INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Workaround for cue files in MC  (Read 3829 times)

hit_ny

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3310
  • nothing more to say...
Workaround for cue files in MC
« on: November 28, 2003, 01:38:22 am »

I used a (free) program called musicutter to split up large mp3s. It accepts the corresponding  cue file and will even tag the split files.

http://musicutter.szm.sk/

I then tagged the separate files using MC and played them in MC using the Gapless option. I find gapless works pretty well ( provided split with musicutter)  as well as winamp 2.91 with a look ahead buffer of 300ms.

I then used musicutter to join up the separate mp3s, that i previously split ( yes..it can do joining too) . i did a wav compare of the join to the original and found them to be identical. Deciding to push this a bit i did 5 iterations

split(original)->join(1)->split(1)->join(2)->split(2).......join(5)

still identical :o !! (original with join (5))

I used 3 diff programs for wav compare.
- Eac gave inconsistent results sometimes.

- Wavelab 4 was more consistent.

- Analyse from the DAE Quality pack ( DOS program) gave consistent results.
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/daequality.zip
( remember to rename the original wav as Reference.wav...then run in a DOS window analyse <wav name>  )


This means i can inventory mixed albums in MC and do AA for the individual tracks. If i want to have gapless play in a portable player. i just join up the split tracks.   I dont need to keep the original big mp3 anymore. ( uncomfortable thought ). But if i ever needed the big mp3 back, could use musicutter to join, it would be bit perfect .....so then it might be ok ..right ?

The original CUE file must not be deleted as it would be used to join the tracks in the future.


I would like ppl to try musicutter out , use thier favorite wav compare program and post their thoughts......so i can have more confidence before trashing my original big mp3s. The author of musicutter says it works with VBR files too....i tried with CBR & ABR and found the results to be good.

Of course if MC comes out with a way to handle cue files with mp3 as seamlessly as APE, using APLs....(Matt ??)


..the above method would be redundant.


PS

....its considered good practce to rip a mixed album as one big wav, encode  and then split using musicutter ( if desired). I am told MC will be able to rip as one along with cue..

One must NOT rip a mixed album into separate tracks (for mp3)...the gapless performance (with Gapless playback in mC) is mixed and highly dependant on the album.


*EDIT*

Keep the original sfv file as well...(per Rand's suggestion)..
Logged

Rands

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 397
  • How am I supposed to enjoy this with you crying?
.
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2003, 12:11:12 pm »

As another test you should try creating an SFV file of the original MP3 then splitting and rejoining it. Check the SFV against the rejoined MP3 and see if it still matches. If it does, then you can assume it is nearly the same quality after the splitting.
Logged
Toast goes in the toaster.

LisaRCT

  • Guest
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2003, 01:16:16 pm »

hmmm, I have some 'albumwrap' mp3's that won't unwrap,    I am gonna try this to split them and see how it works.


Yikes   :o  EAD, DAE, SFV . . . .
I am still working on C-a-t, D-o-g, and "See Jane run."    ::)
Logged

hit_ny

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3310
  • nothing more to say...
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2003, 01:36:17 pm »

Nice one !

.. forgot  to mention the easiest test of them all.

SFV checks out ok :)

*EDIT*

On second thoughts...u have to get the tagging exactly right in the joined file as was present in the original to make sfv work(error-prone)  Or you can strip all tags from the original, run sfv, then split.

i would like to suggest an alternative, instead of using SFV use a SV file ( Sound Verification File). SV checks for audio content only and ignores tagging. SV is a another type of  file verification that is present in mp3bookhelper ( a good (free) application that does tagging and batch modifying)

http://mp3bookhelper.sourceforge.net/

My guess if the audio content is good...all is ok !
Logged

Rands

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 397
  • How am I supposed to enjoy this with you crying?
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2003, 03:51:21 pm »

Although CUE/APL support would be nice, I tend to listen to by album rather than single tracks so  it's not that huge of an issue for me.

As far as I know, CUE/APL support is coming to MediaCenter in the next version as well as the ability to rip to a single file with CUE/APL.
Logged
Toast goes in the toaster.

Sauzee

  • Regular Member
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 714
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2003, 05:53:10 pm »

Quote
I then tagged the separate files using MC and played them in MC using the Gapless option. I find gapless works pretty well ( provided split with musicutter)  as well as winamp 2.91 with a look ahead buffer of 300ms.

I then used musicutter to join up the separate mp3s, that i previously split ( yes..it can do joining too) . i did a wav compare of the join to the original and found them to be identical.

How does this work once you've tagged the individual files?  You wouldn't be joining back the same files that you'd split?

I've always avoided letting MC anywhere near any large mp3/cue files as I've been afraid that MC's tagging changes the file.  Even without deliberately tagging a file, just by playing it in MC it alters the tags.

Doesn't tagging the file effect re-joining the file, gapless playback and burning the file to CD using the cue file?

Do the tags, especially ID3 2 tags, not affect gapless playback?

These are all questions, not statements, as I'm a bit hazy in this area.
Logged

Rands

  • Regular Member
  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 397
  • How am I supposed to enjoy this with you crying?
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2003, 06:29:55 pm »

I've always avoided letting MC anywhere near any large mp3/cue files as I've been afraid that MC's tagging changes the file.  Even without deliberately tagging a file, just by playing it in MC it alters the tags.

This isn't true.  If you turn off the option to Update Tags When File Info Changes (Tools -> Options ->  General), then MC9 will never write to an MP3.  I leave this option turned off as nearly all of MP3s have SFV files.  I tag the files in MC9's database rather than relying on the MP3 tags themselves.  That way, I can tag and organize however I want and the MP3s stay exactly the same.
Logged
Toast goes in the toaster.

hit_ny

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3310
  • nothing more to say...
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2003, 02:44:25 am »

Quote
How does this work once you've tagged the individual files?  You wouldn't be joining back the same files that you'd split?

