New in Multi frontend v0.95 beta:

- Two transcoding methods: "on-the-fly" and "intermediate wav files".
- Option to delete the source files.
- Option to sort the codec list in alphabetical order.
- Adding tags to LPAC files made possible, because foobar2000 can read them and the LPAC decoder skips them.

New in v0.94 beta (released a few days ago):

- It's now possible to choose whitch codecs you want to see in the codec list.
- Added FAAC, OptimFrog DualStream and TTA. Removed aacenc_mpeg4.
- On-the-fly transcoding from OptimFrog (lossless) to anything is now possible.
- Transcoding FLAC and Ogg-FLAC to Ogg Vorbis is now done directly by oggenc (requires oggenc 1.01 or higher).
- win2dos.exe is no longer needed in Windows 2000 and XP.
- Some other minor changes.

Multi frontend website

Great update Wim,
I still like your small yet powerful frontends. People here on HA seem to use FB2K as en/transcoding frontend more and more.

I just post to thks Speek for his work
IMHO to many people neglict his great job here on HA due to Oggdrop or FB2K
I use his Xiph series of Front Ends Oggfront+Flacfront+Speexfront, I never tested his Multi frontend version but one day I will have a look sure

"win2dos.exe is no longer needed in Windows 2000 and XP"
==> Flacfront Doc also told that "win2dos.exe" wasn't needed on WinXP so I removed it , & XP's Dos get trouble with special character "ê" so I had to put "win2dos.exe" back. I think it's surely the case with all his fronts.

Conclusion: Keep "win2dos.exe" it's needed

You'r frontends are wonderful, Speek. I use your MPC Batch encoder and Tag frontend on a daily basis.

Thanks a lot!

nice

did you already think about support for nero and quicktime aac (perhaps to for ivan & menno as this is aac focused)?

ciao..

just did a quick test.. after reading bonds reply..

nencode do work in multifrontend.. but comes as a aac file..
would need to change extension mp4 manualy.
needs to add encoder+extension to the frontend.. voila..

great, thx!

Thanks for the thumbs up

@ bond & n68:
I don't have Quicktime installed, but I don't think it includes a console encoder (I only know how to make frontends for console programs).
It would be easy to add NeroEncode to Multi frontend. But what would be the use? My frontends are intended for people who prefer a GUI over the command-line. Nero is a GUI program, so I don't really see the point of adding it to Multi frontend. But maybe I miss something?

@ OggZealot,

If the frontend works as intended win2dos is not used in Win2k and XP, even if you put it in the same directory as the frontend. You can check this in the file go.bat. If the second line is: "chcp 1252 >nul" and there is no line with "win2dos go.bat" it works like intended and win2dos is not used.

There are all kinds of GUI's out there.. and some are drastically better than others. And even if there is no big difference is quality, people simply have differing preferences.

I had never used Nero before, but I decided to dl it to try out aac encoding. It took me forever to figure out how to do that. And if I remember right I still had to decode my FLAC to WAV and then encode with Nero. What a PITA. Granted, there could be (and probably is) a better way to do all that through Nero, but I sure as hizell couldn't figure it out.

Therefore, I see a huge advantage in having something like Multi frontend available. Easy to fire up, easy to figure out, and I could do FLAC->Vorbis and FLAC->aac in exactly the same way. That's pretty cool in my book.

well, yes, it would just make things much easier (as there only would be 1 prog to use for all codecs (all aac codecs for example)

but yes of course, quicktime and nero are guis so...

but anyways there are already commandline tools which can wrap up the quicktime and nero aac codecs, and as n68 says it should be already possible to use them in multifrontend

Ah, I forgot about transcoding. That seems a good reason to add NEncode to Multi frontend. See new version 0.951 beta.

I don't know a console app to use the Quicktime AAC encoder. Where can I find that?

ciao..

TnX. wim...


(btw. QT._ the only thing i can come by.. right now
would be Qutibacoas by Efenstor.. aviable at rw..
but am not shure that will do..

http://efenstor.stratopoint.com/qutibacoas.htm

I've added QuickTime/Qutibacoas in new v0.952 beta. I cannot test it myself because I don't have QuickTime Player Pro (I don't want to pay for it). Let me know if it works.

I couldn't get it to work.

It opens Quick Time Pro and then Quick Time Pro does nothing I'm afraid. I have to open the task manager to shut it down. I had a look at Quitibacoas, following the instructions in the read me for setting the options, to get some ideas but as I am adverse to the command line I was a bit stuck!

Any ideas?

Excellent update by the way Speek - thanks for your hard work.

Hmm, that's too bad. Does this version do any better?

Any changes in this version?. It didn't work here, I guess it's probably a language issue, I don't believe Multi frontend is the problem though.

The Multi frontend's homepage doesn't say anything about it, in fact it keeps saying the last version is 0.952.



BTW I got to say thanks about your frontends, they really rock, thanks Speek

Would it be possible to add an option to control the priority of the encoding/decoding process?

