huh?
 

 

4 minutes ago, deanoUK said:

I gather you are targeting low end CPUs

I don’t think there is a target. It should happily run on very fast machines as well. 

[mitchco]

10 hours ago, LewinskiH01 said:

@mitchco Very glad to see this coming up! Can't say enough good things about you. Your Computer Audiophile Acourate articles inspired me to go digitally active an into Acourate, which I still use. That opened the door into DIY speakers, and your ebook was essential to getting a better grasp on measurements and use of Acourate. And you have always been very helpful on email exchanges. Outstanding member of this community!

 

Where does HLC fit into my system? I have Roon Core in a PC convolving filters to send 4-way stereo to a headless AudioPC with Roon Bridge at the living room, and I operate Roon from the phone app. I listen to files in my library in Roon Core PC and also Tidal streaming into Roon in that PC. I guess HLC plugs into Roon, takes the feed from Roon that is actually Tidal stream or my music files, convolves it with the selected filter, and outputs into Roon again to be sent to Roon Bridge on the AudioPC?

 

Is there a phone app to manage this or should I be at the Roon Core machine (Teamviewer can solve that), or does it integrate with Roon app?

 

Looking forward to learn more! Congrats again!!

 

Best,

Horacio

 

Hi Horacio, good to hear from you! I hope all is well.

 

Currently, HLC standalone app uses either VB-Virtual Audio cable on Windows or BlackHole on the Mac to "loopback" the output of Roon into the input of HLC and the output of HLC to your DAC. This is a 32 bit float lossless connection. Unfortunately, Roon does not support the VST plugin standard, so this is the current method of connection. I am working on options. Also note HLC processes 2 channel at the moment, but will be MCH soon. 

 

Kind regards,

Mitch

[cfisher]

Mitch, any info yet on how you plan to sell the convolution filters for the SR1a? Would there be any advantage to using the filters with HLC?

[mitchco]

Hi @cfishersorry no info yet, but working on it. Re: HLC, the advantage is to determine which filter you prefer as I will be releasing a "set" of filters. One will be "neutral" and others will have a little more or less bass. more or less treble relative to neutral. The design behind this will come later, but by switching through the filters, one will likely be preferred.

[Jørgen Skadhauge]

Thanks to Mitch for all his work at Audiophilestyle. This lead me to use Acourate for xover and correction. And I am not looking back! just wonderfull.

It looks like Mitch will make a multi channel version in the future.

So my question is: will it then with the HLC be possible to use say 4ch VST3 files in Audirvana and making the output routing here to get it to work with the Merging Anubis, as I am doing nowadays with Audirvana>AcourateConvolver>Anubis? if yes, cant wait!

Has VST3 as many taps as AcourateConvolver?

 

BR Jorgen

 

[mitchco]

Hi @Jorgenthanks for the kind words. The answer to your question is yes and yes :-) HLC VST3 and standalone app will run as many taps as can be output from Acourate, Audiolense and Focus Fidelity DSP software programs. Typical output is 65,536 or 131,072 taps.

 

Kind regards, Mitch

[R1200CL]

On 5/14/2021 at 12:47 AM, mitchco said:

Hey Michael, yes available on Linux soon. I just need the Linux distro and supported C++ compiler to target a release on.

So If SGC (Small Green Computer) accepts, this SW could be implementere in the Sonictransporter ?

[Jørgen Skadhauge]

13 hours ago, mitchco said:

Hi @Jorgenthanks for the kind words. The answer to your question is yes and yes :-) HLC VST3 and standalone app will run as many taps as can be output from Acourate, Audiolense and Focus Fidelity DSP software programs. Typical output is 65,536 or 131,072 taps.

 

Kind regards, Mitch

wonderfull, please let me know when your Multichannel HLC is availble. These days I am playing with the new Audirvana Studio which to my ears is even more transparent than the previous 3.5. So right now in Audirvana I upscale the stereo signal and sent it to the AcourateConvolver. With your VST3 files the stereo signal goes through the VST3 for being processed and then upscaled right before going to DAC ? if it is an advantage the signal sent to the DAC could then be a DSD or DXD signal? Merging Technologies likes DSD and DXD. Never tried, but in another simple setup I use a RME ADI2 dac and here I prefer PCM to DSD.

Best  regards,

Jorgen

[mitchco]

On 5/20/2021 at 12:30 AM, R1200CL said:

So If SGC (Small Green Computer) accepts, this SW could be implementere in the Sonictransporter ?

HLC can be compiled to run on any mainstream Linux distributions is all I can say.

[mitchco]

On 5/20/2021 at 4:28 AM, Jørgen Skadhauge said:

wonderfull, please let me know when your Multichannel HLC is availble. These days I am playing with the new Audirvana Studio which to my ears is even more transparent than the previous 3.5. So right now in Audirvana I upscale the stereo signal and sent it to the AcourateConvolver. With your VST3 files the stereo signal goes through the VST3 for being processed and then upscaled right before going to DAC ? if it is an advantage the signal sent to the DAC could then be a DSD or DXD signal? Merging Technologies likes DSD and DXD. Never tried, but in another simple setup I use a RME ADI2 dac and here I prefer PCM to DSD.

Best  regards,

Jorgen

 

Hi Jorgen, yes HLC is plugged in before the resampler. 

