Audirvana Studio

[Russell_L]

Will it have the ability to have multiple libraries (NOT using them at the same time)?  In iTunes/Apple Music, there’s an option to select which library you want to use upon launch of the app. AFAIK, you can’t do this with 3.5 (not easily, at least) and it would be great if this feature were in Studio.

[Russell_L]

5 hours ago, Jud said:

Damien has said in the Audirvana community forum that he will provide  user control over whether AS adds the MusicBrainz ID to file metadata.

I saw that post too, so it gives me hope.  I've refrained from installing AS so far, as I don't want it adding metadata to my files (about 6TB worth). Once we're given a choice as to whether this happens or not, I'll take the plunge.

[Russell_L]

Apologies if this has been covered already, but I’ve just installed AS for the first time (v1.4) a couple of days ago, and suddenly it's showing duplicate tracks for most of my albums.  Furthermore, most of these duplicates (but not all) have different entries in the “artist” field, usually *in addition* to what I’ve meticulously entered previously.  Take the following as an example:

 

 

In this instance, the “Artist” was previously entered as “Reiner/CS”.  AS not only duplicated the tracks, but it also added “Sidney Harth (Violin), Fritz Reinter (sic), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Fritz Reiner," to what I had previously entered.  This extra info is obviously coming from an outside music database (Musicbrainz?) and I DON’T WANT IT!!!

 

Other albums show differing combos of artist metadata, alternating with my own and/or from the outside.  Some even show the WRONG artists!

 

FWIW, the “Save recovered track ID in your local files metadata” in Preferences is set to OFF.

 

This was not a problem at all with v3.5 and earlier.

 

Also, these issues did not show up until the second day or so of me using AS.  When I first installed the program, everything seemed OK (though I noticed a few—just a few—duplicated tracks while spot-checking).  On the second day, AFTER it had seemingly finished “analyzing” my files, it started analyzing all over again, which I think has led to the duplicate tracks and extra metadata.

 

Any way to fix this?  Thanks.

[Russell_L]

54 minutes ago, couchfungus said:

 

Is this the preference option labeled "Save recovered track ID in your local audio files metadata"?  I saw that option, but it was not clear to me what it was doing. Maybe that's a bad translation from French.  In any case, I did not turn it on, so perhaps this is why I am not seeing mods to my files.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I believe it is. As I’ve recently discovered, it seems that only the “Artist” field (as opposed to “Album Artist”) is affected in that it appends the MusicBrainz metadata to whatever you’ve already entered in that field.  It doesn’t modify your music files (unless you select this option), only its own .SQLite database. Trouble is, there’s no way to have it NOT display this extra metadata as far as I’ve been able to determine. Many of us here have taken great pains to ensure that our self-entered metadata is in a consistent and specific format, and the MusicBrainz Info is anything but. And it’s even been downright wrong on occasion. In addition, I have albums by a single artist where only some of tracks have this added metadata while the others are unchanged.  It would be really nice if Damien incorporated the option to not display this in future iterations of AS. (I hope he’s reading this thread!)

[Russell_L]

12 minutes ago, bnbayer said:

Studio hasn't successfully played my DSD256 files. They start (and sound great!), but then you get a short drop-out. Then another. Then a longer one. Then it stops altogether - actually, the counter says it's still playing, but no sound comes out. If you don't stop it, sound may appear again - briefly - after a few minutes, but quickly stops again.

 

2014 iMac Intel i5, 8 GB (about 6 for buffering in Studio). Local files, wired Ethernet, no other apps running.

 

This used to happen with me regularly with 3.5, but after reducing the "Max memory allocated for tracks pre-load" (in Preferences) to about 3000 MB, the drop-outs went away.  (I had previously set this much higher but the dropouts still occurred; seems counterintuitive that a lower setting would work better.)  This setting carried over to AS when I installed it, so my DSD25 files still play without hiccups.

[Russell_L]

Installed the 1.5 update (macOS) yesterday, and it seems that an old problem has returned: when scrolling in "Albums" view and clicking an album (to view its contents or whatever) and then clicking the back arrow to return to Albums view, the page goes back to the top instead of back to where you had left off.  Damien, please fix!

[Russell_L]

3 hours ago, RunHomeSlow said:

 

Mine come back where i was... Catalina 10.15.7

 

I'm on Big Sur 11.4.  Sigh...........

[Russell_L]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

Regarding metadata, I recognize that many users have various good reasons for not wanting anything added or displayed other than their own methods. So the following should not be taken as advice, but simply a possible alternative for those who would like to and are able to use it.

 

I have my albums organized into folders. I might have a symphony recording in the Beethoven folder, but might have a Sudbin recording of Beethoven under the artist's name, because that is how I remember and can find them. I then use Audio File Location as the first sorting criterion for albums and tracks in AS. So no matter what metadata is added or displayed, I can find albums and artists according to the way I've organized them.

 

Of course many people have long since organized their own collections differently and won't be able to use this method, but for anyone who is able to and would like to, there it is.

 

Interesting way of filing, Jud--thanks!  All of my PCM files are in Apple Music (formerly iTunes), which, using the "Grouping" category, organizes everything nicely for me.  My DSD files (which Apple Music doesn't handle) are in separate folders by album. I utilize the "grouping" category for them as well, so that everything combines (almost) nicely in AS.  I have no problem finding anything in AS, even if the Artist metadata is messed up, mainly because it's all sorted using the "grouping" category.  So....it's mainly an aesthetic thing for me not liking the MusicBrainz info added by AS. As I mentioned earlier, it's extra info that I don't want/need, and it's sometimes wrong.  But, as long as it's not actually being added to the music files, I can live with it and just ignore it.  (But I still wish that we had the option of not having it displayed at all!)

[Russell_L]

4 hours ago, Russell_L said:

Installed the 1.5 update (macOS) yesterday, and it seems that an old problem has returned: when scrolling in "Albums" view and clicking an album (to view its contents or whatever) and then clicking the back arrow to return to Albums view, the page goes back to the top instead of back to where you had left off.  Damien, please fix!

Now it’s not doing it—it’s behaving as it should. Coincidentally, it has just finished “analyzing” my files, so maybe that had something to do with it?  Anyway, I withdraw my complaint!

[Russell_L]

This is a pretty egregious example.  But as I mentioned earlier, while this is really aggravating, it's really just an aesthetic thing for me, as I have no difficulty finding anything I want to play and I know who the artists are.  Nevertheless, I hope Damien implements an option to NOT display the added MusicBrainz metadata (or just not have it "analyze" the files altogether).

[Russell_L]

7 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Thank you, this post convinces me not to bother with Studio, like you , metadata is corrected for every album, if the data is overwritten by the player software, there's more work to correct which it shouldn't have been in the first place.

 

There's no metadata to "correct", as the new info does not overwrite your local music files (unless you change the appropriate setting in Preferences).

[Russell_L]

I would down-convert the file to 176.4/24, which should play just fine. I use XLD (macOS freeware) for this purpose.

[Russell_L]

2 hours ago, jas said:

Thanks, I have XLD; guess I guess I need to dig deeper to learn how to down-convert.

It’s very simple: in XLD Preferences, just selected the desired sample rate under “output format > options”, and then open the files in XLD. (You can drop the whole folder containing the files over the XLD icon, which will then automatically launch the program.)