Good idea Thinky! It's added in v0.96 beta.

@Tomb: I've tested Qutibacoas/QuickTime now and it works for me. There is some freezing when QuickTime starts, but this cannot be helped. Did you follow the instructions on the Qutibacoas website?

Wim, version 0.96 beta seems to no longer add "Pause" as a default... and I can't find a way to re-enable it from within the plugin. Did I miss a button, or is it gone?

- M.

Hi Speek thanks for replying.

Followed the Qutibacoas instructions to a tee but still does not work. I don't think it is a multi-frontend problem but a QuickTime one as it just freezes with no activity. I left QT running for an hour and nothing happened. Just opens the first Wav and gets stuck like glue and does not export a thing. Oh well.

I am running XP Home SP1 with 256mb and 500mhz processor.

I will try with EAC when I get the time but I am sure the result will be the same.

Thanks again.

Version 0.96 works a little different because of the process priority thing. Go.bat is started from start.bat. On my PC (win2k) the DOS-window stays open when encoding is finished (it ends with a new prompt), so I didn't think 'pause' was needed anymore. Does the DOS window on your PC close automatically when encoding is finished?

All right!! It works like a charm! I just added Qutibacoas and QT to the Frontend, added the files and hit GO. I never got it to work before with other frontends. It's a bit sluggish but in the end does what it's supposed to do, batch encode.

Thanks

No, the window does not close automatically, but there are times I would like for it to be able to do so. At other times I also want the option of having the window stay open (which it currently does now regardless), so that I can use my scroll-wheel to go back through the details of certain processes, and then close the window by striking the spacebar.

In other words, it's functioning exactly as you expected... it's just not functioning with the options I became accustomed to using! If this could be added back in I would appreciate it (perhaps it could even be done as a checkbox from within the "Options" dialog, if you would rather not add a new button?). Thank you!

- M.

Hi M.

OK, in v0.97beta it's back to its old behaviour with the option to "close the DOS-window when processing is finished" in the Options dialog.

Wonderful piece of software Speek!! Kudos to you!
I carry Multi-Frontend always with me on my USB Drive keychain. So good is it!
Thank you for developing it!

Thank you Wim! As always, this is much appreciated.

- M.

Edit: ... save that, it doesn't work. With the "Close the DOS-window when processing is finished" box un-checked, one gets the "Press any key to continue..." dialogue... but pressing any key simply brings up a new prompt. With the box checked, the new prompt is automatic. But neither closes the visible DOS-window. Could it be closing Go.bat and leaving start.bat open?

It works perfectly here

M, are you in WinXP? If so could you do me a favor? Could you copy the file cmd.exe from your Windows\Sytem32 directory and mail it to me? (click "email" in the About window of Multi frontend). I'm in Windows 2000 and maybe the syntax of the "start" command is a little different in XP. Cmd.exe is the console program, so if I have the XP version I can test how it would work in XP. Thanks.

Hi Wim. Yes, I'm on an XP system... that may well be the culprit. Just sent the e-mail, so hopefully we'll know soon.

- M.

@M: Thanks for sending me cmd.exe.

I think I've fixed it now. I never liked the extra batch file (start.bat) and now it's gone. Go.bat is started directly with either normal or idle priority. But idle priority still doesn't work in Win9x. Maybe those systems don't have process priority classes at all?

Oops, 0.972 was freezing when encoding was going on. Actually the front-end was waiting for the encoder to finish. After that it was working again. But all this is fixed in 0.973. And also the codecs' name appears in the title bar of the DOS-window! Ohh

Could be nice to have an option where the Multi frontend shuts down at the end of long encoding times

It's basically already there; the frontend only generates a batch file, to run the command-line programs. Select "Close the DOS-window when processing is finished" from the Options and run the frontend as usual. After you press Go, simply close the frontend and leave the DOS-window running.

- M.

Actually I was talking about shutting down the pc, not the Multi frontend itself

MadXviD, I'll have a look at it. I can start any program in the batchfile. In the past I've made some special versions with the option to start Poweroff. Or maybe I can find some Visual Basic code to shut down the PC. That would be nicer (from my point of view; Poweroff will probably work better). But firtst I'm going to celebrate Christmas Merry Christmas to you all!

Merry Xmas to you guys too.

Don't worry Speek, take your time, I was looking for some options to improve the Multi frontend, I'll post themem as soon as I find them. Keep doing that great work you do

I have one suggestion for the next Multi frontend:

Have a dummy encoder option that DOESN'T produce an wav from the selected files. It would just produce a series of parameters that would be the files selected. That way we could use it for some post processing, like to doing binary concatention with a DOS batch file.

Thanks for the great product. I'm using it right now!

Is there any way to integrate ReplayGain with MultiFrontend such that it automatically does album/track gain, after encode, such that all the encoded files are considered one album? Or perhaps an option to compare album tags too?

And thanks for the program, Speek! It's a great one!