jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Hey...I know this may not really be an LOR issue..but I know you guys are great at solving my problems!! LOLJust recently my LOR audio playback is very distorted...even when I play just the file in Windows Media Player. I downloaded the latest version of Windows Player and the latest Codecs...even the latest driver for my M-Audio sound device, but they still play distorted. My Itunes Music plays ok...so is it possible that my LOR Audio file (WAV and MP3) is no good becasue I converted it from my Itunes MP4 file?Thanks for any help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwilling Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 jimswinder wrote: ...so is it possible that my LOR Audio file (WAV and MP3) is no good because I converted it from my Itunes MP4 file?Well... in my experience converting out of the iTunes AAC format is problematic unless one is very careful. Keeping data rates matched and the like can be critical.I generally avoid it as much as I can. Even having iTunes burn a playlist to CD and then trying to extract it from there has frequently caused problems.Much prefer to go straight from original media to WAV for the least overall grief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 I guess I should have mentioned that it sounded okay when I first converted it...it has just been the last few days that it has sounded distorted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Just recently my LOR audio playback is very distorted...even when I play just the file in Windows Media Player. If it is distorted when you play it directly in WMP, then it's not an LOR problem, so I would suggest concentrating on WMP. I'm afraid I don't have much of a suggestion beyond that... maybe uninstall and reinstall WMP? Maybe uninstall your codecs and reinstall them one by one (testing whether it's still distorted or not in between each)?Or perhaps try converting them to another format, using an audio editor like Audacity? Or even to the same format but with different settings (bitrate and such)?Do you have another computer? If so, do these same files play distorted on that computer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Have reinstalled WMP several times...will try a different computer.Does Audacity convert MP4 files? Will take a look at it when I get home tonight...What bitrate do you recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Sorry, I don't really know enough about audio files to say (other than to use constant bit rate and not variable bit rate). Hopefully someone here has specific suggestions along those lines, but if I were in your situation, I personally would just try a bunch of conversions more or less at random, just to see what works and what doesn't.I'm also not sure about Audacity and MP4s; sorry. Again, hopefully someone here knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vipzach Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I do not think audacity will convert MP4a songs.From other posts I have read, 128 is the suggested bit rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Yeah...I just checked their website..I didn't see that they mentioned the MP4 format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveK Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Hi jimswinder -I had an issue with distorted audio. Here was my situation:When I created a new musical sequence and the Sequence Editor converted the audio into a format it could use. That file was distorted; the original was okay. The problem stemmed from the format of the original audio file. The Windows Media Player works well with files that are 44100Hz at 16-bit wav (or 128 Kbps 44100Hz for MP3). I had saved the wav audio file at 32-bit depth. Once I converted my audio files down to 16-bit all was well. WMA files can be saved as 16 or 24-bit. Be sure it is set to 16.**Also, be sure to use CONSATANT BITRATE audio files not variable.**- Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 I have noticed the last few days that LOR has been "converting" the audio file when I open up my project (and it hadn't done that in the past)...so maybe it is an LOR problem?Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 I have noticed the last few days that LOR has been "converting" the audio file when I open up my project (and it hadn't done that in the past)...so maybe it is an LOR problem? No, I don't think so. The conversion that LOR does leaves the actual audio file intact.It's just making a temporary copy, as a WAV file with standard settings (such as bitrate), so that we can analyze it for use by the Beat Wizard and such. It doesn't touch the original file at all, other than to read its contents.After the temporary WAV is analyzed, we save the analysis in an "lpx" file (the temporary WAV file is then deleted). This lpx file will be found in the same directory as the audio file, and with the same name, but ending in ".lpx". For example, if your audio file is called "MySong.mp3", the lpx file will be called "MySong.mp3.lpx".We do this conversion/analysis in two situations:(1) There is no lpx file for the audio file (for example, you're using MySong.mp3, but there is no MySong.mp3.lpx);(2) There is an lpx, but the audio file's last modification timestamp is newer than that of the lpx.So, if you're seeing it "convert" for the same audio file, over and over, I think that either something is deleting