Music Media Helper (Tools for Multichannel Audio & Music Videos)

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 4.2.10 released:

Version 4.2.10 (June 24 2021)
-------------
Fixes:
Channel Delay tool: Applying a Delay would fail if local culture uses comma as a decimal point - fixed
Channel Volume tool: Audio file statistics not shown correctly if local culture uses comma as a decimal point - fixed


Version 4.2.9 (June 23 2021)
-------------
Changes:
Join and Split Audio tool: Added new Silence Interval preference setting
Join and Split Audio tool: Track Silence now ignored if within new Silence Interval preference setting
Join and Split Audio tool: Add new Disc Number property to prefix Split filenames
Join and Split Audio tool: Add new Start Track Number property to change Split file naming and track tagging
Updated PDF docs

Fixes:
Split & Rename Concerts tool: If Musicbrainz track ArtistID not found, MMH would fail to load Musicbrainz tags into grid - fixed

Version 4.2.8 (June 21 2021)
-------------
Fixes:
Join and Split Audio tool: Split files duration incorrect - fixed


Version 4.2.7 (June 20 2021)
-------------
Fixes:
Join and Split Audio tool: Split files have incorrect file names - fixed

Changes:
Updated 3rd party components: MKVToolNix and ffmpeg

 

[Jiko]

Thank you HomerJAU!

 

[HomerJAU]

Thank you HomerJAU!

The Euro comma as a decimal point has caught me out a few times now. Seems I'm a slow learner...

Please let me know if you find any other issues,

 

[Veganfloyd]

Hi Homer, many thanks for your great program! I have three bugs to report. Apologies in advance if it is me doing something wrong. I am using version 4.2.8.

1) Adding silent center channel to quad 192/24 and 176/24 FLACs with the Overwrite Source Files output results in corrupted files for me. It sounds like there are milisecond drops in sound every few miliseconds. I would describe the overall effect as 'robotic', for lack of a better word. I believe I got the same result once when inverting phase with the overwrite option on 176/24 files. Fortunately, I had the original files saved elsewhere. All seems fine with Remix Folder (under Source) as the output location.

2) When adding lots of files via the Add Sub Folders option in the Remix Audio Channels, I always get a few duplicate or triplicate reads of files. This results in an error that a given file cannot be used as it's already being used by another process and stops the whole batch operation. The 'slower' the location of the files (e.g. NAS or external HDD), the more of these duplicates or triplicates I get. Would it please be possible to implement an improved routine for reading files in or allow for the remainder of processes to run and report the said error when all files are processed?

3) Adding a silent LFE to 5.0 DSF quad files with a silent center channel results in a pop from the centre channel at the beginning of each song on a 5.0 setup.

 

[HomerJAU]

@Veganfloyd Apologies. I didnt get a chance to look at your issues today. Will check out tomorrow.

 

[Veganfloyd]

Thank you, Homer. I wasn't really hoping for a quick answer/fix, given the current price of your software. Please let me know in case any further details could be helpful.

Regards,
Jacob

 

[HomerJAU]

I wasn't really hoping for a quick answer/fix,

I have fixed the last two issues. Now looking at first.

MMH uses ffmpeg to do the channel remixing for WAV and FLAC. It appears ffmpeg does something a little strange with FLAC files > 96kHz. This has been reported previously but was never resolved in MMH. Time to do a fix...

I think the 'fix' may be to use Sox when input is > 96kHz or to first convert to WAV, remix then back to FLAC. I'll do some more test this morning and publish the fixes later today,

THX

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 4.2.11 released

Version 4.2.11 (June 27 2021)
-------------
Changes:
Join and Split Audio tool: Changing Silence Prefs auto-reloads current Input file & rescans for Silence using new Prefs
Updated 3rd party UI components

Fixes:
Chapter Editor tool: Users could not load an MKA file from 'Open MKV/MKA' button - fixed
Remix Audio tool: Loading multiple folders with the 'Add sub-folder' command can load duplicate files - fixed
Remix Audio tool: Adding silent channels to DSF files results in a 'pop' from new silent LFE channels - fixed

 

[HomerJAU]

1) Adding silent center channel to quad 192/24 and 176/24 FLACs with the Overwrite Source Files output results in corrupted files for me. It sounds like there are milisecond drops in sound every few miliseconds. I would describe the overall effect as 'robotic', for lack of a better word. I believe I got the same result once when inverting phase with the overwrite option on 176/24 files. Fortunately, I had the original files saved elsewhere. All seems fine with Remix Folder (under Source) as the output location.

I could not duplicate this issue using 192kHz Quad FLAC files.

What playback device are you using? You may need to send a sample file for testing please.

My test here was:
1. Convert a Quad BDA to MKV using MakeMKV (latest version)
2. MMH's MKV to FLAC tool (split into 192/24 FLAC files)
3. MMH Remix tool to add a silent Centre (using overwrite option)

Playback using Foobar2000 (latest version) on my development Win 10 PC.

