Skip to content

AetherDSP Settings

Use the AetherDSP Settings dialog to tune the advanced parameters of AetherSDR's client-side noise-reduction engines (NR2, NR4, MNR, DFNR, RN2, BNR). The six DSP modules are selectable via a toggle row at the top; clicking a toggle also activates or bypasses that engine.

Opening AetherDSP Settings

  1. Click Settings > AetherDSP Settings....

The dialog opens with the currently active noise reduction tab selected.

Dialog chrome

The AetherDSP Settings dialog uses a frameless 18 px gradient title bar with a grip glyph (⋮⋮) on the left and the dialog title "AetherDSP Settings". Three window-control buttons sit at the right:

  • — (Minimize) — Minimizes the dialog.
  • □ (Maximize) — Maximizes or restores the dialog. Double-clicking the title bar also toggles maximize/restore.
  • × (Close) — Closes the dialog.

The dialog has a 6 px resize hit zone around the inner content widget. Drag the title bar to move the dialog. Resize the dialog by dragging any edge or corner (8-axis resize). The dialog geometry is persisted between sessions under the setting key AetherDspDialogGeometry.

The dialog uses themed styling applied through ThemeManager rather than a hardcoded stylesheet.

Tab selector behavior

The six tabs at the top (NR2, NR4, MNR, DFNR, RN2, BNR) act as both tab selectors and engine enable/disable controls. Clicking a tab selects that page and activates the corresponding DSP engine. When a new engine is activated, AetherSDR cascades exclusion, disabling DFNR and other mutually exclusive modules.

Each toggle button has an object name in the format dspMethodBtn followed by the label text (e.g. dspMethodBtnNR2), and an accessible name that includes the label and "noise-reduction method". This allows screen readers and automation tools to identify each button.

The last active client-side noise reduction method is persisted under the setting key LastClientNr. On builds without the DFNR backend, any stored DFNR preference is automatically cleared.

Platform notes:

  • MNR (macOS only) — The MNR tab is dimmed on Windows and Linux builds because the macOS MMSE-Wiener engine has no backend on those platforms.
  • BNR — The BNR tab is dimmed on builds without the NVIDIA Broadcast SDK.
  • DFNR — The DFNR tab shows a tooltip "DFNR requires DeepFilterNet to be set up and AetherSDR rebuilt." on builds without the DFNR backend.

NR2 tab

Use the NR2 (musical-noise-reduction) engine for noise suppression that avoids musical artefacts.

Controls

Control Default Valid range Setting key
Gain Method Gamma Linear | Log | Gamma | Trained NR2GainMethod
NPE Method OSMS OSMS | MMSE | NSTAT NR2NpeMethod
AE Filter (artifact elimination) Enabled — NR2AeFilter
Reduction: 1.50 0.50–2.00 NR2GainMax
Smoothing: 0.85 0.50–0.98 NR2GainSmooth
Threshold: 0.20 0.05–0.50 NR2Qspp

Gain Method — Selects the gain-curve mapping used by NR2. Stored as integer 0–3 matching the order above. NPE Method — Selects the noise power estimator. Stored as integer 0–2. AE Filter — Toggles the anti-artefact post-filter. Reduction: — Sets the maximum NR2 reduction depth. Slider stores value×100 internally. Smoothing: — Controls how smoothly the noise estimate tracks changes. Threshold: — Sets the speech-presence-probability threshold.

Reset NR2 defaults

  1. Select the NR2 tab.
  2. Click Reset Defaults (↺ icon).

All NR2 controls return to Gamma, OSMS, AE Filter enabled, Reduction 1.50, Smoothing 0.85, Threshold 0.20.

NR4 tab

Use the NR4 (libspecbleach) engine for speech-focused noise reduction with adaptive noise estimation.

Controls

Control Default Valid range Setting key
Noise Estimation: MMSE MMSE | Brandt | Martin NR4NoiseEstimationMethod
Adaptive Noise Estimation Enabled — NR4AdaptiveNoise
Reduction (dB): 10.0 0.0–40.0 dB NR4ReductionAmount
Smoothing (%): 0 0–100 NR4SmoothingFactor
Whitening (%): 0 0–100 NR4WhiteningFactor
Masking Depth: 0.50 0.00–1.00 NR4MaskingDepth
Suppression: 0.50 0.00–1.00 NR4SuppressionStrength

Noise Estimation: — Selects the noise-floor estimator used by NR4. Stored as integer 0–2. Adaptive Noise Estimation — Enables continuous re-estimation of the noise floor. Reduction (dB): — Sets the maximum NR4 noise reduction in dB. Slider stores value×10. Smoothing (%): — Time-domain smoothing of the NR4 noise estimate. Whitening (%): — Flattens residual noise spectral shape. Masking Depth: — Controls spectral-masking depth. Suppression: — Overall NR4 suppression strength.

