DSD 1.6.0 Beta & Virtual Audio Cable

[rjdj2000]

Have been messing around with DSD 1.6.0 on another machine and by using the default I/O settings, I can decode my local P25 system quite well using a disc tapped scanner. It actually performs a little better than the DSD+ that is running on my other system that is providing my online stream.

The question I have is how do I tell this DSD to use the input from Virtual Audio Cable? I looked at the properties of the line I wanted to use and found:

 Device Instance Path: ROOT\MEDIA\0000

(It appears that all 4 of the virtual lines have this when looking at the properties of them)

But when I put that into the command line for the input I get the following in DSD:

C:\Users\-----------\Desktop\DSD>dsd -f1 -i /root/media/0000
Digital Speech Decoder 1.6.0 beta with Auto P25 & DMR Filter
mbelib version 1.2.4
Decoding only P25 Phase 1 frames.
Audio Out Device: /dev/dsp
Error, couldn't open /root/media/0000
ioctl reset error
ioctl speed error
ioctl stereo error
ioctl setfmt error
Audio In Device: /root/media/0000

So, as I don't have anything connected to this at the moment to check it, all my dongles are tied to the stream computer, did it open the correct line input?

Also, as to the settings for the virtual cables, should they all be at 96k stereo/mono or 48k? I have tried to search in here and have not found much info and everyone here has been helpful in the past so if it helps me, it will help others. Once I can get this to work on this system I am going to try to put it on the online stream to see if it helps with the errors I get and have to fiddle around with the volume levels all the time. I want to get to a set it and forget it situation. As I have 100% signal strength on the dongle setup with Unitrunker and it hasn't varied much, I think this version of DSD will work better than the DSD+ version that I am using.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Voyager]

From the help file (look at the bold part):

Usage:
DSDPlus [options] Decode from audio stream
DSDPlus [options] ? file Decode from .wav file
DSDPlus -h Show help

Options ( [...] = default value):

Display/Logging options:
-- Show command line options in window title
>file Create log file
>>file Append to log file
-t Time stamp log file entries
-T Time stamp log file entries and on screen data
-v<num> Frame information verbosity (0-4) [-v2]

-wsl<v>.<h> Source audio waveform window location [10.10]
-wss<h>.<w> Source audio waveform window size (min 50.200; 0 blocks) [200.300]
-wsp<num> Source audio waveform window update period (10-1000) [100]

-wel<v>.<h> Event log window location [50.50]
-wes<h>.<w> Event log window size (min ?) [400.500]
-weh<num> Event log window font height [15]

-wcl<v>.<h> Channel window location [90.90]
-wch<num> Channel window font height [15]

Input/Output options:
-i<spec> Input audio device (1-255) and channel (M/L/R) [-i1M]

-g<num> Output audio gain (0.001-999; 0=auto) [-g0]

-o<spec> Output audio device (1-255; 0=none) and channel (M/L/R) [-o1]
in/out channels are optional; default=in:mono, out:mode based

-Och <file> Output audio file channel count and name/type [-O DSDPlus.wav]
ch: M=mono,S=stereo,blank=auto; file: .wav or .mp3 (NUL=none)

-I<num> Create new .wav/.mp3 file every <num> minutes (1440=daily) [-I0]

-M<num> MP3 ABR kbps per channel (8-32) [-M15]

Decoder options:
-P Invert signal polarity (may be required for X2-TDMA and dPMR)
-mp optimize for PSK modulation (will not decode non-PSK)

-fa Auto-detect all protocols / frame types except dPMR [-fa]
-fd Decode D-STAR (no audio)
-fn Decode NXDN4800 (Kenwood NEXEDGE and Icom IDAS)
-fN Decode NXDN9600 (Kenwood NEXEDGE)
-fr Decode DMR/MotoTRBO (TDMA inputs + both output slots)
-f1 Decode P25 Phase 1
-fx Decode X2-TDMA
-fp Decode ProVoice
-fm Enable dPMR decoding (no audio)

-1 Synthesize audio for first DMR timeslot
-2 Synthesize audio for second DMR timeslot

-u<num> Unvoiced speech quality (1-64) [-u3]

Advanced decoder options:
-dr<num> Rolloff filter (1-11; 0=auto) [-dr0]
-dh<num> Hotspot size (1-8; 0=auto) [-dh0]
-ds<num> Scaling factor (50-80; not used with D-Star or ProVoice) [-ds64]
-dd<num> Damping level (1-100; not used with D-Star or ProVoice) [-dd10]
-dv<num> Viewport size (1-30; not used with D-Star or ProVoice) [-dv20]

Active keys:
? Display active keys list in event log window
1 Synthesize audio for first DMR timeslot
2 Synthesize audio for second DMR timeslot
3 Synthesize audio for both DMR timeslots
- Toggle command line options display
| Toggle symbol phase display
P Toggle signal polarity
R Start/stop recording of raw source audio to .wav file
F Backfill source audio display
S Close/reopen source audio waveform display
Spacebar Pause/unpause source audio waveform display
Esc Terminate decoding

 

[Voyager]

...and if you are using SDR# I highly recommend the DSD Interface Plugin. It makes all these settings available in a GUI.

 

[RonnieUSA]

The OP is using Linux, and DSD, Not DSD+.

 

[rjdj2000]

Ronnie, yes I am on a windoze machine running the DSD that works in windows command line. As to what Voyager said, I know about those switches in DSD+ as I am currently using 2 instances of it now on my online stream, providing a L/R audio from one dongle each and a 3rd dongle listening to the control channel with Unitrunker.

The decode rates are good with this setup but when I use same DSD+ with my scanner, Rat Shack Pro-2045 with a disc tap on it and the voice channels only programmed in it, I can get the 'plain' DSD to decode better than DSD+ will on my local P25 system and I don't have to mess with the level that much. With DSD+ I have to mess with the level on it to get it to seem 'stable'.

