Bad quality on Windows :(

Hello,

When I make a stem with (stem creator tool) My stem has a bad sound, it looks like a 96 kbit mp3.
I tested on Windows 7 and 10 with Stem Creator Version 0.9.0.2

Others also have this problem?

Thanks !!

 

Yeah that's definitely the case for me.
A few bugs I've found:

• Unicode is not supported, I'm from Sweden so creating stems with åäö is not allowed.
  
• Draging files into the slots gives error at export. It doesn't know where to export to.
  
• It won't take mp3's (I export in 450 kbps since 320 doesn't cut it), so I have to go for WAV instead. A lossless format. And it gives me these crappy exports?!

I thought NI said that the quality would be like songs bought from iTunes? I expected better. Way better. Currently it gives me headache listening to these songs exported to stems. Works fine at home. Works crappy as heck at a club I can grant you that! And a DJ that plays poor quality mp3's gets a bad reputation rather quickly.

 

Hi,
I tested the two formats (mono and stereo) this is the same result.

 

Stereo gives me downsampling as well.

 

bad sound quality here as well.. I used qaac encoder with some command line magic previously and not only did they sound better, they were considerably smaller as well. the only problem was that I couldn't tweak the compressor and limiter settings, which turned out essential.

 

Ok, I just tested with Mac, the sound is ok. On Windows 7, 8, 10 (on 3 different PCs), the sound is crap.

N.I fix this please

 

I don't even know how to use different encoders. A Youtube tutorial would definitely be nice.

 

I noticed when using Ableton to create stems, on a couple tracks I had the export set to normalize, big oops, since the whole track had been leveled out and parts working together when I made it.
The result when changing to Stem track was a horrible overdriven low quality sound when played in Traktor. Playing in ITunes was only the leveled master and no distortion or quality degradation.
This may not be the issue but worth being aware of.
Make sure all parts including the master are properly exported from the DAW. As well if you receive stem parts from downloads you will need to arrange and set levels then export.(no normalize on export!)

 

Let me explain what's happening.
It's not the stem creator's fault, it's the codec they choose to use for windows. But NI needs to fix this urgently because it's serious.

They're using avconv with the worst AAC codec on the planet - VisualOn AAC (libvo_aacenc) which is default in avconv.
The sound at 256kbps is more like 64 kbps. Even the low frequencies have horrible artifacts.

This is stated in their official website:
The native encoder is experimental and known to have serious flaws, help on improving it is welcome. Do not use it in production

Native FFmpeg AAC encoder (aac) >= libfdk_aac > libfaac > libvo_aacenc

The best AAC encoder nowadays is from Apple, and their CoreAudioToolbox is included in Mac OS X, that's why it's implemented there.
For Windows, the option is QAAC, which uses the same Toolbox.

The other best option after that is Nero's AAC, and then Fraunhofer FhG.

Hope they implement it very soon, as it's important.

 

hi pietro , do you know what apple uses for a .aac encoder in itunes on windows? Because i switched from mac to windows and can´t hear any difference encoding all my sounds in itunes with the same options

when it´s possible can NI use the aac Encoder from itunes in Windows?

 

I switched back to eco setting in the keylock and hear a much better sound. With hi quality it is bad.
I usually always use Eco but happened to start using the Hi and heard bad results on stems.
Strange because I see no difference in cpu usage. Wonder if this can cause the offbeat sounding tempo some are getting also.
Everyone's computer is different but for me eco keylock works without the bad audio.
I haven't tried playing a stem with sync off either.
Stems working fine for me in version 2.9.

 

This has to be the most retarded fail by NI because they have totally encouraged producers to share and make stems but haven't provided a program that allows for hi quality exports.... So frustrated.

Anyway, as stated above, the issue is 100% due to you using a mac. Originally I had this issue exporting WAVs from reason on my pc, then I tried everything, gave up and just exported the stems on my Mac and they work perfectly. If anyone knows how to make them work on without a major **** around, please let us know.

 

The same to me, Jared - in my 2 month email battle with NI they told me that the STEMS Creator Tool was builded by Apple and that they do NOT support this stuff. Even the released email address for technical support at the Creator Tool's website (an address in US) never send a message or reply to my support request. So we stopped STEMS creation because we don't use (and don't want to use) a Mac... very sad.

I wonder if there are any IT-students who can use the SDK-Kit of the Tool and build a new one that work for Windows or even Linux as well...