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Author Topic: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing  (Read 8409 times)

neovibe

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splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« on: May 11, 2008, 03:49:12 pm »

the title says it all: how do I use MC12 to split mp3+cue in separate files (also mp3) without recompressing (just splitting)?
couldn't find a way to do it in MC12 (I know there are other programs but I wanted to integrate it in MC12)

(compressing to flac or ape would work but wouldn't make sense)

thanks
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neovibe

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2008, 12:25:51 pm »

so... MC12 can't do this...  ?
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e-head

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2008, 02:14:19 pm »

Probably not. This is a rather specialized need, and it can be a road fraught with hazards (e.g., I think the ability to seek can get miffed with VBR mp3's). Check hydrogenaudio.org.
I have done this in two passes before, using one tool to split, and another to fix the VBR headers.

Good luck
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ADDiCT

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2008, 03:56:37 pm »

MC can't do this. If you have CBR MP3's, and/or you want to fade or loop the cutouts, you'll want to try mp3DirectCut. If you want to split VBR files, you should try pcutmp3 (the download link on the hydrogenaudio thread is dead, but i found the latest version easily via google). mp3DirectCut is a very powerful program, but it won't cut VBR files correctly by CUE sheet - the cue points of the resulting files will be very different from the ones in the CUE sheet. VBR MP3's cutted with pcutmp3 will behave like "normal" MP3 files - you can search into the files, and playback should be gapless. pcutmp3 is a console-driven JAVA program, but there's frontends for it.
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hit_ny

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #4 on: May 16, 2008, 12:25:13 pm »

Musicutter

...features...
  • supported formats:
  • all MPEG audio versions and all layers (except freeformat mp3 files)
  • OGG Vorbis
  • works correctly with VBR mp3 files
  • can produce frame statistics for mp3 file
  • can handle practically unlimited file size
  • cut points can be imported from:
  • CUE sheet , XMCD file plain text file
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ADDiCT

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2008, 01:40:33 am »

Hmmm... I've tried MusiCutter with a VBR file that pcutmp3 did split perfectly well (LAME 3.97, probably encoded with the V2 preset). The files splitted with pcutmp3 play back fine on my iPod (not gapless though, because the firmware of my trusty old 3G doesn't support gapless playback), and in MC (gapless, seeking and everything).

With MusiCutter, the splitting process takes painfully long (pcutmp3=a few seconds for all files, MusiCutter=several minutes per file). I get a load of error messages, and the resulting files play back as digital noise on all players i've tried. Fiddling with MusiCutter's options didn't help. I was using the latest version 0.71.

Conclusion: pcutmp3 is the _only_ program that properly splits VBR files.
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hit_ny

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2008, 04:54:01 am »

Just tested it with an mp3 of the same specs as you mentioned and it worked flawlessly. No sync errors in the split files.

Are you sure your source was not corrupt to begin with ?

i've used that prog (0.7.1) for long time now and never had any probs. It's pretty quick as well (10s to do the whole file).

Also you won't get gapless split files if you split a lame APS file as the gapless header info is not included, i doubt any tool can re-insert the gapless info into the split files as it can only be calculated at the encode stage.

If you want gapless split files then you have to encode sepearate files with lame 3.90 or higher, which is when gapless header info was introduced. These files will work if you use rockbox but not stock iPod firmware.

MC can also play gapless files encoded this way as well as tell you if gapless header info is included in the MP3 by clicking the format tag in AW after selecting the file(s), see what it tells you for gapless.
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e-head

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2008, 11:40:52 am »

I long time ago I read over all the threads on hydrogenaudio and I ended up going with musicutter myself, mainly because I never could find a link to that pcut program.

I've found musicutter does a fine job w/ regards to gapless playback, with vbr and cbr. The only issue I found with musicutter was that the "seek" got screwed up with vbr files in SOME applications. I think iTunes handled them fine, but foobar didn't. When I say "seek" I mean... the progress meter isn't accurate. You can't tell where you are at in the song when playing it back. Gapless playback was more important to me, so I didn't really care much. I found an app that fixed this too, so I started doing a 2-pass process.

I'm interested to try pcut.

But yeah, from what I remember, musicutter and pcut were the only 2 programs that could even remotely get this right.
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hit_ny

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2008, 01:02:37 pm »

If progress is not accurate that means the vbr header is corrupt, now if the source has this problem then there is little that can be done. Its possible FB2K can fix the vbr header but its not guranteed, which is the same with any other app too.

Which app did you use to fix the header ?
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e-head

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2008, 12:18:54 pm »

It looks like I used VBRfix.

It's a GPL program (command line), but there is a VBRfix GUI.


I found a link to this pcutmp3 program, finally. I'm going to give it a try I think.
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neovibe

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2008, 09:15:43 am »

thanks for all the replies.

would it be possible to make MC12 use pcutmp3 in such a way that it would be transparent to the user?
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neovibe

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #11 on: May 21, 2008, 04:31:07 pm »

it just crossed my mind.... when you sync with your ipod a playlist in MC12 that contains mp3+cue albums.... it will always recompress right?
and if I turn on the option to skip conversions of the same file type it will simply not sync I suppose (does nothing when I do library»convert  mp3 to mp3 )

I don't have a portable but I'm thinking of getting one, so someone please tell me :)

thanks!
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neovibe

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Re: splitting mp3+cue in separate files without recompressing
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2008, 08:43:40 am »

surely someone knows... right?
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