Itunes Sound Check for Winamp

[unconnected]

I have read about work arounds for this feature in Winamp.

This is just a formal suggestion to add the Itunes Sound check functionality as a built in feature (possibly passing Sound Check info when copying files to a connected IPod via Winamp Portables).

thanks,

Greg.

[DJ Egg]

"The Itunes Sound check functionality"?
What is it? What does it do? What is it for?

[unconnected]

The Itunes Sound Check feature scans audio files and finds each track's peak volume level.

Itunes then uses this peak volume information to level the playing volume of tracks such that they have the same peak volume.

This essentially achieves the following results:
- All tracks play at the same volume so switching from say Vivaldi to Metaliica to doesn't leave you deaf in both ears.
- Doesn't effect the troughs and peaks in the tune itself (it just adjusts the volume at track start to be in line with the other tracks, so the track audio quality is not effected).

I'm sure some other users can describe this functionality better but that's essentially it.

Also, Apple IPods support the Sound Check meta data passed to it by Itunes and use it if it is available (and the option is enable on the Ipod).

Hope this helps.

Greg.

[DJ Egg]

So basically it's the same as:
"Replay Gain / Auto Normalization built in"
which is already referenced in the Wishlist sticky.

[unconnected]

Missed it there.
Apologies, you can archive this thread if you like.

However, i'll still hold onto the suggestion to keep the meta data formats the same as Itunes rather than developing a new one (For Ipod sync and all that).

[dvhh]

but is it compatible with streaming mp3 (say over http)
would users like the greater delay due to full scan ( thus downloading the full file before playing anything )

[CraigF]

@dvhh
In the "standard" method, the replaygain data can be stored in the tag, whatever that may be. That way analysis would only be required once. Obviously in this instance, the tag would be part of the content streamed.

@unconnected
As far as keeping meta-data the same, what meta-data? The tag formats are standardised, ID3 has been around for years. MP4 is also a fairly established standard, although random bastardisations exist, which winamp has been guilty of in the past.

You're going to clarify what you mean before I can comment further.

[peaceofcake]

It might be a good idea to keep such info separate from the files, since doing otherwise forces many devices to play the modified sound. Just decoding the file should, IMO, reproduce the original compressed audio without any volume changes. By having Winamp manage the data with the ML (which I assume most people use nowadays) it could select the appropriate way of signaling volume changes per device or mode of playback. So if I'd syncing to an ipod, the ipod plugin would read the volume changes from the ml and write the appropriate info to the files as it copies them over. If the 'outpute device' was a general purpose file-decoder such as another media player, or someone else's computer recieving a file in an email, you could select to have the volume data written to the file like mp3gain does.

I bet it would be too complicated to do, what with all the other things that need to be done with Winamp, but it's just an idea. I'm a big fan of preserving original media and doing modifications on the fly, which is why I think a database would be perfect. It could also store cutoff points, lyrics, and other stuff as well.

[BlahBlahBlahArg]

YES YES YES YES!!!!! I was about to start a thread about this same thing here. PLEASE include this feature in winamp it's so anoying when im crankin out da beatz and playing a game at the same time and winamp starts playing a song which has very very low/high volume. This feature would be realy usefull!

[jtbse]

Not to be contrary, but IMHO, I would disagree with a couple of the other posts on this thread. While I agree that having WinAmp support builtin volume normalization would be a great feature, I don't think NullSoft should reinvent the wheel to do it.

I would be opposed to doing it the iTunes way, because it's just that.....Apple, proprietary, and nobody else supports it.

I think simple support of ReplayGain tags a la Foobar, SlimServer, and many others...is the way to go here. It's become something of a de facto standard AFAIK, and for those of us who appreciate WinAmp as one of many means to enjoy our music, compatibility is most desireable.

Respectfully....

[CraigF]

The wishlist specifically states replaygain, and portions of winamp already support that (in_vorbis)

[Brad Eleven]

NO SOUNDCHECK

After trying SoundCheck in iTunes and realizing too late that it had altered every MP3 file that I'd let iTunes see, I guess it's OK to offer something like that, but PLEASE don't make it a default.

[Rocker]

its not default but all nullsoft supported formats have replaygain now.

its safe to use and works great. if you don't like it turn it off again.

[flocksoft]

ReplayGain (calculated in Winamp and foobar2000), SoundCheck (calculated in iTunes) are reversible; ReplayGain calculated with mp3Gain not (at least, with Undo option disabled)

with mp3Tag (freeware) removing the right fields in the tags removes ReplayGain/SoundCheck
- fields for Winamp/foobar2000:
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK
REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK
REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN
- fields for iTunes
COMMENT ITUNNORM

useful links:
- http://replaygain.hydrogenaudio.org/
- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61655