AetherDSP Settings¶
The AetherDSP Settings dialog tunes the advanced parameters of AetherSDR's client-side noise-reduction engines (NR2, NR4, MNR, DFNR, RN2, BNR), letting operators dial in the tradeoff between noise suppression and speech fidelity. The six DSP modules are selectable via a toggle row at the top; clicking a toggle also activates or bypasses that engine.
Before you start¶
- AetherSDR must be running. A radio connection is not required to change this setting.
- The DSP engine must be active on a receiver for changes to take audible effect immediately.
Opening the dialog¶
- Click
Settings > AetherDSP Settings....
The dialog appears as a frameless window with a gradient title bar. It remembers its size and position across sessions.
Dialog controls overview¶
| Control | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title bar | Frameless 18 px gradient title bar with a grip glyph (⋮⋮) on the left and the dialog title. | Matching the chrome family of NetworkDiagnosticsDialog and AetherialAudioStrip. Added in v0.9.8 (#2425 refit). |
| — (Minimize) | Minimizes the dialog. | |
| □ (Maximize) | Maximizes or restores the dialog. | |
| × (Close) | Closes the dialog. | |
| Drag-to-move | Click and drag the title bar to move the dialog. Double-click to toggle maximize/restore. | |
| 8-axis resize | Click and drag any edge or corner of the dialog to resize. Cursor changes to indicate the resize direction. 6 px resize hit zone around the inner content widget. | |
| 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. New in v26.8.4. |
NR2 tab¶
The NR2 tab controls the musical-noise-reduction engine.
Controls¶
| Control | Kind | Default | Setting key | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NR2 (tab) | Tab | — | — | Selects the NR2 page. Clicking the NR2 toggle button also activates or bypasses the NR2 engine. |
| Gain Method | Radio button (Linear, Log, Gamma, Trained) | Gamma | NR2GainMethod |
Selects gain-curve mapping used by NR2. Stored as integer 0-3. |
| NPE Method | Radio button (OSMS, MMSE, NSTAT) | OSMS | NR2NpeMethod |
Selects noise power estimator. Stored as integer 0-2. |
| AE Filter (artifact elimination) | Checkbox | True | NR2AeFilter |
Toggles the anti-artefact post-filter. |
| Reduction: | Slider, 0.50–2.00 | 1.50 | NR2GainMax |
Sets maximum NR2 reduction depth. Slider stores value*100 internally. |
| Gain Floor: | Slider, 0.00–1.00 | 0.00 | NR2GainFloor |
Sets the minimum gain floor applied by NR2. Higher values preserve more ambient noise. Added in v26.7.4. |
| Smoothing: | Slider, 0.50–0.98 | 0.85 | NR2GainSmooth |
Controls how smoothly the noise estimate tracks changes. |
| Threshold: | Slider, 0.05–0.50 | 0.20 | NR2Qspp |
Sets speech-presence-probability threshold. |
| Reset Defaults (↺ icon) | Push button | — | — | Restores NR2 tab defaults (Gamma/OSMS/AE on, 1.50/0.00/0.85/0.20). |
Changing the NPE method¶
- Click the NR2 tab.
- In the NPE Method group, select one of the three radio buttons: OSMS, MMSE, or NSTAT.
The setting takes effect immediately and is saved automatically to NR2NpeMethod.
Adjusting the Gain Floor¶
The Gain Floor slider (0.00–1.00, default 0.00) sets the minimum gain applied by the NR2 engine. A value of 0.00 allows the engine to fully attenuate noise when the speech-presence probability is low. Higher values preserve more ambient noise, which can reduce the "starved" or "underwater" sound that some operators experience with aggressive noise reduction.
- Click the NR2 tab.
- Drag the Gain Floor: slider to the desired level.
The setting takes effect immediately and is saved automatically to NR2GainFloor.
NR4 tab¶
The NR4 tab controls the libspecbleach noise-reduction engine.
Controls¶
| Control | Kind | Default | Setting key | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NR4 (tab) | Tab | — | — | Selects the NR4 page. |
| Noise Estimation: | Radio button (MMSE, Brandt, Martin) | MMSE | NR4NoiseEstimationMethod |
Selects noise-floor estimator. Stored as integer 0-2. |
| Adaptive Noise Estimation | Checkbox | True | NR4AdaptiveNoise |
Enables continuous re-estimation of the noise floor. |
| Reduction (dB): | Slider, 0.0–40.0 | 10.0 | NR4ReductionAmount |
Sets maximum reduction in dB. Slider stores value*10. |
| Smoothing (%): | Slider, 0–100 | 0 | NR4SmoothingFactor |
Time-domain smoothing of noise estimate. |
| Whitening (%): | Slider, 0–100 | 0 | NR4WhiteningFactor |
Flattens residual noise spectral shape. |
| Masking Depth: | Slider, 0.00–1.00 | 0.50 | NR4MaskingDepth |
Controls spectral-masking depth. |
| Suppression: | Slider, 0.00–1.00 | 0.50 | NR4SuppressionStrength |
Overall suppression strength. |
| Reset Defaults (↺ icon) | Push button | — | — | Restores NR4 defaults (MMSE/adaptive on, 10 dB, 0, 0, 0.50, 0.50). |
MNR tab (macOS only)¶
The MNR tab controls the macOS MMSE-Wiener noise-reduction engine. The MNR toggle is dimmed on Windows/Linux builds — the engine has no backend on those platforms.
