Audirvana Plus 3 (official thread)

[Serpieri]

I am still hopeful of being able to shuffle by album in some form - either within the application or through some feature in the remote, at some point.  Please! = )

[bnbayer]

On 7/12/2017 at 4:54 PM, zackthedog said:

Oh, I see, that makes sense.  Maybe it would be nice to be able to turn sorting on and off in the Play window.

 

You can sort playlists by dragging tracks to the order you want.

[zackthedog]

51 minutes ago, bnbayer said:

You can sort playlists by dragging tracks to the order you want.

Well, I have an album of 48 Chopin Mazurkas.  The track names themselves aren't numbered, the Finder doesn't show the tagged track numbers, and OSX sorts them by name.  I *could* drag each of the 48 to the play window in order by scrutinizing the keys and opus numbers, but being able to sort them once they're there would be convenient. I'm sure I can find a workaround.

 

But with Audirvana I find this is often the case.  Unless the track name itself contains a number at the start, Audirvana simply sorts them in whatever order the Finder shows them, regardless of the embedded track numbers.

[bnbayer]

OK, I haven't run into this problem as I'm pretty anal about the metadata... and have a couple of decades background in entering classical music titles into databases, including tricking unfriendly mainframes into giving me the searches, sorts, and displays I want. (What can I say: some people have an odd idea of a good time...)

 

So, you want to add the Chopin 48 Mazurkas into a playlist including other albums and tracks? Do the tracks in the Mazurka album appear in the right order in A+ "Library" view? When you drag the album into the playlist, the A+ re-sorts them by file name?

 

And I guess we're dealing with a couple thousand albums in the library, so you don't want to mess with metadata?

 

Is it possible for you to accomplish what you want using smart playlists? They are sortable by any field (in track view).

 

If nothing else (and you're ready for a good time with metadata!), Yate has a 'Rename' file command, including the option of the using the track number + title. You can work your way through a lot of albums in very little time, although the whole project could take a few months. And of course, improvements to metadata will travel with your files to any player you use, not just A+. 

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, bnbayer said:

OK, I haven't run into this problem as I'm pretty anal about the metadata... and have a couple of decades background in entering classical music titles into databases, including tricking unfriendly mainframes into giving me the searches, sorts, and displays I want. (What can I say: some people have an odd idea of a good time...)

 

So, you want to add the Chopin 48 Mazurkas into a playlist including other albums and tracks? Do the tracks in the Mazurka album appear in the right order in A+ "Library" view? When you drag the album into the playlist, the A+ re-sorts them by file name?

 

And I guess we're dealing with a couple thousand albums in the library, so you don't want to mess with metadata?

 

Is it possible for you to accomplish what you want using smart playlists? They are sortable by any field (in track view).

 

If nothing else (and you're ready for a good time with metadata!), Yate has a 'Rename' file command, including the option of the using the track number + title. You can work your way through a lot of albums in very little time, although the whole project could take a few months. And of course, improvements to metadata will travel with your files to any player you use, not just A+. 

 

Thank you for your kind--and intuitive-- response!  I'm loving the sound of version 3 and don't want to rock the boat too much.  It's so clear and *right* sounding.

 

I don't use the Library function, only drag and drop.  My collection is a huge mess of ripped 78's, LPs, Japanese box sets (with Japanese tags), purchased downloads, personal rips, etc.--tons of other stuff organized in folders I can search by text.  MOST of them load fine.  Nowadays when I rip things I include track number in the track title.  This one was an obscure CD ripped by a friend, beautifully tagged but not the way Audirvana likes it, apparently.  I also have this problem with old iTunes rips, which sort by song title not track number.  I'm sorry that I did a HUGE batch of jazz CDs in iTunes early on. :-(

 

It appears in the Play queue the way the Finder sorts it, by track name.  I will try a Smart Playlist.  I'll also try Yate.  I don't mind experimenting to try to solve the problem and learn something.  I'm not up for reviewing my entire collection, but if I can convert a problematic album on the fly that would be nice.  This is very helpful and I appreciate it.  

[zackthedog]

Okay, problem solved.  If I temporarily add the album to the Library, I can sort by track number.  This is a perfectly fine solution AFAIAC.  Thanks, bnbayer, for your suggestions.

[Jud]

Strange but true: just as nothing quite screws up Microsoft software like other Microsoft software (updates, the browser, etc., playing havoc with the OS), it seems nothing screws up other music players on Mac OS quite as much as iTunes.

