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SOLVED! WAV Perverter in SS 3.3

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A440

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Well, I knew if I said SS 3.3 was working for me it would act up.

It's been awhile since I sent anything new to Live Recordings, so I set out to convert some uploaded files to .wav. Played them back as .oma's in SonicStage, sounded fine. But when I converted them to .wav I got distortion, static and hiss.

Rebooted and tried again, without opening anything else first so as to avoid processor strain or memory leaks. Less out-and-out distortion, still considerable added hiss.

Tried HiMDRenderer 0.52 (sorry I haven't updated yet, Marc). Same results, sounding almost or completely identical to SS 3.3 conversion (and exactly the same size file, so Marc's program is getting ever more exact).

Used HiMDRenderer to make a high-quality mp3. (Lame's Alt-Preset-Extreme). Still the hiss.

Tried to run the old standalone WAV converter. It got stuck in a loop; maybe My Library is too big for it.

Sony VAIO, 1.6 MHZ, 512 MB RAM, XP Pro stubbornly remaining with SP1. About 2.2 GB left on the affected drive.

Anyone have any ideas? (other than SP 2)? Revert to SS 3.2?

Edited by A440
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For your amusement, Sony's online chat response to this problem. Noah is me: "Noah Vaill" (not my real name, think about it). "Marilyn" is apparently not a native English speaker.

Priceless quote:

"We do not have any such issues with the SonicStage Software."

chat id : ae1023e7-f0fc-437f-be06-6ad8f169a6e1

Problem : SonicStage 3.3 wave conversion sounds bad

Marilyn_ > Welcome to Sony Online Support. I will be glad to assist you.

Noah > I recorded music on the MZNHF800 and uploaded it to My Library in SonicStage. It sounds fine as the .oma file. But when I convert it to WAV there is hiss, distortion and static that was not in the original recording.

Marilyn_ > May I know the Operating System installed in your computer?

Noah > Windows XP Pro SP 1

Marilyn_ > Did you install the SonicStage Softwrae from the Supplied CD?

Noah > I upgraded it from the Sony site. Version 3.3 is not on the CD.

Noah > This is a VAIO computer. It had Sonic Stage 1.5 which has been regularly upgraded to 2.3, 3.0, 3.2 and now 3.3.

Noah > If you are not familiar with SonicStage please find someone who is.

Noah > I rebooted the computer and didn't open any other programs and tried the conversion again and got the same problem.

Marilyn_ > Are you facing the issue with all the WAV files?

Noah > Every newly converted .wav file sounds bad. There is no problem with old WAV files.

Noah > The problem is in the conversion process.

Marilyn_ > Please let me know the Software you have used to convert the OMA file to WAV file.

Noah > SONICSTAGE 3.3 !!!! It's Sony's encryption.

Noah > Please you obviously are not familiar with SonicStage. Find a technician who is. Please.

Marilyn_ > Noah, was the WAV files worked normally with the older version of the SonicStage Software?

Noah > Yes, 3.2 worked fine.

Marilyn_ > In that case, I suggest that you uninstall the SonicStage Software and reinstall the Software and check the issue.

Noah > NO. Every time you reinstall SonicStage you risk losing your entire music library because of Sony's idiotic encryption. I cannot reinstall 3.2 because it is no longer on the Sony site. Any version before that has restrictions on uploading that 3.2 removed.

Noah > If you can give me a link to reinstall 3.2 I will try that. But I WILL NOT use an older version because they are all complete garbage.

Noah > I have asked you three times to get me to someone who understands SonicStage. What do I have to do?

Noah > When you have a piece of hardware that is advertised as having a certain function--uploading music that can be converted to .wav--then you have an obligation that the function WORKS.

Marilyn_ > I can understand your disappointment.

Marilyn_ > Please try uninstall the Software from the ADD/REMOVE programs and reinstall it from the supplied CD then upgrade it to Version 3.3 and check the operation.

Noah > NO. 2.0 screws up your computer. NO. I want SonicStage 3.2. It is the only version that is stable.

Noah > I have been using SonicStage for 5 years.

Noah > Do I have to sue Sony under consumer protection laws to get a little useful support?

Noah > Every unstallation risks losing the Library because of the encryption. There is no reason to take that risk if there is a fix to the .dll that converts .oma to .wav

Marilyn_ > Noah, the SonicStage3.2 version is not available for download. Pleaes install the SonicStage Software 2.0 from the supplied CD and upgrade it to Version 3.3 then check the issue.

Noah > 2.0 is garbage. I will not allow it on my computer again. I will not risk losing 2.2 GB of irreplaceable live music recordings in My Library if a reinstallation does not recognize the key.

Noah > 3.2 worked and Sony broke it. Find me a copy of 3.2

Marilyn_ > Noah, I can understand your concern. The SonicStage 3.2 is replaced by version 3.3, hence it is not available for download.

Noah > How will Sony help me if My Library is not recognized by a reinstallation? IT WON'T.

Noah > If you replace something that works with something that doesn't work then you should have a way of restoring the app that worked.

Marilyn_ > Noah, you can take the back up of the SonicStage Library and use it with the newer version.

Noah > And if for some reason that doesn't work? What then? These are irreplaceable recordings.

Noah > I've been online with you for half an hour and all you can suggest is a reinstall? I could have figured that out all by myself, but there are good reasons not to disturb a SonicStage installation because of the encryption.

Noah > That's why I want to fix it rather than reinstall it.

Noah > What is the .dll that converts .oma to .wav? Can we just reinstall that?

Marilyn_ > I am sorry Noah, we do not have that information online.

Noah > Do you have it offline?

Noah > What happens if the backup library is not recognized:? Will Sony help me get it back?

