New Search, New Instruments And Improved Dsp Handling
· by Kjell
Besides general tweaks to CPU usage and other minor patches we have a couple new features:
Global Search - CMD+K
If you've used Spotlight or Raycast, you already know how to use this. Press CMD+K, start typing, and Zenteek searches across artists, albums, tracks, labels, lyrics, and credits simultaneously. Arrow keys to navigate, Enter to jump. No mouse required.
The lyrics and credits search is only available if you've opted into MusicBrainz enrichment - that's the data that powers it. If you have, you can now do things like search for a producer's name and find every track in your library they touched. Or search for a lyric fragment you half-remember at 2am.
Two New Instruments: Oscilloscope + Spectrum Analyzer
The Oscilloscope renders the waveform of your audio in real time. Fully configurable via the new context-aware config button in the main display area, near the instrument gain boost slider. - time scale, amplitude, trigger mode. It looks great. More importantly, it's useful for certain measurements.
The Spectrum Analyzer is an FFT display with peak hold, and a choice between Blackman and Hann windowing functions. If you don't know what that means: Hann is a good general-purpose window, Blackman trades frequency resolution for better sidelobe suppression. Both are scientifically valid. You can configure bin resolution, smoothness, and peak hold time and I've added a Zoom feature so you can focus on high-end or low-end.
Sine Wave Generator - For Testing DSP Properly
This is the one I'm most excited about from a dev standpoint. The application can now validate itself. The Sine Wave Generator outputs a pure tone at a configurable frequency and amplitude. I use it to feed that into the DSP chain - Tape Saturation, Bass Enhancer, Harmonic Exciter, PreAmp models - to see exactly what's happening in combination with the Spectrum Analyzer. No subjectivity creeping in, no "it sounds warmer to me." or "why this song again?" - just a clean fundamental to proof it actually works as intended.
Bass Enhancer - Linear to Non-Linear Control
The Bass Enhancer got a meaningful improvement. In previous versions i added a flat gain attenuation when active and that means even material without LF content sounds quieter. I came up with a solution that only makes the enhancer work on low-frequencies and never clip. So without any bass in the music, it is basically transparent.
Furthermore it also is linear up until 50-60%. If you want a more saturated bass, I've added a soft-clip circuit that gradually kicks in past 60% if you look for psychoacoustics. The amount dial is now also a mix knob for both styles.
Peak Indicator - Corrected
The red Indicator on the volume control was too sensitive - or so i thought. Turned out i monitored too early, full scale, so any kind of gain reduction was seemingly not helping. The peak now accurately takes all gain sources and boosts into account, including the 3dB volume slider headroom. If you need more, you can always target a lower LUFS so all tracks will play at optimal volume, never clip and with full DSP.