INEXPENSIVE FM RADIO BROADCASTING

First, you'll need a sound card that can produce an output of 192KHz so that the stereo coder can operate properly. This is the best quality sound card I've found for FM broadcasting at the very lowest price.

• dynamic range: 106dB (typical, -60dBFS input, A-weighted)
• signal-to-noise ratio: 109dB (typical, A-weighted)
• THD+N: 0.00185% (-95dB)
• WDM driver sampling rates: 32k, 44.1k, 48k, 88.2k, 96k, 192k
• size: 5" x 5-1/2" x 7/8"
• weight: 0.2 lbs

You will still need to use the onboard sound for the input source, as seen below in the Stereo Coder screenshot, but this card will be used only for the composite output to drive the FM transmitter.

I'm really impressed with the sound quality that this software produces. It sounds just as good as many of the most expensive stereo coders on the market today! I personally would like to thank Arjen of Diffusion Software for making this free application possible.

• Processor: 600MHz
• Soundcard: at least a samplerate of 192 kHz.
• Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 1

If you noticed on the screen shot, the "Clipper" is unchecked. This is because I have the clipper enabled on the Sound Soulution plugin. I generally run the output around 80% for maximum loudness. The stereo output is very clean, and it sounds just as good, if not better than other FM radio stations in this area.

With this software and the sound card recommended above, your station will have a rock solid stereo signal. This is a must for today's high quality digital receivers.

This is a free software plugin for Winamp that will make your FM station sound like you are running an expensive audio processor like the Orban Optimod-FM 8400.

• Multiband Compressor-Expander-Limiter
• Center frequencies B1=170Hz, B2=1000Hz, B3=3200,B4=7200,B5=12000
• Gated AGC
• Stereo expander
• Dual band output limiter / compressor / clipper
• Bass Equalizer
• Built in preemphasis 50-75uS generator and lowpass antialias filter

Be sure to download the presets so you can try each one out to your liking.

SqrSoft. Advanced CrossFading v1.7 can crossfade two songs, the one Winamp is playing and the next in the playlist. The crossfade is made by analyzing sound level of the last seconds of the song to determine the best mix point, applying the level envelope curves to the beginning and end of the tracks. You can set different crossfading parameters for normal crossfade on track end and when you skip the track. This includes the mixing length so you can set the mix to 10%, 20%, etc. This plugin includes a Gap Killer that eliminates the silence or any sound bellow the trigger level, this is applied to the start and end of the track. This plugin also includes format converter that gets activated when you try to mix two songs with different bits per sample, sample rate or number of channels. The sample converter will automatically change the track to the format selected in the "Open wave device as...". This plugin can send the crossfaded audio data to a second DSP for Compression or Shoutcast. This version supports non-linear crossfading curves.

NOTE: Make sure to download v1.72 as v1.75 has annoying popups.