Marilyn_ > Noah, please take the back up of the SonicStage Library, then you can use it in the newer versions. It will work with the software after you reinstall the Software.

Noah > That's what you say. What if it doesn't? Will Sony help me restore it?

Noah > I can't use this music in a science experiment for Sony software.

Marilyn_ > Noah, I can understand your concern.We do conform to high quality standards, please try the above procedure and check the operation.

Noah > Sony has never in my experience conformed to high quality standards. I want to know if Sony will help me restore My Library if something goes wrong.

Noah > That's a simple question. Yes or no?

Marilyn_ > Noah, if you follow the steps listed to take up the Back up correctly then it would not corrupt the Library files.

Noah > So the answer is no?

Noah > The problem is not corrupting the Library files. The problem is that a new SonicStage will have a different encryption key and may decide that the old files are "made on another computer." It has happened to people I know.

Noah > So here's the situation. Your software is not working. You have no one who understands how it works well enough to fix the one module that's malfunctioning. You're asking me to risk 2.2 GB of irreplaceable recordings. And if SonicStage does the kind of things it has been documented as doing--refusing to recognize a past Library--then Sony won't help me.

Marilyn_ > Noah, if you follow all the procedures then you can update the backup perfectly.

Noah > You are saying that if YOUR software malfunctions that Sony will not help me. If my music is lost because Sony's software doesn't work as advertised then I'm just stuck.

Noah > How exactly does that conform to high quality standards?

Noah > You're asking me to take a serious risk with irreplaceable data and offering no help to restore it if SonicStage refuses to recognize that data after reinstallation.

Marilyn_ > Noah, we can guarantee the operation if you followed the steps correctly to backup and update it.

Noah > What do you mean guarantee? I have used the Backup Tool before and am very familiar with its operation. But what are you guaranteeing if something goes wrong? Will Sony help restore my data?

Noah > That's the only kind of "guarantee" I care about.

Marilyn_ > I am sorry, Sony will not take the response, if you not followed the steps correctly.

Noah > If I follow the steps correctly and SonicStage messes up my data--the way it is now messing up .wav conversions--will Sony help restore my data?

Noah > It is Sony's software that is malfunctioning.

Marilyn_ > We do not have any such issues with the SonicStage Software. Please try the above step it will resolve the issue.

[At this point I did a search of MDCF to find "such issues," but Marilyn, who was taking 3 minutes between responses, got impatient and logged off.]

Marilyn_ > Thank you for contacting Sony online support today.

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LOL! technical support really isnt worth it as most of them are just call centres based in India, where the people dealing with your complaint have probably never even used the product your having trouble with. I dont know what I would do without the internet to find solutions to technical problems.

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(Noah) When i upgrade to SS 3.3 i had several problems like hi-md not recognized by the program and others (not the same as you though). what did i do? Clean installs my friend, many many times, disabling different programs running in background each time i reinstalled SS. Finally I realized that Zone Alarm Pro had to be closed when I installed SS. So, just keep trying clean installs and be patience.

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Installation is not the problem. Functionality is the problem. Since the dialogue above I

have backed up, removed and reinstalled (this time SS 3.2) without any Library or recognition problems--but the conversion is still bad.

Since HiMDRenderer is exhibiting the same problems in converting to both .wav and .mp3 then I suspect it is some Windows component that both use that needs to be reinstalled or updated. But which one?

Edited by A440
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Which one? IMO, you already appear to have said it in your conversation with the incompetent Sony support rep - the module that decodes OMA.

Does normal playback within SS have the same noise/distortion issues?

Does trying to copy with a proxy driver like Total Recorder [when playing from SS] have the same issue?

Does trying to copy tracks directly from a source recording on HiMD with HiMDRenderer have the same issue?

Just for sh*ts and giggles, have you tried any of the following:

* reinstalling directx

* removing/reinstalling sound card drivers

* disabling/removing any proxy drivers [i.e. total recorder] present on the system

* disabling/removing all but baseline system audio codecs

These are stabs in the dark, admittedly, but at least somewhat educated ones. The distortion and noise issues would [iMO] have to be constrained somewhere within the audio drivers and/or APIs, and would most likely be something related to Sony's drivers, not something else - though it's worth trying some of the above [and anything similar you can think of] to see if the issue might be one chunk of software that's allergic to another for some random reason.

In any case, as has been demonstrated and discussed by other users here recently, you can remove DRM from your own recorded tracks in SS's library without transcoding them, meaning that even if your SS library backup fails, a copy of the "optimized files" folder should still contain usable versions [i.e. without DRM] of all your tracks.

Lastly, if you had been using WAV export and/or HiMDRenderer successfully before, why didn't you back up the totally DRM-free tracks and thereafter completely ignore SS's copy? You obviously know better than to trust SS's library as something that is either reliable or trustworthy in a long-term sense, so .. why did you apparently ignore what you already knew? [Don't take that too hard, it's not a personal criticism, just a question.]

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Does trying to copy with a proxy driver like Total Recorder [when playing from SS] have the same issue?

Lastly, if you had been using WAV export and/or HiMDRenderer successfully before, why didn't you back up the totally DRM-free tracks?

Dex, you're a genius.

Playback was always fine (through speakers or headphone) and I expected that a Total Recorder recording would be the same. Wrong. When I tried to record the playback with Total Recorder it sounded bad.

Uninstalled TR. Good conversion. Reinstalled TR. Still a good conversion!!

This after going to Level 3 of Sony technical support, whom I had told about TR being installed, and who were still just telling me to reinstall SS 3.3 or completely reformat my computer. "It's in the software," they explained. Uh huh.

As for your other question, two answers: time and disk space. I don't convert everything, just the keepers. And deciding what's going to be a keeper often gets procrastinated. One of my 6,834 New Year's resolutions....

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