BitPerfect V.3 has been released

[BitPerfect Support]

If you are using 10.9 I recommend that you stick with V2.

I agree with that.

 

A new problem is emerging - or at least our handle on it is emerging. Users running OS X 10.9.5 who have upgraded to BitPerfect v3 are reporting serious problems. What we are now learning is that our new AppleScript-based method of communicating with iTunes, which has been thoroughly tested under Yosemite and El Capitan, is failing under Mavericks and Mountain Lion (and possibly Lion as well, although we haven't heard any reports of that yet).

 

What is happening is that those earlier versions of OS X are denying BitPerfect permission to use AppleScript to talk to iTunes. This appears to be what is called a "sandboxing" issue. All Apps sold on Apple's App Store are constrained to play exclusively in their "sandbox", which is a controlled environment where they supposedly can play safety without causing any harm. There is no way around this, other than to withdraw from the App Store and sell direct.

 

In certain cases, though, when you submit your Apps to the App Store, you can request an "exception" to a specific sandboxing rule. In fact we already do this - we have a number of exceptions in place. However, the documentation provided by Apple to assist in navigating your way through the exceptions process is not at all helpful. We have been through it many times and haven't found anything that would deny Scripting Access under Mavericks and Mountain Lion (but allow it under Yosemite and El Capitan) to which we could request en exception.

 

The workaround we are actively working on is to include both communications paths, AppleScript and Scripting Bridge, and invoke one or the other depending on which version of OS X is running. This type of surgery is actually a lot more fiddly than you might imagine, and offers plenty of opportunity to really screw something up, so it is taking a little while to do it properly. And test it.

[semente]

Richard,

 

Do you recommend upgrading from 10.9 to 10.10?

I mean, would we get better performance by being able to use version 3?

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[BitPerfect Support]

Richard,

 

Do you recommend upgrading from 10.9 to 10.10?

I mean, would we get better performance by being able to use version 3?

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

 

I am reluctant to recommend that in isolation. There are many reasons for which you may wish to upgrade OS X, and unless your Mac is primarily used as a music server you need consider the bigger picture. Additionally, if your Mac is an older one, for example with a Core 2 Duo, you need to consider whether the latest OS X may be asking too much it.

 

Having said all that, I do have an old ~2009 MacBook Pro with a Core 2 Duo, and I have upgraded that all the way to El Capitan. Actually, I found that while Yosemite (10.10) did cause it to run significantly more sluggishly, installing El Capitan did seem to speed things up a bit. But YMMV. BitPerfect on that MBP under El Cap worked straight out of the bag.

 

- - - - - - - - -

 

BTW, I am getting reports of an odd problem which seems to afflict certain users who upgrade both iTunes and El Capitan at the same time [if you are not already running the latest version of iTunes then it appears the El Cap upgrade will upgrade iTunes whether you want it to or not]. It seems that when this happens, sometimes BitPerfect cannot find the iTunes music library when it first launches. This in turn apparently prompts OS X to open a finder window with no message to tell you why, or what to do with it. What you must do is navigate that finder window to the folder containing your iTunes music library, and click Open. BitPerfect then opens normally. When we learn more about this odd behaviour we may push out a separate update to deal with it.

[Francis Hemeter]

Running Yosemite, updated to v.3 now gapless does not work and tracks skip randomly to another song in the play list. Wish I could roll back to version 2

[Francis Hemeter]

Running Yosemite, updated to v.3 now gapless does not work and tracks skip randomly to another song in the play list. Wish I could roll back to version 2

Just an update, tried with El Captain same problem:

I enabled the "Default to Fixed Indexing" option in BP's preferences, and based on limited testing so far, it seems to restore gapless playback.

[BitPerfect Support]

Just an update, tried with El Captain same problem:

I enabled the "Default to Fixed Indexing" option in BP's preferences, and based on limited testing so far, it seems to restore gapless playback.

