Topics

1

Tips and Tricks / Fix to make MusicBee remote working again under Win10

« on: August 03, 2022, 08:01:53 AM »

I think after a few Windows updates the rights in the Firewall were not correctly anymore.

The MusicBee Remote installer only updates the rights for the plugin, but not for the MusicBee application.

So you need to allow MusicBee access to private (and/or public) network.

Then MusicBee remote is working again.

2

MusicBee Wishlist / Miniplayer, button to turn intelligent volume control on/off

« on: February 09, 2022, 09:10:31 AM »

When evaluating music material and its maximum level above 0dBFS (OVR's) with RME DIGIcheck Totalyser and EBU R 128 meters, as well as the correctness of  replay gain tag being used for a song, I would like to have the ability to quickly enable and disable intelligent volume adjustment in the miniplayer.

Since I only have Full-HD monitor/resolution and the DIGIcheck windows already take up quite a bit of space, it would be very helpful here to not have to keep opening the MusikBee all the way, which would also be more click work.

Maybe this additional button could be made customizable, so that one or the other can customize this according to his demand.

3

MusicBee Wishlist / Wish for a function to fix volume at 100% to ensure lossless audio playback

« on: July 09, 2021, 12:37:38 PM »

Hi

as the title says I wish for a function to lock the playback volume at 100% to ensure lossles audio playback.

From time to time I detect that MusicBee volume is not at 100% anymore. I can only assume that I touched/moved the volume fader accidently.
It would be fantastic if such a volume change could be blocked entirely by a configuration option.

Background information: I am exclusively using the volume knob of my RME D/A converter (ADI-2 Pro FS R BE).
Such a lock would also ensure that the "Bit test" function of this device does not fail, because the volume is not at 100%.
Bittest is an end to end test, whether your audio chain is lossless, by playing back a .wav tesfile of a few seconds
and if it arrived lossless in good shape, then you get a notification about that in the display. Very useful !

4

Bug Reports / 3.4.7662: message "One or more files do not exist at the expected location"

« on: December 26, 2020, 12:05:01 PM »

Hi,
since this morning I am getting the error message ""One or more files do not exist at the expected location" instantly
whenever I try to perform one of these actions with the aim of recalculating replay gain tags.
- Tools -> restore original volume
- Tools -> analyse volume

Yesterday this was still working and this morning I performed only a few actions:
- editing the tags of perhaps 6 music titles and
- deleting around 8 files from the MusicBee library (only from the library, not from disk)

I tried already
- File -> scan folders for new files
in the hope that this would cure any mismatch between titles on disk and the MusicBee database, but no change, error persists.

Before restoring the backup, I would prefer to find out in the current error situation what the problem is and how it can be eliminated with "on-board tools" / by the application itself.

I can say with certainty that from yesterday to today, no operating actions were taken outside of the application, neither in the database nor in the music content itself. Only the few changes with MusicBee which I said above.

Unfortunately, the error message does not give any further information about what the problem is. Are there more detailed error log files somewhere ?

If only a restore would be an option, what do you think would cure the issue ? Do I have to restore only one of these folders completely or all two ?
C:\Users\<myname>\AppData\Roaming\MusicBee
K:\<myname>\Eigene Musik\MusicBee

Many thanks for further help.

5

Bug Reports / double-click to Auto Playlist doesn't activate it anymore

« on: December 22, 2020, 10:23:03 AM »

Hi,

first of all many things for your continuous effort to maintain MusicBee, its a phantastic player. Maybe you could get this little bug fixed with not too much effort.

It doesn't work anymore to activate an auto-playlist by double-clicking with the mouse.
At the bottom I can see clearly that in the status line the number of file, storage, playtime doesn't change.

I remember it worked in the past (long ago, but sry, I always forgot to make a bug report) and it was very user friendly in terms of handling.
I just checked the latest version 3.4.7628, also doesn't work in this release.

Now its not so comfortably as you have to perform two actions:
- right-click with a mouse and
- then select either "play" or "play in random order".

It would be great if "double-click" to an auto playlist would again activate it.

Many thanks.

Windows 10 Pro 20H2, fresh installation 2 month ago // RME UFX+ via AES to ADI-2 Pro FS R BE (USB DAC) // using RME ASIO driver

6

Questions / Issues when analysing / writing replay gain tags of my FLAC archieve

« on: April 27, 2019, 09:37:02 AM »

Hi,

I am facing some problems when performing volume analysis to write replay gain tags.
I have a big music archive, volume normalization takes quite some time.

