POW-r 3 Dithering

[Imagine]

According to what I've read, POW-r 3 has the strongest noise-shaping. BarbaBatch is a wonderful program, but even the people there have said BarbaBatch dithering is less sophisticated, and that PowR 3 dither has better masking ways.

What program would you recommend when using dither?

I know Weiss makes a great converter, but I'm looking for software that will do the equivalent.

Thanks

[lancejorton]

well, ProTools has a POW-r plug. but i'm pretty sure Barbabatch uses POW-r.

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lance

[Imagine]

well, ProTools has a POW-r plug. but i'm pretty sure Barbabatch uses POW-r.

--
lance

This is from AudioEase.

BarbaBatch does not offer PowR dither, it uses its own dither method.

[Matt_G]

Hi Lance, As mentioned Protools has a POW-r dither plug-in module, so does BIAS Peak www.bias-inc.com which is like a 2 track editor for Mac OSX. There isn't a huge range of audio software for Mac that has POW-r. I am still waiting for Waveburner Pro OSX to become a stable program to do my POW-r needs. Until then I use Waveburner Pro in OS9 on a dual boot system to use POW-r & CD burning etc.

[Rich Breen]

According to what I've read, POW-r 3 has the strongest noise-shaping. BarbaBatch is a wonderful program, but even the people there have said BarbaBatch dithering is less sophisticated, and that PowR 3 dither has better masking ways.

What program would you recommend when using dither?

I know Weiss makes a great converter, but I'm looking for software that will do the equivalent.

Thanks

Hi Dean - I'm not sure I'd let the presence or absence of Pow-R 3 be the deciding factor - it's not the dither that makes the Weiss a fantastic box. While Pow-R is certainly a nice flavor of dither, I'm personally more inclined to use regular flat TPDF dither in most cases (though occasionally on material with lots of dynamic range and low-level material I might desire the heavy noise-shaping of something like Pow-R 3). In addition Waves IDR's different levels of noise shaping all seem to work quite well. What is the delivery destination which you require the dither for?

Best,
rich

[Imagine]

Hi Rich- What brought up the initial question was a thread on the 3daudio.com

Tpoic: 16 Bit blues.....

http://www.3daudioinc.com/cgi-bin/ul...&f=14&t=002583

I used to convert my 24 bit mixes to Red Book 16 bit within' Masterlink, but I didn't like the outcome.

I was told BarbaBatch was a great program, but according to AudioEase, they claim that their dither isn't as good as that of the Pow-R.

So I'm looking for a program that will dither without any artifacts. As for your question, I'd like to convert my 24 bit mixes to 16.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Rich Breen]

Hi Rich- What brought up the initial question was a thread on the 3daudio.com

...I used to convert my 24 bit mixes to Red Book 16 bit within' Masterlink, but I didn't like the outcome.

I was told BarbaBatch was a great program, but according to AudioEase, they claim that their dither isn't as good as that of the Pow-R.

So I'm looking for a program that will dither without any artifacts. As for your question, I'd like to convert my 24 bit mixes to 16.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Hi Dean - Sorry, just no way I can make myself slog through 5 pages of hand-wringing about what kind of dither sounds best to someone.;-) What I *can* tell you is in my own personal experience, I frequently (though not always) prefer straight TPDF dithers to heavily noise-shaped ones, and having run into lots of cases of people delivering noise-shaped-dithered material for futher processing, and the headaches it can cause, non-noise-shaped or minimally noise-shaped dither is often a safer bet.

If there will be any post-processing of the 16 bit files after your dithering step then you should by all means *not* use a noise-shaped dither. If yours is the absolute last step in the delivery chain, then there is certainly no reason not to use something like Pow-r 3, and depending on the program material and other conditions, you *may* have a preference for it. All things being equal, having Pow-r dither available as an option is a nice thing.

BTW, it doesn't appear to me that Audioease said their dither "wasn't as good as" Pow-r 3, just not as heavily noise shaped (I don't personally know what they're using).

To get back to your original question about programs to dither something with Pow-r 3, what's wrong with ProTools' implementation of Pow-r 3? Is it that you need batch offline dither processing capability? If so, the only one I can think of is Peak - DSP Quattro is a contender, but I don't know if they licensed Pow-r - you'd have to check with them.

Hope that's helpful,
Rich

[Imagine]

Hi Rich - Thanks for your reply. I'm considering a few options at this point.

In your first reply, you mention using Waves IDR and the different levels of noise shaping. The current version of Waves IDR in my plug ins folder only has one option, that being the basic Type 1 dithering.

Are you using Waves L3 for all other levels of noise shaping?

Thanks...

[Glenn75]

How do the Dithering capabilites within Maxim stack up against Pow-r 3? I need to burn some audio cd's at 16bit and am not sure which to use.

[Rich Breen]

Hi Rich - Thanks for your reply. I'm considering a few options at this point.

In your first reply, you mention using Waves IDR and the different levels of noise shaping. The current version of Waves IDR in my plug ins folder only has one option, that being the basic Type 1 dithering.

Are you using Waves L3 for all other levels of noise shaping?

Thanks...

Hi Dean - Yea, sorry - I forgot the Audiosuite IDR plugs have no noise-shape choices... So yes, if I'm using Waves to dither something it's with the L2 (I'm still trying to make myself like the L3, but I'm not convinced yet - I find the spectral shift of an L3 more objectionable than the artifacts of an L2 - but that's just me...), and there you have the choice of various amounts of noise-shaping. So, sometimes I'll use the various flavors of Waves dither, sometimes Pow-r 1, sometimes Pow-r 3. Just depends on material and work flow.

Hope that helps,
rich