Need a clean start of mp3 files

[skins8866]

Many times an mp3 music file will start, but not right at the very beginning ... often just a second or 2 into the tune.  Can I force Music Bee to play each file cleanly from the very start ?  
( Maybe there is a way to add in a second of silence before the start of each playback ?? )

Thanks for the help ...

[hiccup]

Are you confident this is a MusicBee issue?
Can you tell us something about your soundcard/hardware/dac/receiver/network that might be in play here?

[skins8866]

I am fairly new to Music Bee & I am very impressed with the awesome features all built in.
However ... my previous music players were WinAmp, VLC, & Windows Media Player, & they all give me a clean start for playback.
I will re-check the files that I am having this issue with ... just to make sure that there is no file truncation at the start.  Thanks ...

[CritterMan]

Could be a delay caused by your audio hardware as hiccup alluded to. Did your audio chain change at all?

[skins8866]

Hi Critter Man - I do have some tech knowledge but I do not know much about audio.
I do not know what my audio chain is, so I do not know if it has changed.
Where should I look, & what will it look like ?

[CritterMan]

What's your hardware for audio? Are you plugging headphones directly into a laptop or is there more to it than that?

[skins8866]

Sys Info tells me that I have ... IDT High Definition Audio CODEC.
I am using the system speakers on my HP OMNI 27 computer, running Windows 10 - Home Edition.
I also have 2 external speakers hooked up to the audio/out port.  The sound quality is quite good as this HP system came with BEATS Audio built in.

I guess I could use Audacity to insert a bit of silence at the start of MP3 files that miss the start in Music Bee.  It's only important for those tunes that start with a punch that you don't want to miss. There are many tunes where the opening is soft & need not be played from the absolute start ... I can live with that, but it's still not right that the system does this.
Thanks ...

[CritterMan]

It sounds like there is a lag between when MB starts playing audio and when your computer starts physically playing the audio. Can you upload a screenshot of your MB Player settings to an image sharing service and post a link to it here? You can find those settings by pressing Ctrl+o then selecting "Player" from the left side of preferences menu that appears.


All of the settings listed there might be related to your problem, but I suspect you have "fade in new track" selected. Unchecking "crossfade tracks" might resolve the issue for you.

[skins8866]

Hi Critter Man - I have looked at Player settings & don't see a problem, but this link should give you a look at my settings screen.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B06wrTt42pP2czhscm5ZcVVXeVU/view?usp=sharing
Thanks for having a look !!

I tried a little test:
- I played my mp3 track in Audacity & it started playing at zero ... perfect ... right at the first note, whereas Music Bee playback will not start till the second or third note into the tune.
- I used Audacity to add 2 seconds of silence at the start of the file, & Music Bee now gives me the perfect start ... right at the first note.

I sure hope that I don't have to add silence to the start of every tune so that I will hear the first note using Music Bee.

[CritterMan]

Two things:

1) Uncheck "upmix stereo to 5.1"
2) Uncheck "dynamically normalize volume of streams"

The first one is unnecessary assuming you don't have five speakers plus a subwoofer surrounding you, the second one is not used with another setting you have selected, and they could both possibly cause the delay you're hearing.

[skins8866]

Did those 2 things ... closed & restarted MB ... same result.
So far, the only thing that solves the problem is to add 2 seconds of silence before the actual start of the mp3 file data.
I have 1000's of files & this solution would be a LOT of work.
Music Bee is the only player I have that misses the start of each tune.

Other thoughts ... ?  ... & thanks  !!

[phred]

Does the problem happen when playing more than one song after another? Or is it only the first song?

I'm thinking the hard drive has gone to sleep and it's taking time to spin-up. Check your power options and see if the drive is set to power off after x minutes.

[skins8866]

I tried several tunes in a row by queuing them in MB, & each tune did not start at the very beginning. MB starts playing a second or two after the real start of the file ... so it does not look like a disc spin-up-to-speed issue.  The only tune that plays perfect is the one where I added 2 seconds of silence at the start of the file.  I sure hope that there is a better solution to this issue.
Thanks ...

[skins8866]

The issue now seems to be resolved.  All I did was uncheck DSP & now I get clean starts ... YAHOO !!
At the tech level, I really don't understand why this setting would affect playback start, but I really don't need to know all that.

Do I need the DSP setting ? The tunes are sounding good & I now have clean starts.
Thanks to all ...

[wealstarr]

Do I need the DSP setting ?

DSP's are meant to manipulate the frequencies in thousand possible ways. If you only wish to use the equalizer, you can use in-build IDT's EQ while keeping DSP's in MB off.