Some Volume Normalize inconsistencies (Mac version)

[PhS]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

"thank you", but sorry I had thought that a forum such as that of dBpoweramp would find a solution!
However, I note that there are very, very few people within the "dBpoweramp" guru group want to gain into PROBLEM!
Thank you "garym" for your courage.
Note: I would like to mention that the problems both the conversion with "Batch" as with "Music Converter" are completely identical => here I really think that in the software version of dBpoweramp "Mac" is not in order!
I am very dessapointed!

[mville]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

"thank you", but sorry I had thought that a forum such as that of dBpoweramp would find a solution!
However, I note that there are very, very few people within the "dBpoweramp" guru group want to gain into PROBLEM!
Thank you "garym" for your courage.
Note: I would like to mention that the problems both the conversion with "Batch" as with "Music Converter" are completely identical => here I really think that in the software version of dBpoweramp "Mac" is not in order!
I am very dessapointed!

I would like to help but I don't have the Mac version of dBpoweramp Music Converter, so have no way of testing these issues. I expect that currently, there are not that many experienced dBpoweramp users running on the Apple platform.

Having read this thread however, what I would suggest is this:
If you must convert mp3 to mp3, I'd first go back to basics and try to convert a small number of albums to your local drive with your desired mp3 encoder settings, naming conventions and no DSPs.

Once you are able to convert to your local drive satisfactorily, then you can introduce the DSPs. Then, when the conversion to local drive with DSPs is working satisfactorily, then you can try converting over your network to your Synology server.

This type of systematic approach will help troubleshoot and may highlight where the problems you are having are introduced.

[PhS]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

Hi mville,

many, many thanks for your input.
I have done the following tests:
- Small quantity albums mp3 to mp3 (Lame) no DSP enabled, all conversions directly on iMac (not via Synology) => no errors
- Greater quantity albums mp3 to mp3 (Lame) no DSP enabled, all convertions directly on iMac (not via Synology) => no errors
- Same larger amount albums mp3 to mp3 (Lame) DSP "Volume Normalize" enabled, all convertions directly on iMac (not via Synology) => DIFFERENT SONGS WERE WRONG written (two times the same song under a different name songs)

About the stability of the volume, I can not say anything yet, but there is OBVIOUS here FAILURE IN THE iMAC SOFTWARE! and the error is detectably => honesty I expected after my report problems that his basic test would be done by the dBpoweramp developers oud GURU's!

[mville]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

I have done the following tests:
- Small quantity albums mp3 to mp3 (Lame) no DSP enabled, all conversions directly on iMac (not via Synology) => no errors
- Greater quantity albums mp3 to mp3 (Lame) no DSP enabled, all convertions directly on iMac (not via Synology) => no errors
- Same larger amount albums mp3 to mp3 (Lame) DSP "Volume Normalize" enabled, all convertions directly on iMac (not via Synology) => DIFFERENT SONGS WERE WRONG written (two times the same song under a different name songs)

Sorry, I don't understand the result you get from last test, with the Volume Normalize DSP. Can you describe again, maybe with a screenshot, what is going wrong?

[PhS]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

the errors after converting with DSP Volume Normalizer are:
example:
song number N, song name: ABC
song number: N + 1, song name: DEF
the song written under song name DEF is exactly the same as the song ABC
PS this error stands not alone, many songs were written wrong
About the quality of the "Volume Normalize", I didn't listed yet, but in my previous conversions (who are identical as the last trail) there were many instabilities, so I suspect that this will be so.

Is the problem now better to understand?

[mville]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

the errors after converting with DSP Volume Normalizer are:
example:
song number N, song name: ABC
song number: N + 1, song name: DEF
the song written under song name DEF is exactly the same as the song ABC
PS this error stands not alone, many songs were written wrong
About the quality of the "Volume Normalize", I didn't listed yet, but in my previous conversions (who are identical as the last trail) there were many instabilities, so I suspect that this will be so.

Is the problem now better to understand?

Yes, thanks for the info. It looks from what you have posted that there's a bug when using the Volume Normalize DSP.

Maybe someone else (mac user) would like to confirm this (odd) behaviour?

[PeterP]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

PhS,

Thank you for your patience and your bug reports. The problem is being investigated. We're very sorry that our software is not living up to your expectations.

[PhS]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

Hallo PeterP,

Thanks for your replay.
My I ask you how is the procedure now?
regards,

[PeterP]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

PhS,

I'd like to know some more about your iMac's configuration:
What OSX version are you using? Latest (OSX El Capitan) or older?
Is there anything uncommon about its configuration - in particular about where it puts its temporary files?

From the looks of it, dBpoweramp gets confused while creating temp files with intermediate conversion data; data from multiple songs ends being written into the same file - while it should go into separate files. However I have no idea how that is possible - in Unix terms, we open temporary files with O_CREAT | O_EXCL, so we should not open the same file twice, but what you're experiencing suggests otherwise.

[PeterP]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

New beta posted:

https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?37203-dBpoweramp-for-OSX-R15-4-beta

An attempt to mitigate this bug has been added, please install and tell me if it's any better than the previous version you've been using.
If nothing else helps, it might help to go to Configuration dialog and manually specify a folder for temporary files (as temporary files are essential for Volume Normalization DSP) - this normally should not be needed, but might help since we seem to be having trouble accessing your default temporary file location.

[PhS]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

again apologize for my late reply.
I dawn loaded the Beta version. As a first test I converted the same songs as the my last test, with many failures were identified. The result after the new conversion is positive!
There were no false written songs. Note I did the conversion from an Mac directory to an other Mac directory
I will make some additional tests in the coming days. The aim is not to find mistakes when writing the songs on the Synology server. I will inform you.
Question: The software changes do they also have an impact on the DSP "Volume Normalize"?

Answer to your questions: OSX version: El Capitan
There is nothing uncommon in my configuration, I use the pc for standard operations such as Office, adobe photoshop. I do not use the pc for games.

[PeterP]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

Thanks for confirming.

The bug you were experiencing was related to temporary file handling in dBpoweramp in general. Volume Normalize required each whole song to be decoded to a temporary file before proceeding; many other DSPs also do this and from the looks of it you'd experience the same if you tried to use them.

In the latest beta, there should be no effective changes in Volume Normalize behavior other than this bug fix.

[PhS]

Re: problems after converting - Volume Normalization- of mp3 songs (iMac)

meanwhile I have several songs converted checked for any errors and I have not detected any errors.

The changes in the beta version have solved the problem.

Many thanks and a I wish dBpoweramp team a happy New Year