Dirac Live for Studio - 30% off - "Stereo" and "Multichannel" (sale ended)

[LD_]

Hello everybody!

I thought I might share this deal, as Dirac Live offers seem to be a rare case. Maybe somebody has been waiting for this?

The offer concerns the Studio full version(s): intended for use with AudioUnit, VST, VST3 or AAX host software on macOS (10.11 or later) and Windows 10. Right now, one could buy the "Multichannel" installation for the price I had to pay for my "Stereo" copy...

Dirac Live is an exceptional piece of software; and the temporary(?) price reduction gives it a great value. (There seems to be no information about the duration period of the offer.)


Check it out, before it's too late!

 

[Zoomer]

You made my day!

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Is this the same as Dirac 3 for PC which I have ?

 

[XpanD]

Is this the same as Dirac 3 for PC which I have ?

If I understand things correctly... The "Home" edition is now the one that's used to configure devices that have Dirac built in, and the Studio edition replaces the old stand-alone virtual sound card setup. I have what I believe to be Studio running on my system currently, and it works quite well.

For anybody curious: I have a converted license from back in the 1.x days. The Dirac plugin is running in Kushview Element, which gets hooked into the system audio stream via Voicemeeter Banana. Apart from the setup being quite a bit more involved I have had no complaints -- all of the sleep mode issues I used to have with the old virtual card are now gone, and everything has been rock solid. EqualizerAPO has worked fine as well, set to the Voicemeeter output.

Here's the guide that I used a while back: https://live.dirac.com/content/uploads/2020/07/windowsmultichanneltutorial.pdf

 

[phoenixdogfan]

If I understand things correctly... The "Home" edition is now the one that's used to configure devices that have Dirac built in, and the Studio edition replaces the old stand-alone setup. I have what I believe to be Studio running on my system currently, and it works quite well.

For anybody curious: I have a converted license from back in the 1.x days. The Dirac plugin is running in Kushview Element, which gets hooked into the system audio stream via Voicemeeter Banana. Apart from the setup being quite a bit more involved I have had no complaints -- all of the sleep mode issues I used to have with the old virtual sound card setup are now gone, and everything has been rock solid.

Here's the guide that I used a while back: https://live.dirac.com/content/uploads/2020/07/windowsmultichanneltutorial.pdf

I too have a converted 1.x license, and the current edition is running on a HP Envy I7 Windows box. I currently am having problems getting it working, but I put it off to the side b/c I have other gear issues (Purifi Amp build, Smyth Realiser A16, miniDSP 2x 4 spidif output addition). Basically everything I've bought this year is not working, including the DL upgrade, so I'm hyper frustrated, but I would like to convert to the multichannel version asap as well as add mulltichannel bass management.

It seems based on what you are writing that this is indeed the long awaited multi channel upgrade for the people who bought 1.x and want to convert to DL3 and multichannel.

 

[XpanD]

I'm not too familiar with the history of multichannel support in the newer versions (switched to Audyssey XT32 for a while), but I have had no issues using it in my 5.1 setup for the past month or so. (moved license and re-installed everything on the 3rd of October)

What's broken in your setup? It's been a while for me (though I think I have a vague idea of how I did it), but maybe somebody here will know more on your issue.

 

[Vasr]

I wrote up some notes on setting up multi-channel Dirac on the PC as a system-wide EQ as one of the steps here:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ring-a-pc-as-a-8-ch-pre-pro-experiment.14785/

It also contains notes on using Equalizer APO for bass management until DLBC becomes available on the PC.

Since I wrote that, I have become aware that it is possible to do system-wide set up (any audio app on the PC will use it) with JRiver. By using JRiver's virtual audio device as the default audio device, it acts similar to the Voicemeeter solution but is not free. Using the Dirac plug-in within JRiver would be cleaner and easier than using some of the free VST hosts. But I have not tried this approach.

 

[Vasr]

This is a better deal than they offer their beta-testers!

 

[LD_]

This is a better deal than they offer their beta-testers!

Yes I know; sadly...

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I wrote up some notes on setting up multi-channel Dirac on the PC as a system-wide EQ as one of the steps here:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ring-a-pc-as-a-8-ch-pre-pro-experiment.14785/

It also contains notes on using Equalizer APO for bass management until DLBC becomes available on the PC.

Since I wrote that, I have become aware that it is possible to do system-wide set up (any audio app on the PC will use it) with JRiver. By using JRiver's virtual audio device as the default audio device, it acts similar to the Voicemeeter solution but is not free. Using the Dirac plug-in within JRiver would be cleaner and easier than using some of the free VST hosts. But I have not tried this approach.

I've owned JRiver since 2015 (it's version MC21) and am using the 32 bit DL Processor plugin. It shows up, communicates with the desktop, but does not register sound on the right set of vu meter bars when I route sound to JRiver via windows, nor does it play the test signal. Instead it continues to play the music file when I attempt desktop calibration reading, and returns the message that the S/N ratio "too high for valid measurement". I do have the WDM driver active, btw. So I am going to go over the set up again when I find time and see if I can get it to work, but right now I have a whole bunch of stuff to send back to the original manufacturer b/c none of it works.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

This is a better deal than they offer their beta-testers!

I've signed up to besa test the bass management software when it becomes available. Do you mean to tell me I will have to pay for that privilege? If anything, my work on that should entitle me to a very steep discount on the final, consumer ready version.

 

[Vasr]

I've signed up to besa test the bass management software when it becomes available. Do you mean to tell me I will have to pay for that privilege? If anything, my work on that should entitle me to a very steep discount on the final, consumer ready version.

No, beta testing is free. But it is like a limited time trial. It expires. And then they offer a discount less than this deal here "as a courtesy" even if you had provided good feedback that they adopted.

