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

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 4.0.16 Released:

Version 4.0.16 (January 23 2021)
-------------
Changes:
Removed Code Signing Certificate (Expired) - Installer will show 'Unknown Publisher' (See note below)
Tagging Copy Text dialog: Added removal of trailing numbers option when paste from text (e.g. Discogs track times)
Media File Manager tool: Added 'Comment' column to CSV Export file
3rd party tools updated (UI library)
Updated PDF docs


NOTE: I have chosen not to renew the code signing certificate as it costs me $200 every two years and this is free software.

When installing you will now see 'Unknown Publisher' in the Windows security warning dialog (the same as any other unsigned Windows program you download).

 

[DuncanS]

Music Media Helper 4.0.16 Released:

Version 4.0.16 (January 23 2021)
-------------
Changes:
Removed Code Signing Certificate (Expired) - Installer will show 'Unknown Publisher' (See note below)
Tagging Copy Text dialog: Added removal of trailing numbers option when paste from text (e.g. Discogs track times)
Media File Manager tool: Added 'Comment' column to CSV Export file
3rd party tools updated (UI library)
Updated PDF docs


NOTE: I have chosen not to renew the code signing certificate as it costs me $200 every two years and this is free software.

When installing you will now see 'Unknown Publisher' in the Windows security warning dialog (the same as any other unsigned Windows program you download).

I've done a successful update. But as an 'Unknown Publisher' if you have an antivirus program running it may block it updating/running. Norton does, and only gives you around 60 seconds to react before deleting, so once I'd read the warning message I had to act quickly. Luckily I'd had enough coffee

 

[HomerJAU]

I've done a successful update. But as an 'Unknown Publisher' if you have an antivirus program running it may block it updating/running. Norton does, and only gives you around 60 seconds to react before deleting, so once I'd read the warning message I had to act quickly

Thanks for confirming you can get around the Norton warning Duncan

 

[timbre4]

I'm finally getting around to some FLAC files maintenance on 2 HDDs today. My simple goal is hook these to my Oppo players have them play albums sequentially with song titles. (or random if I decide) Having hooked this up weeks ago and discovering all the mp3tag work (track numbers / titles) is largely ignored by OPPO's simple media player. So I fired up MMH today and sure enough, your tool kit handles these corrections in far less time. Yay! Did I miss where to contribute?
Also, I'm on version 3.90 and the Check For Updates function returns an error (did not succeed) - Should I try another link/method to update? I'm good with this version but who knows! LOL Thanks

 

[HomerJAU]

Glad you found MMH useful Tim.

From 4.0 I changed the auto update mechanism as the old system based on Microsoft Click-Once technology was broken and I couldn’t solve it. You’ll need uninstall (Settings, Apps) then download the new 4.0 installer from the first post link here.

From 4.0 MMH uses a conventional Windows MSI installer with a custom update check and install which works as intended. The latest version has several bug fixes and new/updated tools but there’s no real need to update.If you go back in this thread I’ve posted change logs so you should see what’s changed, fixed and new.

No need to contribute unless it’s feedback or suggestions for bug fixes, updates or new features. This is my contribution to the surround community to help ease the pain for users moving to file playback.

 

[timbre4]

Glad you found MMH useful Tim.

From 4.0 MMH uses a conventional Windows MSI installer with a custom update check and install which works as intended. No need to contribute unless it’s feedback or suggestions for bug fixes, updates or new features. This is my contribution to the surround community to help ease the pain for users moving to file playback.

Thanks all makes sense. Your cleverness and generosity have been noted!

 

[GOS]

I continue to be totally in the dark about MMH. Though, it's clearly my fault. I do have a quick, general question.

So, I have ATmos. I have some MKA files that I can easily play via either VLC or Windows Media Player. Only, I can't figure out how to tag these files, so these players will:

A. Show album art
B. Play in correct order


Would MMH and or Kodi help here? Normally, I take flac files and tag them so easily. I can't figure out how to tag MKA files.

 

[HomerJAU]

Matroska (MKA and MKV) container files have their own non-standard tagging system. Not many tools (tagging or players) support MKA tagging. Best to use a CUE file maybe? BTW: MP3Tag application is one tagging app that can tag MKA files.

EDIT: This might work: Show Art - copy the artwork to your album folder (name it folder.jpg or cover.jpg), correct order: name the track file names in order.

M4A is a MP4 based audio container file that can be tagged with just about any tagging app and can be played back with Foobar (with Foobars ffmpeg component configured with latest ffmpeg.exe). MMH’s Extract Audio from MKV/MKA will convert all selected MKA files to M4A copying the original codecs. MMH can tag M4A files.

