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

[DistantEarth]

Plex will downmix any music to 2.0. Jellyfin will play m4a with ac3 or eac3 in 5.1 but not flac 5.1. I would like to stick with flac but it's not supported outside of stereo files. My server is offsite so over the internet needs to be supported. Kodi may do it but I have not had luck in the past with Plex Kodi Connect. It worked for a while...

 

[himey]

Plex will downmix any music to 2.0. Jellyfin will play m4a with ac3 or eac3 in 5.1 but not flac 5.1. I would like to stick with flac but it's not supported outside of stereo files. My server is offsite so over the internet needs to be supported. Kodi may do it but I have not had luck in the past with Plex Kodi Connect. It worked for a while...

PlexKodiConnect doesn't work very well for music. If you could get Kodi to connect to a shared folder? I just started using Emby for movies because I had an issue with Plex on my network and it is working great. I wonder if it does music? Plex4Kodi or the built-in Plex client on Kodi are a couple more options. Maybe connect a drive directly to the Shield for just 5.1 files and use Kodi. There has to be a better way than converting lossless to losy. That is a lot of work and lower quality like I mentioned before.

 

[seantro]

Using the Media File Manager tonight to copy some files - would be great to have an option to add the "Artist/" subdirectory in the destination path.

Thanks for your work on this great tool!
Sean

 

[HomerJAU]

New MMH 9 Beta 5 Released

The highlight:
MMH Tag & Rename and Chapter Editor both now support Matroska MKV and MKA tagging compatible with Kodi 21.2's partial support and future Kodi 22 release (pre-release nightly builds)
"Tag 'em and they will come!" Tagged mka are imported into Kodi music library with a normal Source Scan. No Cue files needed!!

Version 9.0.0 Beta 5 (March 5 2025) Changelog since current official MMH 8 release
-------------
New:
MMH updated to .NET 9 Desktop runtime including 3rd Party .NET libraries (faster processing)
Media File Manager tool: Added support new Reporting option that includes cover art for Music, Music Videos/Concerts, Movies, TV series and - new
Media File Manager tool: Now reads additional metadata from Kodi nfo files for Movies & TV Series (adds: Genre, Plot, Cast, Director, IMDB Rating etc)
Channel Volume tool: Added support for viewing & editing wavpack (.wv) file channel volumes (up to 16 channels supported)
Chapter Editor tool: Now tags MKA files with MusicBrainz & other tags compatible with Kodi's recent releases supporting for MKA music tags (no need for a CUE file)
Chapter Editor tool: Now supports reading, editing and saving Matroska (MKA & MKV) music tags for Kodi v22 (v21.2 has limited support)
Tag & Rename tool: Now supports reading, editing and saving Matroska (MKA & MKV) music tags for Kodi v22 (v21.2 has limited support)
Batch Audio tools: Getting/Creating DR readings - Added support for wavpack (.wv) files
Remix Channel layout tool: Added new option to Remix Multichannel to Stereo (experimental - Remixes 7.1, 5.1, 5.0 and Quad to stereo (resampling option included)
Atmos Helper Encoder: New Encoder Queue implemented, allowing users to define new Encode Options and add to existing queued encodes
Atmos Helper Encoder: Now supports encoding ADM BWF files
Atmos Helper Decoder: Added new option to Decoder: 'Auto add Decoded WAV files to the Encoder dialog' - allows for automatic Decode then Re-encode
Atmos Helper Decoder: Added a progress bar for file decode progress, replacing the window showing progress in previous versions
Tagging from Musicbrainz: Added new 'Format' dropdown to filter releases by 'Blu-ray', 'DVD', 'SACD' or 'DualDisc'. The 'All' applies no filter (link MMH 8 & earlier)
MMH Tag Editor control: Now dynamically updates any manual data entry for each tag directly to the selected file row(s) in real time. Instant updates.
MMH Tag Editor control: Added support for Musicbrainz tag editing/viewing. (previously MB tags were only visible in the grid (those columns hidden by default)
New MMH Auto Update features:
- Added new 'Opt in to Beta Release notifications' option in Application Preferences - users will get in app notifications of new Beta releases
- Added new light weight update system to quickly download only changed files and auto-unzip into user's MMH Program Files folder (no full MSI installer)