 

Apple apparently just feels it can do whatever it likes with tagging, etc., in iTunes because it owns the OS.  So the tagging flouts a number of standards.  I very quickly got tired of iTunes’ “help” in album tagging (showing half the songs in one of my Beatles albums as part of a compilation, the other half as by the Beatles, for example).

 

I re-tagged everything that needed it with Yate when my collection was still fairly small.  Now I rip with XLD, which is pretty good with metadata, and touch up as needed with Yate at the time of ripping/download.

[zackthedog]

52 minutes ago, Jud said:

Strange but true: just as nothing quite screws up Microsoft software like other Microsoft software (updates, the browser, etc., playing havoc with the OS), it seems nothing screws up other music players on Mac OS quite as much as iTunes.

 

Apple apparently just feels it can do whatever it likes with tagging, etc., in iTunes because it owns the OS.  So the tagging flouts a number of standards.  I very quickly got tired of iTunes’ “help” in album tagging (showing half the songs in one of my Beatles albums as part of a compilation, the other half as by the Beatles, for example).

 

I re-tagged everything that needed it with Yate when my collection was still fairly small.  Now I rip with XLD, which is pretty good with metadata, and touch up as needed with Yate at the time of ripping/download.

Yeah, iTunes made a mess of the rips I used it for.  Stuff scattered all over the place.  I can track it down with JRiver's search function, but it's a nuisance.

[Krutsch]

3 hours ago, Jud said:

...

 

I re-tagged everything that needed it with Yate when my collection was still fairly small.  Now I rip with XLD, which is pretty good with metadata, and touch up as needed with Yate at the time of ripping/download.

 

I do the same, as XLD ripping works with the AccurateRip database. But every now and then I am forced to rip with iTunes because iTunes uses Gracenote for tagging which is better than freedb, et al., for obscure albums - especially classical collections.

[Jud]

39 minutes ago, Krutsch said:

 

I do the same, as XLD ripping works with the AccurateRip database. But every now and then I am forced to rip with iTunes because iTunes uses Gracenote for tagging which is better than freedb, et al., for obscure albums - especially classical collections.

 

Haven’t run into that recently, but likely that’s only because my recent obscure classical acquisitions are just about all downloads.

 

A lot of my CDs are still unripped though, so we’ll see....

[zackthedog]

1 hour ago, Krutsch said:

 

I do the same, as XLD ripping works with the AccurateRip database. But every now and then I am forced to rip with iTunes because iTunes uses Gracenote for tagging which is better than freedb, et al., for obscure albums - especially classical collections.

I have the same problem.  I've been using an old Doug script to grab the data from iTunes and load it into MAX for ripping.  But as someone pointed out in a recent thread, if you open the CD in iTunes first, then open it in XLD, XLD will see the Gracenote info for the CD.  Very handy!

[Innocent Bystander]

On 7/9/2017 at 8:47 PM, DSD256 said:

 

 

2.When having from one album 2 different releases, audirvana puts the albums in one album in the album view. Apparently, audirvana ignores the location, because usually when duplicate albums are present, they are stored in a different place for some reasons. For example i have an album in the original release and the same album in  a remastered version, etc. Audirvana ignored this. Audrivana puts them in one album in the album view. Audirvana also ignores the sampling rate.
So I have one and the same album, one in 44,1khz and another of HDtracks in 192khz in the same folder in the album view. Why not use the sampling rate to avoid this?
This turns to another problem...it causes a problem when calculating replaygain. Then audirvana crashes. Next problem is tagging...

 

 I really do not understand why Damien is so reluctant to implement a function for sorting and browsing by file/folder structure in addition to the matadata A+ uses - it is not rocket science, and would solve so many of these issues like duplicate albums, or oddities in metadata that for whatever reason are difficult to identify and fix. Yes, there are always work-arounds, but they are a hassle, and totally off-putting to, say, a non-nerdie spouse who just wants to play music.

 

 

[lonf]

5 hours ago, Innocent Bystander said:

 I really do not understand why Damien is so reluctant to implement a function for sorting and browsing by file/folder structure in addition to the matadata A+ uses - it is not rocket science, and would solve so many of these issues like duplicate albums, or oddities in metadata that for whatever reason are difficult to identify and fix. Yes, there are always work-arounds, but they are a hassle, and totally off-putting to, say, a non-nerdie spouse who just wants to play music.

 

 

 

+1

 

I'm afraid we're in the minority on this one Bystander.  I read a post a while back where Damian said he will not be implementing this basic sorting functionality.  Why, I have no idea. Several others have been asking for it as well.

