Unable to bounce mp3 using L.A.M.E as well as bouncing movie

[Tomas E]

Now I've been haunting the MOTU Tech Support with two issues that don't seem to have a solution.

1. DP 10.11 quits if I try to either export a soundbite as mp3 using L.A.M.E, or bouncing it.

2. The same goes for bouncing a movie.

The only thing the two methods have in common is that both of them is accomplished within DPs environment. That is if I select to export as wave or aiff the task is completed by clicking the OK-button in a Windows Explorer window. Exporting as mp3 takes you back to DP for selecting the appropriate format in L.A.M.E for instance.

The only way as I see it is to uninstall everything but Windows and DP 10.11 with necessary audio stuff and then install my other apps one by one until this starts again. If it does.

I had both issues in DP 9.52 too.

Has anyone else experienced this?

[mikehalloran]

Is this version of LAME installed by DP or you?

I'm on a Mac but I find DP way too slow when converting to mp3. There are plenty of mp3 converters out there including iTunes for Windows. All the ones I found are faster than DP.

[HCMarkus]

iTunes

+1

First set up preferences for a nice high quality MP3. Then Simple Drag & Drop and Convert (at least on a Mac).

[Tomas E]

Is this version of LAME installed by DP or you?

I'm on a Mac but I find DP way too slow when converting to mp3. There are plenty of mp3 converters out there including iTunes for Windows. All the ones I found are faster than DP.

It's installed by the DP installer.

AAC is from what I can see the only format available in the Windows version of iTunes. I often used DP and LAME on Mac when converting DP audio files. Haven't thought of it as being slow. I have downloaded a different mp3 converter so I'm not stuck, but it still would be interesting to know why this happens. According to MOTU they have not heard about this issue from anyone else. So after a lot of help from them and trial and error from my side they say there must be some sort of handshake not taking place, specific for my computer that is.

The same strange behavior goes as I said for bouncing a movie. It just quits when executing the command. Instead I make the exports from PowerDirector after I've adjusted the length of the audio file, normalizing and so on in DP.

In DP 9.52 I at least got a message saying:

Digital Performer has encountered an error

Mas, 0 error reported by Windows Video Export Plugin

The video exporter cannot complete the export [-1]

In DP 10 no message shows up, it just quits, but I think it's the same issue.

[HCMarkus]

In the iTunes app on your PC, choose Edit > Preferences, then click General.
Click Import Settings.
In the Import Using pop-up menu, choose the format you want to convert songs to, then click OK to save the settings.
Select one or more songs in your library, then choose File > Convert > Create [format] Version.

[Tomas E]

In the iTunes app on your PC, choose Edit > Preferences, then click General.
Click Import Settings.
In the Import Using pop-up menu, choose the format you want to convert songs to, then click OK to save the settings.
Select one or more songs in your library, then choose File > Convert > Create [format] Version.

Thanks!

[HCMarkus]

You're Welcome!

[Tomas E]

If I export to C: it works. I haven't yet tried bouncing a movie but that should work too. Does anyone have an idea of why it's not working when exporting to D: ?

(Usually they reply right after one has marked a tech link as resolved, but I guess they have better things to do at the moment.)

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I had BTD issues that were driving me nuys a while back. It ended up that the VST version of the PSP Xenon plug was causing the crash. You might try bouncing in a clean project with NO 3rd party plugs and see if that goes well. If it does, then I'd start adding the ones you use (one at a time) and see if that helps.

Anyone remember Conflict Catcher for Mac os 7 (or thereabout)? lol

[monkey man]

Whilst Sir Markus' iTunes solution is fine in-a-pinch, I always recommend using L.A.M.E. instead.

You can download Audacity for free and use that; IIRC the L.A.M.E. installer may be a separate download linked to at the site.

The difference in quality between the latter approach and iTunes is like night and day to me. I spoke about this in some detail here several years ago, but the bottom line is that I feel Apple has obviously compromised even its highest-quality rendering in the name of customer convenience - ie, conversion time.

Whereas Audacity might take 30 seconds for short file at 320k CBR true stereo (best settings for MP3 rendering), iTunes might have it done in 5 seconds with the same settings.

Complex music quickly reveals the differences. Transient smearing and a lack of high-frequency definition characterise the iTunes versions IMHO, and it's obvious-enough that I went through my iTunes library years ago and reconverted, where I still had the original CD's, everything I'd previously used iTunes for.

Saying all this in case the conversion quality really matters in your situation, Tomas.

[Tomas E]

You might try bouncing in a clean project with NO 3rd party plugs and see if that goes well. If it does, then I'd start adding the ones you use (one at a time) and see if that helps.

By advice from MOTU I've tried:
Safe mode
Creating a new fresh project and loading sequences etc into it
Deleting the preferences
https://motu.com/techsupport/technotes/ ... 20Glitches

[Tomas E]

Whilst Sir Markus' iTunes solution is fine in-a-pinch, I always recommend using L.A.M.E. instead.

You can download Audacity for free and use that; IIRC the L.A.M.E. installer may be a separate download linked to at the site.

The difference in quality between the latter approach and iTunes is like night and day to me. I spoke about this in some detail here several years ago, but the bottom line is that I feel Apple has obviously compromised even its highest-quality rendering in the name of customer convenience - ie, conversion time.

Whereas Audacity might take 30 seconds for short file at 320k CBR true stereo (best settings for MP3 rendering), iTunes might have it done in 5 seconds with the same settings.

Complex music quickly reveals the differences. Transient smearing and a lack of high-frequency definition characterise the iTunes versions IMHO, and it's obvious-enough that I went through my iTunes library years ago and reconverted, where I still had the original CD's, everything I'd previously used iTunes for.

Saying all this in case the conversion quality really matters in your situation, Tomas.

So that's the reason for why converting was so fast that I thought it hadn't taken place at all!

I actually already have Audacity installed, but for the time being I think I'll stick to LAME within DP and C: .

Thanks however for the tip!

[monkey man]

No worries, Brother Tomas.

Obviously the quality from Audacity using L.A.M.E. is the same as from DP, so if you ever need to convert something it saves firing DP up. Skinnier app for, in this case, a skinny purpose.