After the replay gain analysis I feel like alone with a huge list in a tiny window
where it's nearly impossible to browse through all titles to get an overview which adjustment I have to perform.

Why is it not possible that MusicBee finds a proper value for adjusting the replay gains up or down on it's own ?

I am aware of that we are not peak level optimizing, that we talk about something like subjective perceived loudness.
But still there is the question, when seeing all the different adjustment values, what final adjustment do I need to perform ??

Proposal: additional sortable colums for title and album replay gain tag adjustment would support the review process.

I see that foobar2000 for example 1st analyses and then writes the replay gain tags.

Wouldn't it be better for MusicBee to 1st gather the max level and loudness of all titles and then coming to conclusions to which common loudness all titles could be led ? At the end we write replay gain tags per title.

If the music material is very different I could think of it's tricky to get both .. a common loudness for all titles on one hand and on the other hand not come over 0dB for each of the titles.

But somehow I have the feeling that this should be solveable by algorithms and not letting the user alone to adjust something where he can not really oversee what to do .. because nobody tells him exactly which value to take or what makes sense.

Foobar2000 also claims to be more precise when using oversampling (to increase sample rate by x2, x4, ...).
Would maybe be also a nice idea to make this analysis more thorough.

Any thoughts or recommendations to this to make this process better ?

Many thanks

7

Bug Reports / 3.3 6904: still issues with sample rate changes (ASIO driver)

« on: January 06, 2019, 02:16:27 PM »

Hi,

happy new year.

There is still a major problem if you want to play FLAC files of different sample frequencies using an ASIO driver.
I reported it alreay in another thread 1 approx 6 months ago, but no fix so far.

In contrast with that with Foobar2000 no problem.

Problem description:
When you play a new song with a significatly higher sample frequency, i.e. from 44.1 to 88.2 then the sample rate
becomes changed from 44.1 to 88.2 kHz, but MusicBee plays at the wrong speed most likely as it it would be still
44.1 kHz as it plays veeeeery slow / deep.
The same effect if you change from much higher to much lower speed.
Nothing bad happens if you change from 44.1 to 48 and back or change between 88.2/96 or 176.4/192 kHz.
Only workaround is to close MusicBee, open it and then voila, it plays 88.2.

This is the case now since a few releases and has not been fixed yet :-/
Thats very sad as I have lossless content of different sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 and 192 kHz.
and I need to work with the ASIO driver in my setup.

Hardware and driver in use:
Windows 7 SP1 Professional, 64 bit.
RME ADI-2 Pro FS BE connected via AES to RME UFX+
Clock Master is RME UFX+, ADI-2 Pro FS gets clock from UFX+ via AES.
RME ASIO driver: MADIface 0.9680 (latest)

With foobar2000 v1.4.1 release (using same HW, driver, signal chain) no issues.

Wouldn't it be worth to spend a few brain cycles trying to fix this?
I think it would be worth if MusicBee would work flawlessly with ASIO drivers like foobar2000.

Many thanks
Andreas

8

Bug Reports / 3.1.6512: distortion when playing audio with much different samplerates via ASIO

« on: December 18, 2017, 01:17:25 PM »

UPDATED 21.12.17:
- removed the old text, as I have made some more findings on this issue
- so you have the latest status here

Hi Steven,

how are you ? I am still very satisfied with MusicBee and using it now since many years. I hope you can help me with the following issue.
I upgraded already to the last version of MusicBee, which is 3.1.6512. But the problem is still there.

I have problems with the playback of audio files via ASIO driver when the sample rate differs much to each other.
BTW .. its out of question whether to workaround with WASABI or ASIO4ALL, I want (and need) to use the ASIO driver.

EDIT: also I can see that MusicBee changes the sample rate properly in all cases. The RME driver settings dialog shows me this.

Whats always possible and works nicely: playback of FLAC files with 44.1 or 48 kHz sample rate, where the sample rate change are only little. But as soon as I playback audio content with differs much in terms of sample rate, then I get kind of asynchronity which resultes in distortion / noise through the speakers.