Changes:
MMH 9 settings are no longer stored in Windows Isolated Storage. Now in user's '..\AppData\Roaming\Music Media Helper' folder
MMH 9 copies MMH8 settings on first run (keeps user's MMH 8 settings)
Added support for getting year from file and folder names with square brackets '[1970]' - previously only '(xxxx)' was supported
Media File Manager tool: Now attempts to get music data from untagged files (based on file and folder naming)
When MMH creates a Dynamic Range file it no longer changes the album folder's Last Modified timestamp
Batch Audio tools: When running option 'Check Cover Art...' a new sub-option added to extract embedded art to 'folder.jpg' if art file does not exist
Chapter Editor tool: Dialog layout changed for clarification on command functionality. Add new 'Edit/View Tags' command
Chapter Editor tool: Now tags files on 'Save' if user has used 'Get Tracks from Musicbrainz' option (previously tags only saved if 'Save CUE' was used
Extract Audio from MKV tool: When user loads a file from 'Open MKV/MKA/M4A' button before the conversion starts a new dialog pops to Confirm output type
Tagging from Musicbrainz: If an album has tracks with different multiple artists, MMH no longer prefixes the track title with Artist name (only the track's artist is updated)
Tagging from tools with grid view: Reduce space to display many tags; Track & TrackCount now displayed as combined in single 'Track' column (e.g. 1/10, 2/10 etc). Same for Disc fields
Atmos Helper Encoder: Added support for 'Optimised Bit Rate' encoder option for TrueHD Atmos encodes (new toggle switch added to Encoder dialog)
Atmos Helper Encoder: Now deletes all temporary files after Encode

MMH Application Preferences: Added new file naming separator option of space ' ' between track number and song name (example use gives: '01 Track Name.flac' formatted file names)
Channel Volume tool: Peaks > 0 are now highlighted. Double-clicking on a Channel gain value resets to 0.0, Double-clicking on file's 'Gain (db) label resets all channel gain to 0.0
Multiple tools: MMH file conversions: When copying existing source file tags, additional tags are now supported: All Musicbrainz tags & tagged album covers

Updated 3rd party UI controls to latest 24.2.5
Updated MKVToolnix to 90.0
Updated Ffmpeg to 7.1.1 (pre-release)
Updated PDF docs

Fixes:
Chapter Editor tool: Failed to load Matroska chapters if a chapter has more than 3 tags - fixed
Chapter Editor tool: Now always saves chapter end times - fixed (better compatibility with some apps)
Channel Layout Remix tool: User Defined Channel mappings fails to create correct ffmpeg filter string if user's Locale has comma as decimal point - fixed
Removed last few stray NET 4.8 Framework Controls, replaced by DevExpress UI (.NET 9)
Tag & Rename tool: Added missing .wv extension as a supported file
A bug in TagEditor 'DiscSubtitle' tag: The tag value was not read or saved - fixed (this goes back to MMHH 5! - an issue in the tagging library)
Split & Join Audio tool: Merging could fail if Title had any illegal file name characters - fixed

MMH 9 beta 3 had a bug in TagEditor (was not updated 'Disc Count' column in Grids - fixed
MMH 9 beta < 5:
- Chapter Editor: Did not show error for 'micro chapters' - fixed in beta 5
- Tag & Rename tool: Beta 4 chapter 'Track' & 'Disc' not updated in UI (underlying data was ok) - fixed in beta 5


Download MMH 9 Beta 5 here:
https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/mmh9/beta/MMHInstaller.msi

NOTE: MMH 9 uses the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (x64). Please download and install this first (if you don't have NET 9 installed previously):
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/...u/runtime-desktop-9.0.2-windows-x64-installer

 

[HomerJAU]

Using the Media File Manager tonight to copy some files - would be great to have an option to add the "Artist/" subdirectory in the destination path.