[confitesprit]

Hello -

 

I am having a SysOptimizer Error message come up that is similar to another one on this thread, but not exactly the same.  The error message, which comes up every time I start a new listening session, is:

 

SysOptimizer Error

There was an error executing SysOptimizer. Not all optimizations may be done.

Error = the operation couldn't be completed.

(OSStatus error =1.)

 

I'm running 3.07 on a Macbook Pro using OSx 10.11.6 in my upstairs office.

 

Oddly, I bought 2 licenses, so I also run a separate copy of this same version on a Mac Mini (main system downstairs) which is also using OSx 10.11.6. I do not get the error message on that machine. So, obviously my issue is just with the laptop. It seems just a nuisance, as the software does work after clearing the error message and sounds great. However, would like to solve, if possible.  Anybody have any ideas?

 

I've learned essentially all I know about digital playback from this site, and you folks, but I am far behind on my real understanding from most of whom I read here. Not a computer wiz, but my wife thinks I am.

 

Thank you very much for any advice.

[RunHomeSlow]

4 hours ago, confitesprit said:

Hello -

 

I am having a SysOptimizer Error message come up that is similar to another one on this thread, but not exactly the same.  The error message, which comes up every time I start a new listening session, is:

 

SysOptimizer Error

There was an error executing SysOptimizer. Not all optimizations may be done.

Error = the operation couldn't be completed.

(OSStatus error =1.)

 

I'm running 3.07 on a Macbook Pro using OSx 10.11.6 in my upstairs office.

 

Oddly, I bought 2 licenses, so I also run a separate copy of this same version on a Mac Mini (main system downstairs) which is also using OSx 10.11.6. I do not get the error message on that machine. So, obviously my issue is just with the laptop. It seems just a nuisance, as the software does work after clearing the error message and sounds great. However, would like to solve, if possible.  Anybody have any ideas?

 

I've learned essentially all I know about digital playback from this site, and you folks, but I am far behind on my real understanding from most of whom I read here. Not a computer wiz, but my wife thinks I am.

 

Thank you very much for any advice.

 

Try this: copy the files from the good A+ Mac to the buggy A+ Mac

Go to the main Library Folder... PrivilegedHelperTools folder...
Copy that folder to the desktop.

Go to the main Library Folder... LaunchDaemons folder...
Copy that folder for Audirvana SystemOptimizer and prefs files to the desktop also.

 

Put those two in the same place on the Buggy A+ MAC. Replace and Replace, you may need your password (not sure) and restart that MAC just to be sure, then lauch again A+. And let see

[confitesprit]

2 hours ago, RunHomeSlow said:

 

Try this: copy the files from the good A+ Mac to the buggy A+ Mac

Go to the main Library Folder... PrivilegedHelperTools folder...
Copy that folder to the desktop.

Go to the main Library Folder... LaunchDaemons folder...
Copy that folder for Audirvana SystemOptimizer and prefs files to the desktop also.

 

Put those two in the same place on the Buggy A+ MAC. Replace and Replace, you may need your password (not sure) and restart that MAC just to be sure, then lauch again A+. And let see

Thank you for this information.  It's a bit late here now, but I will try to look at this more carefully tomorrow and see if I can sort it out. Don't understand it all at the moment, but will attempt to give it a go then. Will certainly report what I can/can't do, and what happens then. Much appreciate your support. 

 

Cheers - 

 

Martin

[harry.bennett.3994]

Made some minor filter changes yesterday and this morning unable to A3+ running at all? Can open application to be greeted with Audirvana "header" options (file, view etc) but no usual interface screen body. If I attemp to into system preferences, for example, Audirvana crashes & fault report is displayed. I have restarted & shutdown mac to no avail. Also have no internet at present due to fault in cable service, should not be an issue? I am a mac novice and have no idea how to investigate further, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regard

Harry

[RunHomeSlow]

4 hours ago, harry.bennett.3994 said:

Made some minor filter changes yesterday and this morning unable to A3+ running at all? Can open application to be greeted with Audirvana "header" options (file, view etc) but no usual interface screen body. If I attemp to into system preferences, for example, Audirvana crashes & fault report is displayed. I have restarted & shutdown mac to no avail. Also have no internet at present due to fault in cable service, should not be an issue? I am a mac novice and have no idea how to investigate further, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regard

Harry

 

try trashing your A+ preferences
 

Go to User... Home Folder... Library... Preferences...
trash com.audirvana.Audirvana-Plus.plist in that folder (those are A+ software preferences)

and restart MAC.