 

 

[R1200CL]

36 minutes ago, mitchco said:

On 5/20/2021 at 9:30 AM, R1200CL said:

So If SGC (Small Green Computer) accepts, this SW could be implementere in the Sonictransporter ?

HLC can be compiled to run on any mainstream Linux distributions is all I can say.

@agillis

Hi Andrew.
I like to suggest you looking into the possibility to implement this SW in the SonicOrbiter OS. 
I think it will add a lot of value. 
 

Andreas

[The Computer Audiophile]

25 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

@agillis

Hi Andrew.
I like to suggest you looking into the possibility to implement this SW in the SonicOrbiter OS. 
I think it will add a lot of value. 
 

Andreas

+1

 

This would be great. 

[agillis]

22 hours ago, R1200CL said:

I like to suggest you looking into the possibility to implement this SW in the SonicOrbiter OS. 

 

HLC looks like a GUI application that requires a desktop OS such as Windows. Does it run embedded with no screen? That would be required to run on an "headless" device like a sonicTransporter.

[The Computer Audiophile]

38 minutes ago, agillis said:

 

HLC looks like a GUI application that requires a desktop OS such as Windows. Does it run embedded with no screen? That would be required to run on an "headless" device like a sonicTransporter.

It can run on anything. I’m guessing a web interface would work.

[R1200CL]

@mitchco

Can you confirm HLC can or will run headless on Linux with just a web interface ?

[mitchco]

On 5/23/2021 at 7:23 AM, R1200CL said:

@mitchco

Can you confirm HLC can or will run headless on Linux with just a web interface ?

Yes, with some work it can. But I have not had a chance to look into what the effort would be.

[dziemian]

Is it possible to import files from Multisub optimizer  or Minidsp? 

[mitchco]

Hi @dziemian I don't know the filter file format for Multisub optimizer or miniDSP. I know folks use REW or rePhase to import filters and convert to another file format... HLC takes stereo 32 bit float .wav files either standalone or bundled in a zip.

[dziemian]

Hi @mitchco  I was wondering if it is possible to use your convolver instead of minidsp hardware to store biquads generated by REW, Multisub optimizer, speaker's eq etc. The biquads look like following example...

 

biquad1,
b0=0.999848250832693,
b1=-1.999425176367626,
b2=0.999595318179774,
a1=1.999425176367626,
a2=-0.999443569012467,
biquad2,
b0=0.999765951342055,
b1=-1.997806523979884,
b2=0.998060158745793,
a1=1.997806523979884,
a2=-0.997826110087849,

[mitchco]

Hi @dziemian sorry, I don't know of any tools that can convert biquads into a FIR filter... Maybe the folks at miniDSP can assist?

[Confused]

I have just been looking through the manual for Hang loose Convolver.

 

I have no concerns regarding the set up, and I can see a number of ways I could incorporate it in my system.  I use Roon / HQPLayer, but I also use HQPlayer with VB Audio Virtual Cable for a whole range of other things and have pretty much every streaming option currently in use available, so adding Hang Loose looks like a simple variation on what I am doing already.

 

The one thing I am not sure about is how you actually change between filters once everything is set up?  Here I might have a problem.  My PC is located maybe 3 or 4 meters behind my listening position.  In an ideal world I would be able to switch filters remotely using an iPhone or iPad as a remote, but I don't think this is possible.

 

If switching between filters is a one click on the keyboard type of operation, then this might work.  I would not be able to see the PC screen, but I could use a USB extension cable to have the PC keyboard to hand at the listening position.  Using a mouse would be tricky if the PC screen is behind me.

 

Maybe there is another solution?

[Iansr]

If I already have JRiver and use its convolver to implement filter settings derived from say AudiolLens, would there be any advantage in buying and using HLC?   This is a genuine question and not an attempt to slight HLC.

[bbosler]

 

4 hours ago, Confused said:

In an ideal world I would be able to switch filters remotely using an iPhone or iPad as a remote, but I don't think this is possible.

 

any computer can be controlled by any other computer, tablet, or phone using VNC, You install a VNC server on the computer you want to control and then a VNC viewer also called a client on the controlling device(s). I use Screens but there are a variety of VNC options, some free and some paid, RealVNC, Teamviewer and on and on. If you are using Macs they have a built in option for screen sharing that works very well. 

 

Here's a link to give you the general idea but like I said, there are a variety of programs

 

https://help.realvnc.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003474552-How-do-I-get-started-with-VNC-Connect-on-Windows-and-Mac-

[R1200CL]

5 hours ago, Confused said:

My PC is located maybe 3 or 4 meters behind my listening position.  In an ideal world I would be able to switch filters remotely using an iPhone or iPad as a remote, but I don't think this is possible.

https://apps.apple.com/no/app/microsoft-eksternt-skrivebord/id714464092?l=nb
 

https://apps.apple.com/no/app/remote-desktop-rdp/id288362053?l=nb

[mitchco]

2 hours ago, Iansr said:

If I already have JRiver and use its convolver to implement filter settings derived from say AudiolLens, would there be any advantage in buying and using HLC?   This is a genuine question and not an attempt to slight HLC.

 

On my website and in the operations guide describes, "Why Hang Loose Convolver." In the case of JRiver, the VST3 plugin is used for both Mac and Windows versions of JRiver. The setup and configuration is described in the operations guide.