Thanks for your work on this great tool!
Sean

I'll add it to my list. I'm back on the QQ NUC project, lots of docs needed.

No MMH 9 docs either yet!! So no chance of doing your request until MMH is officially released. Target would be 9.1

 

[AudiophileStyle]

New MMH 9 Beta 5 Released

The highlight:
MMH Tag & Rename and Chapter Editor both now support Matroska MKV and MKA tagging compatible with Kodi 21.2's partial support and future Kodi 22 release (pre-release nightly builds)
"Tag 'em and they will come!" Tagged mka are imported into Kodi music library with a normal Source Scan. No Cue files needed!!

Version 9.0.0 Beta 5 (March 5 2025) Changelog since current official MMH 8 release
-------------
New:
MMH updated to .NET 9 Desktop runtime including 3rd Party .NET libraries (faster processing)
Media File Manager tool: Added support new Reporting option that includes cover art for Music, Music Videos/Concerts, Movies, TV series and - new
Media File Manager tool: Now reads additional metadata from Kodi nfo files for Movies & TV Series (adds: Genre, Plot, Cast, Director, IMDB Rating etc)
Channel Volume tool: Added support for viewing & editing wavpack (.wv) file channel volumes (up to 16 channels supported)
Chapter Editor tool: Now tags MKA files with MusicBrainz & other tags compatible with Kodi's recent releases supporting for MKA music tags (no need for a CUE file)
Chapter Editor tool: Now supports reading, editing and saving Matroska (MKA & MKV) music tags for Kodi v22 (v21.2 has limited support)
Tag & Rename tool: Now supports reading, editing and saving Matroska (MKA & MKV) music tags for Kodi v22 (v21.2 has limited support)
Batch Audio tools: Getting/Creating DR readings - Added support for wavpack (.wv) files
Remix Channel layout tool: Added new option to Remix Multichannel to Stereo (experimental - Remixes 7.1, 5.1, 5.0 and Quad to stereo (resampling option included)
Atmos Helper Encoder: New Encoder Queue implemented, allowing users to define new Encode Options and add to existing queued encodes
Atmos Helper Encoder: Now supports encoding ADM BWF files
Atmos Helper Decoder: Added new option to Decoder: 'Auto add Decoded WAV files to the Encoder dialog' - allows for automatic Decode then Re-encode
Atmos Helper Decoder: Added a progress bar for file decode progress, replacing the window showing progress in previous versions
Tagging from Musicbrainz: Added new 'Format' dropdown to filter releases by 'Blu-ray', 'DVD', 'SACD' or 'DualDisc'. The 'All' applies no filter (link MMH 8 & earlier)
MMH Tag Editor control: Now dynamically updates any manual data entry for each tag directly to the selected file row(s) in real time. Instant updates.
MMH Tag Editor control: Added support for Musicbrainz tag editing/viewing. (previously MB tags were only visible in the grid (those columns hidden by default)
New MMH Auto Update features:
- Added new 'Opt in to Beta Release notifications' option in Application Preferences - users will get in app notifications of new Beta releases
- Added new light weight update system to quickly download only changed files and auto-unzip into user's MMH Program Files folder (no full MSI installer)

