I run Roon on Windows10 with direct HDMI output or HDMI via Rasp4/RoonBridge(as Volumio Plugin). The HDMI goes into a NanoAvr and leaves it in 6 analog cables. ( The other NanoAvr’s HDMI port is fed by a Blueray player)
It then enters an ancient Parasound PSP 1500 Preamp that handles 5.1 pre-amplification and has a few analog options to generate Mch out of 2 channel.
I am looking to do that in Roon instead. It seems to me, that the Convolution module in the DSP section should be capable to do that, but I can not find the slightest hint. Is there a hint somewhere?
It seems that I can bolt the HQplayer into Roon. Can that software create synthetic surround sound?
And last. I guess I can pipe Roon’s output into any Windows program using VirtualCable. Is there a Windows software that can do virtual surround nicely? I loose RAAT then, but I worry about this later.
Or would a VST plugin generate Mch? Means I have to add Jriver or something similar.
Kal,
I use a cinch to db25 cable to feed 5.1 channels from the NanoAVR into the PSP. That is my default Mch and Stereo route. The PSP engages its analog Mch circuitry only for the two channel inputs. I therefore feed the HDMI output from the NanoAVR, which runs parallel to the analog outputs, into an Deembedder, connect it‘s Toslink into a DAC and route that into the PSP.
The analog Mch modes that the PSP applies are almost 30 years old. I know that there are devices from Lexington and others out, that elaborate on this much more. With all the RoomEQ power being implemented, I think that somehow somewhere that power could be used for smart Mch simulations.
I have seen those. I would imagine that they use a small percentage of CPU power that modern PCs have to offer. And while RoomEQ is very much in use today, utilizing the said CPU power, I can not see a similar effort for simulated Mch or even merge both - or am I wrong? And Roon would certainly be a great place to start it.
Ah. Your cinch DB25 is the equivalent of that adapter. So the multichannel audio inputs are OK but you are also using the TOSlink (stereo) into the PSP to be able to up-mix them to surround. Is that it?
Indeed, there are better tools for MCH simulations these days but I am not sure how you can use them with ROON since it does not support plug-ins.
In early PC times, modems were connected via this DB25 connector. It reduced later to 9 pins as DB9, of course nobody uses that anymore today. You could buy a switch for selecting multiple DB25 source, that could be used as an (unbuffered), MCh input switch. I once retired one of those DB25 cables with cinch plugs on the other side to save money.
Sure, no plugins. But a convolution filter, could that do anything? What about VST plugins? I think I saw some for audio production, but am not sure if they operate in real-time.
For a start, I would use the HDMI out of my PC, so I could feed Roon into any Windows software. I am still trying to get the RAAT into Raspi-HDMI Mch Route working flawlessly, it is bit flawed at the moment as channel assignments seem a bit random.
… I have a 500€ silent one too, just wanted to make the point that sometimes simple unexpected things work too. A bit like a simple surround software that I am searching…
Indeed, I resisted buying the Coleman and started building my own relay-based switcher. However, I was able to find a barely-used one on Reverb.com, so I figured it was the easy way out.
I appreciate your effort to find simple surround software but, I think, Roon is a constraint on your options…unless they want to do it themselves.
