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Use Equalizer APO with a noise-reduction VST. This is by far the best option on Windows if you are concerned about latency×compatibility×underruns as a figure o

Use Equalizer APO with a noise-reduction VST. This is by far the best option on Windows if you are concerned about latency×compatibility×underruns as a figure of merit. It is far superior to using "virtual audio cables" and a VST host (like Lighthost or SAVI) or voicemeeter. It's not well known, but it really works spectacularly well compared to those other options. For me it never has had any audible buffer underruns (unlike Lighthost), no noticeable latency (unlike SAVI and Voicemeeter, even with small buffer sizes), no problems regarding exclusive mode (unlike voicemeeter) and it works with every single application. The UI is not terribly clear about this, but it can drive multiple devices independently, simply by adding several "Device" blocks to the configuration.

hhh 7y ago
Do you have any recommendations for VST plugins to use?
- mkl 7y ago
  Please see my sibling comment. The video I linked uses ReaPlugs (https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/ https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/) and I ended up without needing any explicit noise reduction, just noise gating and some other adjustments.
mkl 7y ago
This was great advice! The key thing about Equalizer APO is that it does its processing of the sound before the Windows sound API, so any program recording from my mic gets the processed version, and there's no virtual microphone needed (well, the actual microphone becomes virtualised - there's no separate device). I have that all working, and mostly followed this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3fBx2ftaBs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3fBx2ftaBs I adjusted the numbers for my setup but his were a good starting point.
noyesno 7y ago
What VSTs would you recommend for improving audio quality of video calls?
- blattimwind 7y ago
  ReaFIR works quite well and has very low latency. It's a bit fiddly to auto-generate a noise profile due to the architecture of Equalizer APO (the entire audio processing runs inside the Windows audio stack, so the VST panels in the configuration editor don't have a signal). Basically you use another VST host (e.g. Lighthost or OBS), generate your noise profile there and then copy/paste the chunk data into the APO config file. Some general EQ'ing on the mic also works wonders for how well it sounds, but that's very specific to your voice and mic. -- Another use case of Equalizer APO where it is much better than everything else is compressing game audio. Some games simply have audio that was designed without regard for hearing safety (CS:GO is a strong contender for #1 here), and this helps immensely with it.
  - klint 7y ago
    ReaFir is amazing.
Ninjinka 7y ago
Wow, I just did this and it's crazy how much better it sounds. It's a little complex to set up, but this guide makes it super simple: https://antlionaudio.com/blogs/news/removing-background-noise-with-equalizer-apo-and-reapers-reafir https://antlionaudio.com/blogs/news/removing-background-nois...

hhh 7y ago

Do you have any recommendations for VST plugins to use?

mkl 7y ago
Please see my sibling comment. The video I linked uses ReaPlugs (https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/ https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/) and I ended up without needing any explicit noise reduction, just noise gating and some other adjustments.

mkl 7y ago

This was great advice! The key thing about Equalizer APO is that it does its processing of the sound before the Windows sound API, so any program recording from my mic gets the processed version, and there's no virtual microphone needed (well, the actual microphone becomes virtualised - there's no separate device). I have that all working, and mostly followed this tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3fBx2ftaBs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3fBx2ftaBs I adjusted the numbers for my setup but his were a good starting point.

noyesno 7y ago

What VSTs would you recommend for improving audio quality of video calls?

blattimwind 7y ago
ReaFIR works quite well and has very low latency. It's a bit fiddly to auto-generate a noise profile due to the architecture of Equalizer APO (the entire audio processing runs inside the Windows audio stack, so the VST panels in the configuration editor don't have a signal). Basically you use another VST host (e.g. Lighthost or OBS), generate your noise profile there and then copy/paste the chunk data into the APO config file. Some general EQ'ing on the mic also works wonders for how well it sounds, but that's very specific to your voice and mic. -- Another use case of Equalizer APO where it is much better than everything else is compressing game audio. Some games simply have audio that was designed without regard for hearing safety (CS:GO is a strong contender for #1 here), and this helps immensely with it.
- klint 7y ago
  ReaFir is amazing.

Ninjinka 7y ago

Wow, I just did this and it's crazy how much better it sounds. It's a little complex to set up, but this guide makes it super simple: https://antlionaudio.com/blogs/news/removing-background-noise-with-equalizer-apo-and-reapers-reafir https://antlionaudio.com/blogs/news/removing-background-nois...