Cant play 24bit files. Why?

[supster]

i produce music on a WinXP SP2 system with both an M-Audio 24/96 PCI card and a TASCAM US-122 USB 24/96 interface installed.

i'm having a problem in that none of the 24bit / 44khz wav or aiff files on my system will play outside of my DAW. in dbPoweramp nothing happens: no output, the file displays as 44khz but the bitrate is blank.

i have WMP 10 installed so i believe this installs the proper codec automatically. also, ive tried installing all the wav related codecs available on this site

no particular problems with either interface and i push my studio to the limits.

what is going on? anyone?

[ChristinaS]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

WMP 10 doesn't play your wav files either?

What happens if you use dMC for one of those run dMC and select as a codec "test conversion"?

[supster]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

hi,

when i right click on at 24/44 wav file and use "test conversion" nothing happens at all. ie. it processes - says its converting - but nothing happens, no results screen, no change in the file

are we supposed to get a results screen?

if i try and convert the file to anything else but a 16/44 wav file, i get an error

"the CODEC required to compress [filename] could not be opened"

?

[xoas]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

The only results screen you will get is that the window which shows the progress of the conversion will say Finished, you will see data about the conversion speed. This is if the test conversion is successful.
Generally, if the test conversion is not successful you will see an error message.
If the test conversion hangs (I have not run into this) then the slider bar will not advance (towards finished) beyond a particular point and you will not achieve a finished conversion.

BTW, in your first post you mentionned you could not open this file except in DAW. I am unfamiliar with what you mean by DAW. Could you fill me in?

Best wishes,
Bill

[Spoon]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

Does the file have unicode characters in the name?

[supster]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

in your first post you mentionned you could not open this file except in DAW. I am unfamiliar with what you mean by DAW. Could you fill me in?

a DAW is "digital audio workstation" which is a generic term for an audio/MIDI sequencing program like Cubase, Logic, Protools, or Ableton Live. I use Ableton Live.

from inside Live - no problem playing any 24 bit files ... in fact ... its the primary format i produce all my music in.

I use dbpoweramp converter to do my final conversion to 16 bit, MP3 and other formats, after i render my completed tracks and song to a 24 bit / 44khz format inside Live.

as do a lot of other music producers - your program has a good reputation and is recommened by a lot of people

here's the error i recieve in WMP when i try and play a 24 bit 44k file:

--
"Windows Media Player Error Message Help

You've encountered error message C00D10D1 while using Windows Media Player. The following information might help you troubleshoot the issue.

Codec is missing
Windows Media Player cannot play the file (or cannot play either the audio or video portion of the file) because a required codec is not installed on your computer"
--

following microsofts trail to find a replacement codec leads nowhere:

--

Unavailable Item
The codec you are missing is not available for download from this site. You might be able to find it on another site by searching the Web for "1" (this is the WaveFormat or FourCC identifier of the codec).

--

you guys have to be the codec experts what is going on with my system?? this is one of those evil microsoft catch 22 scenarios no doubt

[supster]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

Does the file have unicode characters in the name?

spoon, this is any 24bit / 44khz file regardless of filename.
.

[LtData]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

What about the path to the file? Does it contain any Unicode characters?

[Spoon]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

Try installing my Audio Player (you can always uninstall it later), it could be that WMP is not 24 bit capable.

>"Web for "1" (this is the WaveFormat or FourCC identifier of the codec)."

1 is Wave_Format_PCM - ie uncompressed audio, everything should play it. Try iTunes...

[supster]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

Try installing my Audio Player (you can always uninstall it later), it could be that WMP is not 24 bit capable.

>"Web for "1" (this is the WaveFormat or FourCC identifier of the codec)."

1 is Wave_Format_PCM - ie uncompressed audio, everything should play it. Try iTunes...

sorry, thought i stated that in my original post:

i did install the dbpoweramp player, it wont play the files either.

the frequency field shows up as 44khz; the bitrate field is blank.

as far as i know - Windows Media Player is responsible for installing the proper codec to play most files. So if WMP doesnt install it, no other Windows player will find the codec unless you install it seperately

is this true?
/
.

[LtData]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

Not necessarily. While it is true that most codecs that are installed for WMP might work in other players, that is only if they look for DirectShow codecs. Other Windows players, such as iTunes or Winamp, use their own codecs.

[supster]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

Not necessarily. While it is true that most codecs that are installed for WMP might work in other players, that is only if they look for DirectShow codecs. Other Windows players, such as iTunes or Winamp, use their own codecs.

so then the dbpoweramp player uses DirectShow? because its not playing the files.

and if this is DirectShow - and the proper codec is either corrupt or not there - how do i fix it?

ive rolled back WMP 10 to vs 9 and reinstalled 10 a few times .. no result .. how do i get the proper codec back into my system without completely reformatting my drive and reinstalling Windows?
./

[ChristinaS]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

Is the 24-bit file you create from DAW a wav file? You create that by an audio mix down function or an export to wav?

What is the file extension?

Is the sound card on your computer a 24-bit soundcard, or is it 16-bit?

Have you tried to generate 16-bit wav files instead of 24-bit wav files from DAW? Is it possible? It should be, but then again, who knows.

I have Logic, and I have never been ableto produce a wav file from it when using it to create midi. It produces LSO files which it alone can play. Perhaps I'm missing a module for the audio mixdown - or I've simply not run into the right function, as it's very confusing. Or maybe that audio mixdown comes into play once I have audio tracks defined too, rather than just midi. Haven't tried, as we have a different system for recording audio. Anwyay, I can't make wav out of it. So I play the LSO file in Logic and record to 16-bit wav using dMC Auxilairy Input.

[supster]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

>> Is the 24-bit file you create from DAW a wav file? You create that by an audio mix down function or an export to wav?

yes, its a standard PCM 24bit/44khz wav file.

its not just audio that i render from my projects, its any 24/44 pcm wav file that wont play.

this is the problem: i have thousands of drum samples i'm trying to quickly audition and categorize. many of these are distributed in 24bit format.

so this is the main project i cant do unless i solve this problem. which has been going on for a while now ... nobody seems to know how to fix it.

>> Is the sound card on your computer a 24-bit soundcard, or is it 16-bit?

i have two soundcards, both well known common interfaces with 24/96 capabilities, no real problems to speak of

>> Have you tried to generate 16-bit wav files instead of 24-bit wav files from DAW? Is it possible? It should be, but then again, who knows.

yes 16 bit renders play fine. but it doesnt solve the problem of auditioning these 24 bit drum samples, which is the main reason i need to fix this. its a basic issue in building drum kits and making use of what i have

i also have client projects that are kind of depending on me being able to fix this ridiculous problem

im pretty sure that

a) this is a result of Windows controlling my codecs

b) its somehow related to DirectX and Media Player

anyone that can shed light on how all this works, much appreciated ....

>> I have Logic, and I have never been ableto produce a wav file from it when using it to create midi.

yeah, i dont use Logic but have friends that do, it can be very confusing in how you set up projects and render things. i have a friend i can ask about this next time i talk to him, im sure he can help you do it
.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Cant play 24bit files. Why?

All I can think of is go to check in Control Panel > Sounds and Audio devices and painstaking check all teh informaion that seems remotely related to your soundcard. You might need to update drivers to. Somewhere in there you also have all your audio codecs listed. See if anyhting doesn't look quite right.

Another palce (which probably takes you to the same information) is Control Panel > Syetem> Hardware > Device manager and look at Sound, video and game controllers and again focus on anything to do with yoour sound card and audio codecs.

Finally your sound card may come with its own program for diagnostics and tuning that may help set it up correctly in case something is disabled.