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Topic: List of recommended MPC settings (Read 447334 times) previous topic - next topic
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List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #50
*** NOTICE ***

--quality and --xlevel are safe to use.
--xlevel is needed to prevent clipping during encoding
(this won't be necessary anymore in the upcoming SV8 encoders).


The answer was written in first post.
(well, I admit, that previously the combined information was spreaded in 2 parts..., now edited.)

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #51
I noticed on Case's Musepack Page that there is a 1.15j alpha version available for download. Is there a reason why this isn't recommended for use?
iTunes 10 - Mac OS X 10.6
256kbps AAC VBR
iPhone 4 32GB

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #52
You can't stay updated all the time
1.15j is just some bugfix release after 1.15f.
it's "safe" to use and has sofar proved to perform best of the available SV7 encoders.
edit, yeah, alpha is alpha :B

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #53
Quote
I noticed on Case's Musepack Page that there is a 1.15j alpha version available for download. Is there a reason why this isn't recommended for use?

Yes, it's because we don't recommend alpha versions. Even though there may be slight advantages in quality and/or usability, these are generally untested and may be unreliable. Many times, the quality improvements are not big enough to justify a recommendation of an untested version. Also, in retrospect, the changes in an alpha version may turn out to be flawed (although i agree that this doesn't often happen). Lastly, alpha versions generate the profile tag "unstable/experimental", which renders the profile info useless.


List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #55
newbie question

should i use both -extreme AND --xlevel switch?

when will the use of the -xlevel switch be eliminated?
where can i find detailed info and guidelines regarding HQ mpc encoding, and what every switch actually does?
what is SV 7?


thank you

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #56
@alfa156:

All you've asked for is in the beginning of this very thread... 

And we've got Search function here also... 
mikeson

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #57
newbie question

should i use both -extreme AND --xlevel switch?


extreme etc are names for the quality switches,

use --quality 5, 6, 7 or 8 plus --xlevel !!!. (6.00 - 6.99 is/was called "extreme")


when will the use of the -xlevel switch be eliminated?

When it is written there in first post of this thread, then you don't need to use it anymore with according version

where can i find detailed info and guidelines regarding HQ mpc encoding, and what every switch actually does?

Guidelines for HQ encoding:
erm, of course in the first post here...
or *

what every switch does: have a look in first post, there are the there recommnded switches explained. More: here in forums, mpc technical or general.


what is SV 7?

StreamVersion 7 of mpc. SV8 is worked on.


thank you

You are welcome !


MOD: *please no links to ripping group guides.

edited by JanS 18th April, 2004

strange, that nobody else complained about group more than 1 year.
users question:
which group ?

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #58
Quote
QUOTE 
(That's OK, since there aren't any 24-bit accurate A/D convertors to record with. We could compute a 24-bit accurate waveform, but there are no 24-bit D/A convertors to play it back on either! Still, a 24-bit system would be great because we could do all the processing and editing we want, then dither only when we want to hear it.) 


While the overall description of the dithering process is accurate, there are now many mainstream consumer audio cards that are 24bit capable.

24-bit capable does not mean 24-bit accurate.

In this world, it is impossible to make a "perfect" 24-bit ADC or DAC - you can't make a device that has absolutely no noise down to this level. I think that's what the FAQ is saying.

However, there are some convertors that are 24-bit "accurate" - this means each value it outputs is accurate, on average. In other words, the response of the device is "linear" down to some level. Early 16-bit DACs weren't even linear to 16-bits - after averaging away any noise, some of the smaller numbers wouldn't even come out in the right order! You put in 1,2,3,4,5 and get out 1.2, 2.9, 2.6, 3.8, 5.1 for example!

In a device that is linear down to 24-bits, the values are swamped by noise, but if you average that noise away (a process that the human ear is capable of), what's beneath it is correct. Very few convertors are 24-bit accurate by this description, but some are. There's a discussion of this topic here:
http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/papers/bits.pdf
which refers to one of their own products, the DCS Elgar:
http://www.dcsltd.co.uk/elgar.htm
...which costs more than a reasonable car.

Cheers,
David.

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #59
thank you for your quick answer!

Of course i have looked the whole thread (not just the first post) before posting, and yes, i know that there is a search function in this forum. Regarding the switches, i wanted to know more technical details, and that's why i posted. I don't think that this is just my impression but when i started to mess with HQ encoding it was much easier to find (detailed) info about the mp3 format than about mpc. Than's why i asked for some help, and gladly there are people here that want to help even newbies, like me....

believe me, i tried all info sites in the first post but none (in my humble opinion), has details or explains *everything* regarding mpc, and in my mind mpc is a bit vague...

thanks a lot for your quick answers

keep up the good work!