Changes:
MMH 9 settings are no longer stored in Windows Isolated Storage. Now in user's '..\AppData\Roaming\Music Media Helper' folder
MMH 9 copies MMH8 settings on first run (keeps user's MMH 8 settings)
Added support for getting year from file and folder names with square brackets '[1970]' - previously only '(xxxx)' was supported
Media File Manager tool: Now attempts to get music data from untagged files (based on file and folder naming)
When MMH creates a Dynamic Range file it no longer changes the album folder's Last Modified timestamp
Batch Audio tools: When running option 'Check Cover Art...' a new sub-option added to extract embedded art to 'folder.jpg' if art file does not exist
Chapter Editor tool: Dialog layout changed for clarification on command functionality. Add new 'Edit/View Tags' command
Chapter Editor tool: Now tags files on 'Save' if user has used 'Get Tracks from Musicbrainz' option (previously tags only saved if 'Save CUE' was used
Extract Audio from MKV tool: When user loads a file from 'Open MKV/MKA/M4A' button before the conversion starts a new dialog pops to Confirm output type
Tagging from Musicbrainz: If an album has tracks with different multiple artists, MMH no longer prefixes the track title with Artist name (only the track's artist is updated)
Tagging from tools with grid view: Reduce space to display many tags; Track & TrackCount now displayed as combined in single 'Track' column (e.g. 1/10, 2/10 etc). Same for Disc fields
Atmos Helper Encoder: Added support for 'Optimised Bit Rate' encoder option for TrueHD Atmos encodes (new toggle switch added to Encoder dialog)
Atmos Helper Encoder: Now deletes all temporary files after Encode

MMH Application Preferences: Added new file naming separator option of space ' ' between track number and song name (example use gives: '01 Track Name.flac' formatted file names)
Channel Volume tool: Peaks > 0 are now highlighted. Double-clicking on a Channel gain value resets to 0.0, Double-clicking on file's 'Gain (db) label resets all channel gain to 0.0
Multiple tools: MMH file conversions: When copying existing source file tags, additional tags are now supported: All Musicbrainz tags & tagged album covers

Updated 3rd party UI controls to latest 24.2.5
Updated MKVToolnix to 90.0
Updated Ffmpeg to 7.1.1 (pre-release)
Updated PDF docs

Fixes:
Chapter Editor tool: Failed to load Matroska chapters if a chapter has more than 3 tags - fixed
Chapter Editor tool: Now always saves chapter end times - fixed (better compatibility with some apps)
Channel Layout Remix tool: User Defined Channel mappings fails to create correct ffmpeg filter string if user's Locale has comma as decimal point - fixed
Removed last few stray NET 4.8 Framework Controls, replaced by DevExpress UI (.NET 9)
Tag & Rename tool: Added missing .wv extension as a supported file
A bug in TagEditor 'DiscSubtitle' tag: The tag value was not read or saved - fixed (this goes back to MMHH 5! - an issue in the tagging library)
Split & Join Audio tool: Merging could fail if Title had any illegal file name characters - fixed

MMH 9 beta 3 had a bug in TagEditor (was not updated 'Disc Count' column in Grids - fixed
MMH 9 beta < 5:
- Chapter Editor: Did not show error for 'micro chapters' - fixed in beta 5
- Tag & Rename tool: Beta 4 chapter 'Track' & 'Disc' not updated in UI (underlying data was ok) - fixed in beta 5


Download MMH 9 Beta 5 here:
https://reva.blob.core.windows.net/mmh9/beta/MMHInstaller.msi

NOTE: MMH 9 uses the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (x64). Please download and install this first (if you don't have NET 9 installed previously):
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/...u/runtime-desktop-9.0.2-windows-x64-installer

Did the 3.0 source channel option get added to the remix section so we can convert DVD Audio 3 channel discs to 5.0, 5.1, etc…?

 

[HomerJAU]

Did the 3.0 source channel option get added to the remix section so we can convert DVD Audio 3 channel discs to 5.0, 5.1, etc…?

Apologies, no.

I'll do that today and post Beta 5a

 

[HomerJAU]

Yes, the channels are 1 = L, 2 = R, 3 = C

Hey, Chris.

I just added "3.0" support the the MMH Channel Remix tool's 'User Defined' remix option.