Yes, i am joining the same files that i split ( just as a test to show i can recover the original)

Quote
I've always avoided letting MC anywhere near any large mp3/cue files as I've been afraid that MC's tagging changes the file.  Even without deliberately tagging a file, just by playing it in MC it alters the tags.

it does change the file in the sense tagging is done, so fields are written/modified etc. But the audio content is not affected. The wav compares and you can try this yourself to show audio content remains the same. SFVs..will show a difference cos SFV is sensitive to any file change, including tagging.

Quote
Doesn't tagging the file effect re-joining the file, gapless playback and burning the file to CD using the cue file?

Do the tags, especially ID3 2 tags, not affect gapless playback

Tagging wont effect audio nor the rejoining of the files, musicutter does the joining properly (as does MC the tagging). So you get back bit for bit when you re-join the split files.



Quote
However, I can still hear the track transition.

I tried playing around with the settings but nothing seemed to make any difference. It would also take quite abit of time to convert all the files (I didn't see a batch mode).

This got me thinking about doing a wav compare of the split tracks vs the original using MC's diskwriter. This would truly be the acid test for whether the split tracks could replace the big track from an audio point of view.


To do this

- i set Tools->options->Playback->Output (Diskwriter)...click settings( Break output into ind.tracks is unchecked)........and played the original...it creates a big wav file.

- i loaded the split tracks for the corresponding album and played them too( Gapless play set in Tools->Options->Playback) with the same diskwriter settings. Another big wav file.

i made sure all dsp settings were off and silence trimming was unchecked.


The result i found was there were several differences along the track boundaries between the original & split. Mc's gapless play is not perfect and i dont think its reasonable to expect it to be for mp3s.

It dawned on me that my experiment proved the foll:

- musicutter can split and join files flawlessly.

- gapless play is not perfect ( but pretty good ) as indicated by the below thread

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=11040;start=msg69799#msg69799

so even if the tracks are split with musicutter, there is a chance that track transitions might be heard. Which then boils down to the album , on some albums transitions might be more pronounced than others.

Now i realise there are exotic mp3 encoders with exotic settings that can create mp3s which play gapless....but if one already has a big mp3 that was encoded wihout those settings which is most likely, nothing can be done.


*EDIT*
However, i think splitting can be done on an album by album basis and can be combined back in the future, if desired. I need to rate the mixed stuff anyway. Some albums will be fine others not and will remain as big mp3s.

Its not known how long JRiver will take to implement CUE/APL functionality.

i guess the final decison on whether to split or not rests on whether JRiver can give us an answer as to whether this CUE/APL will be present in v10 ( from the start or added on later) and what its limitations will be ( if any ? )

Well JRiver....what do u have to say about that ?
Logged

hit_ny

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3310
  • nothing more to say...
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2003, 01:16:40 pm »

BUMP!
Logged

hit_ny

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3310
  • nothing more to say...
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2003, 05:26:30 am »

After working with musicutter for some days, i have noticed the foll:

- sometimes after a split, muscicutter will display an error message "Completed, but with 1 or x frame errors, x bytes skipped". Further examination of the musicutter log reveals "Frame header not found in source at x, y bytes skipped"

i take this to mean, it has encountered some sort of error in the big mp3. I am not sure why this happens with some files and not others. Mp3utility does not indicate any sync errors at all.  The files are all CBR too.

If one tries to join the split files, it turns out they are not identical with the original, since some bytes were skipped during the split process. In the past i noticed there was a diff in wav compares and i feel this was the reason.

A quicker way to compare the files is to use the sv verifier in mp3 book helper, sv check does an sfv crc32 check of only the audio section of an mp3 and ignores tags.

So i dont split these problematic files and wait for MC to come up with proper CUE/APL functionality.

I have split about 10 albums now, and there were no errors reported by musicutter at all, these split files join up bit perfectly. I am unable to notice a gap while playing them with gapless play.

If anyone knows of any other splitting utilities that accept cue files...let me know...would like to see how they handle the albums musicutter chokes on.
Logged

phelt

  • Guest
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2003, 02:35:08 pm »

MP3 DirectCut accepts cue files. It's a pretty nifty tool, though the interface can take a little getting used to. It's free.

A Google search turned up some shareware apps for the purpose, but I've never used them. Most of the links to discussions wind up recommending MP3 DirectCut.
Logged

hit_ny

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3310
  • nothing more to say...
Re:Workaround for cue files in MC
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2003, 09:23:21 am »

Quote
MP3 DirectCut accepts cue files. It's a pretty nifty tool, though the interface can take a little getting used to. It's free.

Thx for this ....i tried it out. it does not complain and splits the big Mp3 just like musicutter.  I was a bit concerned that it did not complain cos i ran that same "bad" file through mp3test which said there were invalid bytes at the end. Maybe its not that big a deal as the wav compare of the original & the joined from split mp3s was identical.

http://www.tucows.com/preview/193517.html

i joined the files split by mp3-direct cut ( using musicutter since i find joining files in mp3directcut not very intuitive) and did a sv compare with those joined with musicutter and the results was identical.

So far i notice that gapless play works with split files provided the BPM < 120 (roughly speaking), any greater and its touch & go, i don't  hear the transition unless i listen carefully, sounds like the beat comes in too fast. So i am only working on the slower albums for now. Also these low BPM tracks mix better during random play.

I hope JRiver implements CUE/APL functionality soon !!!
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up