Jimbolico Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 (edited) Hey guys! I'm new to this arena and I'm here because I've just installed SonicStage 3.4 and am using it for the first time. I have loaded the Library with my stash of .mp3 files. The SonicStage software has a playback feature allowing me to play those .mp3s on my computer and listen to my tracks. Some of my files play perfectly and some of them are LOADED with pop / clicks. At first I suspected that the volume of the track was so high that I was hearing a 'clip'. But I listened to some of my 'soft' music and it's got the pop / clicks too? Is there something that I'm missing? These same files play just fine in all other applications. What's worse is even after I transfer these tunes to my NW-HD2 I hear them there too. This is a software issue? If the files played in the library are not converted to ATRAC3, and they are the native .mp3 file then why would I hear so many pop/clicks? There must be something I'm missing. I thought file conversion was taking place as I transferred to the device. But perhaps all the files in my Library are converted to some other format? Any help would be appreciated because I can't tolerate this low quality audio from some of my quietest music. Please help me. -Jim Edited March 6, 2006 by Jimbolico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 Are you sure they haven't been converted? Whats the format column say in SS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolico Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 (edited) Uh oh... Correct these are still in .mp3 format. At least that's what is says in the format bar/column. I used Musicmatch to rip the CDs long ago and the files seem to be very nice for many many months. I was surprised to hear the SS was having trouble playing them.Hardware is a dual Xeon server, playing files from RAID array under Windows 2000 SP3. As I said before all the other applications play these files perfectly but not SS. SonicStage is the only application that produces all these pops right from the library. At first I tried to put them on my NW-HD2 and they were converted to ATRAC64 (basic) and they were destroyed. The good news is I found the settings to permit transfer in 192 and 256. Some of the working files tranferred over just perfectly / acceptably. The files that have pop/click do not. They're exactly like SS play them. I have less than 20Gb of total data, I would've been overjoyed to be able to dump them exactly as I have them to the NW-HD2 but this file format must be converted. Sony Support suggested that I speak to them on the telephone and I will call them when they're service center opens.Guess what else. Before I put anything into SS I made a duplication of the folder storing those .mp3s. SonicStage deleted them during a software hang/crash. Received error message 'some data may be lost' I was glad it was a duplication of the folder, not my set of 3800. -Jim Edited March 6, 2006 by Jimbolico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 Are they CBR or VBR files? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolico Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 (edited) Very very few are VBR. I have only 5 or so. Everyting I rip is done with 192 fixed bitrate. (CBR)Since the initial software hang/crash I've had zero problems. I'm working with a new duplication of my store directory. I only load about 400 files into the library at one time, instead of pushing for 3800. I thought I would lighten it's load and reduce the burden.I love the small device, the NW-HD2. I'm not complaining about it, gosh this thing is COOL. It's the software that is not playing the files.Now I'm suspecting a re-patch of SP3 would help? As you all know, I could not download a 'full' version of SS3.4 and instead Sony had me connect my server to the internet (woefully) and it installed the package from their download manager.((FYI- 2 years ago I gave the device as a Chrismas Gift, it was returned to me unused because the recipient did not understand the complicated process of ripping CDs, loading the Library, converting to ATRAC3, and transferring to the device. It's UNUSED!!!)) Edited March 6, 2006 by Jimbolico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolico Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 It would be nice to hear from any of the other users who are familiar with the software. I may be having an isolated instance here; some kind of hardware conflict. I would be happy to try another computer to do transfers to the device on but would like to know from other users if they've experienced pop/click during mp3 playback using SonicStage3.4I have 4 computers but I'm very hesitant to upgrade their service packs or let them on the internet. The one computer that I did the update on now has issues that it never had before. This is why I don't like my computers on the internet. Except this one, NT4 SP6.Help would be appreciated. -Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 I'm stumped. Not short on resources when you are running SS on this machine? Its not unknown to have bad SS install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hkey_barker Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 The only time I have had an issue with pops or clicks was due to corrupted or incompatible ASPI drivers. I would burn mp3/wav files to a virtual disc. I would then mount the disc to a virtual drive. That is when I noticed there were some audio drops and pop noises. This was only in a few songs though. Fortunately I noticed after the second disc was imported to SS. The original files played just fine through Windows Media player before they were burned.I rolled the ASPI drivers back to 4.60 which has since resolved it.This probably isn't your issue but I thought I would share my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolico Posted March 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 You guys make alot of sense though. It's nice to hear that you guys are up and running with flawless integrity. This reassures me and I would say it's something to do with drivers as mentioned above. I figure I'll try again on XP.Another workabout will be to buy the software from Sony since they don't let it out anymore. I've waited awhile to get to know the device, a little longer won't hurt, I guess.If the PRO around here would care to comment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 