Dolby Pro Logic/II Plugin?

[A.I.]

After reading several posts regarding surround sound I just realised only four of my speakers were operating when playing PJ64. So following the posters advice I clicked on to my speaker set up on my sound card and clicked 'Virtual 5.1 speakers and reverbration' and was amazed when my centre speaker came alive!

I had now Dolby Pro Logic surround sound or so I thought until I checked the speaker config on the sound demo.The rear, centre and sub channels were inactive. The sound from the front speakers had now been re-routed to all five speakers creating this quadrophonic stereo sound, but not the Dolby Pro Logic surround sound I hoped for! I even tested it with games which has surround sound like Donkey Kong, Conkers, etc and did not experience true surround sound.

So what I want to know is - is there some kind of Dolby Pro Logic/II plugin available? And will it screw with my soundcard? I just wanna press one little button and bam! - I get Dolby Pro Logic/II surround sound with whatever game I play.

 

[Poobah]

Are the six channels (5 speakers, 1 sub) all working in a non-PJ64 sound test? Are you sure the sound is being decoded by an appropriate hardware device? Remember that the emulator is simply outputting the sound the same way a real N64 would. So, just like with a real N64, you would need a Dolby Pro Logic [II] decoding device to split up the stereo data into the five/six appropriate channels.

I don't think that any software Dolby Surround decoders are available, unfortunately.

 

[A.I.]

A big yes to both questions.

I guess I'm just being picky cos I got a cheap 5.1 surround system with puny bass and the bare basics. I was kind of hoping there was some kind of sound plugin out there that could simulate Dolby Pro Logic/II surround sound.

 

[Doomulation]

You shouln't use virtual surround. It's a sort of a trick to make it sound like surround from only 2 channels.
I don't really know either... I have a sound card that supports DPII, yet, no surround from games that supports it.

 

[Poobah]

A big yes to both questions.

I guess I'm just being picky cos I got a cheap 5.1 surround system with puny bass and the bare basics. I was kind of hoping there was some kind of sound plugin out there that could simulate Dolby Pro Logic/II surround sound.

You don't need to simulate Dolby Pro Logic [II] if you have a hardware device that decodes it.

Could you please detail exactly how you have the computer connected to the sound system or speakers and how you have everything configured (in terms of the audio control panel or whatever)? And which of your hardware devices is capable of performing Pro Logic [II] decoding? What sound card and sound system are you using?

EDIT: Also, make sure that you are using the PJ64 RSP and that in the RSP config, the option "send audio lists to audio plugin" is disabled. Try using a popular sound plugin such as Azimer's latest one, too.

 

[A.I.]

You shouln't use virtual surround. It's a sort of a trick to make it sound like surround from only 2 channels.

But if I dont use the virtual surround sound effect I dont get sound from the centre channel!

 

[A.I.]

You don't need to simulate Dolby Pro Logic [II] if you have a hardware device that decodes it.

Could you please detail exactly how you have the computer connected to the sound system or speakers and how you have everything configured (in terms of the audio control panel or whatever)? And which of your hardware devices is capable of performing Pro Logic [II] decoding? What sound card and sound system are you using?

EDIT: Also, make sure that you are using the PJ64 RSP and that in the RSP config, the option "send audio lists to audio plugin" is disabled. Try using a popular sound plugin such as Azimer's latest one, too.

I am a noobie so please excuse my lack of technical knowledge.

I have a Genius Sound Maker Value 5.1 connected to a G 5050/5060...? Its a cheap 5.1 surround system I bought from the market which adequately does the job. Anyway, I'm 100% sure I have all the RCA's connected properly, cos all sound is coming from the correct speakers - i've tested them using the sound demo so everything works fine. I play movies on Power DVD all the time in 5.1, DTS - no problem. Obviously I de-activate the virtual surround mode first. My 'G' doesnt have a Pro Logic II Encoder, though I have tested Pro Logic II mode on Power DVD but Im not really sure if it works properly since I dont have a Pro Logic II decoder.

 

[Doomulation]

You shouln't use virtual surround. It's a sort of a trick to make it sound like surround from only 2 channels.

But if I dont use the virtual surround sound effect I dont get sound from the centre channel!

Yes, but this means something is wrong. Virtual Surround is not going to help.

 

[A.I.]

EDIT: Also, make sure that you are using the PJ64 RSP and that in the RSP config, the option "send audio lists to audio plugin" is disabled. Try using a popular sound plugin such as Azimer's latest one, too.

Um... just caught your EDIT as i posted my reply. I just disabled the "send audio lists to audio plugin" in the RSP. I thought it improved peformance that is why i used it - i noticed the game flowed more smoothly when playing Rage Wars. Anyway I disabled that and the virtual sound. The sound Im using is Azimer's Wip2. Anyway played Conkers on the Assault level and the effects seem more pronounced, but I dont know if thats my imagination.

Still missing my centre channel without virtual sound mode, though.

 

[squall_leonhart]

just to straighten things out here.

as me and poobah had a kind of argument about earlier.

the Dolby Pro Logic II upmixer in powerdvd decodes media coded in that format without requiring an external pro logic sound system.

it can also upmix media that isn't encoded in the PLII format, to a kind of virtual 5.1

 

[Poobah]

just to straighten things out here.

as me and poobah had a kind of argument about earlier.

the Dolby Pro Logic II upmixer in powerdvd decodes media coded in that format without requiring an external pro logic sound system.

it can also upmix media that isn't encoded in the PLII format, to a kind of virtual 5.1

And unfortunately, it seems that you have to pay Dolby huge amounts of money to use their software technology to perform software decoding, so that isn't an option in the freeware scene.

After reading several posts regarding surround sound I just realised only four of my speakers were operating when playing PJ64. So following the posters advice I clicked on to my speaker set up on my sound card and clicked 'Virtual 5.1 speakers and reverbration' and was amazed when my centre speaker came alive!

I had now Dolby Pro Logic surround sound or so I thought until I checked the speaker config on the sound demo.The rear, centre and sub channels were inactive. The sound from the front speakers had now been re-routed to all five speakers creating this quadrophonic stereo sound, but not the Dolby Pro Logic surround sound I hoped for! I even tested it with games which has surround sound like Donkey Kong, Conkers, etc and did not experience true surround sound.

So neither your sound card nor your speaker system has a dolby logo on it anywhere? If either device does support it, then the infamous logo should be on the box and/or in the instruction manual.

Assuming that you don't have any Dolby Pro Logic [II] hardware devices (which is most likely the case), then what you should do is enable Virtual Surround before playing an N64 game. Virtual Surround technologies basically guess at which frequencies and pitches of the original stereo source would sound better coming from certain channels. Therefore, the sound test should be showing the front left and right sounds coming from the other speakers, because that's sort of what the Virtual Surround technology is trying to do. Again, it's the closest you'll be able to get to Dolby Pro Logic [II] so you should definitely enable it while you play N64 games.

EDIT: And for the sake of awareness, try to find something that does Dolby Pro Logic [II] decoding next time you're buying a sound card or sound system. Here are the logos you should keep an eye out for:

Pro Logic IIx is the latest revision of Pro Logic and supports 7.1 channels, but you won't get this many discrete channels with an N64.

Pro Logic II should work fine for N64 games, and supports 5.1. I wouldn't recommend plain Pro Logic, though, because it only supports one rear channel rather than two.