David Reaves, late of TransLanTech and well-known for his involvment in the Ariane, has set up his own shop.

He has a public beta of a software loudness controller available that he is seeking input from. It is called “FreeChocolate! Loudness and Level Comfortizer.”

Technically it is a Windows-based (XP [SP3], Vista and 7) personal audio level controller. Oh, it’s also free.

Reaves notes, “In every media device — iPods, home computers, TVs or automobile sound — consumer irritation with abrupt and excessive level variations is well-known,” yet consumers are not in a position to understand the problem nor deal with it.

Reaves’ goal is to “enhance the media user’s experience by giving them a simple control to dial-in whatever dynamic range feels exactly right to them, whenever they like, wherever they are, whatever they’re listening to or watching, on whichever device they are using.”

He aims to do this using much of what he has learned as a professional loudness processor designer. Most consumers won’t care about what the software algorithms are, just the results. He’s interested in feedback.