Been trying to figure out the Line 1-4 identifiers for the VB Cable lines to use in this version of DSD as I want to put it on the online stream so I don't have to mess with the audio levels all the time or go back and run dsdtune again. There was no readme file where I got it at either, just dsdplus.exe and cygwin1.dll were in the file. I don't remember which thread here where I found it either but I know it was from a link somewhere in here.

 

[RonnieUSA]

Ronnie, yes I am on a windoze machine running the DSD that works in windows command line. As to what Voyager said, I know about those switches in DSD+ as I am currently using 2 instances of it now on my online stream, providing a L/R audio from one dongle each and a 3rd dongle listening to the control channel with Unitrunker.

The decode rates are good with this setup but when I use same DSD+ with my scanner, Rat Shack Pro-2045 with a disc tap on it and the voice channels only programmed in it, I can get the 'plain' DSD to decode better than DSD+ will on my local P25 system and I don't have to mess with the level that much. With DSD+ I have to mess with the level on it to get it to seem 'stable'.

Been trying to figure out the Line 1-4 identifiers for the VB Cable lines to use in this version of DSD as I want to put it on the online stream so I don't have to mess with the audio levels all the time or go back and run dsdtune again. There was no readme file where I got it at either, just dsdplus.exe and cygwin1.dll were in the file. I don't remember which thread here where I found it either but I know it was from a link somewhere in here.

dsd -h will get You the help file.

 

[mtindor]

Ronnie, yes I am on a windoze machine running the DSD that works in windows command line. As to what Voyager said, I know about those switches in DSD+ as I am currently using 2 instances of it now on my online stream, providing a L/R audio from one dongle each and a 3rd dongle listening to the control channel with Unitrunker.

The decode rates are good with this setup but when I use same DSD+ with my scanner, Rat Shack Pro-2045 with a disc tap on it and the voice channels only programmed in it, I can get the 'plain' DSD to decode better than DSD+ will on my local P25 system and I don't have to mess with the level that much. With DSD+ I have to mess with the level on it to get it to seem 'stable'.

Been trying to figure out the Line 1-4 identifiers for the VB Cable lines to use in this version of DSD as I want to put it on the online stream so I don't have to mess with the audio levels all the time or go back and run dsdtune again. There was no readme file where I got it at either, just dsdplus.exe and cygwin1.dll were in the file. I don't remember which thread here where I found it either but I know it was from a link somewhere in here.

That's odd because DSDPlus is level-agnostic, at least much much more so than DSD. DSD relies upon the level being decent, DSDPlus really doesn't care. It's built differently than DSD because it isn't DSD, despite what some may tell ya.

And most certainly I would never expect DSD (any version thus far) to decode better than DSDPlus.

DSD uses whatever you have set for the default input device and default output device. You need to set up things in your control panel / sound so that your default input / output devices are those that you want to use in DSD.

Mike

 

[rjdj2000]

Yep it does, but it doesn't show the in/out like DSD+ does. It also doesn't tell what /dev/dsp (apparently is default selected device for in and out) and how to go about changing it to line 1 etc in vb cable without selecting it as default. With 2 dongles I cannot have one as default and then go to the other dongle and in Unitrunker can't select a L/R channel so that won't work either.

Maybe I can set up some more VB Cables and use the audio repeater to mix them but that is way too much to get into just to provide the stream... But gives me something to fiddle around with... LOL

 

[rjdj2000]

mtindor... you posted just before me.. lol anyways, I can get DSD+ to decode good when the volume is around 26-29 and that is moving the slider from the mixer on the unitrunker side of things... when I put that full and use the one that is shown from VB Cable, it gets worse. I can't pipe it in full and get anything out of it that is good. When I used the other version of DSD with the scanner, it worked grate, no messing with the level, put it at 11 and went from there. I then fired up DSD+ to try it with it and the decode was worse using the same exact setup. I had to move the volume up to around 18 or so to get something decent out of it. So not sure what I can do to get 2 instances of the DSD to work with my dongle setup. I will have to mess with VB cable some and make a L/R cable sortof but then DSD will probably go way out to try to decode a L/R signal or it may not work at all. Guess back to the drawing board and some more messing with the other system before I try to implement it on the stream system

 

[RonnieUSA]

Yep it does, but it doesn't show the in/out like DSD+ does. It also doesn't tell what /dev/dsp (apparently is default selected device for in and out) and how to go about changing it to line 1 etc in vb cable without selecting it as default. With 2 dongles I cannot have one as default and then go to the other dongle and in Unitrunker can't select a L/R channel so that won't work either.

Maybe I can set up some more VB Cables and use the audio repeater to mix them but that is way too much to get into just to provide the stream... But gives me something to fiddle around with... LOL

You do know You can make a donation to VB cable, and get 2 more cables.
VB-Audio Virtual Cables

I just tried it, and it works.
This way You could run 3 cables at once.

 

[rjdj2000]

Yep.. I have 4 currently but if I can't tell DSD which one to use it won't work as I can't select 2 cables for default use. I know I can copy the folder and run 2 of the DSD together. I am currently doing that now with my online stream and using 3 of the 4 virtual cables. One dongle goes to Virt Line 1, other goes to Virt. Line 3, (could never get Line 2 to work properly) then out of the DSD+ that is running (not DSD) I can pick the line 1 or 3 and then output to the L and R of Line 4 that then goes into RadioFeed to supply the online stream. It works but every so often I have to either reboot things, then lose decoding all together (not sure why that happens) and have to mess around restarting things to get it to finally start again or mess with the level of audio coming from Unitrunker into the Virtual Cable so DSD+ will quit with the way garbled audio.