1st I thought MusicBee has a general problem playing music content with higher sample rates than 48 kHz.
This is luckily not the case !!
But to be able to play a song in i.e. 44.1 or 48 and then play another in 88.1 or 96 then I have to:
1. terminate MusicBee
2. set the new sample rate manually in the ASIO driver, like i.e. 88.2 kHz
3. then start MusicBee

Further testing shows: that I can play songs with different sample rates which do not differ too much, i.e.:
1. Close MusicBee
2. and then set ASIO driver to
- 44.1 kHz, freshly start MusicBee: plays music well with 44.1 and 48 kHz, distortion when trying to play a song @88.2/96/192 kHz
- 88.2 kHz, freshly start MusicBee: plays music well with 88.2 and 96 kHz, distortion when trying to play a song @44.1/48/192 kHz
- 192  kHz, freshly start MusicBee: plays music well with 192 kHz, distortion when trying to play a song @44.1/48/88.2/96 kHz

I see here certain similarities / a pattern: inside of the three different sample rate blocks "44.1/48", "88.2/96" and "192" MusicBee can successfully change the sample rate. But if fails when the sample rate changes "too much" between i.e. "44.1/48 and 88.2/96" or between "88.2/96 and 44.1/48".

This rings a bell .. maybe the problem has to do with this:
44.1/48 kHz content uses the same ASIO buffer size, which I have set to usually 128 samples (btw .. can be from 32 to 2048 samples).
88.2/96 kHz doubles the data rate uses a higher bandwidth, thus the ASIO driver automatically changes to 256 samples buffer.
176.4/192 kHz again doubles the data rate, thus the ASIO driver automatically changes to 512 samples buffer.

Its definitively not related to the "ASIO buffer size", in the special sense "you need to use a higher ASIO buffer size, as your HW/driver is unable to work reliable with a lower one". I have the same issues when using higher ones up to 2048.
Also I can exclude "USB transport errors", as the RME ASIO driver is very advanced and has an USB dignosis function which I had running in parallel. So I can exclude cable / USB transport errors and also improper use of maybe too low ASIO buffers.

I cross-checked with another application Foobar2000, there such problems do not occurr. With foobar2000 I can play audio content completely independend, which sample rate the content has. By this I could exclude a device, cable or driver problem and am convinced that this is indeed an application issue.

In a good case of luck its only a very small problem which hopefully could be fixed easily with not too many efforts, perhaps:
- different initialization when a new title starts or
- different parameters to ASIO library calls that you use

BTW thanks: last time you solved another issue in the area of ASIO driver, to fix the display/selection of output channels, when a device has plenty of channels. This was excellent, as my current devices have plenty out outputs

Of could I can help with testing new code.
Once it works I am also happily willed to do a money contributing to your project via paypal.

My hardware:

Audio Interfaces (tested with both):
- RME UFX+, http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/fireface_ufx-plus.php
- RME ADI-2 Pro, http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-pro.php
Both devices use the same (last) RME ASIO driver: driver_madiface_win_09616.zip
Usually I use the UFX+ for playback on near field monitors.
The ADI-2 Pro is then connected via AES as pure headphone amp.
But I tried the ADI-2 Pro also isolated, soleyly connected to my PC via USB.
All the same, foobar works, issues with MusicBee.

PC:
- Windows 7 SP1, Ultimate
- CPU: Intel Xeon E5-1650v3, socket 2011-3, Supermicro X10SRi-F (server mainboard)
- USB3 card: Sonnet Allegro Pro (4x FL1100 USB3 controller), for each recording device a dedicated and by RME supported USB controller
- Windows High Performance Energy Profile

9

Bug Reports / 3.0.6335: Format converter refuses to convert FLAC to MP3

« on: June 04, 2017, 03:08:55 PM »

Doubleclick to an autoplaylist, i.e.: Format: FLAC && 5 Star rated.

Select all files.

Rightclick -> send to -> Format Konverter

It shows you a few files which shall be mp3 and cannot be converted to mp3.

But if you nail this down and i.e. only select 3 FLAC files, then the same happens.

If you want to convert these FLAC files to FLAC, then the files are selectable to convert (which makes ofc no sense).

FLAC to mp3 conversion entirely doesnt work.

Thanks upfront and hope for a fix.

10

Questions / Plugin "Last.fm Similar Artists/Tracks" does not show up

« on: January 22, 2017, 10:58:05 AM »

Hi,

I have problems to activate the plugin "Last.fm Similar Artists/Tracks"
(see http://getmusicbee.com/addons/plugins/12/last-fm-similar-artists-tracks/)
in MusicBee v 3.0.6132 portable version.