our lpx files or something is modifying your audio files.It's not clear to me, though, whether you're seeing it convert the same audio file over and over, or if you're seeing it convert several different audio files once each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 It might have been that I was constantly replacing the audio file (from a WAV to MP3 and back again) trying to get it to work (tho it was always the same two original files)...and at some point lost track of which file I was using...which prompted me to add to my "Wish List"...any way to see which audio file is connected to the sequence?On a separate note, you say LOR sets the bitrate? So does that mean (from an earlier post) that I don't need to be concerned what the bitrate is when I convert it from an MP4 to a WAV or MP3 file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 any way to see which audio file is connected to the sequence? Yes: From the "View" menu, select "Sequence Info". This will open up a window with several pieces of information about the sequence, including the directory and name of the media file being used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 On a separate note, you say LOR sets the bitrate? So does that mean (from an earlier post) that I don't need to be concerned what the bitrate is when I convert it from an MP4 to a WAV or MP3 file? No, I think there are two different things being confused with each other here:When I said that LOR uses some specific bitrate, I meant for the temporary WAV file that it creates during the "conversion/analysis" process.It doesn't use that temporary WAV file for anything else - the only things that the temporary WAV file is used for is to figure out what the waveform display should look like, and how the Beat Wizard and VU Wizard should operate.In particular, when you play your sequence, that temporary WAV file is not used (in fact it doesn't even exist anymore by the time you play your sequence). The song you hear being played is being played directly from whatever media file you told LOR to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 Update to the original problem of Audio distorting:When I got home I converted and saved the file at different compressions (bitrates?) from a low of 96 kbps to (which my converter gave it a tag of"low") to a high of 320 kbps (which my converter gave it a setting of "perfect"). It would only allow me to change the compression when saving it as a MP3. The WAV files were saved "Uncompressed".The Uncompresseed WAV file and low end MP3 (96 kbps) file still distorted, but the high end MP3 (320 kbps) distorted the least.My next concern (from an earlier post) was that someone had mentioned that MP3 did not work well (or at all in my case) when you tried to listen back to only a PORTION of the song (lights were no longer in sync with music). But with the higher compression of 320 kbps, I found that the lights and audio were in sync when playing just a portion.Insights? Thoughts?Oh..ands even though I saved each file with a different file name none of them were "converted" by LOR when I used them??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wbottomley Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 You need to find the original audio file and convert it to the highest bitrate in a wav format. Wav's are best while using the sequencer. If you plan to run the show with a pc, then leave them as a wav. But, if you're using an mp3 director card (http://store.lightorama.com/dicawimp3pl.html) then you need to change the finished sequence audio file to an mp3 in order to make it work.Wav's will be much larger than mp3's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 but back to the original problem...my audio files all of a sudden are distorting...I don't think it is an LOR problem...more likely a problem with my computer...just wanted to see if anyone here might know of a solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 My next concern (from an earlier post) was that someone had mentioned that MP3 did not work well (or at all in my case) when you tried to listen back to only a PORTION of the song (lights were no longer in sync with music). I believe that's typically an issue if you created the file using a variable bit rate. Using a constant bit rate, I don't think you'll see that problem.Oh..ands even though I saved each file with a different file name none of them were "converted" by LOR when I used them??? We only check to see if we need to convert if you use the Beat Wizard, the VU Wizard, or the waveform display. Did you use any of those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 I only used the Beat Wizard when I initially created the sequence. Each time after that I was just replacing the audio file.Though today when I opened it up, it did go thru the steps of converting it and analyzing it again...and I did not switch the audio file. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Stevens Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 Super© is a great conversion utility that will work with AAC and MP4 files, converting to/from many other format.s, including many video formats. You have full control over conversion parameters.The price for what it does is ridiculous. Totally unreasonable. It's free. They do ask for donations, but it's not mandatory.http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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