Dolby Digital - No LFE even with bass boost?

[trevx]

Does rock band support the LFE "low frequency effect" when in dolby digital mode? When I play the game, my receiver shows all 5.1 channels but does not play a LFE. So the game doesn't sound punchy and I can't hear any bass boost at all from my subwoofer. I hear all the 5 surround channels just no sub. My receiver doesn't even show that a dolby digital signal is being sent while in the game. I'm connecting via HDMI and CAN get LFE via blu-rays and some other games, just not RB.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[d geller]

I also have RB set for Dolby Digital and have the PS3 hooked up via optical cable to my Sony Receiver. I definitely am getting surround sound (the crowd yells from behind), but nothing is coming out of the subwoofer that's connected to the receiver's subwoofer output (the .1 in 5.1). The bass guitar and the bass drum should be directed to this. I'm pretty sure they have not coded for this yet - maybe in a future update.

[AdamBomb629]

There is also any issue with lag caused by Dolby Digital. I thought I was unaffected until I got to hard difficulty on drums.
However, on topic, I too have no LFE from the sub.

[q445187]

Yes, same problem, HDMI, new Onkyo reciever HMX, please advise.

[Highlandlassie]

Wow, when I read this post yesterday, I thought, no, there is plenty of bass, the sub must be working.
Upon checking, the sub is NOT producing any sound at all.

I have plenty of bass coming from my 4 huge front speakers so I dont notice it, but yes, this game appears to be only Dolby 5.0, not 5.1 surround.

The game sounds great on my system, but I feel for the guy with like, a bose system, that only gets sound from the little cube speakers.

Harmonix, What is up with this issue, please advise.

[pdawg17]

How can you make a game about music and not have full 5.1 support? Lame...my sub doesn't do anything either btw...

[HPLabonte]

How can you make a game about music and not have full 5.1 support? Lame...my sub doesn't do anything either btw...

hah, GHIII is in MONO!... at least it is on Wii.

[SEMINOLE]

Not sure what to tell you guys, but mine works and works quite well. I read this and I immediately went and booted the game to see. I played bass guitar and the sub was working well. I though it had to be working since it sounds so nice and all the bassey songs sound great with great punch.
My receiver also shows the LFE and again, I went down next to it and confirmed it working
My setup:
Harman/Kardon AVR
Xbox 360 via optical

[Luvac Zantor]

I too have this issue. Optical going from PS3 to Sony Surround System.

On the display, it shows that it's dobly, and LFE is "on", but the sub is dead to the world.

turning dolby off, plenty of bass on the sub.

[Luvac Zantor]

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?p=213865#post213865

Did a search, found a fix for me. I'm assuming by setting the speakers to small (which they are "small" speakers) allow the bass to be redirected.......

Posting cause it helped me.

[oddroot]

yeah i have a H/K amp.. i was using small speakers for fronts up until recently when i moved them to the rears and starting using real towers for fronts.. (from 5.1 to 7.1). When i set my fronts to be large speakers, my sub options change to LFE or L/R+LFE from what was just listed as Sub (which produces bass in RB much the way I would expect it to). Nothing like finding that my 7.1 setup with front towers makes RB sound worse than my old 5.1 setup :(

[reapy]

I have this same issue with my surround sound. Tonight I will try what you guys have suggested and fiddle with the receiver to see if i can get it to use the woofer on it's own.

I was really disappointed that hitting the bass pedal wouldnt send a boom throughout my house. I haven't had any problems before witht eh woofer and the 360 (optical cord).

Does anybody know if there are any plans for a patch to address this?

[Project_Mercy]

You should basically never set your mains to large if you're looking for discrete sounds (like Dolby). Large doesn't have to do with the speaker size, it has to do with the freqency range assigned to that speaker. By setting it to large, more of the sound source is mixed to your mains than sent to your subs or possibly center.

The only one that you may possibly want to set to large is the center, and it depends on how wide your sound stage is.

I know I get a LFE signal on mine (which is a 360 not a PS3) (as I crank up my sub preamp to hear the kick drum a bit better), but I can't garauntee that it isn't the reciver just pushing everything below the crossover to it, or if the Dolby encoder on the 360 is actually sending on the LFE channel.

My guess is this:

The game actually sends Dolby Pro Logic not Dolby Pro Logic II (Aka Dolby 5.1). Technically both are "Dolby Digital" it's just not what you were expecting. Pro Logic was a 4-channel encoding with front, left, right, and a mono rear. No LFE. So if you set your speakers to small, the reciever will use a crossover to assign things to the sub. Otherwise, you get nothing.

One thing I will say, the drum track in this game is too quiet. You can turn up "instruments" but you can't turn up drums. They really need to make each instrument's volume adjustable, like the voice. This isn't GH anymore. The guitar doesn't get to go to 11, and the rest of us burst into flame.

[Phane7]

Are you guys all sure you went into Options then Audio in Rock Band and checkmarked the box next to Dolby Digital? The game defaults to PCM even if you have a Dolby Digital equipped receiver.

On an HDMI receiver, I was getting 5.1 surround without Dolby Digital enabled (HDMI supports 5.1 PCM, and thus Dolby Digital isn't needed and will actually make sound quality / lag worse).

On my other receiver, which only supports Optical (TOSLINK), it defaults to 2 channel PCM, which has no LFE channel. I have to pick Dolby Digital within the audio options in RB and then I see all 6 channels on my receiver light up along with the Dolby Digital light.

[reapy]

I think I have to throw my vote in to everything Project_Mercy said. Usually the light on my sub woofer is on standby until I turn on the 360 or put a dvd in (the only devices I have which have optical cords), and then it goes green to let me know it is getting a signal. When I'm playing rock band, it stays off all the time.

I'm not as up to speed on audio formats as above, but a lot of receivers can do things with the sound and "fake" surround sound even though there isn't a true surround sound signal. I think since rock band isn't sending out the woofer signal (LFE i guess it is called :) ), like was said above, when you fiddle with speaker settings or output, you probably get the woofer when the receiver starts adding it in for you.

I filled with my receiver and couldn't get the woofer to do anything, which is a shame, though the surround sound works fine.

I also have to agree that you should be able to turn up the volume of the instruments, though that could be difficult to do code wise. There are some songs where playing the drums is a real joy (ones where you can really hear the drum) and others where I can't even tell that I'm adding anything to it.

Either way, neat game, just needs a few patches (as usual :) )

[pdawg17]

Are you guys all sure you went into Options then Audio in Rock Band and checkmarked the box next to Dolby Digital? The game defaults to PCM even if you have a Dolby Digital equipped receiver.

On an HDMI receiver, I was getting 5.1 surround without Dolby Digital enabled (HDMI supports 5.1 PCM, and thus Dolby Digital isn't needed and will actually make sound quality / lag worse).

On my other receiver, which only supports Optical (TOSLINK), it defaults to 2 channel PCM, which has no LFE channel. I have to pick Dolby Digital within the audio options in RB and then I see all 6 channels on my receiver light up along with the Dolby Digital light.

My receiver lights up 5.1 too but nothing comes out of my sub...