[solved] Transcoding issue

[DJC]

Hi,
I'm having the following problem with transcoding. I want to pass the audio through a program called Stereotool (multiband compressor - clipper), which has a command line version, and had it converted from flac to mp3. The chain would be: flac file -> stereotool -> mp3. I know it works, because I had it working but I upgraded my pc so I installed everything again, including a new version of Subsonic, and now I simply cannot solve it. It seems the latest version of Subsonic changes the transcoding framework. Could it be the issue?

So in the command prompt window (DOS) I can process a given file with this command, what tells me that all transcoders are working properly:

C:\Subsonic\transcode\flac --decode --apply-replaygain-which-is-not-lossless=0tln1 --stdout D:\music.flac | C:\subsonic\transcode\stereo_tool_cmd - - -s C:\Subsonic\transcode\Subsonic.sts | C:\Subsonic\transcode\lame -b %b -> D:\music.mp3

In Subsonic, I would have as step 1: flac --decode --apply-replaygain-which-is-not-lossless=0tln1 --stdout
And I am trying to make something like this as step 2: stereo_tool_cmd - - -s C:\Subsonic\transcode\Subsonic.sts | lame -b %b

But that doesn't do the job. I think I may be just missing some letter or symbol there, but I can't figure it out.


From the Stereotool web page:
The command line version can be used as a stand-alone application from the command line.
(Right click and use Save As...).
Usage: stereo_tool_cmd.exe input.wav output.wav settings.sts
input.wav is an existing 16-bit uncompressed stereo WAV (or raw audio) file, - for piped input.
output.wav is a 16-bit uncompressed stereo WAV (or raw audio) file, - for piped output.
settings.sts is the full absolute path to an STS (Stereo Tool Settings) file.
Examples:
stereo_tool_cmd infile.wav outfile.wav -s C:\st\settings.sts
lame --decode in.mp3 - | stereo_tool_cmd - - -s C:\st\settings.sts | lame - out.mp3

I'm on Windows 7 64 bit; last version of Subsonic
I'd be very grateful for any help.
Daniel

[GJ51]

I've seen different versions of ffmpeg do different things. One version will work fine, then a newer version won't work in SS using all the same settings.

I'd try dropping back to what was working and then grabbing the ffmpeg version in that install and using it in the upgraded version. By renaming your ffmpeg versions for different uses you cna create instance/application specific versions that work besst under each use. I have an older version of ffmpeg that works for transcoding flac to mp3 and all files to ogg that I use for mobile use. I have another version that works better for audio.

SO, on one of my sites I have videoffmpeg.exe, audioffmpeg.exe, and ffmpeg.exe which is the version that came with the install for that Subsonic version.

I found that the ffmpeg in ver 4.4 can handle most of the transcodings I need for music.

The static build from the ffmpeg download site handles video and utilizes multiple CPU cores the best.

So, in the transcoding strings I just specify which ffmpeg I want to use for what works best for a given file type.

SS ver 4.6 has a few bugs in it that killed a lot of my transcodings, which is why I dropped back to 4.5 using multiple versions of ffmpeg. Hopefully it will all get fixed in 4.7 and simplify our lives considerably.

HTH

Many hours of patient testing. You can also transcode flac to mp3 or ogg without an intermediate step if that's all you want to do, but I assume your using the Stereo tool for some other purpose.

[DJC]

Thanks for your reply. In fact, I am not using ffmpeg, but directly the command line version of the flac codec, since this way I can use replay gain. I don't have the previous settings, because I had them in my laptop, and I upgraded Subsonic there as well and lost my transcodings (I started having some java errors so upgraded java and then couldn't run Subsonic 4.5 anymore).

From what you say I think I will go back to 4.5 or 4.4 (I think I have the later), as the new transcoding framework may be the problem

Do you see any evident error in my command lines? At least they work in DOS

[GJ51]

Here's what i use in 4.5

flac > mp3

ffmpeg -i %s -v 0 -f wav -

lame -b %b --tt %t --ta %a --tl %l -S --resample 44.1 - -


flac > ogg

ffmpeg -loglevel error -v 0 -i %s -f ogg -vn -acodec libvorbis -ar 44100 -aq 0 -ac 2 -map_metadata 0:0 -

HTH

I'm not really an expert in transcoding settings, I'm just good at finding things that work on my setup.

[DJC]

Ok, back to 4.5. Testing... For one thing, transcoding has 3 steps in 4.5 and not 2, and I need 3.

[DJC]

Changing to version 4.5 solved the issue. I think it was the 3 steps thing