I copied the .dll of the plugin to MBs plugin folder and veryfied in the settings that it is enabled.

But where does it show up / how to enabled this ?

I need some instructions please.

This view I want to have like in MusicBee 2.5.*, that updates automatically with the actual played title.

Here the screenshot from the plugin page how it shall look like:

11

Bug Reports / 3.0.6132: asio configuration: list of speakers does not scroll

« on: January 22, 2017, 09:39:45 AM »

Hi,

my recording interface, RME UFX+, has 94 input and output channels.

In the ASIO configuration dialog the list of device channel is scrollable, so far so good.

The bug is, that the list of speakers is not scrollable and does not scroll up/down together in sync with the list of device channels. By this you can't assign i.e. the left/right channel to all device channels.

This bug was already in 2.5.* and has not yet been fixed in the 3.0 train.

The situation becomes worse if you use a 2nd device like the new USB DAC RME ADI-2 Pro (Headphone Amp).
The ADI-2 Pro uses the same RME ASIO driver like the UFX+.
The problem is, that the device channels of the 2nd device are listed at the end of the list.
So you have no chance to assign left/right channel to the ADI-2 Pro directly.

Would be nice if you could fix this ASIO configuration dialog window in 3.0 and the upcoming 3.1.

Many thanks.

12

Questions / How to get a similar Layout / Presentation in MusicBee v3.x like in v2.5

« on: January 21, 2017, 10:47:08 AM »

Hi,

I read somewhere that the design in MusicBee 3.0 changed so that some display things are not included anymore
and needs external plugins.

What I liked in v2.5 was the ability to easily click a few tabs to get various information about the currently played song / performer
- Song "Details" including Lyrics
- Last.fm infos
- Fotos
- Wikipedia (DE + EN)
- Youtube
- Songfacts

Could you kindly tell me, what is additionally required in terms of plugins or whatever to be able to get these capabilities back in v3 ?
Here a screenshot how I organized my screen.

Many thanks for some tips.

13

Questions / Upgrading from 2.5 to version 3.0, whats the best way to do that ?

« on: January 21, 2017, 10:33:58 AM »

Hi,

my last upgrade attempt from MusicBee 2.5 to version 3 is long ago.

I think I remember that I lost i.e. my autoplay lists and some handcrafted play lists.

My Questions:

- Whats best practice for such an MusicBee release upgrade ?

- What can I do, not too loose anything in terms of playlists ?


Many thanks for your kind support upfront.

14

Questions / 2.5.5804: Random playing in autoplaylist is not really random

« on: January 21, 2017, 10:29:24 AM »

Hi,

does somebody else have the same problem, that MusicBee plays more or less the same songs ?

I have i.e. 2 Auto Playlist
- play flac files randomly that are rated 4-5 Star with ~1000 titles
- play flac files randomly that are rated 5 Star with ~2200 titles

Surprisingly I am hearing only the same songs of the same 3-5 Bands with very little variations.

I can not see/find any mistake on my side in terms of setup of the AutoPlay Lists.
So I would like to know, whether you also have similar problems.

When I listen i.e. to the same set of files in my car, then I really get random files which is very nice.

So .. why does it work so bad for me in MusicBee ?

Does MusicBee perhaps use a "random" library function of Microsoft, that is maybe only in Windows 7 not so well working ?
Or could this be a particular problem of Musicbee version 2.5 ?

What are your experiences with playing random in MusicBee ?

Best would be to add the information MusicBee Version and OS version, to maybe recognize a certain "pattern" better, whether this is more OS or MusicBee related.

Many thanks for your kind support upfront.

15

MusicBee Wishlist / 2 wishes

« on: April 05, 2015, 06:41:56 PM »

Hi,

currently I want to switch with many files from APE to FLAC format and conversion takes a while ... while converting the disk became full, because the source files do not get deleted once the conversion was successfully. I am missing an option for this scenario, when diskspace is "tight". Would it be possible for you to implement this ?

I would be glad, if the audio converter could get GPU support to be able to use the full power of my system when having big conversion batches. Am having a GTX 980. Tried FLACCL (http://www.cuetools.net/wiki/FLACCL) but unfortunately this does't work, am getting an error message when trying to convert a .wav file with it: "CreateDefaultContext: No OpenCL devices found that matched filter criteria."
Any plans to implement something like this ?