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #60
hold on tight...here comes another newbie question

how can i recursively traverse a directory structure doing ReplayGaining on all the MPCs, NOT HOWEVER considering each directory to be an album?

thank you!

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #61
Quote
hold on tight...here comes another newbie question

how can i recursively traverse a directory structure doing ReplayGaining on all the MPCs, NOT HOWEVER considering each directory to be an album?

thank you!

You can use Case's Sweep.

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #62
Quote
Quote
hold on tight...here comes another newbie question

how can i recursively traverse a directory structure doing ReplayGaining on all the MPCs, NOT HOWEVER considering each directory to be an album?

thank you!

You can use Case's Sweep.

yes but this way sweep assumes that the directory is a whole album and replaygains it in "album mode" . I don't want that.

User says in the very first post that:
"How To...
Recursively go through a directory structure and apply ReplayGain to all MPC files,
considering each directory as an individual album?

Download Sweep and Replaygain. Extract them to your path (e.g. C:\Windows).
In a command-line window (so-called DOS-box), type: sweep replaygain --smart --auto *.mpc

Already replaygained albums will be skipped, due to the --smart option. Sweep starts to scan in the current directory of the DOS-box, going through all subdirectories. To process only a specific path, use the well-known DOS commands (like d: or c: or cd..) to go to that directory (for instance, cd "c:\mpc\my downloads\") and then use the command sweep replaygain --smart --auto *.mpc to process all subdirectories from there."


plus i cant find a GUI for sweep....

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #63
ReplayGain always adds Track gain. You choose whether you want to use track or album gain in the decoder.

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #64
Quote
ReplayGain always adds Track gain. You choose whether you want to use track or album gain in the decoder.

i don't get it....       

can you please explain further?

thank you in advance....

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #65
Quote
Quote
ReplayGain always adds Track gain. You choose whether you want to use track or album gain in the decoder.

i don't get it....       

can you please explain further?

thank you in advance....

With an mp3 file you modify the files itself to the wanted volume (losslessly).

With mpc files you just caculate how much the volume should be changed (both album gain and track gain is calculated seperately) and add the values to a tag in the file.
Then the decoder changed the volume upon playback: in the player you select if you want to use the album gain value or the track gain value.

With the following method you can use replaygain to add both album gain and track gain but the values will be the same as it handle all files  individually in all sub-folders.

1) Make a batch file with the following:
Code: [Select]
for %%i in (*.mpc) do replaygain --auto "%%i"

2) Go to cmd and run
Code: [Select]
sweep [absolute path to the batch file]
in the dir you want to start in.
3) all mpc files in sub-dirs will be replaygained individually.

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #66
Thank you!

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #67
when i replaygain my mpc files with the batch encoder and the --auto switch, i see in the Windows Task Manager Processes Tab that apart from replaygain.exe, the mppdec.exe is also runnig. Why is that? Replaygain IS lossless, right?

Thank you!

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #68
Quote
when i replaygain my mpc files with the batch encoder and the --auto switch, i see in the Windows Task Manager Processes Tab that apart from replaygain.exe, the mppdec.exe is also runnig. Why is that? Replaygain IS lossless, right?

Sure it is. But ReplayGain has to read the whole file in order to calculate the RG values. And how does it do that? Right, it calls mppdec. Decode file -> analyze -> calculate RG values -> write RG values to file.

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #69
Why is it recommended that ClipProtect be off in the WinAmp in_mpc plugin?  Wouldn't it be best to have it on, to avoid clipping during playback??

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #70
Redesign of the recommended settings: I tried to make it more obvious that --quality 5 should be your first choice, and that you shouldn't go with --quality 8 when you haven't even tried --quality 5...

Quote
Why is it recommended that ClipProtect be off in the WinAmp in_mpc plugin? Wouldn't it be best to have it on, to avoid clipping during playback??


Provided that you use ReplayGain (as recommended), ClipProtect is very rarely needed. If you activate it with an MPC that hasn't been ReplayGained, it might lower the volume when there's clipping, which can be annoying. The best method is to ReplayGain your MPCs (and make sure you RG each album seperately, or you'll get wrong AlbumGain values).

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #71
... also fixed all broken links. 

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #72
Maybe the mp3 settings thread should be modified similarly?

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #73
Quote
Maybe the mp3 settings thread should be modified similarly?

Good idea, i'll get right to it.

List of recommended MPC settings

Reply #74
Quote
Provided that you use ReplayGain (as recommended), ClipProtect is very rarely needed.

When it's not necessary, Clipprotect will not be applied. It will only make a difference in those (maybe) rare cases.
BTW I saw replaygain actualy introduce clipping at older albums (with more dynamics). But I didn't say they were audiable though.
--
Ge Someone
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.