Aften 0.0.8 is out

[jruggle]

Originally Posted by Kurtnoise13

Why not create a switch to allow loading text file which included each filenames ?

Yeah, that might be a better option. I just noticed that in bash (a common unix shell) doing *.ac3 sometimes feeds the files in reverse alphabetical order? I don't know if this same thing holds true for Windows' command shell or Unix shells other than bash, but at any rate, it could get tricky.

In order to not confuse the channel order issue, my first thought as to a text file format is this:

# any 1-line comment
L=audio-left.wav
R=audio-right.wav
LFE=audio-lfe.wav
C=audio-center.wav
S=audio-surround.wav
SL=audio-surleft.wav
SR=audio-surright.wav

This would support specifying the channels in any order and would allow for channel modes other than 5.1.

comments/suggestions?

-Justin

Originally Posted by TFM_TheMask

Why is that so. Aften is already implemented in the latest release of The FilmMachine which was released yesterday.

I had not checked prior to my post; that's exciting news. Times like these are why I love free software. You get to choose the best tool for the job and it doesn't cost anything more.

Thanks, everyone.

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by jruggle

Yeah, that might be a better option.
...
This would support specifying the channels in any order and would allow for channel modes other than 5.1.

comments/suggestions?

I think is more easy instruct the users to put exact suffix in filenames than create a text file with a especific syntax.

With:
Aften -b 256 -acmod 5 -prefix path\audio.wav audio.ac3

must exist in path\:
audioL.wav
audioC.wav
audioR.wav
audioS.wav

And with:
Aften -b 448 -acmod 7 -lfe 1 -prefix path\audio.wav audio.ac3

must exist in path\:
audioL.wav
audioC.wav
audioR.wav
audioSL.wav
audioSR.wav
audioLFE.wav

If the text file is the final method, at least use the BeSweet format well know for many users:
Aften -b 448 -acmod 7 -lfe 1 -mux audio.mux audio.ac3

Where audio.mux is:

path\audio_FL.wav
path\audio_FR.wav
path\audio_FC.wav
path\audio_LFE.wav
path\audio_BL.wav
path\audio_BR.wav

with the order like wav channels order.

[vmesquita]

I completelly agree with tebasuna51, except that I prefer the audio*.wav idea (i.e. using wildcards)

[jruggle]

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

If the text file is the final method, at least use the BeSweet format well know for many users:
Aften -b 448 -acmod 7 -lfe 1 -mux audio.mux audio.ac3

Where audio.mux is:

path\audio_FL.wav
path\audio_FR.wav
path\audio_FC.wav
path\audio_LFE.wav
path\audio_BL.wav
path\audio_BR.wav

with the order like wav channels order.

I didn't know there was a standard already. Perhaps I'll make it compatible with the BeSweet way, but add the option to do it my suggested way as well.

First of all, allowing comments doesn't break compatibility. Also, if the user decides to use "L=", "R=", etc... then the file order won't matter, but if the user does it the BeSweet way then the files must be in the correct order.
Does that sound workable?

I guess I could do both. I could change it to require "-o output.ac3" and allow multiple input files. If the -mux option is used, the input files would need to have the R,L,C,SR, etc... post-fixes. A file could be specified with "-muxfile channels.mux".

This way would also support encoding multiple files in a row if the -mux option is not used. It would allow for using wildcards or multiple full filenames.

examples:

muxing using text file:
aften -muxfile channels.mux -o audio-6ch.ac3

muxing using individual files and wildcards:
aften -mux audio-*.wav -o audio-6ch.ac3

muxing using individual filenames (using weird prefixes to show why someone might want to do this):
aften -mux aud-lt.wav aud-rt.wav aud-c.wav aud-lfe.wav aud-surl.wav aud-surr.wav -o audio-6ch.ac3

encoding multiple files sequentially, replacing each ".wav" with ".ac3":
aften *.wav

(maybe...) encoding multiple files sequentially, splicing them together into 1 file:
aften *.wav -o joined.ac3

Does this way sound better?