To me Kodi is the best option for users with a music library but it takes a while to set up and everything you play must be in your library, so tagging must be correct, folders/files set up, so unless you want to spend some time understanding how it’s library works I wouldn’t bother (BTW: Yes, Kodi can play MKA with a CUE file and/or tagged M4A files ok). Having said that Kodi will give you a huge benefit and change the way you listen to music.

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 4.0.17 released

Version 4.0.17 (February 1 2021)
-------------
Changes:
Remix Channel Layout Tool: Change in version 4.0.8 caused 24bit WAV files to be converted 16 bit WAV - fixed
Updated ffmpeg components

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 4.0.18 released

Version 4.0.18 (February 2 2021)
-------------
Changes:
4.0.17 Installer not built correctly
Updated mkv components

 

[Marplot]

OK, I finally got a chance to test drive this bad boy using it against the recent The Doobie Brothers Quad which I wanted to redo.
I'm sold! The menu is super intuitive and the ease of adding that silent channel ... well done!

 

[himey]

Hey Homer, how hard would it be to add an "extract chapter text" option once you load blu-ray files?

Right now I use either Audiomuxer or HD-DVD BLU-RAY Stream extractor. Audiomuxer doesn't have a direct to text option but it does generate one if you select "load in Audiomuxer and split in chapters."

Here is an example of one that I load into MMH, that I manually added the song titles after the "=" sign.
I use MMH to add the song titles to the chapter stops with this method for Atmos MKVs.

CHAPTER01=00:00:00.000
CHAPTER01NAME=Numbers
CHAPTER02=00:02:58.136
CHAPTER02NAME=Computer World
CHAPTER03=00:06:21.547
CHAPTER03NAME=It’s More Fun To Compute
CHAPTER04=00:07:24.444
CHAPTER04NAME=Home Computer
CHAPTER05=00:12:34.170
CHAPTER05NAME=Computer Love
CHAPTER06=00:19:09.439
CHAPTER06NAME=Pocket Calculator
CHAPTER07=00:22:35.562
CHAPTER07NAME=Dentaku
CHAPTER08=00:25:45.585
CHAPTER08NAME=Electric Cafe
CHAPTER09=00:29:36.274
CHAPTER09NAME=The Telephone Call
CHAPTER10=00:32:20.897
CHAPTER10NAME=House Phone
CHAPTER11=00:34:51.047
CHAPTER11NAME=*** Object
CHAPTER12=00:40:22.002
CHAPTER12NAME=Boing Boom Tschak
CHAPTER13=00:42:55.406
CHAPTER13NAME=Techno Pop
CHAPTER14=00:45:41.613
CHAPTER14NAME=Music Non Stop
CHAPTER15=00:53:26.620
CHAPTER15NAME=The Robots
CHAPTER16=01:01:12.460
CHAPTER16NAME=Computer Love
CHAPTER17=01:07:47.730
CHAPTER17NAME=Pocket Calculator
CHAPTER18=01:11:13.852
CHAPTER18NAME=Dentaku
CHAPTER19=01:14:23.876
CHAPTER19NAME=Autobahn
CHAPTER20=01:28:51.701
CHAPTER20NAME=Geiger Counter
CHAPTER21=01:29:22.732
CHAPTER21NAME=Radioactivity
CHAPTER22=01:35:40.943
CHAPTER22NAME=Trans Europe Express
CHAPTER23=01:39:02.186
CHAPTER23NAME=Metal On Metal
CHAPTER24=01:41:10.064
CHAPTER24NAME=Abzug
CHAPTER25=01:43:36.084
CHAPTER25NAME=Home Computer
CHAPTER26=01:49:48.707
CHAPTER26NAME=Boing Boom Tschak
CHAPTER27=01:52:22.110
CHAPTER27NAME=Techno Pop
CHAPTER28=01:55:08.318
CHAPTER28NAME=Music Non Stop
CHAPTER29=02:02:53.324
CHAPTER29NAME=Planet Of Visions
CHAPTER30=02:10:46.463
CHAPTER30NAME=Tour De France
CHAPTER31=02:15:05.097
CHAPTER31NAME=Prologue
CHAPTER32=02:15:31.456
CHAPTER32NAME=Etape 1
CHAPTER33=02:19:18.141
CHAPTER33NAME=Chrono
CHAPTER34=02:20:30.004
CHAPTER34NAME=Etape 2
CHAPTER35=02:25:30.263
CHAPTER35NAME=Vitamin
CHAPTER36=02:31:24.867
CHAPTER36NAME=Aero Dynamik
CHAPTER37=02:37:25.894
CHAPTER37NAME=Elektro Kardiogram
CHAPTER38=02:42:04.214
CHAPTER38NAME=La Forme
CHAPTER39=02:48:24.135
CHAPTER39NAME=Regeneration
CHAPTER40=02:48:52.872
CHAPTER40NAME=Closing Credits

 

[HomerJAU]

@himey It would be fairly easy to add a new command button at the bottom of the 'Edit Chapters in MKV/MKA' tool dialog to 'Export Existing Chapters'.