 

Apple hide the Home Folder in User Library at some time depending on OS System...
When you have clicked your Home Folder, and cannot see the Library Folder in there,
just do a ''cmd J'' to show the folder settings preferences and see at the bottom...
click Show Library Folder and then you'll have access to the rest forever

[RunHomeSlow]

7 hours ago, confitesprit said:

Thank you for this information.  It's a bit late here now, but I will try to look at this more carefully tomorrow and see if I can sort it out. Don't understand it all at the moment, but will attempt to give it a go then. Will certainly report what I can/can't do, and what happens then. Much appreciate your support. 

 

Cheers - 

 

Martin

 

Can't be easier... If you have a mac that you don't see your Harddrive on the desktop, just go in the Finder bar upthere to the GO menu and click Computer... Then you should see a window with 4 folders.... choose Library. When opened you should see lots of folders scroll to the first one i said then right click it with your mouse and choose COPY, then click on the desktop anywhere and right click again and say paste.... one is done, do the same thing with the other folder i said, it is in the same library folder then copy/paste too. So, now you have to new folders on your Desktop.

 

PrivilegedHelperTools folder and LaunchDaemons folder

 

You just have to send them to your other Mac desktop by mail, by screen sharing, with a usb stick wathever... Then do the GO menu and Computer thing again, and reopen the Library and just drag the 2 new folder to the Library window... it will say something because they are already there (the bad ones) answer: Replace to the two folders (it may ask your mac password). Then Restart the Mac and see if it worked.

[confitesprit]

Thank you for the additional info. Very clear, very easy to follow. Unfortunately, that did not solve the issue. I both re-started Audirvana, and when that didn't work, rebooted my machine. After re-boot, and at opening Audirvana, I did get a message that it needed to re-install SysOptimizer, which it then apparently did. Still get the error message, only now I get it twice before it will clear and begin playback.  Also, after quitting Audirvana and opening again, I get the need to re-install SysOptimizer message again as well.

 

I do appreciate your help. Thanks much.

[wwaldmanfan]

6 minutes ago, confitesprit said:

Thank you for the additional info. Very clear, very easy to follow. Unfortunately, that did not solve the issue. I both re-started Audirvana, and when that didn't work, rebooted my machine. After re-boot, and at opening Audirvana, I did get a message that it needed to re-install SysOptimizer, which it then apparently did. Still get the error message, only now I get it twice before it will clear and begin playback.  Also, after quitting Audirvana and opening again, I get the need to re-install SysOptimizer message again as well.

 

I do appreciate your help. Thanks much.

 

My HP scanner software stopped working on one of my iMacs. Still works fine on my other, backup iMac running the exact same OSX, chipset, RAM, and with virtually identical files on the HD. Tried everything, including a clean software re-install, but no dice. Inexplicable issues like this crop up all the time with computers.

Use my Dumbo method to work around this problem. Turn off SysOptimizer. You won't hear the difference.

[Jud]

33 minutes ago, confitesprit said:

Thank you for the additional info. Very clear, very easy to follow. Unfortunately, that did not solve the issue. I both re-started Audirvana, and when that didn't work, rebooted my machine. After re-boot, and at opening Audirvana, I did get a message that it needed to re-install SysOptimizer, which it then apparently did. Still get the error message, only now I get it twice before it will clear and begin playback.  Also, after quitting Audirvana and opening again, I get the need to re-install SysOptimizer message again as well.

 

I do appreciate your help. Thanks much.

 

My guess is the files @RunHomeSlow was talking about are installed in another location than the standard one.  The same Preferences page that tells you where your library is has another entry that tells you the location of these files.

[RunHomeSlow]

On 2017-06-12 at 5:02 PM, RunHomeSlow said:

 

 

 

I had the same issue when i installed High Sierra. My sysoptimizer was buggy like him and others ?

I just then copy the one i had in my backup and it work.

 

The thing he didnt follow is that he restarted A+ before the MAC...

@confitesprit do it again but dont restart A+ on the buggy mac. Restart mac, then A+ And see

[RunHomeSlow]

Just in case you didn’t do it, before doing all this close A+ ?

[confitesprit]

OK, thanks all.

 

I re-copied the 2 folders into my buggy Library, and replaced the old ones. Re-started the Mac, and then opened up A+. No change. Still got the "needs to install SysOptimizer" message, installed it, and got the original error message twice again. 

 

I'm wondering if a fresh A+ install would help.

 

Thanks again for your time and assistance. I really appreciate it.

 

Martin