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Topic: Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1 (Read 33460 times) previous topic - next topic
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Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Hello!
According to the official site, new version of the Monkey's Audio encoder is available!

You can download it from this location:

http://www.monkeysaudio.com/download.html

changelog:
Quote
1. NEW: Features new user interface. (written in C++ and threaded for dual-core computers -- making it nearly twice as fast to compress, decompress, and convert with a dual-core setup)
2. NEW: New interface supports external codecs using simple XML configuration scripts.
3. Changed: MACDll.dll is unified to include SDK, Winamp, and CoolEdit support in one component.
4. Fixed: Corrupt / invalid APEv2 tags could cause problems in some cases.
5. Fixed: APL creation could use track boundaries that were off by 1/44100th of a second in some cases.
6. Fixed: APL creation would not properly report errors when the CUE file didn't point to an existing APE file.
7. Fixed: In very rare cases, decoding an old APE file could cause an invalid decompression error.
8. Fixed: When converting from APE -> APE, the APEv2 tag could get appended as WAV data to the new file. (instead of as a file tag)

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #1 –
Ah, I'm seeing another (personal) lossless comparison test in the next few days... =)

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #2 –
No need to test.

Quote
The compression engine will remain at 3.99 for the time being to avoid upgrade headaches.


Monkey's Audio
daefeatures.co.uk

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #3 –
for me more important than compression ratios are bug fixes. compression of the monkey's audio is very good (especially compression vs speed) so no need for me at this time for compression improvements... i hope this release will solve some bugs in the decoder, which crashed foobar2000 for example...

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #4 –
glad to see even open source doing multiple core support


4 operons with 2 cores each and 4GB or Ram .... I wonder how long it would take to compress 1 album..

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #5 –
Quote
[...] i hope this release will solve some bugs in the decoder, which crashed foobar2000 for example...


Hope to see standard APE support again in foobar2k. Currently it's moved to the "additional components".

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #6 –
cooledit (audition) is crushed using new cooledit filter 

save as... -> monkey's audio -> option -> crushed
<name>madoka</name>

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #7 –
Quote
glad to see even open source doing multiple core support

4 operons with 2 cores each and 4GB or Ram .... I wonder how long it would take to compress 1 album..

it sounds like parellelization is just in the GUI, i.e. compressing more that one file at once in separate threads.  this can already be done with any command-line encoder.

Josh

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #8 –
Quote
No need to test.[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355464"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Depends on how you see a 'test' is.

Quote
cooledit (audition) is crushed using new cooledit filter  

save as... -> monkey's audio -> option -> crushed[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355642"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Exactly the kind of test I was talking about : bugfinding.

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #9 –
Quote
Quote
No need to test.[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355464"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Depends on how you see a 'test' is.

Quote
cooledit (audition) is crushed using new cooledit filter  

save as... -> monkey's audio -> option -> crushed[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355642"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Exactly the kind of test I was talking about : bugfinding.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355648"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

so you are saying that a windows gui update is more important than the codec itself?

i'm surprised that matt bumped the version for this release...


later

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #10 –
Quote
Quote
No need to test.[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355464"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Depends on how you see a 'test' is.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355648"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

My comment was in response to the previous poster who was looking forward to seeing a lossless comparison test, that is, testing the codecs performance. I don't believe I've seen a lossless comparison test that evaluates a codecs list of bugs. 
daefeatures.co.uk

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #11 –
Quote
so you are saying that a windows gui update is more important than the codec itself?

A filter is a GUI now?

Anyway, I care about the robustness of the supporting tools as much as the codec itself.

Quote
My comment was in response to the previous poster who was looking forward to seeing a lossless comparison test, that is, testing the codecs performance. I don't believe I've seen a lossless comparison test that evaluates a codecs list of bugs.  [a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355814"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Do you mean WILU...?


[span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'][edit][/span]
The last 'c' was missing from 'codec'...

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #12 –
Quote
Quote
so you are saying that a windows gui update is more important than the codec itself?

A filter is a GUI now?

Anyway, I care about the robustness of the supporting tools as much as the codec itself.
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355816"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

where are you getting filter from?

anyways, i'm boring even myself now - so nevermind

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #14 –
Quote
where are you getting filter from?[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355899"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Just check the installation folder; the .flt is there.

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #15 –
Quote
cooledit (audition) is crushed using new cooledit filter  

save as... -> monkey's audio -> option -> crushed
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355642"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Verified.

Here's the weird part: the filter hates when you change the filename (i.e. back to the old filname "ape.flt") and won't even open APE files    Obviously something about the name of the filter is hitching the works.

