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audio files won't play

  1. #1

    audio files won't play

    Hello,

    I can't get the attached audio files to play in directRT (instead there is an 'error' ding). I believe they are saved in 16 bit format (as recommended in other posts on the forum). Are there other parameters that audio files must meet in order to be recognized?

    I have attached the input file and samples of the audio files that I am having trouble with.

    thank you!

  2. #2
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    Not sure what the issue is exactly. I noticed that some of your files would play (from a support email, e.g., g.wav, s.wav) but that others wouldn't. There were some minor differences between the files in terms of sampling rate I think, but that shouldn't make a difference. I opened up a couple of files that would not play in a freeware program called Audacity and chose the Export as WAV option. Audacity has the tendency to clean up any abnormalities in a sound file when exporting--even if you are exporting it to its current format.

    Anyways, this seemed to work (at least on this computer). You can try it and see what I mean. When I first played the "crayons" sound file in DirectRT I got the "BEEP" you described. After opening and saving it in Audacity, it played fine (see attached). Can you check this file out on your machine and see if that helps?

  3. #3
    I had used the beta version of Audacity to export the files (and when this happened, it didn't work). When I used the original version of Audacity to export the files it worked just fine. Thanks!

  4. #4
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    Awesome, thanks for the update Kristy. Wish I knew the difference--the files seem virtually indentical. Anyways, glad to know there is a fix available for you.

  5. #5
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    PS--do you happen to know what beta version it was? I'm assuming it was a beta for a recent version and not the original beta of many years ago yes? Not critical, but just thought it might be useful info for anyone who runs into the same problem.

  6. #6
    it was version 1.3.5 (Beta)

  7. #7
    I'm having the same problem, getting the error "ding." They are 16 bit files and I used Audacity to export them as .wav files. I even tried the crayon one that you attached, to no avail. I also tried playing them as movie files like you suggested in another thread, and nothing. Any other ideas?

  8. #8
    We were able to fix the problem by exporting the audio files from the NON beta form of Audacity.

  9. #9
    Ah, yeah, I really thought I was using a non-beta version of Audacity, but I tried re-downloading the software and made sure it was non-beta this time, and now the sound files are working fine. *shrug*
    Thanks!

  10. #10
    I'm going to cast my vote for exporting with Audacity, for those of you having the same problem.

    I originally saved my files with Adobe CS3 Soundbooth, but they wouldn't play in my DirectRT trials.

    Open your audio file in Audacity, then export and save with the same file name. This produces a file about half the size and which -- more importantly -- plays as it should in Direct RT.

    [note, edited by moderator] Without the Audacity conversion, the files do work in winamp, wmp, vlc, and others, but not DirectRT which does seem to require the conversion.

  11. #11
    jarvis24 Blair Jarvis, Administrator
    Just a note, the 2010 beta version of DirectRT for XP, Vista and Windows 7 (as well as the soon to be released "official v2010") allows for more flexibility in the .wav file format and additionally allows for other sound file formats (e.g., mp3) such that conversions through Audacity are no longer needed.