problem with crossfading

[linefarmer]

hello,
when i use dap, and i click on crossfading he doesn`t work.
5,10,15,60, minutes it makes no sence.
What is wrong??

Rene

[Spoon]

It is in seconds, so 5 or 10 seconds before the end of a track the next tack fades in, but for this to work your sound card must be able to play 2 streams.

[linefarmer]

i have 2 computers, 1 xp and 1 me. On the xp computer DAP works good (crossfading) on the win ME computer crossfading doesn`t working.
The soundcard on ME is a live card drive II. My DAP is a registered version.
I have a another mixer named Tplayer. Crossfading on this mixer works properly.

Rene

[Spoon]

I bet the other machine cannot do 2 streams (TPlayer must do it another way), try opening 2 ound records - load 2 wave files and try to play them together.

[linefarmer]

nope. the player plays 2 records (mp3 and wave) the same time.
I have also used winamp with crossfading, and this program works good.

[BestRip]

I have noticed a few differences in how dAP and WinAmp work.
There is a longer sound overlap in WA for a shorter number of seconds entered. WA appears to start the new track sound directly as the fade period starts, while dAP doesn't until quite a good part of the first half of the fade period has passed. Setting the fade to a longer 15 - 20 seconds should make it rather clear to hear if it is working at all, but it may appear more like a fade out and then a fade in compared to WA.
There is another big difference and that is when using skip to next track WA will apply crossfade but dAP will not, an item for the wish list perhaps. I would like it

[Spoon]

Perhaps your sound card take a while to open the next stream, try Options Menu >> Amp and select the other Output to method.

[BestRip]

I have been using Wave Out and tried now the DirectX module with no change.
There is a huge difference in how WA handles crossfade on my computer. In most tracks there is a natural fade out at the end and playing these there will appear to be no overlap at all in dAP, even a short paus in the sound output can often be experienced.
I can play dAP, WinAmp 2.81 AND WinAmp 3 at the same time (sounds very confusing:happy:, awful really, but it works) so there should not be a problem with multi...

[Spoon]

Try this - set the crossfade length to 10 seconds, now play a track and skip to the last 30 seconds, when 10 seconds is reached the name of the track playing should change to the new track and it should count up as though playing, does it and does it do it at T-10?

[BestRip]

Yes that is the way it works,
at 10 sec remaining track title switches and slider changes back to 0. Starting to count up from 0 on the new track the previous track is fading down for about 5 sec. After these first 5 sec of the overlap time the prev track is barely audible and THEN the new track will start being audible 5 - 6 sec in from its actual starting point.
In practice the effect is slightly varying depending on the music material but will mainly be experienced as an added fade out and then fade in cutting out some of the end and some of the beginning of each tune with a moment of silence or near silence in between.
If set to a longer period (20 - 30 sec) there is definitely a certain period of being able to hear both tunes, but it's not longer than about 15 - 20 sec or so (on a 30 sec setting). No period of silence but a rather much lower total volume - guessing about down to half. This setting does cut out rather much of the music material and I find it more annoying than enjoyable. This is how it is working on my computer.

WA with about 2-4 sec for using skip is a nice effect but the actual xover then takes about twice that time. When just listening this setting is too small due to the fact that most tunes fade in and fade out with longer times than this. WA has an oddity here; it sometimes doesn't fade in and out well when using a high setting (10 sec or above).

I think xover would possibly be perceived as well functioning under these conditions:
Fade in next track up to almost 100% volume before fade out current track.
Skip and prev. played should employ xfade when activated or some would say there is no xfade. Perhaps this setting could be half (or even less) of the entered set value since it is a user-determined action (response desired now) and in the middle of a track where there is a high volume (no need to cut out a long ending - or thread reply:happy: ).
Well, mostly a lot of guesswork, I hope of some use.

[Spoon]

Originally it was like this (faded new in 100% before fading old out), however I found listening to many tracks it was iratating having the two tracks at 100% because the beats did not match.

[BestRip]

There is a natural problem with the xfade being that it doesn't suite all types of music equally well and probably is even worse when listening to a wide mix that can easily be the case if using random play on the whole music collection. Having a very narrow music taste helps here:rolleyes: .
I think that the actual switching over length should be kept rather short even if the length of crossfade time is set longer, to avoid the irritating double tune/beat feel. For example setting time 0 - 60 sec could equal actual switch time (both tracks audible) 0(?) - 6 sec or something similar. The excess time is then cutoff time from end and start of the tracks?

A funny thing on DirectX on my computer: the volume control doesn't work well with it. It has almost no volume increase until around 80 - 90% of the slider position, then it all comes in the last few steps. Something wrong or is this how DirectX works?

[Spoon]

DirectX is odd on its volume, I could log the value so it comes in more at the beginning, I shall do that...

[linefarmer]

thx spoon and bestrip, thx for the information. My output selector was standing on wave out. Then the crossfader don`t work. I put the selector on directx and the crossfader works!!!

:supersmil thanks,

rene