Skip to main content
M
mrtajniak
Participant
November 27, 2022
Question

Forcing Dolby Digital

  • November 27, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 1434 views

Hello, I have a question for you. I have a SoundBlaster Audigy RX 5 sound card with SPDIF output and now I am wondering if I can somehow force a Dolby Digital signal from my computer. My amplifier uses Dolby Pro Logic every time I work with 5.1 in Adobe Audition 2023 even thought I am trying to mix Dolby Digital and I am sending all the channels it needs.

My current channel mapping in Audition:

Dolby Digital is working fine when I play music that I mastered and exported as AC3 from Audition the thing is I don't get Dolby Digital straight from Audition when I am trying to master 5.1 it only works in Dolby Pro Logic so when I am listening to center channel in Audition, I cannot hear anything from my speaker also when I start playing music from channel left and right it suddenly starts playing on center channel because of Dolby Pro Logic. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe Audition is just too basic to always output 5.1 sound in DD. If I am trying to master 5.1 it's really hard when the software that I use is not outputting Dolby Digital signal.

This is my current audio card configuration:

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

SteveG_AudioMasters_
Community Expert
SteveG_AudioMasters_Community Expert
Community Expert
November 27, 2022

Audition has never had a Dolby 5.1 encoder built into it, and that's primarily why you can't output 5.1 raw wav files directly. If it did have one, you wouldn't be able to afford to hire the software - and that's primarily why it hasn't got the facility.

 

So, you can mix 5.1 in Audition and output it as 6 discrete wav files, but if you want to encode that to the Dolby 5.1 system, in full surround you have to rent an external, and very expensive, encoder. (in excess of $2500/yr, I believe). The cheap encoder you can get is a Media Foundation transform (MFT) that encodes mono or stereo audio to Dolby Digital, also called Dolby AC-3. The encoder does not support multi-channel input, such as the 5.1 channel configuration - that's why you get the weird results with it.

M
mrtajniakAuthor
Participant
November 28, 2022

I exported the WAV file with all 6 channels encoded (i think) then I used an open source converter that converts WAV to AC3 file format and the Dolby Digital actually works I am getting proper DD signal, It even works on my good old Technics SA-DX940 all channels are present and working 

 

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices