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[jacobacci]

I regularly use the SACD ISO to PCM conversion function of MC.
All my audio files sit in a directory structure of the form artist\album\track#-title.
The filetype / samplerate of the files is reflected in the first few letters of the album name. As a consequence the album name changes when I convert form an SACD ISO to a PCM file.
i.e. SACD ISO albums are called D_this is a great album
The downsampled version would be DSD_this is a great album

This forces me to use scripts to change the album-level directory name, album tag and filenames in a separate process after the SACD ISO to PCM conversion.
As far as I can tell, JRiver reads the tags of the SACD ISOs from the library and uses them to name the directory structure and filenames of the target files, just not user configurable.
For me it would be a great simplifiaction to be able to specify rules how to name the directories and filenames of the converted files (template based using the SACD ISO tags that I put into the MC library).

Is there any chance this could be implemented in one of the next versions of MC?

[blgentry]

I see that the Convert Format options let you create directories, but they don't let you specify rules for doing so.  My advice would be to use MC's most powerful tool for this type of task, the Rename, Move, and Copy tool.

RM&C can move your files to directories and/or change their names based on rules you give it.  These rules can be saved as a template for later use.  It's really an awesome tool!

http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Rename,_Move,_and_Copy_Files

Of course this *does* require a separate step, but it's pretty easy to highlight the files, choose the RM&C tool and press the button.  It shouldn't be too much extra effort.  Plus the RM&C tool SHOWS you what it's going to do before it does it.  That way you can validate that your rule is doing exactly what you want it to.  In some unusual situations (strange file names, strange artist or album names) this might save you from a wrong rename.

If you need help with RM&C, start a new thread about it, or just post here and we'll try to help you.

Good luck!

Brian.

[jacobacci]

Thanks a lot, Brian
I tried this and it worked perfectly.

So basically it's two steps I need to do after the SACD ISO to PCM conversion:

Change the Album Tag using the expression you gave me a few threads back: =if(isequal(left([Album],2),D_,1),replace([album],D_,DSD_),[Album]) This adds a DS in front.
Use RM&C to change the Album level directory name to the new album name. In the same go change the filename to [Track #]-[Name]. Apparently this will also truncate overly long filenames at the same time.

[Spike1000]

Related question:

Can I ask why you keep the SACD ISOs and play them in (as ISOs) MC? I assume you convert them PCM for playback on devices that don't support ISO playback?

Is there a reason you don't convert them to DFF/DSF tracks?

Spike

[blgentry]

Is there a reason you don't convert them to DFF/DSF tracks?

What advantage do you get from DFF or DSF?  I see nothing but problems.  One of those formats can't hold metadata at all.  The other format does weird stuff with padding at the end of the track and induces clicks, pops, and pauses at the end of some tracks.  The ISO is "pure", contains everything, and plays back properly.  What else could you want? 

Brian.

[jacobacci]

I rely on ISOs for the same reasons that Brian mentioned.
For players that cannot do on the fly DSD to PCM conversion (such as squeezeboxes), I keep a 44.1kHz PCM file separately.

[Spike1000]

Interesting 

I appreciate DFFs can't do meta data so I ruled them out as an option at the beginning. I wasn't aware that there could be issues with 'padding' that may cause problems with DSFs. Maybe I need to do some more testing/experimentation 

As I've ripped my CDs to tracks, and rarely listen to complete albums, the few SACDs that I own have been ripped and converted to DSF so I treat them like the FLACs from my CDs.

I take it you don't rip your CDs to ISO because (say) FLACs are 'pure' enough and play properly; the problems with individual SACD track files/playback is the DSF format (if you want to include meta data in your tracks)?

Cheers

Spike

[jacobacci]

Hi Spike
the clicking and popping issue is described here http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/sacd-iso-dsf-no-clicks-23588/#post402422 You'll find many other discussions in various forums.
As I only play DSD from JRiver, I leave them in ISO form and only convert directly to PCM. Going to DSF as an interim step does not really add anything for me. Both ISOs and DSFs have to be converted to PCM by JRiver, as none of my DACs understand DSD.

[blgentry]

As I've ripped my CDs to tracks, and rarely listen to complete albums, the few SACDs that I own have been ripped and converted to DSF so I treat them like the FLACs from my CDs.

Maybe you're not aware:  MC can play individual tracks directly from SACD ISO files without any special effort.  The songs all appear separately in MC's library and you can build playlists with them, etc, exactly as if they were separate files.  So it really is the best of all worlds:  Individual track access, full metadata, and no strange playback issues.

Brian.

[jacobacci]

... and you can tag the ISOs in MC, just like "normal" flac, mp3, aac, dsf
With fill properties from filename even that job becomes easy, once the ISOs are in correctly named directories.

[Fitzcaraldo215]

What advantage do you get from DFF or DSF?  I see nothing but problems.  One of those formats can't hold metadata at all.  The other format does weird stuff with padding at the end of the track and induces clicks, pops, and pauses at the end of some tracks.  The ISO is "pure", contains everything, and plays back properly.  What else could you want? 

Brian.

I have all my ripped ISOs in a separate folder and I never play them.  My library is of the extracted DSFs. Reason: tagging.  I cannot rely on the metadata on the original disc.  It usually sucks or is nonexistent with the classical albums in my library.  Plus, I want an additional backup of all the manually entered tags in the media file itself, which ISO and DFF cannot do.

I understand that the mild tick at the end of DSF tracks has been cured in the latest extract programs.  But, I am not sure because it was never noticeable to me before.  Someone had to point it out to me from reading about it.  Until then, I had not been aware of it.  Even after that awareness, 90% of the time it is not audible.  For the other 10%, it is barely audible.  Most of my DSF extracts predate the improvements to the extract program, and I have no problems with that.

[Spike1000]

Hi Spike
the clicking and popping issue is described here http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/sacd-iso-dsf-no-clicks-23588/#post402422

Ah ha, thanks for the link describing the issue with particular versions of the of Bogi's ISO2DSF utility; link below for those following along at home:

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/how-do-you-store-dff-untagged-files-21780/index8.html#post368551

I was using ISO2DSD from Sonore the version linked below also fixes the errors with the truncated data in the last block; link below for those following along at home:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=129913.0

I wasn't aware that MC treats/plays individual tracks from an SACD ISO just like individual files/tracks an not as a complete 'album ISO'. Clever 

But on balance I tend to agree with Fitzcaraldo215's philosophy; I also like the fact all my files and associated meta data (be them MP3, FLAC or DSF) are stored, edited, moved/renamed and backed up in exactly the same way. Just one less thing to deal with/think about. 

Thanks for your input and knowledge once again.

Cheers

Spike