Controls¶
| Control | Kind | Default | Setting key | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MNR (tab) | Tab | — | — | Selects the MNR page. |
| Enable MNR (macOS only) | Checkbox | Read live from AudioEngine | MnrEnabled |
Enables MMSE-Wiener noise reduction with asymmetric gain smoothing. |
| Strength | Slider, 0–100 | 100 | MnrStrength |
Adjusts MNR aggressiveness (0 mild, 100 max). Persisted as normalized 0.00-1.00. |
RN2 tab¶
The RN2 tab controls the RNNoise engine. It hosts the Noise Floor dry-mix slider. The RN2 engine is enabled via the toggle button at the top of the dialog.
Controls¶
| Control | Kind | Default | Setting key | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RN2 (tab) | Tab | — | — | Selects the RN2 page. |
| Noise Floor (RN2 dry mix) | Slider, 0–100 | 0 | — | 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. Persisted by Rn2SettingsModel and exposed to the DSP chain via AetherDspWidget's rn2DryMixChanged signal. New in v26.8.4. |
Adjusting the Noise Floor¶
The Noise Floor slider (0–100, default 0) sets the percentage of the original signal RN2 leaves under the denoised audio. A value of 0 yields full suppression, which can produce silence between phrases. A value of 10–20% keeps a steady quiet floor so the receiver still sounds alive.
- Click the RN2 tab.
- Drag the Noise Floor slider to the desired level.
The setting takes effect immediately and is persisted by Rn2SettingsModel.
BNR tab (NVIDIA)¶
The BNR tab controls the NVIDIA Broadcast noise-reduction engine. Intensity is controlled from the overlay menu. The BNR toggle is dimmed on builds without the NVIDIA Broadcast SDK.
DFNR tab¶
The DFNR tab controls the DeepFilterNet3 noise-reduction engine. The DFNR toggle is dimmed on builds without DeepFilterNet support.
Controls¶
| Control | Kind | Default | Setting key | Behavior |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DFNR (tab) | Tab | — | — | Selects the DeepFilterNet3 page. |
| Attenuation Limit | Slider, 0–100 dB | 100 | DfnrAttenLimit |
Sets maximum noise attenuation. 0 = passthrough; 100 = maximum. |
| Post-Filter Beta | Slider, 0.00–0.30 | 0.00 | DfnrPostFilterBeta |
Applies an additional post-filter for extra suppression. Slider stores value*100 internally. |
Notes¶
- The six DSP toggles (NR2, NR4, MNR, DFNR, RN2, BNR) act as exclusive selectors and engine enable/disable controls. When NR2 is activated, AudioEngine cascades exclusion, disabling DFNR and other mutually exclusive modules.
- The dialog uses
PersistentDialog, which automatically saves and restores its geometry across sessions. The dialog position and size are persisted using theAetherDspDialogGeometrysetting key. - All sliders in this dialog use the themable primary slider style, adapting to the current color theme.
- The last active client-side noise-reduction method is remembered across sessions via the
LastClientNrsetting. If DFNR was last active but DeepFilterNet is unavailable, the preference is cleared automatically.
Tips¶
- NR2: OSMS works well for steady background noise such as atmospheric hiss or white noise. NSTAT is better for rapidly changing noise floors.
- NR2: If changing the NPE method introduces more musical noise artifacts, enable AE Filter (artifact elimination).
- NR2: If noise reduction sounds too aggressive or "starved," increase Gain Floor: slightly (e.g., 0.05–0.10) to retain some ambient noise.
- NR4: Adaptive noise estimation helps track changing noise conditions. Disable it if the noise floor is stable.
- RN2: Set the Noise Floor slice to 10–20% to keep the receiver sounding alive while still suppressing noise between phrases.
- DFNR: Post-Filter Beta adds extra suppression but may introduce artifacts at higher values.
- Click the Reset Defaults button (↺) on any tab to return all parameters on that tab to their factory defaults.
Troubleshooting¶
- Changing parameters produces no audible difference — Confirm the DSP engine is enabled on the receiver. The AetherDSP Settings dialog adjusts parameters but does not itself activate the engine; the engine must be switched on from the receiver controls.
- MNR tab is dimmed or unavailable — MNR is only available on macOS. Windows and Linux builds do not include the MNR backend.
- BNR tab is dimmed — The NVIDIA Broadcast SDK is not installed on this system.
- DFNR tab is dimmed — DeepFilterNet is not available on this build. Rebuild AetherSDR with DeepFilterNet support to enable DFNR.
- Gain Floor slider does not appear — You are running a version older than v26.7.4. Update to the latest release.
- Noise Floor slider does not appear on the RN2 tab — You are running a version older than v26.8.4. Update to the latest release.