Back while I was using a different OS, I used a program which processed the audio being played in real time and made it sound much better. It made the sound feel farther away and a bit lighter to hear, while carrying the relevant information. I’d always wanted a similar program which was equally simple to use for Linux, and decided to write one.
Listen with headphones. The excerpt is from P.I.M.P. by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band[0].
The processed version sounds farther from the ears and feels less “on the ear” making it feel less “blocked” after listening to music for a while.
Since I was writing for Linux, my base stack was PipeWire[1]. I had no prior audio experience, so I began by using an LLM as a sounding board while experimenting with standard audio filters and psychoacoustic techniques.