No pros around here--we're all amateurs. Sony has nothing to do with this site (except lurking). Sony isn't selling any software that's useful for you. Except for discs that came with units, which were 2.0 or (I think) 3.0, everything else has been an online installer. You can find lovingly handcrafted offline installers made by members here in the Downloads section. XP with SP2 will probably work better than your Windows 2000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 I have SS 3.3 or 3.4 running on 3 machines without problems. But I don't use it that much. Only to get stuff on and off the HiMD. I don't keep my music library in it. Perhaps if I used it more often I'd see more problems. When older version of SS went bad they were really bad. The newer version seem much better. be nice to know from Sony who is responsible for making it better so we could thank them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolico Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 (edited) Guys that's informative. I've heard of other useful software but don't know where / how to find it. Any suggestions?OK. I fixed some of the damaged tracks. These files were typically downloaded or eMailed to me from friends. I have friends that don't believe in ripping their CDs, just download. For me, I'm not a downloader much. But anyway, those tracks are mp3s and must have something in them that SS recognizes, because it's expert at destroying them. Here's how I fixed them. I used a mp3-wav converter app and saved the files as WAV. Then they play perfecto in SS3.4. But when they're mp3 the play like... like... like somebody is tapping the bongos while the song plays through. Piracy Prevention? These files as WAV sound pefect. It's not an input issue either because I modded the files and dropped the volume of the tracks, same issues. 44.1Khz mp3s. But as waves they play just fine, even convert over to Atrac or Lossless and sound great. Is this a workabout that you've heard of? Should I be having this much problems? What could be contained in a .mp3? Alot of these songs were transfered from CD to MD then ripped by 'line in' to mp3 using MusicMatch. They weren't downloaded. ??? What a stumper! After all these years of saving files and songs into digital, I had hoped the NW-HD2 would hold them all and let me JAM them anywhere, anytime.Another word about that computer. It's loaded with CODECs for video and audio, it's my video capture server and uses a Pinnacle DC1000 mpg card. There's a ton of CODECS that get used with it and Adobe Premier but have never had a problem with those. This is just another of many reasons why my computers have deticated uses. One for CAD and that's all it does, with some digital camera and a printer hooked into it, I mod my photos there. The problem computer is vid cap #2 and the primary capture computer is #1, same DC1000 (DVD2000) setup on a RAID array, loads of codecs. For now I think I only have 380 files to convert to WAV... should be no problem right? Just kidding.I've tried the download section; logged in; nothing was working there. OK it's working today, it has a bandwidth exceeded error or something but it's coming now. Will try re-install. Way to GO. Edited March 8, 2006 by Jimbolico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 8, 2006 Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 I've had problems with my rips with noise and clicks if the PC was doing something else while ripping. Also files that are transcoded a few times can often have weird artifacts due to over lapping compression. Could also be Piracy Prevention dunno hwo they'd do so it only effects MP3 encoding though. Try reencoding them with a different application. Audiograbber/EAC and Lame for example. Not a fan of MusicMatch myself. Its tagging is great but I hate the interface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolico Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 (edited) I agree with you. I'm not a fan of tags so I have to remove those. I like MM for the naming convenience, it names my tracks just the way I like them. THe interface is about as annoying as XPs. Personally I think they should go back to NT4 and start over. Scrap the gaudy interface for Windows, scrap all the interfaces altogether. Those are for morons. I don't need anything but screenspace and a keyboard. So I found a 'batch conversion' command in Goldwave and I'm running it on all the mp3 files. It's going to fill up my 800Gb array but I'll scrap them after transcoding to the NW-HD2. It's converting to WAV and then I'll convert them to ATRAC3 and dump them on the device and call it a day. I think it has alot to do with the compression myself. Thanks ALL. So in summary, on my computer, some mp3 files play like garbage in SS3.4. In order for all these files to play well I ran a 'batch process' on them using Goldwave. The WAV files then play perfectly in SS3.4 and those will be used to convert to ATRAC and push to the device. The batch conversion is just as simple as any other task, set it up and wait for it to finish. I think I'll do all 3800 just to be safe. Probably take DAYS. [3800 x 2sec. ea. = 7200sec. / 60 sec = 120 minutes] oH Well, that computer was doing nothing anyway. Actually it took 5.5 hours.-Jim Edited March 8, 2006 by Jimbolico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted March 8, 2006 Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 Not a fan of transcoding myself. But hey if it works and your happy with it. You do know you can make Windows XP look like NT4/98 by turning "off" a lot of stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbolico Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 (edited) One things for certain - My stepdaughter, although she's 16, would have never (ever) figured this out.Thanks Again Guys. So far so good. I know I'm overtasking the computer and the device now. Tis a bit much to ask. Forgot to reset a temp directory and it loaded the system drive with temp files, I mean loaded. Next started swapping over to the array and boom, down goes that set of drives, reformatting, restarting with a new wide open space for all the conversions, temp files, WAV files (took over 100Gb) and of course, my mp3s that wouldn't hop onto the NW-HD2 (isn't that short for Network Hardrive?) Edited March 8, 2006 by Jimbolico Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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