The culture at Dirac is very different from the world I live in. Most beta testers for any product sign up just to play around and never provide feedback but those that provide high-quality feedback and bug reports are worth their weight in gold. When you have a product whose marginal cost of production is zero, it is trivial to keep such people happy as you will need them again and again. This is particularly true of products like this that requires a significant investment of time to set up and test.

I think they see the beta test as simply an extended trial to increase the leads for more sales.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

No, beta testing is free. But it is like a limited time trial. It expires. And then they offer a discount less than this deal here "as a courtesy" even if you had provided good feedback that they adopted.

The culture at Dirac is very different from the world I live in. Most beta testers for any product sign up just to play around and never provide feedback but those that provide high-quality feedback and bug reports are worth their weight in gold. When you have a product whose marginal cost of production is zero, it is trivial to keep such people happy as you will need them again and again. This is particularly true of products like this that requires a significant investment of time to set up and test.

I think they see the beta test as simply an extended trial to increase the leads for more sales.

Which basicly means it ought to be given free of charge to the beta testers, I agree. After all my opinion as an audiophile of 47 years, who has owned 6 different high end speakers, four different subs, and 3 different electronic crossovers, and three different room and speaker correction systems over the years ought to be kind of valuable.

 

[vavan]

three different room and speaker correction systems

so which one is the best for you and can you recommend DL after all?

 

[Vasr]

Which basicly means it ought to be given free of charge to the beta testers, I agree. After all my opinion as an audiophile of 47 years, who has owned 6 different high end speakers, four different subs, and 3 different electronic crossovers, and three different room and speaker correction systems over the years ought to be kind of valuable.

That it can be given free without marginal cost doesn't imply it should be. Otherwise, word gets around and people jump in for beta without providing much value, just to get it free.

But it has to be appreciably less than the sale they throw open to the general public not charge beta testers more than that.

They could also base the discount on how significant and relevant feedback or bug reports were because those are the most valuable. It sets up an incentive for people to really test and report. They also land up being the most enthusiastic proponents to bring in more customers. These are all fairly common and well-known practices in the software world, at least in the US. Europe/Scandinavia may be different in culture.

Note that most of the beta testing of this and feedback will be on Dirac Live software (rather than just the DLP used on the PC). This software is common to all users of Dirac including the embedded ones in hardware from major vendors, not just the PC use. There are a lot of non-techy users in that audience. So, Dirac's reputation is based on improving that software and making it as bug-free and glitch-free and usable as possible. That usability feedback is important - not just for PC/Mac customer base.

 

[theyellowspecial]

Since I wrote that, I have become aware that it is possible to do system-wide set up (any audio app on the PC will use it) with JRiver. By using JRiver's virtual audio device as the default audio device, it acts similar to the Voicemeeter solution but is not free. Using the Dirac plug-in within JRiver would be cleaner and easier than using some of the free VST hosts. But I have not tried this approach.

I've tried both methods and the VST-host system-wide method is much better. JRiver's Windows driver is terribly buggy and causes high latency. Lots of complaints on their forums about the driver. Windows updates constantly breaking things, etc.

I use my system for everything (movies, games, music, browsing from couch, etc.). I was prepared to request a refund for DLMC until I implemented the system-wide solution using Element as a VST-host. Using this method I haven't had a single hiccup in 1.5 months. I direct VMB to use my Xonar DX as an ASIO device and latency is even less than using my Xonar DX in native WDM mode. It's possible to drop the VMB buffer to 128 samples with no issues.

Really looking forward to the bass management upgrade. I'll have to try your APO crossover method. Just using my AVR's crossover for now. There's also some crossover VST plugins but some are pretty expensive.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

so which one is the best for you and can you recommend DL after all?

One was the Behringer 2496 Ultracurve, a second was the original Tact unit, and the third and final is DL, so yeah it's the best by far. Also have had a coupla versions of Audessy on AV receivers.

 

[LD_]

so which one is the best for you and can you recommend DL after all?

Dirac Live 2 Digital Room Correction Software Walkthrough - although, version 3 is available now.

Some of the improvements, incl. free downloads of 'Target Curves for Dirac Live 2/3', are listed here [I, personally, prefer the "+4dB low frequency boost" target modified to -6.0 dB @ 20 kHz; see attached ZIP-archive].

====
Let me quote the author of the walkthrough, @mitchco, who wrote regarding this specific question:

"[...] To answer the inevitable question, which sounds better, Acourate, Audiolense or Dirac, since I have evaluated all three. I will say they all improve the low frequency response of virtually any system in any room. One can model the “ideal” loudspeaker in an “ideal” room and then it is a matter of which room reflections and how many are positive for the sound quality and how many are not, are taken care of. There is significant scientific research on this topic and with quite a bit of agreement. Having said that, all three DSP room correction software employ different strategies to arrive at the “ideal” result. In the case of Dirac, if you are looking for the shortest path to the result, this is it. That’s also a limitation. Other than different target responses, everything else is pretty much closed off and taken care for you with no user adjustable controls.

I did not try Dirac 1.x, so have no way of comparing other than reading through the Dirac 1.x 42 page manual. I must say Dirac has greatly simplified the use of their room correction software for Dirac 2. I did not have to open a manual, I just started using it. I found the improvements made to my loudspeakers in my room by Dirac were audible to my ears and measurable in a positive way. Recommended."

 

[vavan]

Let me quote the author of the walkthrough, @mitchco, who wrote regarding this specific question

Fwiw I've already purchased it few hours ago after reading aforementioned article
But activated only trial license yet

 

[geronimo1958]

Damn it! Looks like the sale has ended. Anyone know if they run this sale very often?