Skip to main content

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives? (Read 6730 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

hi all,

I am looking to convert some well tagged FLACs to mp3, and want it all done nicely, cleanly, by the book, by a little, lightweight app.

I kinda remember frontah and multi-frontend, but they seem old and out of date.  I want something smooth and current for win7.

I know MM and fb2k and dbpa and so on are good apps, but I am looking for a small utility, not a big app.

any ideas?  thanks.

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #1
How about LameDropXPd?
Nothing is impossible if you don't need to do it yourself.

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #2
Not sure what your definition of "small utility" is.  I assume that means you don't want playback or ripping functionality (as with MM, fb2k, and dbpa)?

TAudioConverter is a very recent project announced here on HA.

If you want a bare-minimum utility, I would second Silversight's suggestion of LameDropXPd.

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #3
How about LameDropXPd?


very sweet utility.  lightweight the way frontah and multi frontend were.

I figured out how to use it pretty quick, but what is "input scaling?"  it seems to be RG related, but I don't understand exactly, is it actually adjusting the gain to the file, a la mp3gain?

also, it doesn't seem to copy RG tags no matter what.  no big deal, I can re-analyze.  no "album artist" tags either.

and where does auto tagging get its info?  freedb?

Not sure what your definition of "small utility" is.  I assume that means you don't want playback or ripping functionality (as with MM, fb2k, and dbpa)?

TAudioConverter is a very recent project announced here on HA.

If you want a bare-minimum utility, I would second Silversight's suggestion of LameDropXPd.


more involved, but useful.  I also want to convert FLACs to ALAC, so very nice for me.  however, again the RG tags don't copy [to alac anyway], (but the AA tags do).

thx guys!

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #4
something else that's weird with lamedrop:

if your track tags are like 4/11 it writes 4_11

and it also adds a LENGTH field (not in the source file) with values like 235643 in it.  whats that?

where can I find the homepage for lamedrop?  i'll report it to the dev if I can.

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #5
I don't actually use LamedropXPd myself, just know about its existence. So I don't have an answer to most of your problems with it, sorry.

However, I know that the RG tags are not supposed to be copied over. Due to the way lossy compression works, there can be peak values > 1 between the samples of the decoded stream. If there is no volume adjustment applied in the encoding process, the gain values of source and target won't audibly differ, but they have to be recalculated nonetheless.
Nothing is impossible if you don't need to do it yourself.

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #6
very sweet utility.  lightweight the way frontah and multi frontend were.

what do you mean by "lightweight"?

i think the most resource-intensive thing is going to be the mp3 encoding which is the same regardless of the frontend. it's not that the programs are "big apps." dbpa is like 7mb compiled, it's consumption of hdd space when installed is completely negligible. it's not exactly cpu-intensive, either, unless you're transcoding something.

sure, if you still got a pentium p5, you'll appreciate a leaner frontend, but you wouldn't wanna run an mp3 encoder on a p5 anyhow..

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #7
thx again guys,

by lightweight, I mean like lamedrop, a small utility, pref no real install or registry mucking about, very focused, and space is a concern on my SSD.

still, TAC seems great.  but one question: how does flac do gapless, and does it translate that gapless info into pgap atoms in the m4a ALACs it creates?

 

Frontah, multi frontend, big app alternatives?

Reply #8
ReplayGain tags shouldn't be copied if you are trying to do it "by the book". The decoded MP3 is going to be different from the original FLAC, and will give different numbers in a RG scan. Usually the difference in the gain number is inaudibly small (~0.1 dB or so). But there can be significant differences in the peak values.

foobar2000 has a nice checkbox that will automatically re-scan the output files and give them updated RG tags, in addition to moving the rest of the tags. Looking at my foobar installation it fits these criteria:

Less than 20 MB on disk (including plugins),
Less than 35 MB in memory (even with 10,000 tracks loaded),
Minimalist interface that doesn't bombard you with irrelevant options on the main screen,
A "Portable mode" where it can be used without modifying the registry

If that doesn't fit your definition of "lightweight"... neither should Windows 7