/me runs back to the website and changes recommended version to 3.99 again.. for now

[span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%']P.S. For those familiar with my site, I changed the background so it isn't so ugly anymore[/span]
"Something bothering you, Mister Spock?"

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #16 –
Quote
some changes have been made to the licence of the Monkey's Audio encoder:

http://www.monkeysaudio.com/smf/index.php?topic=1926.0
[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=355967"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

these changes are essential, i hope the development of appropriate gstreamer plugin will be continued

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #17 –
Quote
...
[span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%']P.S. For those familiar with my site, I changed the background so it isn't so ugly anymore[/span][a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=356137"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


[OFFTOPIC]
Well, pal, sorry to say that, but *IT IS* ugly!  I can't read the black characters over the dark part of the background at all...
[/OFFTOPIC]

Cheers!

Sergio
Sergio
M-Audio Delta AP + Revox B150 + (JBL 4301B | Sennheiser Amperior | Sennheiser HD598)

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #19 –
Moved discussion about which lossless codec sounds best to the recycle bin.

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #20 –
Quote
these changes are essential, i hope the development of appropriate gstreamer plugin will be continued[a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=356365"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]


Well, Monkey's Audio is still not GPL compatible.

Quote
Use of the code for proprietary efforts that don't support the official APE format require written consent of the author.


That's an incompatibility right there. Specially because "proprietary efforts" is too damn vague.

Quote
Monkey's Audio source can be included in GPL and open-source software, although Monkey's Audio itself will not be subjected to external licensing requirements or other viral source restrictions.




Quote
Code changes and improvements must be contributed back to the Monkey's Audio project free from restrictions or royalties for the sake of the common good, unless exempted by express written consent of the author.


"contributed back" is too vague as well, and can be interpreted in a number of ways that make it incompatible to the GPL.

Quote
All rights not expressly granted here are reserved by Matthew T. Ashland.


Oh man...



Licensing issues aside...

I'm kinda disappointed with this version. I expected Matt to take the opportunity when doing a major version bump and start anew with a clean encoder, breaking backwards compatibility if needed, that would fix most of the format's limitations: bad seeking, multichannel support, error handling..., and maybe would offer the sources in a REAL open source license, and not the bad joke we have now.

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #21 –
Until Monkey's Audio fixes the incredibly slow seeking, the format can burn in hell. In the meantime, I'm transcoding my APEs to FLAC (and occasionally WavPack)

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #22 –
What do you guys use for seeking Monkey's Audio files?

At least foobar2000 0.83 and J. River Media Center 11.1 seek practically instantly my Monkey's Audio 3.99 "High" disc image files. Seek times are apparently below 1/2 s with these about 300-500 MB files. It seems that the limiting factor is only the file access speed.

AFAIK Monkey's Audio does not accept errors. I consider it as a good thing because I use Monkey's Audio mainly for archiving. I have HQ lossy files for day-to-day use.

Fortunately, I have not encountered any Monkey's Audio file errors, but if that would happen I would replace the file instantly with a file from my backup archive or in the worst case re-rip.

I understand that for example a DJ who uses lossless files at work may like more the decode through errors option that FLAC has.

I have not tried 4.0.1 beta yet, but I have happily used 3.97 and later 3.99 until now. I hope I will never have enough reasons for converting my old archives to another format. I think I have currently about 800 GB of Monkey's Audio disc image files and also fully tagged APL files for all separate tracks. Though, I could start using some other format for new files if I had a good reason. It doesn't matter what lossless format I use if it works for my purposes.

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #23 –
I use foobar2000. Seeking for "normal" uses about 40% CPU (which is a ton!) on an Athlon XP 2700+. High and insane are unbearable to skip with, same for starting playback.

Monkey's Audio 4.01 BETA 1

Reply #24 –
I have never had any problems with seeking and I have never thought about checking the decoding CPU usage before.

I tried it now with foobar 0.83 special (all DSP disabled) and a 350 MB/one hour disc image file (MA 3.99 High):

Playback starts fast and the momentary CPU usage is ~5 %. On playback it is only about 0-1 %. Seeking anywhere in the file uses no more than 6-10 %. I would consider these values normal or actually quite low.

I have a P4 2.8 GHz/1 GB RAM, Hyperthreading enabled on XP. The file is on a 300 GB/16 MB cache Maxtor SATA drive (NTFS), which is almost full (< 1 GB of free space).

I have no idea if the processor type can make such a difference.