 

Contact me directly on the BitPerfect Support e-mail line. Unfortunately, swamped with construction at the moment and struggling to keep my head above water, so response may not be instant

[BitPerfect Support]

Two maintenance notices have been posted on our Blog Page regarding OS X 10 9.5 (Mountain Lion) and 10.11 (El Capitan).

[semente]

The work around for 10.11 is mad; I'm sticking with 10.9.

Good luck...

 

R

[gd0]

If you are using 10.9 I recommend that you stick with V2.

I'm on Yosemite 10.10.5. An OS upgrade for work and security will have to trump anything I do with BP.

 

Not readily understanding the advantages of V3 to begin with.

 

Will V2.02 continue to work with 10.11.1 El Capitan?

[gd0]

Answering my own question...

 

V2.02 works fine on El Capitan. In fact, better. Previously, in 10.10.5, V2.20 took a while to kick in when a music track was selected, necessitating a 2nd attempt at playing. In El Capitan, playing a selected track starts without issue.

 

Since BP 2.02 appears to reworking properly, I guess I'll hold off on V3 until issues shake out.

[tmtomh]

Answering my own question...

 

V2.02 works fine on El Capitan. In fact, better. Previously, in 10.10.5, V2.20 took a while to kick in when a music track was selected, necessitating a 2nd attempt at playing. In El Capitan, playing a selected track starts without issue.

 

Since BP 2.02 appears to reworking properly, I guess I'll hold off on V3 until issues shake out.

 

Thanks very much for this info! I just wish there were a way to roll back to BP v2.02.

[REShaman]

Dear All,

 

Build 3.0.1 was released on November 27, 2015. Bug fixes are the release notes. Downloaded from App Store and installed "automatically" with no incident. Have not yet taken it through it's paces.

 

Best,

Richard

[tmtomh]

Great news!

 

I would also like to publicly acknowledge Richard for being so on top of this.

[REShaman]

Great news!

 

I would also like to publicly acknowledge Richard for being so on top of this.

 

Hello tmtomh,

 

Thank you for the kind words. This is how we look after each other member to member and those who visit our CA Forum who may choose to join us.

 

Enjoy the music,

Richard

[REShaman]

Dear All:

 

BitPerfect's DSDMaster has just been updated to build 1.2. I have been using DSDMaster for years to reliably convert DSD files to AIFF or other format and a multiple of sample rates. Typically I choose DSF @ Hybrid M4a at 352.8 for DSD tracks I need to play on an auxiliary system that is limited to PCM 96/24, i.e., KEF X300A. Ironically, BitPerfect's application plays DSD tracks so the issue is around systems with Dacs that don't and DSDMaster is a cure (smile).

 

Highly recommended

 

Enjoy the music,

Richard

[tmtomh]

I'm experiencing an intermittent inability to get gapless playback with the latest version of BP, even with "Force fixed indexing" enabled.

 

It seems that I can usually fix problematic albums by deleting them from iTunes and then re-adding the files. I guess this fixes the problem because (if I understand correctly) iTunes "feeds" BP the next-track info based on when songs were added to iTunes originally.

 

I am aware that iTunes next-track feature is not scriptable and that iTunes in general is a bit of a black box. It is disappointing, however, because prior to iTunes 12.2(?) gapless playback was 100% reliable even without fixed indexing; and with BP 3.0 and recent versions of iTunes gapless playback was 100% reliable with fixed indexing. Now with the latest version of iTunes/BP, it seems gapless playback is well and truly broken, at least on my setup.

[REShaman]

Dear All:

 

Nearly a month later, BitPerfect has updated DSDMaster. Update is available with the OSX App Store update function. Perfunctory release notes accompany the available update. Bug fixes etc. If you have it already installed, the update will show. If not, one can purchase the program. I use it specifically to convert DSD files for my auxiliary system's Dac, i.e. KEF X300A (96/24 sample rate ceiling). With Amarra Symphony which accomplishes automatic downsampling for Dac's that do not render above 96/24, automatic downsampling detected by AS3.0.3 (since AS2.6) is a boon.

 

Release Notes:

 

DSD Master v1.2.1 is released. This is a minor update of v1.2 and includes a couple of bug fixes.