Reset NR4 defaults

  1. Select the NR4 tab.
  2. Click Reset Defaults (↺ icon).

All NR4 controls return to MMSE, Adaptive Noise Estimation enabled, Reduction 10.0 dB, Smoothing 0, Whitening 0, Masking Depth 0.50, Suppression 0.50.

MNR tab (macOS only)

Use the MNR (macOS MMSE-Wiener) engine for noise reduction with asymmetric gain smoothing. This tab is only available on macOS builds.

Controls

Control Default Valid range Setting key
Enable MNR (macOS only) — — MnrEnabled
Strength 100 0–100 MnrStrength

Enable MNR — Enables MMSE-Wiener noise reduction with asymmetric gain smoothing. Initial state read live from AudioEngine. Strength — Adjusts MNR aggressiveness (0 mild, 100 max). Persisted as normalized 0.00–1.00.

Reset MNR defaults

  1. Select the MNR tab.
  2. Click Reset Defaults (↺ icon).

The Strength slider returns to 100.

DFNR tab

Use the DeepFilterNet3 engine for neural-network-based noise reduction.

Controls

Control Default Valid range Setting key
Attenuation Limit 100 0–100 dB DfnrAttenLimit
Post-Filter Beta 0.00 0.00–0.30 DfnrPostFilterBeta

Attenuation Limit — Sets maximum noise attenuation applied by DeepFilterNet3. 0 = passthrough; 100 = maximum. Post-Filter Beta — Applies an additional post-filter for extra suppression. Slider stores value×100 internally.

Reset DFNR defaults

  1. Select the DFNR tab.
  2. Click Reset Defaults (↺ icon).

Attenuation Limit returns to 100 and Post-Filter Beta returns to 0.00.

On builds without the DFNR backend, the DFNR tab shows a tooltip: "DFNR requires DeepFilterNet to be set up and AetherSDR rebuilt."

RN2 tab

Use the RN2 (RNNoise) engine for real-time neural-network-based noise suppression.

Controls

Control Default Valid range Setting key
Noise Floor (RN2 dry mix) 0 0–100 —

Noise Floor (RN2 dry mix) — Sets the percentage of the original signal RN2 leaves under the denoised audio. Zero yields full suppression (silent between phrases); 10–20% keeps a steady quiet floor so the receiver still sounds alive. Affects received audio only; the transmit denoiser is unchanged. Persisted by Rn2SettingsModel and exposed to the DSP chain via AetherDspWidget's rn2DryMixChanged signal.

Reset RN2 defaults

  1. Select the RN2 tab.
  2. Click Reset Defaults (↺ icon).

The Noise Floor slider returns to 0.

BNR tab

The BNR (NVIDIA Broadcast) tab uses the NVIDIA Broadcast SDK for AI-based noise reduction. The intensity is controlled from the overlay menu. The BNR tab is dimmed on builds without the NVIDIA Broadcast SDK. This tab has no adjustable parameters, so Reset Defaults is a no-op.

Tips

  • Reset Defaults affects only the tab where you click it. Resetting NR2 does not alter NR4 settings, and vice versa.
  • Changes take effect immediately. If a noise reduction engine is active on a receive slice at the time, you will hear the engine change behaviour as soon as you adjust any control.
  • The six DSP toggles act as exclusive selectors and engine enable/disable controls simultaneously. Activating one engine may disable other mutually exclusive modules.
  • When AetherSDR restarts, it restores the last active client-side noise reduction method stored under the setting key LastClientNr.
  • For RN2, setting the Noise Floor to 10–20% keeps a steady quiet floor so the receiver still sounds alive between phrases, while 0% yields full suppression.
⚡ Athena AetherSDR Assistant
Hi! I'm Athena, the AetherSDR AI assistant. Ask me anything about installation, configuration, or troubleshooting.