 

[Veganfloyd]

I am using Sony ubp-x800m2 -> Denon AVR-X3600H. For the record, the files in question sound fine on my 2.0 internal laptop speakers using foobar. I think that 176kHz may be more problematic - I have some files that I am unable to remix to 4.0 + silent channel even when saving to Remixed under source file. Where would you like me to send sample files (presumably input and output)?

Thank you for the fixes!

 

[Veganfloyd]

On the issue of 'pops' from new silent LFE channels, now I'm getting a much quieter double 'thud'. Sort of like the beginning of the Dark Side of the Moon when the heartbeat starts quietly kicking in. In case it mattered, I'm playing my DSF files transcoded on the fly by Minimstreamer/ffmpeg to 176/24 WAVs. I'm not getting any sounds from the center channel when playing 5.1 DSF files with silent C and LFE already included in the SACD, such as Dutton Vocallion releases.

Can you please clarify if remixing silent channels in DSF files involves any sort of transcoding or is the whole process handled within DSD?

 

[HomerJAU]

I’m using a modified version of Sox that supports DSD. I don’t know if there’s any transcoding but there shouldn’t be. Sox is no longer supported, its dead code so no chance of a fix in Sox.

The fix I applied to DSF silent channels in MMH was to trim 3ms off the beginning of the entire file AFTER the channel remix, this resolved a pop found when adding channel delay to DSF files in the MMH Delay tool.

I’ll take another listen today, maybe an increase in trim time is needed.

What version of ffmpeg are you using?

 

[Veganfloyd]

Thank you. I'm using version 4.3.2-37 on my Synology NAS from SynoCommunity.

Apologies, I previously wrote two posts in a row. I'm not sure if you had seen my question on where to send the files?

 

[HomerJAU]

Apologies, I previously wrote two posts in a row. I'm not sure if you had seen my question on where to send the files?

Thanks. Yes I did see your posts but have been looking at finding a solution for most of today.

The bad news is the Sox silent channel created is not truly silent. There’s actually very low level noise and even trimming the file never removes the initial ‘pop’ on playback using Foobar.

I can resolve the issue with files already containing an existing silent channel by copying the existing silent channel to make the new. Example A quad in 5.0 container (with silent C) to 5.1.

But I need a solution for Quad to 5.0 or 5.1 where there’s no existing silent channel. This will Require splitting the MCH file to mono DSF files, encoding a new silent DSF mono of same duration and merging to make the new MCH file with silent channels. I’ll need a few days to get this working as I’ve got other things on this week.

More soon.

 

[HomerJAU]

@Veganfloyd

As a workaround for your DSF files that are currently 5.0 with a silent centre you can use this Windows batch file to create 5.1 formatted DSF files (adding a Silent LFE channel) with no ‘pop’:

Create a ’Convert.bat’ (text) file in your folder containing your DSF files and add this text to the .bat file:
----

if not exist "Output" mkdir "Output"

for %%A IN (*.dsf) do (
"C:\xxx\xxx\Sox.exe" "%%~nA.DSF" "Output\%%A" remix 1 2 3 3 4 5
)
pause

The corrected dsf files will be created in a new sub-folder named: Output under the current DSF input folder.

The ’C:\xxx\xxx\’ path should be replaced with your current MMH folder which by default will be:
C:\program files (x86)\Music Media Helper\

Note: This will only fix 5.0 formatted DSF files with an existing silent C channel. In the remix argument channel 3 of the input file is copied to the 4th channel (LFE) of the output file.

Edit: The other option would be to convert your DSF files to FLAC using Foobar using its SACD component with a 30kHZ low pass filter at 88.2kHz sample rate, then use MMH to add the silent channels to your FLACs. Since you are converting DSF to PCM during playback you should get identical results with DSF or FLAC playback I would think.

 

[Veganfloyd]

Thank you very much, Homer! I will give the workaround a try.

Yes, converting to FLAC is an option, but ideally I would want to keep the original format.

 

[AudioHound54]

Hey Folks! I'm new here. I'm trying to create M4A files using Extract Audio from MKV. Everything works fine until I try to Rename & Tag the files. I've attached the file naming error messages.
Thanks

 

[DuncanS]

Hey Folks! I'm new here. I'm trying to create M4A files using Extract Audio from MKV. Everything works fine until I try to Rename & Tag the files. I've attached the file naming error messages.
ThanksView attachment 68438View attachment 68439

I have just had the same error messages using Garry's Beta version for .NET 5.0

 

[HomerJAU]

Hey Folks! I'm new here. I'm trying to create M4A files using Extract Audio from MKV. Everything works fine until I try to Rename & Tag the files. I've attached the file naming error messages.

I have just had the same error messages using Garry's Beta version for .NET 5.0

Thanks for reporting the issue. I will fix today.

@AudioHound54 Welcome to QQ!

 

[GOS]

Anyone have a link to a plugin for Foobar that allows for M4A playback (for Atmos purposes)?