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Topic: foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters (Read 17040 times) previous topic - next topic
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foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

HI!

I just want to do a Custom setting for LAME encoder in foobar2000.
I am not so interested in your preference of this setting.
I will use from here:

http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?ti...ettings_details

the first one:

-V 0 --preset fast extreme (~245Kbps)

My question relates to this:
When I chose in foobar2000, for a Custom setting, then in the Parameters, it had of course another -V, actually 2, which I changed to 0, and added as shown above.
But there were some other things that foobar2000, had there already put:

1. --noreplaygain (Should I remove it?)
2. Just a - , before the %d. The final %d%, in foobar2000, stands for the output file name. I found it rather peculiar, to just have a - , so I removed it.
3. -S, which in LAME says something about, "don't print progress report, VBR histogram".  (Should I remove it?)

4. Then in the same window, foobar2000, asks me about, Highest BPS mode supported, where there are options for, 8, 16, 24 and 32. Currently, default selected is 24.
Should I put 32 here?

5.  Also it has an option about the Format:
-lossy
-lossless(or hybrid)

I think I dont need to ask about this, as I am interested for lossy, according to the Hydrogenaudio recommended settings?

CHEERS!

foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #1
--preset fast extreme has the same meaning as -V 0 so putting both in same command line is redundant.

1. No. --noreplaygain prevents LAME encoder to calculate replaygain which stores it in LAME header and it is not supported by almost any player I now. But, it slows down encoding if you remove this command.
2. - is command for input file from pipe. If you remove it foobar will not know what input file is. Don't remove it.
3. -S is not really importat as console will never be shown.

4. No point. Safest bet is to use defaul 24bitdepth as you may find some lame compiles do not support 32bitdepth input. Increasing to 32 will not increase quality but it may lead to errors with some encoders. You also have warrning below this option if foobars settings.
5. MP3 is only lossy format so stay with lossy.

My advice - don't mess with custom settings for now as you don't really understand what are you doing.

foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #2
there is no reason at all to mess around with command line parameters when all you have to do is choose one of the V options using the slider built-in to the preset dialog.



foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #3
YEAH! THANKS!
The reason why I asked these questions, is because, recently, I decided to give a try on Exact Audio Copy (EAC).
So I went through all the configurations pages for that, here on Hydrogenaudio. So I needed to enter those command-line options, in EAC configuration page, for external compression...
BTW: Do you ppl recommend EAC for ripper? Or perhaps something else? I have also complained about EAC not having a version till 2011 here:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....howtopic=104643

--preset fast extreme has the same meaning as -V 0 so putting both in same command line is redundant.

Yes thanks:

Quote
Starting with version 3.94, the -Vx quality system was introduced, which allows finer control over the desired bitrate; the --preset switches were made into aliases to the corresponding -V flags for the sake of backwards compatibility. There is no difference between the output you get if you use -V2 or --alt-preset standard.

1. No. --noreplaygain prevents LAME encoder to calculate replaygain which stores it in LAME header and it is not supported by almost any player I now. But, it slows down encoding if you remove this command.

Quote
LAME

    Method: Header (mp3infotag)
    Notes:
        Tags added during encoding; not supported by any player yet; Track Gain only
        Replay Gaining MP3's are usually done using MP3Gain (see above) or foobar2000

Although, that says it all, when I went to EAC page about LAME, and then clicked on Test Encoder, without --noreplaygain, in the resulting output window, at the bottom, I saw, "ReplayGain: -6.9dB", which is rather nice. When I added the --noreplaygain, I did not see this line at all.
Isnt it nice to have it there?
Also, again here is says something about foobar2000, supporting ReplayGain:

Quote
Players support->Windows-> "foobar2000 supports ReplayGain in all possible aspects.

and also something about "foobar2000 ReplayGain scanner"

2. - is command for input file from pipe. If you remove it foobar will not know what input file is. Don't remove it.

OU. Thanks a lot for that!

Quote
3. -S is not really important as console will never be shown.

I dont know what this means. But I confirm that I again tested this -S option in EAC's Test Encoder and it was funny.
Without the -S, in the resulting output window I saw all those stuff about Compressor Output, numbers and distributions, as well as said the ReplyGain number in dB.
When I added the -S option, and Test Encoder, I just see:

Code: [Select]
LAME 3.99.5 32bits (http://lame.sf.net)
CPU features: MMX (ASM used), SSE (ASM used), SSE2
polyphase lowpass filter disabled
Encoding etmp)!3--.wav to etmp)!3--.mp3
Encoding as 44.1 kHz j-stereo MPEG-1 Layer III VBR(q=0)


Quote
4. No point. Safest bet is to use defaul 24bitdepth as you may find some lame compiles do not support 32bitdepth input. Increasing to 32 will not increase quality but it may lead to errors with some encoders. You also have warrning below this option if foobars settings.

