SQDecode Freeware Software

[Pincholas]

Hi!

Does anybody know about this software

http://www-user.rhrk.uni-kl.de/~junglas/SQdecode/SQdecode.html

I used long ago time to decode Mike Oldfield's Boxed SQ encoded CDs. It was commented on Oldfield's Amarok Mailing List.

I did some transfers of Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge and Ommadawn to DTS-CD and, later on, Quadro AC3 and was pretty pleased with the results.

Everybody here talks about Audition but, has anyone tried this?

 

[neil wilkes]

Never seen this one before.
Thanks for the link - will check this out
I did find a set of VST plugins at one point for both SQ & QS - will try to find them & post here as a resource

 

[winopener]

Seems something old, since it says it's quite slow on a Athlon 750... a processor that was on sale 10 years ago.

 

[Pincholas]

Yeah, it's quite old! This software was made 9 years ago (2001) but it seems to work, it's the one I use for SQ to AC3 transfers. SQ encoding is even older ;-)
I just told you it's a freeware option for SQ decoding. I would really like that somebody who uses Audition could compare the output both methods produce.

 

[TimK]

Did a quick comparision and the Lucanu Audition script is far, far superior.

 

[watzman]

Did a quick comparision and the Lucanu Audition script is far, far superior.

I have to say "I disagree!". I have just decoded a song from a vinyl rip (Dylan's 'Hurricane' from 'Desire') and I found the "old" script just doing a better job. Anybody else, who wants to join and compare?

 

[Old Quad Guy]

I have to say "I disagree!". I have just decoded a song from a vinyl rip (Dylan's 'Hurricane' from 'Desire') and I found the "old" script just doing a better job. Anybody else, who wants to join and compare?

It could be that the different decoding methods we now have give different results depending on source material, even when were talking about the same title. So if one has a favorite title and is so inclined, you could try the different methods to see what one ends up with. You can even see how the decode goes if you have multiple copies of a title to notice what, if any, differences there are.

 

[watzman]

Yes, probably. With both, the "old" software and Luca's script, I also decoded a Vinyl Rip of "On the run" on DSOTM. Comparing the result, I found for example, that with the SQDecode software, the voice for the announcement at the airport was much more discrete in the mix and also prominently assigned to the right of the front speakers (while much other things were still coming from the rear channels). With the AA3 script the the voice was not as prominent/discrete in the mix and also was not so easy to be located too ...

 

[TimK]

Two short mp3's for comparision.

The male voice is supposed to be on the rear right.
These are left front clips.

sq decode
http://www.sendspace.com/file/544klc

adobe script
http://www.sendspace.com/file/x9ibwx

 

[watzman]

Two short mp3's for comparision.

The male voice is supposed to be on the rear right.
These are left front clips.

sq decode
http://www.sendspace.com/file/544klc

adobe script
http://www.sendspace.com/file/x9ibwx

Another source (btw: which one?), another finding. Sounds interesting to me.

Thanks.

The funny thing is: When listening to the mono track of "On the run" on DSOTM in AA3, the announcement comes from the right rear. When listening to the whole track (i.e. all channels) decoded with SQDecode, it seemed to come from the front. But this might be, however, a result of my speaker settings (I just got a new Onkyo TX-NR1007), since I now have realized, that both, front & rear on the right have the voice from the airport, when listening to them separately ...

Interestingly, with both ways of decoding, the laughter, which you can hear on the right channels (2 min 50 sec - 3 min 5 sec) starts at the front and then changes to the rear, more or less without any differences.

So, any quad Floydhead in here, who knows the proper channel assignment for "On the run"?

 

[Pincholas]

Did a quick comparision and the Lucanu Audition script is far, far superior.

I have managed to get a homemade DVD-Audio with a transfer of Mike Oldfield's Boxed CDs to MLP/AC3 using Audition Script and I must admit that, in this case, this is far superior. Channel separation is amazing, bass is cleaner, sound is richier, very close to my Tubular Bells SACD edition @:

Now, that I can compare both decodings, I found that SQDecode version, imho, has some out of phase problems and poor channel separation.

