MultiChannel WAV to multiple files for DL32R recordings for Mac and Linux

[RoadRanger]

Can someone post a link to a couple of these files that need to be joined and then split? I'd like to see if I can do it with ffmpeg and a simple batch file...

[JohnMHoyt]

Can someone post a link to a couple of these files that need to be joined and then split? I'd like to see if I can do it with ffmpeg and a simple batch file...

Sure, let me get caught up in the morning and I will see about uploading and sharing a couple with you

[RoadRanger]

Can someone post a link to a couple of these files that need to be joined and then split? I'd like to see if I can do it with ffmpeg and a simple batch file...

Sure, let me get caught up in the morning and I will see about uploading and sharing a couple with you

The format of the WAV file is quite simple, it wouldn't be hard to write a utility that just does what's needed. I guess Mackie deemed it unnecessary?

[Topsøe]

In pro tools you import them to cliplist , click on them (so they expand) and pull them in with shuffle engaged and they line up nicely

[Aqntbghd]

Can someone post a link to a couple of these files that need to be joined and then split? I'd like to see if I can do it with ffmpeg and a simple batch file...

Look at the first post in this thread, there is attached a script that does exactly this with Sox replace the program invocation with ffmpeg if you prefer

The format of the WAV file is quite simple, it wouldn't be hard to write a utility that just does what's needed. I guess Mackie deemed it unnecessary?

There is a trick here : the Wav format is limited to 4GB (32 bits) in size, so you need to use an intermediary format that support larger files when stitching everything together as the overall result tend to go over that boundary. this is fixed by the w64 format as an example.


If somebody thinks there might be a business for this i'd be happy to build and sell a small device that when connected to a make recorded hard-drive will convert the files on it, but you'll have to cover my dev and hardware costs however this could make the transformation just a matter of time : plug and wait for the green light.

[RoadRanger]

Look at the first post in this thread, there is attached a script that does exactly this with Sox replace the program invocation with ffmpeg if you prefer

Can that script run under MacOS and Windows? Linux doesn't "work" for 99%+ of the folks looking to do this

[RoadRanger]

Once I have a couple of these !@#$ WAV files I'll try to port that script to Windows. SOX is available for Windows:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/sox/

[Aqntbghd]

Once I have a couple of these !@#$ WAV files I'll try to port that script to Windows. SOX is available for Windows:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/sox/

Powershell is not that complicated, it should work however i'm not bothered doing it as it is not my platform of choice... for some beers and/or money i could though

Look at the first post in this thread, there is attached a script that does exactly this with Sox replace the program invocation with ffmpeg if you prefer

Can that script run under MacOS and Windows? Linux doesn't "work" for 99%+ of the folks looking to do this

Yes i wrote the script under macOS and it runs fine on there. Linux works too. For windows you could also play with CyGWin to get a bash and run this script

[JohnMHoyt]

Once I have a couple of these !@#$ WAV files I'll try to port that script to Windows. SOX is available for Windows:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/sox/

Message me your email addy and I will send you a link to a google drive folder with a couple 2 gig multichannel wav files from a show on Saturday.

The following channels / tracks are used:

01 Chip Vocals
02 John Vocals
03 Richard Vocals
04 Tony Vocals
05 Megan Vocals
06 Carlos Vocals
07 Sampler
08 - not used
09 Bass drum
10 Snare
11 Tom 1 (not used this gig)
12 Tom 2
13 Tom 3 (not used this gig)
14 Floor Tom
15 Overhead
16 Overhead
17 Bass
18 Guitar
19 Key 1
20 Key 2
21 Sax wireless
22 Trumpet
23 Sax

With 23 channels being recorded, that means about 10 minutes per file.   Generally close to 2-3 songs, and almost always, splitting one or two of them in two.

[RoadRanger]

BTW early on someone was using "RME WAV File Batch Processor":
https://www.rme-audio.de/en/downloads/driver/midi_remote.php

Have you tried that?

http://cacophony.aspinock.com/index.php?topic=883.0

[RoadRanger]

The RME utility seems to work fine but is particular about input filenames - The must be:
UFX01_00.wav
UFX01_01.wav
etc.
The two digits after UFX can be any two digits but obviously the same for all the files in the set.

This utility can generate a HUGE single multichannel WAV file choosing the "Multichannel" option - supposedly some DAWs can directly import that.
It also has a "1-Channel Files" option to generate all separate mono WAV files.

Read the"help" and give it a try and let me know if it works for all y'all .

[RoadRanger]

I was able to use the RME utility to join two 2GB 23 channel "chunks" into a single 4GB file and load that into Audacity. It took forever to load but seems to play without any glitch at the half-way point .

[JohnMHoyt]

I was able to use the RME utility to join two 2GB 23 channel "chunks" into a single 4GB file and load that into Audacity. It took forever to load but seems to play without any glitch at the half-way point .

I will give it a shot when I get some time today and let you know my results!

Joining the multi-wav files together without gaps for a full set would make my life so much easier, at least I could manipulate them better in audacity.
But then if it can join them all together, and split it into individual wavs, I could also use another DAW I like, which is Audition (Adobe).   

All of this would be a moot point if Mackie would just allow the creation of individual wavs for each track as an option...   

Or if everyone had ProTools (or at least if I had my iLok back, then I could do it. haha)

Thanks, will let you know...

John

[cigame]

For those who wonder why Mackie is writing multitrack WAV files instead of splitted ones,
I think it is simply because the stress on the HD is much lower.
Only one file has to be written at a time.
When you record on a rotating disk, maximum 32 separated files have to be written.
That means the writing head has to jump around a lot.
2,5"  disks may have trouble doing this especially when low frequencies are around.
I'm very happy with the recording reliability of my DL32R.
And importing multitrack WAV files in Logic is simply drag & drop. Logic does the splitting.

[RoadRanger]

The help file for the RME utility discusses why they use the multitrack WAV format for their own recording interface. Basically it would take a superfast drive and lots of RAM and processing power to do individual WAV files in realtime. Mackie chose to support recording to normal drives and to not inflate the cost of their hardware. In any case the RME utility is super easy to use .

If I was youse guys I'd be beating on my DAW maker to upgrade their out-of-date software to support this great format .

A suggestion - rather that make a hugearse file of the whole set (or night ) that will take forever to import into your DAW the RME utility allows you to specify a start and end "chunk" number so you'd be better off figuring out which two chunks your song is in and just joining those two .