Thanks. I take your word and put 24 here.

Quote
5. MP3 is only lossy format so stay with lossy.



Quote
My advice - don't mess with custom settings for now as you don't really understand what are you doing.

I had to because of EAC. Do you know some better ripper than EAC?

foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #4
foobar2000 supports ReplayGain written in tags. Lame encoder writes ReplayGain values in lame header which foobar or any other player just ignores.
-S prints detailed statistics during encoding but encoding window is hidden when you use foobar. So, you will never see those statistics.
If you want to use lame with EAC then don't ask about lame settings in foobar.
CUETools is good and free CD ripper. You also have dbPoweramp as good as previous two but it is not free. But, it has multi-encoder which allows you to convert files in more then one format at the same time and music converter with a lot of DSP plugins that you can apply during conversion, like in foobar.

foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #5
foobar2000 supports ReplayGain written in tags. Lame encoder writes ReplayGain values in lame header which foobar or any other player just ignores.


Look. I am now interested in ReplayGain, because in Hydrogenaudio ReplayGain page, I read that:

"This is especially important when listening to classical music albums, because quiet tracks need to remain a certain degree quieter than the louder ones. "

And actually, classical music is what I am trying here...

So, do I understand correctly, that I could actually use the --noreplaygain to go LAME without this in header, but still use foobar AFTER the ripping and conversion,
to apply ReplayGain to my MP3s?

foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #6
So, do I understand correctly, that I could actually use the --noreplaygain to go LAME without this in header, but still use foobar AFTER the ripping and conversion,
to apply ReplayGain to my MP3s?

Yes, also foobar2000 already uses --noreplaygain as default switch for LAME. In the conversion page you can select the name of the codec you want to use then select Custom and you will see all the default commands foobar2000 has saved (for example "LAME (MP3)" then "Custom").

foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #7
As eahm said, yes.
Foobar has built-in RG scanner which supports Track Gain and Album Gain mode with target level of 89dB.
In Track Gain mode all song will be equally loud. For this you can select all songs you want to scan and use option Scan per-file track gain. Also, in Preferences - Playback you have to select Track Gain as source mode.
In Album Gain mode all albums will be equally loud but song of same album will retain differences in loudness. Easiest way to scan is to select all songs of same album and select Scan selection as single album. RG scanner will write Album Gain and Track Gain info into tags. Also, in Preferences - Playback select Album Gain as source. If you select Album Gain as source but your file has only Track Gain info then foobar will use Track Gain as source.

Re: foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #8
there is no reason at all to mess around with command line parameters when all you have to do is choose one of the V options using the slider built-in to the preset dialog.


I found this comment in my search for the mystery of why can I not control the numeric bitrate of lame (within foobar2000) INDEPENDENTLY of whether I use VBR.  CBR can only be done with 320kbps.  Any lower bitrate, and it shifts to VBR automatically.  Would someone please explain why?  When I used to use Razorlame, I could set bitrate, CBR-VBR, mono mode ALL independently.  What happened???

Also... At times I DO use 320CBR.  But now I have a mono program and want to set it to 160CBR.  160 isn't even in the list.  If I can do 320CBR for stereo, why can't I do 160CBR for mono?

Re: Re: foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #9
The foobar2000 convert dialog only has a slider for LAME for options—not much at all, but it reflects the most popular parameters. VBR isn't great at high frequency content, so having just one slider isn't very smart IMO. But it is easy enough to just switch from LAME at 320 CBR to "Custom" where you can replace the 320 in the command line to whatever valid CBR rate you want.


 

Re: foobar2000: LAME Custom Setting And Parameters

Reply #11
The foobar2000 convert dialog only has a slider for LAME for options—not much at all, but it reflects the most popular parameters. VBR isn't great at high frequency content, so having just one slider isn't very smart IMO. But it is easy enough to just switch from LAME at 320 CBR to "Custom" where you can replace the 320 in the command line to whatever valid CBR rate you want.

That not what VBR about, Lame can do 320k frames for hard samples. 320 CBR only kept if your using stuff that can't handle a VBR file like old mp3 players & streaming. Lame already transparent at V4 ~ V2 form me messing around in Foobar, Ignoring killer samples & stuff that need V1. I don't understand the high freq bit being VBR's weakness.
Got locked out on a password i didn't remember. :/