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

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 6.2.0 released:

Major updates to the MMH Channel Volume and Channel Waveform Viewer tools (hence bump version to 6.2)

Changes from last beta version:
From beta feedback I've changed the Channel Player single channel playback to be routed to its speaker position
Channel playback highlighting fixed in both Channel Volume and Wave form viewer
Channel Player logic fixed. Now correctly continues to play from current time when switching between channels and channel groups

Change log since last official release (6.1.4):

Version 6.2.0 (August 4 2022)
-------------
New:
Channel Volume and Channel Waveform Viewer tools: Added a new Channel Player control (see below)
Channel Volume tool: Double-Clicking on a Channel name will play the channel alone (mono)
Channel Volume tool: Added new option to play by channel groups: All, Fronts only, Front Stereo (no centre), Rears only
Channel Volume tool: If a Remixed file exists for current session. Users can create Waveform for Source or Remixed file
Channel Volume tool: Double-click on 'Gain (db)' label reset Gain in all channels for that file control
Channel Waveform Viewer tool: Optimisation file loading performance
Channel Waveform Viewer tool: Added new option to play by channel groups: All, Fronts only, Front Stereo (no centre), Rears only
Channel Waveform Viewer tool: Double-Clicking on a Channel will play the channel alone (mono) if multiple channels are not playing
Channel Waveform Viewer tool: FLAC files load faster. MMH now reads samples directly from FLACs (previously converted a temp WAV file)

Fixed:
Channel Waveform Viewer tool: Time axis labels prefixed with hours - fixed
Channel Volume tool: Media files not supporting Gain editing show editable Gains (only FLAC and WAV are editable) - fixed

Changes:
Channel Volume tool: Play is now audio only.
Updated to Ffmpeg v5.1.0 (official)
Updated 3rd party UI controls
Updated PDF Docs

 

[mandrix]

He did a lot of work on this guys!

As a side note I had a lot of problems getting my rear speakers to work. Not MMH fault, Windows (11).
My setup is HDMI > AVR. If you have problems getting all speakers to play with this setup, I might be able to help. I had to chase Windows around for a bit before I found what worked for me.
Maybe it would work for you if you're having problems with the same setup. Windows 10 is similar, although my second pc running Windows 10 I've had to do some different things.

I won't go over all of it here right now, but the first step is to go into Windows/System/Sound and make sure to select the VIDEO DRIVER you're using; Intel, Nvidia, Radeon e.g. Not the pc's built in sound, e.g Realtek. (but if that works for you, great!) If 5.1 or 7.1 sound isn't an option to select and only stereo is listed, then a little more needs to be done.

Again, this is for people that are listening from the pc and are using an HDMI connection to your AVR, not analog out from pc using built in motherboard sound. MMH (and most other apps) rely on the Default sound driver, which if it hasn't been changed in Windows and in the app is often the motherboards built in sound, e.g. Realtek. Changing to the proper Video Driver is usually required.
HTH

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 6.2.2 released:

Version 6.2.2 (August 8 2022)
-------------
Changes:
Channel Volume tool: Double-Click on file name opens file's folder in Windows Explorer
Added new warning message in Channel Volume & Resampler tools if file path exceeds 260 (Windows max path)
Channel Volume and Channel Waveform Viewer tools: Performance optimisation
Waveform now highlights channel group or single channel currently playing

Fixes:
Fixed an issue when playing in Waveform dialog in specific play sequence.
Channel Volume & Resampler tools: If path was > 260 characters MMH would fail without message - fixed

 

[ted_b]

Garry, the first post MMH link seems old (says 6.2.1). Anyone else getting this?

Edit: no, it's simply the Reva page info is not correct...but the download link is fine and produces 6.2.2. Thx

 

[HomerJAU]

Good find. I didn’t edit the web page with new version number. It’s a manual job which I should automate.

 

[M-K]

Hello, I wanted to tag/rename a bunch of FLACs. I marked them all and tried to edit in the right window => Album, Year an so on. Apply, write tags and rename....