This button would only appear after you load an MKV or MKA file that contains chapters and would save the chapter file to the same folder as the selected source MKV/MKA.

 

[HomerJAU]

@himey I sent you a link to MMH 4.0.19 beta that adds an option to Export existing MKV/MKA chapters to to a Chapter text file as requested.

Looking through the existing code you don’t need to edit the chapter text file to change the chapter names. You can simply copy and paste a list of chapter names (only the the names, no times) and hit Save in the MMH Edit Chapter dialog. MMH saves the grid chapter names to the MKV file. Although MMH did not display the current chapter names, it always displayed the chapter numbers (bug). This is now fixed in the 4.0.19 beta.

 

[MichaelJCarr]

I'm using MMH 4.0.18 with MakeMKV on Windows 10 and have been successful ripping Blu-ray Audio discs to m4a (apple lossless) to include in my iTunes library.
My problem is when the original audio is only available in 192K sampling I cannot get the MMH Resample Audio option to prepare a valid WAV file format that is readable by iTunes. First I separate the MKV audio into WAV as iTunes is not compatible with FLAC. Then resample the WAV file to 96/24. iTunes can import WAV files which can be converted in iTunes to Apple Lossless. The other audio playback apps have no issue playing the resampled WAV files. Am I missing something?

 

[HomerJAU]

Hi @MichaelJCarr

Let me check MMH resampling of WAVs. I noticed something odd yesterday when I was converting WAVs but didn‘t investigate. Will do so today and respond here on my findings.

 

[HomerJAU]

@MichaelJCarr I sent you a link to MMH 4.0.19 beta that fixes the resampling of wav files.

I plan to release 4.0.19 over the weekend. (I'm just finishing up a new tool to be added).

 

[HomerJAU]

Music Media Helper 4.1.0 Released:

Version 4.1.0 (March 1 2021)
-------------
New Feature:
Added new tool: Channel Delay to enable channel alignment/delay editing for multichannel FLAC, WAV and DSF files

Changes:
Channel Remix tool: Added support for DSF files to Invert Phase option
Resample tool: No longer forced to overwrite source files with resampled, new option to create new files under source folder
Edit Chapters in MKV/MKA tool: Added new command to export Chapter file to text file
Updated PDF docs

Fixes:
Edit Chapters in MKV/MKA tool: MMH now displays current Chapter Names (previously displayed current as Chapter Numbers)
Resample tool: Resampling WAVs incorrectly saved as a converted FLAC file named .wav - fixed (to recover file rename .wav to .flac)


New Channel Delay tool:

Can work with individual files or many in batch update mode:

NOTE from manual on Channel Delay:

IMPORTANT CONCEPT: Since this code cannot predict the future when reading an audio file you can ONLY define a channel DELAY. Therefore, if you want to fix a channel that is already delayed you must actually delay all other channels to match the said channel delay. Example: The Beck Sea Change BDA has the LFE channel delayed by 8ms, so to fix we entered 8ms as the delay for all other channels to fix the first FLAC file (above)

EDIT:
Applying Channel Delayto DSF files:
MMH uses a special DSD enabled version of Sox. With DSF it creates a noise glitch at the very beginning of delayed channels. To remove the glitch MMH trims the added ‘silent’ delay from the start of the converted DSF file.

Due to this if you wish to apply different length delays to channels I’d recommend doing two Delay conversions, first the shortest delay followed by the next shortest (minus the original delay + 2ms). This doesn’t apply to FLAC or WAV or when you are only aligning a single channel, like the Beck Sea Change example for DSF.

Sorry, it’s a workaround for the Sox DSF delay noise glitch.

 

[marpow]

Thank you for the update.
One little nothing note is that upon my update the desktop icon that I am used to is no longer there, just a little music note.

 

[ted_b]

I'm trying the example (Beck - Sea Change in DSD) but whether I choose override source or choose create resample subfolder I get this error at every track. I believe when done that nothing has been applied cuz the date/time modified doesn't change. When I first did the invert FR/FL it went smoothly and the date/time modified indeed reflected changes. (Note: this is all being done on a copy of my mch DSD album; I have a backup of course ).

By the way..when this finishes I am renaming the album to Sea Change (Oh..delay)!