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Author Topic: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18  (Read 5988 times)

Professor Jud

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Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« on: October 20, 2012, 01:55:51 am »

       I've just replaced the OS on my Dell laptop going from XP Pro at 32 bits to Win 7 Enterpise at 64-bits.  Much new-ness to negotiate.  So while I was at it, I thought I might as well use the license I bought a couple months ago from JRiver and download the latest Beta version of MC 18.  Results were pretty good----after a few hiccups.  MC 18 played my first choice, a 24-bit 96 kHz file, instantly, but then balked at a 16-bit 44.1 kHz file! But all went smoothly thereafter.  I now use the WASAPI Event-Style setting to feed signals to my HRT Music Streamer II DAC via a USB 2.0 port. 
       So noting that my WAV files sounded noticeably better than those encoded in FLAC, I began in earnest to convert the latter into WAV using my   dBpoweramp   program to do so.  Once I had converted an album, though, I found that it sat in my music folder in an odd way----with each "song" in an album now represented by *both* a FLAC file and a WAV file.  So I took care using Win Explorer to "clean up" each of these converted albums.  First, innocently, I moved each one in FLAC to another folder altogether.  But when I opened MC to play the new albums in WAV format, I found that they (the albums) still had the FLAC versions of each song right alongside the WAV ones.  So I moved the FLAC versions of each of these albums to an exterior hard-drive hoping to remove them from my computer altogether.  It didn't work. The albums I converted from FLAC to WAV still had both versions of each song sitting insolently one alongside the other.  So I'm learning that Win 7 stores files automatically "everywhere" and Win 7's Explorer cannot reveal all the "places" in the tree where these FLAC files still exist (even when I think I've deleted them).  I tried manually in MC 18 to delete the FLAC files in an album (and leave the WAV files), and while the files do seem to be deleted, if I close MC 18 and then reopen it, they reappear.  Is it that JRiver keeps backups of these files in its libraries and MC 18 automatically goes there and retrieves them?  Or is it Win 7 that keeps them in the virtual folders of its libraries?  There must be a way to convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18 and Win 7 without all this grief?  Right?
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InflatableMouse

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2012, 02:18:50 am »

Convert them with MC18 and go through the convert options. Lots of threads on the forums about it and please do check the wiki as well.
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Skogkatt

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2012, 07:23:19 am »

First of all define the encoder in: Tools > Option > Encoding
After that select one or more albums and through right click: Library Tools > Convert Format
A Convert Format window appears on the bottom left: by clicking option you can define where to place the new files and
if you want to delete the original files. Once defined the settings press convert.

Done!

Before converting your whole library to WAV, try APE: it is a lossless format similar to FLAC with complete support for tagging
but for me solved the FLAC sound problem. In my system APE sounds almost indistinguishable from WAV while FLAC definitely not.
The advantage over WAV is a compression ratio slightly better than FLAC (1-3%) with default compression settings.  ;)
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gazjam

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #3 on: October 22, 2012, 11:42:45 am »

Converting to WAV in JRiver will carry over all your Tags except any custom ones you make yourself.
Not tried APE myself.
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apmusson

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2012, 06:01:24 am »

Hi,

I'm a little confused - help needed!

Does the FLAC to WAV decoder maintain the bit depth of the FLAC?  E.g. If I have a 192/24 FLAC file will the encoder create a 192/24 WAV file?

Is there a way to specify the bit depth that you'd like to transcode into?  The Tera Player portable audiophile player supports 192hz at 16bits and I'd like to save storage space.  I've had a look at the wiki but it doesn't mention the output WAV frequency / bitdepth.

Thanks

Ade
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gazjam

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2012, 08:04:33 am »

Hi,

I'm a little confused - help needed!

Does the FLAC to WAV decoder maintain the bit depth of the FLAC?  E.g. If I have a 192/24 FLAC file will the encoder create a 192/24 WAV file?

Yeah it does, just changes the file format.
For each file format there are additional options you can change, worth taking a look to double check.


Is there a way to specify the bit depth that you'd like to transcode into?  The Tera Player portable audiophile player supports 192hz at 16bits and I'd like to save storage space.  I've had a look at the wiki but it doesn't mention the output WAV frequency / bitdepth.

A better way to do this imo is to tell JRiver to upsample your files to whatever you want?
This is found in Options/Audio/Settings/DSP and output format.

:)

Thanks

Ade
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apmusson

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2012, 08:20:22 am »

Cheers gaz - I think I remember you from the artofsound forums?

One query though...  does the upsampling DSP have an impact when transcoding between file formats?  I want to transcode to 16bit 192hz wav files and then transfer to an SD card for use in the portable player, but leave the original files intact and unchanged.

Ade
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gazjam

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2012, 10:47:19 am »

Hi Ade,
yup that's me, guilty as charged  ;D

When you upsample in DSP options its only applied just before playback, so there's no change to the original file, just what JRiver does with it during playback.

Converting for the portable player needs something a bit more permanent and the way I'd do it is to use JRiver's format conversion tools to change to whatever format you like, but save out the converted files to a different directory "for portable" (say) and make sure you tick under "Mode" in Audio Conversion Options the third option..."Leave original file; do not add destination file to library"

This way playing back on the main stereo your files are upsampled to whatever you want and original files stay intact.
Your copies in the "for portable" folder can of course be moved to wherever you want without affecting the main files.

hope this helps mate.
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apmusson

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2012, 06:59:28 am »

I thought it might be Gaz,   ;)

I have had a play with the conversion tools and they are pretty good - I can even associate a particular conversion type with a device so when I have the SD Card inserted it automatically converts FLAC into WAV and removes the tags (which is good for my needs)....

But the best way seems to be to use Foobar2000 to convert to 16bit 192hz files....  I wish there were more options on the WAV conversion in JRiver.

Is there any chance some basic option could be built in to the converter?

Ade
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gazjam

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Re: Convert FLAC to WAV in MC 18
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2012, 11:27:16 am »

Not used Foobar since discovering JRiver, not used it in years.

Cant help you there mate!
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