Unfortunately this did not work as I expected. There was no tagging of the edited Album, Year, Comment. It was not transferred.
What did I wrong? (6.2.1; 2022-08-08)

Best regards, Mike

 

[HomerJAU]

When editing tags using the right Tag Editor control you must hit ‘Save’ at the bottom of the Tag Editor control to copy the data to the grid. (

You can also edit tags in the grid directly.

The Tag and Rename buttons (bottom right of dialog) save the grid’s tag data to the files.

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 6.2.3 released:

Version 6.2.3 (August 12 2022)
-------------
New:
Channel Volume tool: Added new Preferences dialog (includes waveform performance tuning options)
Channel Volume prefs: Users Temp folder now configurable (SSD faster than HDD faster than Network Storage)
Channel Volume prefs: User can enable timing Waveform creation task to find fastest for their PC

Changes:
Channel Waveform Viewer tool: Performance optimisation (40% faster for FLAC/30% for WAV - Components now target .NET 6)
Extract Audio from MKV/MKA/M4A tool: Dragging files now sorted by file name
Tag & Rename & Extract Audio from MKV tools: Tag Editor 'Save' button removed (Dialog 'Tag' buttons now save tag Editor data)
Minor UI tweaks including increased font size for all dialog toolbar menus
Updated PDF docs (Tag Editor information/screen shots & description of new Channel Volume Preferences dialog)

Fixes:
MMH Update won't auto-update to new version with non-standard download folder - fixed

NEW: Channel Volume tool Preferences:​

The Channel Volume dialog’s toolbar menu ‘Preferences’ pops up the Preferences dialog:

The new preference options are:

Auto Save DR file when loading files in Channel Volume tool:
If enabled the Volume Channel tool will save a DR file for the file’s folder containing DR data.

Temporary Working Folder:
Enables users to set the MMH temp folder (defaults to the Windows Default temp folder. Some users can improve performance by setting this to their fastest drives (e.g. SATA SSD drive, NVME SSD drive or even a USB 3.1+ SSD drive). If ‘Use Windows Default’ is disabled, MMH allows users to select any folder on their PC to use as the MMH temp folder.

Waveform Processing:
These options have been added for users to set based on their specific PC hardware configuration (96/24 FLAC files are best to test these options):

Read FLAC samples directly from file:
For most users this option gives best performance (fastest).

Convert FLAC to temporary WAV file & read WAV (uses MMH Temp Working Folder above):
For some users with fast SSD drives set as the MMH Temp folder, this may provide better performance.

Display Processing Time (find best setting for above):
With this option enabled, MMH will time each waveform creation and report the time elapsed. This allows users to easily test the Waveform Processing options with MMH Temp folder options combinations for same source FLAC file, to find best settings. In normal operation this option should be disabled.

 

[HomerJAU]

Hello, I wanted to tag/rename a bunch of FLACs. I marked them all and tried to edit in the right window => Album, Year an so on. Apply, write tags and rename....

Unfortunately this did not work as I expected. There was no tagging of the edited Album, Year, Comment. It was not transferred.
What did I wrong? (6.2.1; 2022-08-08)

Best regards, Mike

Hi Mike.

After you reported this and my reply (workflow), I decided to re-think the process and I have now eliminated the previous 'Tag Editor" Save button step in 6.2.3 released today.

Now in all MMH dialogs using the Tag Editor, any tag values in the Tag Editor are saved to the media files when either of the dialog's main buttons: 'Tag & Rename' or 'Tag Only' are used.

For the 'Tag & Rename' tool with multiple albums (folders) loaded you should do a 'Tag & Rename' or 'Tag Only' action for each album as you work through them, if making changes through the Tag Editor. Editing a tag in the grid immediately save any tag change.