 

• Fixes a bug where no no output file was produced when specifying a manual Gain setting.
  
• Corrects the progress bar to show time spent writing metadata.
  

Thank you Richard, the other Richard of BitPerfect, for the update.

 

Best,

Richard

[REShaman]

Dear All:

 

I probably should have posted this information at a new thread, I.e., BitPerfect DSDMaster. Instead, I have been posting at this thread about DSDMaster, which as you may know, allows one to convert DSD files to PCM, in different formats, and sample rates at the user's option.

 

Build 1.2.2 has been released and is available at Apple's App Store. I was alerted by OS X's App Store/Updates. Update was quick and without incident. Release notes simply states as follows: Fixes problem generating Hybrid files.

 

Highly recoomended.

 

Best,

Richard

[tmtomh]

Hi folks,

 

Let me first re-emphasize that I love BitPerfect and remain grateful for such a valuable, affordable app.

 

That said, I've run into a strange issue, and I'm wondering if anyone else has. Here's the scenario. I'm playing an album, just one track after the other. For simplicity's sake let's say I'm playing Track 1. About 2/3 of the way through Track 1, BP abruptly moves on to the beginning of Track 2.

 

When this happens, iTunes still thinks it's playing Track 1: Track 1's title still shows up at the top of the iTunes window; Track 1's time-progress display continues uninterrupted in iTunes; and Track 1 is still highlighted as the currently playing track in the main part of the iTunes window (where the list of the album's tracks is).

 

I can fix this by pausing playback in iTunes, and then immediately resuming. When I do that, Track 1 starts playing again, picking up exactly where it abruptly left off.

 

I have Fixed Indexing turned on (because after a recent iTunes update, gapless playback stopped working unless I enabled Fixed Indexing).

 

This does not happen all the time, only once in a while - but often enough to be of concern.

 

Any similar experiences? Any ideas/guesses as to what could be going on?

 

Thanks!

[REShaman]

Hi folks,

 

Let me first re-emphasize that I love BitPerfect and remain grateful for such a valuable, affordable app.

 

That said, I've run into a strange issue, and I'm wondering if anyone else has. Here's the scenario. I'm playing an album, just one track after the other. For simplicity's sake let's say I'm playing Track 1. About 2/3 of the way through Track 1, BP abruptly moves on to the beginning of Track 2.

 

When this happens, iTunes still thinks it's playing Track 1: Track 1's title still shows up at the top of the iTunes window; Track 1's time-progress display continues uninterrupted in iTunes; and Track 1 is still highlighted as the currently playing track in the main part of the iTunes window (where the list of the album's tracks is).

 

I can fix this by pausing playback in iTunes, and then immediately resuming. When I do that, Track 1 starts playing again, picking up exactly where it abruptly left off.

 

I have Fixed Indexing turned on (because after a recent iTunes update, gapless playback stopped working unless I enabled Fixed Indexing).

 

This does not happen all the time, only once in a while - but often enough to be of concern.

 

Any similar experiences? Any ideas/guesses as to what could be going on?

 

Thanks!

 

Hello tmtomh,

 

That's the first time I have heard of this. Have you conferred with Richard (the other Richard)? Sorry you're having this issue. I would hope Richard might help you sort this out. Would also appreciate learning about what is the trigger for this strange behavior.

 

Good fortune for a solution.

 

Best,

Richard

[semente]

Hi tmtomh,

 

Are you streaming the data from a USB HDD or from a network connect storage unit?

Maybe the data isn't being feed fast enough...

 

Have you tried using iTunes without BitPerfect to check if the problem still occurs?

 

R

[tmtomh]

Thanks for the reply and questions. I'm streaming from a headless Mac mini, just via its internal hard drive. There's no problem feeding enough data quickly enough. I have never had the problem using iTunes directly (without BP) but I will double-check.

 

Last night, several hours after I posted this, I played the same sequence from the same album again (still using BP), and did not experience the problem. All in all, using this particular album as my example, I've probably played it 12-15 times in the last couple of months, and this problem has cropped up twice.