-Justin

[Kurtnoise]

sounds good to me...

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by jruggle

...
Does this way sound better?

If you accept, and implement, all the options, everybody happy

But, warning , one more suggestion:
Accept stereo wav files for acmod 5,6,7.
With your sintax maybe LR=, CS=, CLFE=, SLSR=.

To justify this:
- Is a common task modify a multichannel source in stereo wav editors, and front/surround channels have common procedures.
- In GUIDE: Converting stereo to 5.1 surround for FREE the last step is encode three stereo wav's fLfR, CLFE, slsr.

[NorthPole]

@jruggle

Just as another option (or example), you could do it like soft encode with the following command line where test.ini is the encoder settings:

the input is in1.wav thru in6.wav for 6 individual wave files

SFTENCDD.exe -A -P test.ini -o out.ac3 -L in1.wav -R in2.wav -C in3.wav -e in4.wav -l in5.wav -r in6.wav

or for 3 wave files

SFTENCDD.exe -A -P test.ini -o out.ac3 -L in1.wav -R in1.wav -C in2.wav -e in2.wav -l in3.wav -r in3.wav -0L in1 -1R in1 -0C in2 -1e in2 -0l in3 -1r in3

or for 1 wave file

SFTENCDD.exe -A -P test.ini -o out.ac3 -L in1.wav -R in1.wav -C in1.wav -e in1.wav -l in1.wav -r in1.wav -0L in1 -1R in1 -2C in1 -3e in1 -4l in1 -5r in1

obviously not the nices command line to work with but maybe a hybrid could be used.

[jruggle]

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

If you accept, and implement, all the options, everybody happy

Great. I am currently working on a multiple-file framework for both my ac3 and flac encoders, so it shouldn't be too long. (not as long as it's taking me to get DRC implemented )

But, warning , one more suggestion:
Accept stereo wav files for acmod 5,6,7.
With your sintax maybe LR=, CS=, CLFE=, SLSR=.

Good point. I'll add that to the design. Would any other channel combos be warranted or are those 4 pretty standard?

[Mug Funky]

you could always make your own 6ch-in-stereo format...

or maybe use string searches and have underscores as delimiters - like "file_LFE_C.wav", or "file_FL_SL.wav", etc.

but that'll be a distraction from the more important stuff. there's no shame in supporting whatever naming strategy you prefer and having users conform to that - it's a command line encoder after all, so people will have to learn aften's particular style of command syntax anyway.

whichever way it's done, it can't possibly be as annoying as Soft Encode's CLI syntax (no quotes allowed? wth?).

[Rockaria]

Good points everybody. It seems being developped into a most important part of the encoder.

I also have an idea : a context driven approach

By any suffix naming convention in the source path :
i.e. audio_L.wav, audio_R.wav, audio_LR.wav, audio_LR_SLSR.wav...
or audio.mux, audio.wav(these may require the explicit -acmod)

by the shell command 'dir path/audio*.*', it will be eventually parsed into each channels and even can define the -acmod.

    [-acmod #]     Audio coding mode (overrides wav header)
                       0 = 1+1 (Ch1,Ch2)
                       1 = 1/0 (C)
                       2 = 2/0 (L,R)
                       3 = 3/0 (L,R,C)
                       4 = 2/1 (L,R,S)
                       5 = 3/1 (L,R,C,S)
                       6 = 2/2 (L,R,SL,SR)
                       7 = 3/2 (L,R,C,SL,SR)

A table of the supported tool's context naming convention must be established.
Any future format channels can also be supported this way : extensible.