The actual internal logic after clicking one of 'Tag & Rename' or 'Tag Only' buttons is:

For all selected rows: Save the Tag Editor's tag data to the grid (this may update the proposed new file name, if track, title and optional artist tags have changed)
For all selected rows: Save the grids tag data to each file

In the case where multiple albums are loaded. there is no danger of overwriting any file with wrong data, because as soon as you select a row the Tag Editors data is changed to selected row's data. And if you select multiple files then all the Tag Editors data becomes [multiple values] and the Tag Editors values are not updated to the grid cells if the value is [multiple values]. (or [mv] for short fields like Track)

This should be easier to use as one less manual operation is required (elimination of the save button in Tag Editor)

THX
Garry

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 6.2.4 released:

Version 6.2.4 (August 13 2022)
-------------
Fixes:
Tag & Rename & Extract Audio from MKV tools: Tag Editor 'Save' button removed in 6.1.3 could fail to tag in certain circumstances - fixed



Question: The Tag & Rename tool has 3 buttons to save information:
Tag Only
Rename Only
Tag & Rename

This seemed like a good idea a few years ago when I first created this tool to separate those functions, but now: I think there should only be one button: 'Save' to Tag & Rename. Any thoughts/objections to me removing the first two buttons?

 

[Sylfest]

This seemed like a good idea a few years ago when I first created this tool to separate those functions, but now: I think there should only be one button: 'Save' to Tag & Rename. Any thoughts/objections to me removing the first two buttons?

Sounds good to me.

 

[Sylfest]

Hi Garry.
I get error messages when trying to save tags
Version: 6.2.4

and .cue files for mkvs.

 

[HomerJAU]

Thanks for reporting. I'll look at asap

 

[HomerJAU]

Hi Garry.
I get error messages when trying to save tags
Version: 6.2.4

How did your load the files? There should be a Folder group row above the files.

 

[Sylfest]

How did your load the files? There should be a Folder group row above the files.

I just dragged and dropped the files.

 

[HomerJAU]

I can’t reproduce the issue here.

What happens if you drag and drop files from two folders. I.e. add files from one album then add files from a 2nd album. You should see them in two groups with the folder name in a row above each file group.

 

[Sylfest]

I can’t reproduce the issue here.

That's wierd.

What happens if you drag and drop files from two folders. I.e. add files from one album then add files from a 2nd album. You should see them in two groups with the folder name in a row above each file group.

Dragged same mkv, video album. Then went to another folder with another mkv video album.

 

[HomerJAU]

Dragged same mkv, video album. Then went to another folder with another mkv video album.

I have no issue loading audio or video files here

Try this:

Go to this folder:
C:\Users\[Your User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Music Media Helper

and delete this file:
frmRenameMusicVideosv2.xml

This stores your grid layout state (the current grid column order and column visibility) when you exit the dialog. Its used when you next open the dialog to restore your previous grid layout.

Restart MMH and load your files. Hopefully all is good!

 

[Sylfest]

Restart MMH and load your files. Hopefully all is good!

That did the trick. Now tags did get changed and I saved a .cue as expected. Thanks alot.

Just noticed MMH don't read the tracknumbers for the ZZ Top album (video .MKV)
In Mp3tag v3.17 the tracknumbers are there.
The first album is stereo Flac.
The last is stereo Mp4 video.
Maybe it would be helpful if MMH shows what filetype is being tagged, but the user should know

 

[HomerJAU]

MKV tagging is not well supported. Kodi doesn’t read enough to make them useful, hence I still use cue files for long chapter MKVs or split them and use nfo files for music videos.

For recent concert releases I’ve been using MKV with a cue, but I probably will convert all my split MKVs to MP4 so I can tag them and add them to Kodis music (audio) library instead of those being in the Music Video library.

I’m going to update the MMH tag library tomorrow, that may fix the file too long issue you reported and may better support MKV tags (but the Kodi lead music developer is pretty adamant Kodi won’t support MKV tagging for music because there is so support for MKV tagging in their tagging library which must support Linux, Mac and windows etc).

The real problem is the MKV tagging format which is multi level to support chapter tagging, other systems are simple flat file tagging. A MKV file has an album tag, each chapter has a title and track number.