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Topic: Audacity - file formats i can edit ? (Read 25596 times) previous topic - next topic
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Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #25
i was using the vlc media player as my default, cuz that plays all the formats - wv, alac, etc.

i loaded it into itunes, cuz 12 seconds of silence is not a big deal.  a helluva lot better than teeth whistling - that is like fingers scratching a chalk board.

but when it got into itunes, it did not play the silence in front.  so i am fine with that

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #26
Sounds like an mp4 chapter thing? Maybe something it does because it thinks there are keyframes somewhere. Tried to change that "cut mode" thing? It should really only matter for video. Losslesscut just passes command options to ffmpeg, and IIRC the cut mode decides whether -ss is before or after -i <filename>.

Also, you could experiment back and forth with the mp4/mov metadata thing.

... speaking of MP4 chapters; Is it possible with MP4 to specify chapter 1 to start after 12 seconds, and then a player will skip to there? If so, you don't even need to cut audio.

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #27
i hope you arent asking me !!  i dont even know what mp4 chapters are - LOL

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #28

Just a quick question, you seem to have your music in .m4a, lossless or otherwise, is there a reason?
When other lossless formats maybe easiest to edit & cut (i.e. Flac)
 


Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #30
i actually rip everything to wv.  i just started with wavpack, and have everything set up that way.  so it works smoothly

i had been listening to mp3s on ipods for years

but i can now purchase a classic ipod with a terrabyte of memory, so i want to begin the process of listening to lossless files.  and for a bunch of reasons, itunes works well for me.

alac is about the only lossless files i can load into itunes.

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #31
you can actually maintain multiple itunes libraries.  i  have had my mp3 one for over 10 years.  this lossless one is less than a year old

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #32
thanks guys for all your help.  situation is much better.  btw, audacity clearly says m4a - aac, when i make my file choice.  it simply does not have the alac codec.  but there may be a library that i can add, that allows it.

i can do all my chopping with directcut, and keep my lossless format.  about the only other thing i edit is the tempo.  but i would never get rid of the original. 

so for the time being, my updated tempo versions will have to be in aac.  but that has a considerably higher bit rate than mp3.  and i am usually making a fast song a little faster.  either to dance to it, or ride my bike to it.  so all in all, it is not a big deal.

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #33
If you really want to export to ALAC, you can use the method described up in post 18.  Just follow the instructions on the linked page and use the alternate commandline I provided.

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #34
i think i have the library loaded, okay.  i followed the instructions.  i downloaded the zip folder.  although i did not need to unzip anything.  i created a new folder with my name as the extension, so i could be sure.  i then copied the 8-10 files from that folder to the one with my name on it.   i opened up audacity.  went to preferences, library.  gave it the location i created.  it seemed to find it.  i know i still need to enter the command line.  can you give me an explanation on that step ?

also, i do plan to use directcut on an ongoing basis.  setting the green area up is fairly simple.  just put the bar in a particular location, and click start or end button.  once i have my green area set, i would like to play it, without it playing anything past it.  or before it, for that matter.  that way i can tell exactly how it will sound.  right now, it plays right past the green area.  i am sure there must be an option somewhere to stop playing once it enters the deleted area

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #35
also, the instructions mention a command line if you are on a mac.  i wanted to make sure that you knew i am running windows 7, in case that makes any difference


Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #37
my screen displays the words "format options", but there is no box underneath it, for me to paste your command line


Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #39
that was one of my mistakes - LOL

it shows me the option line

i pasted

ffmpeg -i - -acodec alac -sample_fmt s16p "%f"

it says unable to locate ffmpeg in your path

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #40
it says unable to locate ffmpeg in your path
You either don't have FFmpeg installed, or installed such that it's not in %PATH%.
If you do have FFmpeg installed, you can instead enter the full path to the ffmpeg.exe.
Assuming you have FFmpeg installed in "C:\Program Files\ffmpeg":

Code: [Select]
C:\Program Files\ffmpeg.exe -i - -acodec alac -sample_fmt s16p "%f"

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #41
i was asked to download a new file.  from the instructions, these are the 8 new files that i added that i put in a separate folder.  avcodec-55.dll,  avformat-55.dll,  avutil-52.dll,  libbz2-1.dll,  libiconv-2.dll,  libwinpthread-1.dll,  License.txt,  zlib1.dll. 

i was thinking that part of this process was to get a new ffmpeg file, that allows for alac coding. 

i do have several files in the audacity folder that start with ffmpeg.  and one of them is an exe file.  i think the others are folders. 

when i go to export, it does allow me to browse for a path.  so i browsed at these new files, and it did not find anything, which is when i looked at it, to see what was actually there.

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #42
this is the full file name of the only exe in my audacity folder

FFmpeg_v2.2.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows_64bit.exe

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #43
at least an exe with a ffmpeg

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #44
On my PC, the output via this method is 24-bit so it's larger than the original.  If you want 16-bit, try this commandline:

Code: [Select]
ffmpeg -i - -acodec alac -sample_fmt s16p "%f"
Not sure if it was intended but just FYI, this won't use any dither.

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #45
this is the full file name of the only exe in my audacity folder

FFmpeg_v2.2.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows_64bit.exe
I'm assuming you mean these instructions: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_ffmpeg_for_windows.html

Those install libraries, but not the executable. With those libs, you won't be able to run it as an external program. the FFmpeg_v2.2.2_for_Audacity_on_Windows_64bit.exe is simply a self-extracting archive.
You probably downloaded that file from here: https://lame.buanzo.org/ffmpeg64audacity.php right below the executable, is a plain ZIP-archive with the same files, except that one isn't self-extracting. No executable in those either.

You can download FFmpeg in full simply from here: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #46
there are so many things to click on the page, i got a bit lost.

is this where i should be clicking ?  if so, there were 3 boxes to choose from ?

FFmpeg 2.8.18 "Feynman"

2.8.18 was released on 2021-10-21. It is the latest stable FFmpeg release from the 2.8 release branch, which was cut from master on 2015-09-05. Amongst lots of other changes, it includes all changes from ffmpeg-mt, libav master of 2015-08-28, libav 11 as of 2015-08-28.

It includes the following library versions:

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #47
there was an xz, bzip2, and gzip

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #48
@HA-User if you just want a binary, just get a compiled release: https://github.com/BtbN/FFmpeg-Builds/releases

One of the gpl-win64 should be fine. I'd just get ffmpeg-n4.4.1-2-gcc33e73618-win64-gpl-4.4.zip.
Obviously I can't really try the ffmpeg.exe because I'm not on Windows. but there seem to be the three files of importance in there:
Code: [Select]
        0  12-15-2021 13:17   ffmpeg-n4.4.1-2-gcc33e73618-win64-gpl-4.4/bin/
 92804608  12-15-2021 13:17   ffmpeg-n4.4.1-2-gcc33e73618-win64-gpl-4.4/bin/ffplay.exe
 92941824  12-15-2021 13:17   ffmpeg-n4.4.1-2-gcc33e73618-win64-gpl-4.4/bin/ffmpeg.exe
 92843008  12-15-2021 13:17   ffmpeg-n4.4.1-2-gcc33e73618-win64-gpl-4.4/bin/ffprobe.exe

I can't confirm if the can handle the ALAC codec though. But I'm sure someone else has experience running this on Windows.

Re: Audacity - file formats i can edit ?

Reply #49
thanks polemon, i think i will wait for a couple more responses, and get a consensus