Both decodings give you a total different listening experience being Audition decoding the best with no doubt

 

[echosend]

I don't suppose there's any such software for a Mac?

 

[Old Quad Guy]

I don't suppose there's any such software for a Mac?

According to "Macworld" Adobe Audition is to be available this Winter for the Mac in a beta version. You'll need an Intel Mac with either OS X 10.5, 10.6. Which means you probably could run the Windows AA on Mac now with “Boot Camp.”

Quote from article:

“Key features of the upcoming Adobe Audition for Mac will include: Multi-channel support for 5.1 surround sound.”

Adobe Audition coming to the Mac

http://www.macworld.com/article/152215/2010/06/audition.html

If this new Mac version does not have the "center channel extractor" we'll all need to raise some noise with Adobe. But hopefully, it'll be there as the Lucanu Audition script is the best SQ script out there now as is kempfand's Adobe Audition 3.0 SQ and QS Scripts.

Too bad this stand alone SQDecode Freeware Software wasn't developed further. We might have had a built in "Tate" and something that could decode all forms of encoded material.


EDIT: Woops, missed J. D. 's post earlier today:

New Adobe Audition will have "surround reverb" effect (and work on the Mac)

 

[Owen Smith]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm using SQDecode. It turns out a Queen 1973 BBC broadcast "1973.09.13 London, Golders Green Hippodrome" was SQ encoded. I'm decoding it to create a DVD Audio and/or DTS encoding.

Did anyone reach a conclusion on how good or otherwise SQDecode is? The problem with Adobe Audition is that it costs significant amounts of money whereas SQDecode is free. Also all the SQ scripts for Adobe Auditon seem to be for out of dat versions.

 

[oxforddickie]

Just reading the description shows there to be a problem with this program. He doesn't seem to have grasped the full meaning of the encode equation.

OD

 

[Owen Smith]

Just reading the description shows there to be a problem with this program. He doesn't seem to have grasped the full meaning of the encode equation.

OD

I've tried emailing the SQDecode author but have had no reply to date. My problem is that every other way of doing an SQ decode costs serious amounts of money (Adobe Audition) but more to the point looks seriously complicated having read the threads about decoding with Audition. The equations are fixed, it should be quite straightforward to produce a program which produces four decoded WAV files correctly.

I have the SQTones.mp3 test track that was posted in another thread. It's a shame they're MP3, they should really be lossless. I'm a bit concerned the MP3 encoding might have thrown some of the phase information away. But it's all I've got as a test track so I'll give it a go through SQDecode. If anyone knows of better and/or lossless SQ test tracks please reply here.

 

[oxforddickie]

Not sure which test tones your talking about, the V2 ones (which are the only accurate test tones to use, not counting the officail CBS ones) are not mp3:

http://hotfile.com/dl/134605830/c673acf/SQTones.rar.html


Once you've managed to crack the issue of decoding them properly, the problem your going to come across is that of very poor Front/Rear separation, but i think it's best to warn you that using the SQdecode program will give you an inaccurate decode, i'm wondering what equation he actually based the program on.


OD

 

[Owen Smith]

Thanks for the SQ test tones, I have downloaded them. I'm aware that a standard SQ decode provides only 3db front to back seperation. I'm OK with that.

For interest the source I'm dealing with started as a 1973 BBC transcription disc which was then copied to CD and then ripped here:

http://www.queenzone.com/forums/124...rs-green-hippodrome-pop-spectacular-flac.aspx

It's recently been discovered that this early Queen radio broadcast was SQ encoded. I've run one track through SQDecode and made a short DVD Audio and it does decode quite nicely.

If you can suggest something which does the job as a easily as SQDecode but gets the decode right then I'll happily use it. I'm even prepared to spend money. What I'm not prepared to do is a complex sequence of steps (which can easily be done wrong) as appears to be needed with Adobe Audition.

 

[Owen Smith]

I posted a reply but it appears to need approving by a moderator. Perhaps because it contains a URL?

 

[oxforddickie]

Possibly, but mine contained a URL as well, oh well, we'll see if it appears


OD