That new MMH beta 5a installer is now uploaded (same beta link as yesterday),

So Just add a 3.0 input and a 5.1 output, map the 3 ins to 3 outs, save the select you 3.0 files in main Remix dialog and run the remix.

THX

 

[MikeKL]

Installed Beta 5a using above link approx 1hr ago and quickly tested Tag & Rename for MKV tagging feature.

All my MKV files have previously been tagged using mp3tag so I thought that perhaps this pre-tagging created following error when MMH attempts to read mkv file into the MHH tag editing window. I then read a copy of same MKV file (After using mp3tag to "remove all tags" from copied file) in MMH and received the same MatroskaFileID does not belong in table error?

 

[gorman]

Kodi 21.2 has some MKA support to allow users to drop cue files. Enough tags to get the album and tracks into the Kodi music library, but some tags will be missing: Genre, Year you won’t see in 21.2 UI and no MusicBrainz tags.

However, when v22 is released, or if you use a v22 nightly alpha build, will get those missing tags in Kodi if you force a rescan on tagged MKA files.

The problem with tagging now and using a cue is Kodi won’t load a cue + MKA if the MKA has chapters. Remove the chapters, all the track tags are removed.

So I would not use cues now at all. Tag the new mka you have and live with missing tags until use v22

A clarification on the process, if you can.

One extracts with MakeMKV the relevant streams. MakeMKV only extracts MKV, not MKA. There's no way to discard the video stream in the process (that I'm aware of).

Using latest MMH beta I go to "Extract Audio from MKV" but if I select MKA as output format it splits the file following the chapters information.

Am I correct in assuming that the initial MKV--->MKA process has to be carried out in MKV Toolnix before using "Chapter Editor" in MMH to tag the single file MKA (all this for albums that need gapless playback, otherwise splitting in M4a works just fine obviously)?

EDIT: also getting this when trying to edit tags through "Tag & Rename Files". Again, single file MKA.

 

[HomerJAU]

Yes to your workflow.

I will add a new output option in Chapter Editor today to ‘Export an MKA file’ if the current file has a video stream, so you won’t need to use MKVtoolnix in the procedure. I’ll do that first thing after my wake-up coffee!

Thinking about this, I should change the to Chapter Editor’s ‘Default Audio Stream Selector’ to include the Video stream and checkboxes for each stream to enable removal of checked streams. I’ll do it that way. No need for MKVtoolnix.

That would only force creation of a new MKV or MKA file if streams are removed, it that case the original MKV files would remain untouched (except it would have chapters thand tags if a user hade edited those prior to ‘Saving’

 

[HomerJAU]

Installed Beta 5a using above link approx 1hr ago and quickly tested Tag & Rename for MKV tagging feature.

All my MKV files have previously been tagged using mp3tag so I thought that perhaps this pre-tagging created following error when MMH attempts to read mkv file into the MHH tag editing window. I then read a copy of same MKV file (After using mp3tag to "remove all tags" from copied file) in MMH and received the same MatroskaFileID does not belong in table error?

View attachment 114454

Thank you Mike.

I had another user reporting that error but I couldn’t replicate it at all. And information was provided on how to replicate the error. You have given that info! I will fix this morning!

 

[himey]

I should change the to Chapter Editor’s ‘Default Audio Stream Selector’ to include the Video stream and checkboxes for each stream to enable removal of checked streams.

This would be great. I used mkvtoolnix to do this, just last night. Pretty sure that is the only thing I use it for now.

 

[HomerJAU]

This would be great. I used mkvtoolnix just last night. Pretty sure that is the only thing I use it for now.

I should have done that ages ago, I’ve thought about it. MMH 9 has a reworked Editor, good time is now!

 

[himey]

I should have done that ages ago, I’ve thought about it. MMH 9 has a reworked Editor, good time is now!

Any way you could get it to open checkboxes of certain streams ONLY? Say English only, or Atmos only? Maybe based on the last time you used it? Just a thought.