[BabaG]

just downloaded aften and looks very nice. noob question.
seems to be a lot of discussion here of multi-wav encoding
so i'm not sure if aften will yet do what i'm trying to do. i
have six mono wav's - l,c,r,ls,rs,lfe. i want to use them as
a soundtrack on a dvd i want to author. i gather i need to
encode them somehow. will aften do this? what is the
command?

this, then, produces an ac3 file? is that compatible with the
authoring process? or is it an intermediate on the way to an
mpeg of some sort?

sorry for the dumb questions but these are rather deep
waters for the novice swimmer. finding aften seems to
provide some real encouragement for me.

thanks,
BabaG

[raquete]

ah...hi!
the first post is one good starting point (always).

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=113074

have a cool GUI for newbys(like me)and "lazy" people.

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by BabaG

i have six mono wav's - l,c,r,ls,rs,lfe. i want to use them as a soundtrack on a dvd i want to author. i gather i need to encode them somehow. will aften do this? what is the command?

this, then, produces an ac3 file? is that compatible with the authoring process? or is it an intermediate on the way to an mpeg of some sort?

You can try the vmesquita version or make a wav 6 channels (the order is l,r,c,lfe,sl,sr) with WaveWizard and use the standard Aften (don't support yet 6 monowav like input)

And, yes, produce an ac3 file compatible with the authoring process.

[BabaG]

there is an option in aftengui (i'm not in front of it right now) in the
preferences which has to do with dolby. i think there are three
options, something like none, disabled, enabled. what is this
for and what does it do exactly? about to get to my first serious
test with this. and thanks tebasuna51. very helpful.

thanks,
BabaG

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by BabaG

there is an option in aftengui (i'm not in front of it right now) in the
preferences which has to do with dolby. i think there are three
options, something like none, disabled, enabled. what is this
for and what does it do exactly?

Maybe:

    [-dsur #]      Dolby Surround mode
                       0 = not indicated (default)
                       1 = not Dolby surround encoded
                       2 = Dolby surround encoded

This flag is present only in ac3 2.0, and indicate when the two physical channels are encoded to contain 4/5 logical channels (Dolby ProLogic I/II).

Some players can use this info to activate automatically your DPL decoder.

The ac3 encoder (Aften) don't make the downmix dpl 5.1 -> 2.

[BabaG]

so, i started with six mono wav's of original material. i then
used wavwizard to create a single wav file with six channels.
how do i get this to be usable and playable as surround
sound on a normal dvd player? do i need to now convert the
six channel wav to two channels with some sort of encoding?
or can i just burn the aftengui ac3 of this six channel wav
along with my mpeg picture file using something like dvdstyler
and have it properly readable as a surround dvd? if it's
necessary to encode the six channel wav down to two,
software recommendation, please?

thanks again,
BabaG

[tebasuna51]

Originally Posted by BabaG

do i need to now convert the
six channel wav to two channels with some sort of encoding?

Not at all, is only a option for less quality/bitrate.

Originally Posted by BabaG

or can i just burn the aftengui ac3 of this six channel wav along with my mpeg picture file using something like dvdstyler and have it properly readable as a surround dvd?

Yes, I don't know dvdstyler, but any authoring software can do the job.

I had an idea for a front-end for Aften, but the only programming languages I know (oddly enough) are BASIC and FORTRAN. Neither of those seem to be good languages for programming a front-end for anything.

I noticed a lot of programs offer Sonic Foundary's Soft Encode as an option for encoding AC3 audio. Could a front-end be coded that would take the command-line options and the generated INI file for Soft Encode and feed the relevant information to Aften? I tried to make such a front-end in QBASIC of all things last night, but I got stuck parsing the INI file.

I'll try again tonight, but I can't make any promises.

[Chainmax]

Originally Posted by tebasuna51

...
- In GUIDE: Converting stereo to 5.1 surround for FREE the last step is encode three stereo wav's fLfR, CLFE, slsr.

Yes, but once those three files are created you can split them to 5 mono WAVs or a single 5.1 one.

Does Aften support encoding from a 5.1 WAV? Also, has channel coupling been scratched from the to-do list or could there be a possibility to resume work on it sometime in the future?