flac is now unlistenable

[jkrzok]

The new flac plugin produces a constant crackling noise that makes any flac file unlistenable. I upgraded QCD build 76 to the new plugin but left my 4.11 install alone. That version of QCD plays flac files perfectly.

[Paul]

Are you running DSPs? If so try the current Flac plugin without them enabled. I'm not saying the DSPs are adding distortion, but bad parameters from the Flag plugin could cause the DSPs to corrupt the data.

[Paul]

Did some more testing, it's not DSP related.
With what did you make your Flac files? Every one I have sounds fine.

[matty28carter]

My FLAC files sound normal as well, no crackling in B76.

[jkrzok]

It's related to the playback plugin, it seems. The CrossFading plugin sounds fine. The WaveOut plugin sounds the worst, with a constant crackling. The Simple DirectSound plugin is somewhere in-between with silences of a second or less in-between many seconds of uninterrupted playback.

I can't say how the files were created as I didn't create them. I can say that all the flac files I have are having problems with release 76, with the two playback plugins. I still have 4.11 with the older flac plugin installed and my flac files sound fine with whatever playback plugin I use. Flac sounds fine with the other players (Jet Audio, dbPoweramp player, Foobar) I have that play flac.

[Roj]

I can't say how the files were created as I didn't create them. I can say that all the flac files I have are having problems with release 76, with the two playback plugins. I still have 4.11 with the older flac plugin installed and my flac files sound fine with whatever playback plugin I use. Flac sounds fine with the other players (Jet Audio, dbPoweramp player, Foobar) I have that play flac.Definitely no problem playing back flac files of unknown origin here in terms of sound quality with BUILD 77 BUT...

I get a strange message between each and every track with the latest flac plugin:

"error while stopping decoding thread"

Don't know if this is QCD or Shaohao's plugin.

[Roj]

Definitely no problem playing back flac files of unknown origin here in terms of sound quality with BUILD 77 BUT...

I get a strange message between each and every track with the latest flac plugin:

"error while stopping decoding thread"

Don't know if this is QCD or Shaohao's plugin.
Forget this - it was Shaohao's plugin. I downloaded the latest last week and didn't realize there was an update.

Flawless flac playback here.

[matty28carter]

I keep getting the last 4 - 8 seconds chopped off the end of my .flac files with the latest plug-inhttp://quinnware.com/forum/images/emots/depressed.gif

[Paul]

Flac works now. I played with the waveout plugin's settings. I doubled the buffer length from its default of 2000ms to 4000ms. I moved the Prebuffering from 15% to 35%. Flac playback is flawless now.

But I'm still confused. I wanted to know what the minimum settings would be so I moved them back to their defaults. Flac play back is still flawless. I went so far as to restart QCD to be sure the new settings were in effect and still it works fine. If it ain't broke don't fix it I guess.
Good to hear. Is it now worth more than a rating of 0? Shaohao deserves some fair feedback for his work.

[jkrzok]

I deleted that post Paul quotes. No sooner did I post it than did the playback get choppy again. Playing with the buffer settings on the waveout plugin worked for a while, for multiple tracks. I thought life was good. Now I can even set the buffers at maximum and playback still suffers. If you look at my "Goings On" you'll see the Buffer max out to 100% only to drop to 0% and then start crackling. Condition states buffers below minimum, even when the buffer's at 100%.

It was working for a while but then broke again. I for the life of me can't think of anything I did that might have changed things. I stopped playback when I left the room and when I hit play my problems started again. I also tried changing my output device to no effect.

[Paul]

How does it fair with the DirectSound playback plugins?

[jkrzok]

When using Simple Directsound it's like the buffer bounces. It starts high and playback is fine. The buffer drops to a point where there's a skip in playback. The buffer then reloads and the cycle starts all over again. With WaveOut the buffer starts at 100%, drops to 0% and stays right around there (2-3% at most). Crossfading DirectSound sounds fine so far, but I've been known to be hasty in my judgements.

[Paul]

Hm, it's definitely not filling the buffers fast enough (should be instant).
Shaohao, drop me an email and we'll work this out.

[shaohao]

Hm, it's definitely not filling the buffers fast enough (should be instant).
Shaohao, drop me an email and we'll work this out.
Hi, Paul:
I've post my source code to web page of flac plug-in. You can download it and have a research.(you need the source code of flac to compile it).

to everyone:
I lost my original source code of flac, so this latest version is a rewrited version. There must be some bugs. Wish can be fixed soon.

[Paul]

Hi, Paul:
I've post my source code to web page of flac plug-in. You can download it and have a research.(you need the source code of flac to compile it).

to everyone:
I lost my original source code of flac, so this latest version is a rewrited version. There must be some bugs. Wish can be fixed soon.
Check your email on this.

[shaohao]

Hi, Paul:
I've found a bug in your CrossFading playback plug-in:
When playing a .flac file--if I check "Enable equalizer support" option, I'll got a chopping(replaying of the end of a track) when a new track is starting (all tracks in a whole .flac file).
Can you check it? WaveOut and Simply DX plug-in is OK.

About cutting of the end of a .flac file 3-8 seconds:
I also find the bug in your Monkey's plug-in when use CrossFading playback plug-in (WaveOut and Simple DX is OK). Please check the source-code of your QCDAPE.dll and update it, so I can update my flac plug-in as soon as I can.

[Paul]

Hi, Paul:
I've found a bug in your CrossFading playback plug-in:
When playing a .flac file--if I check "Enable equalizer support" option, I'll got a chopping(replaying of the end of a track) when a new track is starting (all tracks in a whole .flac file).
Can you check it? WaveOut and Simply DX plug-in is OK.
I think this is symptomatic of the real problem which is the flac plugin doesnt decode fast enough to completely fill the playback buffers. Have you taken out the extra Sleep(10) from the decoder loop?


About cutting of the end of a .flac file 3-8 seconds:
I also find the bug in your Monkey's plug-in when use CrossFading playback plug-in (WaveOut and Simple DX is OK). Please check the source-code of your QCDAPE.dll and update it, so I can update my flac plug-in as soon as I can.
I'll have a check. Also, I will make a point of posting a proper QCD plugin to use as a base for other plugins. APE was a port from winamp src and quite frankly, any winamp plugin src I've ever seen is a sorry bunch of code.

[shaohao]

I think this is symptomatic of the real problem which is the flac plugin doesnt decode fast enough to completely fill the playback buffers. Have you taken out the extra Sleep(10) from the decoder loop?
I've remove the Sleep(10), but it still wrong!!
Why Simple DX is OK? Its buffer is different from Crossfading's ?

I'll have a check. Also, I will make a point of posting a proper QCD plugin to use as a base for other plugins. APE was a port from winamp src and quite frankly, any winamp plugin src I've ever seen is a sorry bunch of code.
Waiting for it...

[Roj]

I've remove the Sleep(10), but it still wrong!!
Why Simple DX is OK? Its buffer is different from Crossfading's ?


Waiting for it...Things still on target for this evening (Thursday launch)?

T Minus 11 and counting...

[hedge]

Things still on target for this evening (Thursday launch)?

T Minus 11 and counting...
Hehe, its already 10 pm here in aus... gotta love that time zone difference (like 14 hours :shocked: )

[Roj]

Hehe, its already 10 pm here in aus... gotta love that time zone difference (like 14 hours :shocked: )
It's getting awful close to zero hour and the silence is deafening.

Here's hoping...