Upmix Stereo To 5.1 Free Vst Plugins

NuGen Audio Halo Upmix v1.5.0.10 WIN
Size 5 Mb

Developed under license from DTS ®, this plugin lets broadcast, post-production and mix engineers convert stereo audio to quad, 5.1 and 7.1 surround, as well as 5.1 to 7.1 surround, in cases where original source elements for standard upmixing are not available in the desired multichannel format.
Foobar2000: Upmix 2.1 (stereo) to 'faux' 5.1 surround DISCLAIMER: The following notes are from my own experience and experiments and is not a paid endorsement. What is 2.1 and 5.1? 2 refers to two channels - Left and Right. 5 refers to five channels - Front and Rear Left, Front, and Rear Right and the Center.
NuGen Audio Halo Upmix v1.5.0.10 x86 x64.

Upmix stereo to 5.1 free vst plugins s instruments

Upmix stereo to 5.1 free vst plugins s 2020

Halo Upmix Stereo to 5.1, 7.1 and 3D upmixer

Full control, intuitive ease

Here the audio was originally mixed in 5.1, then folded down in Dolby Pro Logic 2 to an LtRt. This LtRt mix was then fed through our upmixers, all set to their 'film' preset. It's here where we start to see differences in the accuracy of the three plug-ins. At the beginning of the piece in the original 5.1, the sobbing is panned hard front left.

From naturally extracted and expanded soundscapes to full cinematic big-stage enhancement, Halo Upmix delivers all the control you need to fine-tune your surround mix to perfection. With unique centre channel management, including switchable dialog extraction, Halo Upmix is perfect for all types of production from archive restoration and TV through to the full 7.1 feature film experience.

An optional 3D extension adds Dolby Atmos bed track (7.1.2) and Auro 3D (7.1.4) compatibility, and Ambisonic outputs.

The Halo Upmix algorithms produce a natural, coherent spatial upmix, preserving the character of the original audio without adding any artificial reverb, chorus or delays.

With the ‘Exact’ control engaged, Halo Upmix can be used with confidence that the original source integrity is precisely preserved in the downmix.

Natural extension

Powerful real-time analysis of the original stereo material identifies and extracts locational cues to naturally extend the panorama, leaving the inherent character of the original source intact.

Coherent spatial upmix
Full access to surround balances
Low frequency energy control
Clear visual feedback
Direct control over upmix parameters
No artificial reverb, chorus or delays
‘Exact’ downmix mode with in-place audition
Neural network dialog extraction

Powerful spatial analysis

Halo also includes a powerful spatial analysis view, intuitively showing the energy distribution of the upmixed panorama. Colour can additionally be used to indicate the speaker source for audio in any position, clearly indicating cases including phantom vs hard centre predominance.

Convert Stereo To 5.1

Downmix compatibility

Because Halo Upmix generates a coherent spatial sound, you can be assured of a high-quality downmix. The ‘exact’ mode function ensures ultimate downmix performance in situations where maintaining the relationship between the original, upmixed and downmixed versions is imperative, for example in TV repurposing.

3D Immersive Extension

The optional 3D Immersive Extension introduces additional vertical controls via an expanded user interface including control over Ltm and Rtm placement for Dolby Atmos compatibility. An additional real-time analysis view is also included for the vertical dimension, showing energy distribution of the output audio. The enhanced upmix algorithm allows for simultaneous use of all the original features including dialog isolation and individual channel output control.

The 3D Immersive Extension is suitable for numerous applications including sound design, film score, restoration & archive, music and atmospheric soundscape production.

For Television

With surround delivery requirements becoming more and more common, Halo Upmix can be indispensable. Providing sophisticated control including neural network powered dialog isolation Halo transfroms time intensive workflows and improves output quality with ease.

For Film & Sound Design

With powerful control accessing every dimension of the upmix, Halo is indispensable for upmixing original and vintage scores – right up to Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D with the 3D Immersive extension.

Multiple instances in sound design and score work on synths, stereo FX archive and effects returns breath life and energy into the sound in ways that legacy delay and panning techniques can’t approach – all with a solid reasurrance of a highly downmix compatible result.

With optional Ambisonic format output, Halo Upmix is equally at home when working in a VR and game audio environment.

To suit almost any situation

Upmixing includes LCR, 3.1, 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, 7.0 & 7.1.

The Halo Upmix 3D Immersive Extension expands this to 7.1.2 and Ambisonic, and currently supports Avid Pro Tools (AAX) & Steinberg Nuendo (VST3) for Windows and OSX.

Typical applications

Stem and group upmixing
7.1 cinematic sound stage enhancement
TV stereo to surround upmixing with hard centre
Repurposing of original stereo for cinematic release
TV archive enhancement for 5.1 broadcast
Natural extension of original stereo panoramas and atmospheres
Upmix to Dolby Atmos compatible 7.1.2 bed track (3D Immersive Extension required)
Upmix to 1st, 2nd & 3rd order Ambisonic (AmbiX format) for VR applications (3D Immersive Extension required)

Stereo recordings intended for playback over two loudspeakers have been the standard format for the majority of listeners in particular in the home and consumer area for many decades. In recent years and with the advent of surround sound, the playback hardware transitioned from classical two speaker hi-fi systems towards multifaceted integrated sound bars and surround speaker setups but music is still nearly exclusively produced and distributed in a two channel stereo format and listeners can not directly take benefit from multi-channel loudspeaker setups.

The process of generating additional loudspeaker signals from source material with fewer channels than available speakers is called upmixing. Typically, this means to convert 2-channel recordings into multi-channel surround formats. The developed algorithm is based on the description of a stereo or multi-channel recording as the weighted sum of direct signal sources overlaid with an uncorrelated ambient signal and incorporates the following processing steps:

The azimuth position or panning coefficients of the sources are estimated under the assumption that only one dominant source is active at a single time-frequency instant.
The direct and ambient components are separated with the knowledge of the panning coefficients.
Having the separated signals with related source positions it is possible to remix the original content targeting any different loudspeaker configuration.

Key features

VST-Plugin prototype
Upmix of 2-channel stereo to 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 8.1 and 9.1 channel configurations
Up to 8 independent ambient channels in two layers
Neutral sound, no additional reverberation or effects
Low complexity
Downmix compatible ambient signals

Demo

Complete upmixes from stereo to 5-channel surround and 9-channel 3D audio are available for download. The package includes the original stereo tracks as well as isolated tracks with the extracted direct and ambient components.

Download: HSU_Upmix.zip ( 417 MB)

Publications

[1] S. Kraft, U. Zölzer: “Time-domain implementation of a stereo to surround sound upmix algorithm”, 19th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects, 2016, Brno, Czech Republic.

[2] S. Kraft, U. Zölzer: “Low-complexity stereo signal decomposition and source separation for application in stereo to 3D upmixing”, 140th AES Convention, 2016, Paris, France.