One killer feature I have missed sorely since the days of Winamp is the idea of a Dynamic Crossfade.
What I mean by dynamic is that instead of setting a static cross fade length, you instead set a min / max length for a crossfade.
For example as opposed to just setting a value of 4 seconds you could specify a max of 8000ms and a min of 50ms, then depending when the track fell below a threshold during the end it would decide if it should start the next song right away and let the last fade out underneath, or if should wait until the very last moment, providing a sort of gapless playback.
It was very musical for disparate tracks and proved to never be jarring as weâve all experienced with âtraditionalâ crossfade.
This would be perfect for when Roon enters radio/auto playlist mode
You can see this in action with an old plugin called SqrSoft Advanced Crossfading
Hereâs the overview for that plugin:
SqrSoft Advanced Crossfading is an output plug-in for Winamp which allows mixing audio files by applying a crossfade effect with auto detection of the mixing point without stopping the music. It has a sound analyzer which monitors the level at the beginning and end of each track and adjust the mixing point. You can define how the crossfade will work when you press stop, seek, skip, or the track level in the configuration window. It also has the option of a DSP (Digital Signal Processing) plug-in, allowing the crossfade to use it with a shout cast server or a compressor.
Features:
Mixing buffer: 500ms to 30000ms configurable range with rebuffed control.
Crossfade: Adjustable working range, 0% to 100% of the mixing buffer, initial(fade-in) and final(fade-out) level control.
Crossfade control (non-lineal): Normal crossfade, fade-on-skip/stop and fade-on-seek.
Signal analyzer: Adjustable Trigger level from -1dB to -60dB.
Gap Killer : Adjustable trigger level from -6dB to -60dB. Individual settings for rise and fall edges of the track.
I used Winamp since its inception more or less and have often mourned its demise. SqrSoft was an amazing plug in. Iâve never since come across anything that comes anywhere near it. This kind of top end crossfading is something all the streaming services lack, in my humble opinion.
Iâd like to see pretty much the same thing as Chris. I would add fade up too. Hereâs what Iâd love to see, and I think JRiver can do this.
That is:-
Very short fade down when pausing or stopping mid-track.
Very short fade up when resuming play mid-track.
Very short crossfade when skipping to next or previous track.
(No fade up when commencing play at the beginning of a track, of course).
Iâve never seen the Dynamic Crossfade in Winamp, but it sounds interesting.
For reference, I just thought I would add that two additional programs that enact a similar type of advanced crossfading are (i) Foobar2000 using the Continuator DSP, and (ii) Virtual DJ.
I was playing with SQR crossfade yesterday when I saw I ânewâ version of winamp being worked on.
I forgot how good it really is. Less of a crossfade and more of an overlap function that is really enjoyable with a radio mix. I guess what makes it tough would be integrating it with streaming, unless you were somehow able to pre-buffer the next song. Still would be worth a look at least for local files.
I would also like to see this feature as well⌠I have been looking for a way to recreate the FooBar/Winamp experience with a solution that doesnât require a Windows PC⌠there are contemporary solutions that offer something similar; Plex with their âSweet Fadesâ and Neutron music Player on Android devices⌠I would much rather see this feature in an âAudio Firstâ product like Roon!
The first system to fully bake in this feature on the devices I use will get my money!
Iâve been using Plexamp as a portable solution for a while. Plexâs implementation of a dynamic crossfade called âsweet fadesâ is a sorely missed feature when shuffling tracks or using the radio function in Roon.
A lot of the transitions between songs provide a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience!
Iâm going to rebump this after my initial suggestions over 6 years ago. This would really take the radio functionality to the next level for continuous playback and would be yet another differentiator for Roon.
Do others still agree that this is useful or am I just stuck in my ways?
Youâre not alone. This is the one thing I miss from Plexamp. Iâd love it if Roon could do a nice continuous mix with smart crossfade.
Weâre already got piles of audio analysis data sitting on our disks, and Roonâs already done half the work so it can avoid crossfading silent portions of tracks. Sweet Fades doesnât superficially feel like a huge jump given those conditions (though for all I know the existing crossfade code could be a giant mess).
Adding my +1 for dynamic (or âintelligentâ) crossfade. The current implementation works okay for tracks that have a fairly natural fade out, but on other tracks that end more abruptly it just sounds like itâs cutting off the end of the track. MPD on Linux can use âmixrampâ tags to crossfade intelligently, and since roon already scans our library for volume levelling and to remove silence, I would think it could do something similar.
At a minimum, it would be nice if the â0sâ crossfade setting still removed silence (but doesnât fade the tracks). A separate âoffâ setting would leave the tracks untouched.