splitting files

[landesm]

Hi,
it's been a while.
I just downloaded a cd as a single ape file. I notice this kind of thing is
offered fairly often. I've been told the file can be split up using foobar.
Here is where I am:

I downloaded foobar.
In foobar, I opened the .cue file for the corresponding ape file.
The indexing for the individual tracks appeared in the Foobar window.
I then selected the whole lot and right clicked.
A menu appeared with the option "convert" at the bottom.
I selected "convert"
and sure enough I was asked what new format I wanted to change the
files to and where to store them. I presume the new version will be in the form of the subfiles/tracks as listed. But I only presume because I
haven'te done yet.
That is because when I opted to convert to .flac, a flag came up
advising me that although I was converting from a lossy format to a
lossless format, the quality wouldn't improve, the files would merely
take up more space. .......But the original master file for the cd
was ape, which I understand to be lossless. Is this flag merely a
glitch in present version of Foobar, or am I missing something?
thanks for allways being THE place to go when I'm confused.

[AAR.oner]

ape is lossless, dunno much about foobar so hopefully someone else can address that "issue"


if splittin it via foobar doesn't work, you can always decode the .ape file to .wav, and then use Audacity to split the tracks, and then use Traders Little Helper to fix any SBEs and convert to flac:

Audacity:
1. Open your wave, Edit->Move Cursor...->Track Start and hit command-B.
2. Locate all your track splits and mark each one by hitting command-B.
3. Go to File->Export Multiple, select WAV as the export format, Split files based on:Labels, Name files:Numbering consecutively, hit Export.

You'll now have a nice set of consecutively numbered split tracks but they are not cut on sector boundaries. Fear not.

4. Open TLH and go to its fix SBE tab.
5. Add your freshly split WAV's, making extra sure that they appear in the correct order. Select your output format of choice [flac] and hit the Fix button.

[Zenith023]

Just as an aside to the above post: That's exactly how I track my shows, and sort the SBE's. I've always wondered though, is using TLH to fix any SBE's acceptable enough? I'm assuming that there's no quality loss doing it this way otherwise you guys wouldn't suggest it surely, but the term "Fix" to me always implies there was a problem with the original files which needs sorting.

I don't think I've explained that very well, but I hope you get what I mean...

[AAR.oner]

no, there's no problem with "fixing" any SBE's as opposed to cutting each track exactly on sector boundaries

[Zenith023]

Originally Posted by AAR.oner

no, there's no problem with "fixing" any SBE's as opposed to cutting each track exactly on sector boundaries

Yeah, that's what I meant. Thanks.

[Toadinohio]

This has me thinking.
When I split my own recordings I just toss the cut wavs in TLH then encode to flac 8
Should I click the 'Align on sector boundries' box?
I never have before and have never had someone complain about my flacs-
however I would like to keep it that way!

[Five]

you probably have SBEs on all of your shows then... try running a "len" check on one of your shows this way, it will tell you if there are SBEs or not. (TLH analyze tab)

never does any harm to check the 'align on sector boundaries' box, enable that for sure

SBEs aren't a problem for a computer, but if the show is burned to audio cdr you will get microgaps except nero which will delete out some of the samples (!!)

[dcbullet]

Originally Posted by Toadinohio

This has me thinking.
When I split my own recordings I just toss the cut wavs in TLH then encode to flac 8
Should I click the 'Align on sector boundries' box?
I never have before and have never had someone complain about my flacs-
however I would like to keep it that way!

I think it depends on what you use to cut your wavs. CDwav cuts on sector boundaries, so it wouldn't be a problem as far as I know. If you use some other software that doesn't cut on sector boundaries, than you could have a problem.

[Toadinohio]

That explains it- I use CD Wave.
I think I'll check it anyway just to be safe.
What shift type should I use?
Also I use usually use nero for burning audio- sometimes I use EAC, should I just use EAC from now on?
I don't like the way 'delete out some of the samples' sounds!

[Five]

shift type doesn't matter much... backward is default and fine in 99.99% of cases

disregard my previous comment... with cdwave you're golden

when it comes to burning audio cdrs EAC is best because it can burn with correct offsets if you configure it properly (see link in my signature). when you get it spot-on it is actually possible to burn to audio cdr, re-extract and maintain exact matching fingerprints! normally there is not a hope in hell of doing such a thing.

before you burn anything you should run a len check to test for SBEs just in case. or if you use foobar2000 as your player here's a nifty trick:

Originally Posted by ssamadhi97

SBE checking code for foobar2000

To add file format independent SBE indication to your playlist, append the following code to your playlist formatting string (Preferences -> Display -> Title formatting, Playlist tab):

$ifgreater($mod(%_length_samples%,588),0,$rgb(180,90,90,180,90,90)$num($mod(%_length_samples%,588),3 ),)

The result looks kinda like this:


Tracks with a red number after the playing time have an SBE. For example, in the screenshot above, only the Stolen Ogre tracks have SBEs.


note the nifty PacMan progress bar

if there's no red numbers, there's no SBEs

if you just want to burn audio cdrs quickly burrrn freeware can do it directly from FLAC files ... of course your checksums will be ruined by not using EAC, but only by your drive's offset, the rest will be sample-accurate (so long as there's no SBEs).

for DATA CDRs/DVD-R/DVD+R etc I love imgburn freeware ... essential imo!!

there is no advantage to Nero these days, its bloatware to the max!!

[dorrcoq]

Jamie:

I've tested - burned with Nero, then extracted that CDR with EAC, and the checksums match. I think you are slagging Nero needlessly. Then again, I never upgraded past Nero 6.

[rspencer]

I'm still using NERO 6 as well. Sound Forge 6 too.

[Five]

Dennis I'm shocked... could it be that your write offset = zero?? what model burner is that? :hmm

I burned a set using burrrn a month or two ago and re-extracted with EAC secure (offsets correct) and the samples were all pushed over from the burner's offset as expected. you can actually count the samples and match it to the accuraterip database.

mr rspencer could I bother you to try this out with your copy of Nero 6? I need to go get some cdrs and burn some coasters soon myself, if the checksums remain the same I'll be a monkey's uncle!

[dorrcoq]

Originally Posted by Five

Dennis I'm shocked... could it be that your write offset = zero?? what model burner is that? :hmm

I'm using a Sony DRU-800A, offset setting is +12 (per the EAC data base).