Audio Processing Settings

In the version 0.1.7, the possibility to adjust the audio processing parameters of training examples has been introduced. This can be done from the dialog window which is called by selecting Audio | Audio Processing Settings in the main menu.

The most important feature here, placed within the Equalization Performance Settings box, is the possibility to change the time proportion of EQ Off vs. EQ On phases. It used to be hard-coded to 30%/40%/30% (EQ Off/EQ On/EQ Off correspondingly). And now a user can increase the length of the part where the equalizer is switched on by dragging the EQ On Time slider to the right, up to 100%.

EQ Always On In Test Mode is another feature that has been added to the Audio menu in the main menu, and it is closely related to the above-mentioned one. This makes sense when doing test exercises with either pink noise or professionally mixed and mastered music tracks with polished spectral balance. When it is checked, the whole game becomes trickier, but it is closer to real-world situations. And the goal becomes not only to recognize the frequency bands that are boosted or cut, but also to develop the ability of detecting the issues that should be fixed, without reference to normal (non-processed) sound.

The Audio Processing Settings window also contains a couple of more parameters.

The EQ On↔︎Off Transition Time parameter, which also refers to the Equalization Performance Settings group, is literally the length of the cross-fade between equalized and non-equalized parts of an example, which prevents possible clicks at the transition places. A user can set a value between 1 ms and 50 ms, with the default one being 35 ms. The less, the faster; the bigger, the smoother.

And the Example Fade In/Out Duration setting has the default value of 5 ms. You might want to set this to zero and do without these fades, e.g., if you decide to make learning files package, which you are going to play back continuously, without pauses between examples within the sequence using your favorite media player. This is a way to do the learning exercises while enjoying the seamless, non-interrupted playback of a music track. Or the user might want to set this value to the maximum (100 ms) to get the smoothest possible starts and endings.

All the adjustable values in this window used to be hard-coded in the previous versions. Now that they have become the default settings, a user can always bring them back by pressing the Reset button.

In order for the adjustments inside the Audio Processing Settings window to take effect, a user should press the Apply button. If a training example is being played back, it will be stopped and reloaded. Checking/unchecking the EQ Always On In Test Mode option has the same behavior, but it is applied immediately when in Test mode.

Adjusting any of the above-mentioned settings not only affects the training examples inside the program, but also changes these parameters for the exported learning/test audio packages correspondingly.

All these values are stored between application launch sessions.