Hydrogenaudio Forums > Seeking ABX software for Mac OS X

krmathis

Mar 30 2005, 15:40

I have been looking for a decent ABX application for OS X for close to a year now, but still have not found any.

These are the two applications I have found so far:
* Java ABC/HR 0.4b. Work pretty good, but crash almost every time it plays to the end of a song.
Its also making some nasty popping noise when I switch audio streams.
* MacABX 1.0. Just to simple for my taste.
Unable to stop playback, cant select a part of the song to playback.

I know Java ABC/HR 0.5a is out. But since it requires JRE 1.5, which is not released for Mac OS X yet, I am unable to test it!

So do anybody know if there are other alternatives out there?

Thanks!

schnofler

Mar 31 2005, 09:53

QUOTE(solaris @ Mar 30 2005, 01:40 PM)

I know Java ABC/HR 0.5a is out. But since it requires JRE 1.5, which is not released for Mac OS X yet, I am unable to test it!

Could you give this a try? It's a retroweaved version of ABC/HR-Java 0.5a. You have to select "Java Sound Audio Engine" in the playback settings before playing sound. If you still encounter these crashes at the end of a sample, I'd appreciate it if you could run it from a console and tell me about any error messages that appear. Thanks.

Busemann

Mar 31 2005, 10:30

QUOTE(schnofler @ Mar 31 2005, 07:53 AM)

QUOTE(solaris @ Mar 30 2005, 01:40 PM)

I know Java ABC/HR 0.5a is out. But since it requires JRE 1.5, which is not released for Mac OS X yet, I am unable to test it!

Could you give this a try? It's a retroweaved version of ABC/HR-Java 0.5a. You have to select "Java Sound Audio Engine" in the playback settings before playing sound. If you still encounter these crashes at the end of a sample, I'd appreciate it if you could run it from a console and tell me about any error messages that appear. Thanks.

Seems to work perfectly here!

krmathis

Mar 31 2005, 10:56

I have tested the new version for 30 min. and have not had a single crash, so its definatelly more stable than the 0.4 version.

But I still have the same popping noise when I switch between the audio streams. Or is it supposed to be so?
Dont know how its on a Windows computer...

Another problem, which I also had in the 0.4 version is that I cant get it to take anything else than .wav files. Example; I have the flac executables in my path, but when I load up a .flac file the decode popup window stay up forever and nothing happends. Haven´t tried mp3 since I have not compiled and installed madplay yet.
user posted image

To exit ABC/HR-Java I have to kill java in Terminal

That said, I really appreciate your work!

schnofler

Mar 31 2005, 15:17

Thanks, solaris and Busemann, for trying this out.

QUOTE(solaris @ Mar 31 2005, 08:56 AM)

But I still have the same popping noise when I switch between the audio streams. Or is it supposed to be so?
Dont know how its on a Windows computer...

That's because of the Java Sound software mixer. In 1.5 Java Sound can use native hardware mixers which have far less latency and don't have these clicking and popping noises. In JRE 1.4 these are not available, though. So, unfortunately, you'll have to wait for Apple's implementation of JRE 1.5 to get rid of these issues.

QUOTE(solaris @ Mar 31 2005, 08:56 AM)

Another problem, which I also had in the 0.4 version is that I cant get it to take anything else than .wav files. Example; I have the flac executables in my path, but when I load up a .flac file the decode popup window stay up forever and nothing happends. Haven´t tried mp3 since I have not compiled and installed madplay yet.

Could you start ABC/HR-Java from a console ("java -jar abchr.jar") and see if it prints any error messages when you have it decode a file? That might help me find the problem. Thanks.

krmathis

Mar 31 2005, 22:48

QUOTE(schnofler @ Mar 31 2005, 11:17 PM)

That's because of the Java Sound software mixer. In 1.5 Java Sound can use native hardware mixers which have far less latency and don't have these clicking and popping noises.

I understand.
There are rumours that Apple is going to release Mac OS 10.4 any day now, with Java 1.5. So a fix is close by.

QUOTE

Could you start ABC/HR-Java from a console ("java -jar abchr.jar") and see if it prints any error messages when you have it decode a file?

I load up a .wav and a .flac or .mp3 file, then press "Start Test", exactly when the "Decoding Sample B" window pop up this lines appear in the Terminal (I have the flac and madplay executables in my path):

CODE

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: java.lang.String.replace(Ljava/lang/CharSequence;Ljava/lang/CharSequence;)Ljava/lang/String;
at abchr.audio.CLIProcessor.process(Unknown Source)
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory$Decoder.process(Unknown Source)
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)

Hope this error messages is for some help.
May it be because of the outdated Java version?

I´m ready for instructions if you need me to test some more!

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 03:44

QUOTE(solaris @ Mar 31 2005, 08:48 PM)

Hope this error messages is for some help.
May it be because of the outdated Java version?

Thanks, this was indeed quite helpful. You can get a fixed version here. These crashes appear when the code uses some method which didn't exist before JDK 1.5, so you might encounter some more of them (I haven't tested with 1.4). If you do, just tell me the error message, and I'll try to fix it.

Busemann

Apr 1 2005, 03:51

QUOTE(solaris @ Mar 31 2005, 08:48 PM)

There are rumours that Apple is going to release Mac OS 10.4 any day now, with Java 1.5.

It'll ship with 1.4.2 I'm afraid

WarChild

Apr 1 2005, 03:51

QUOTE

Get it here.

Getting a 404 error.

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 04:59

QUOTE(WarChild @ Apr 1 2005, 01:51 AM)

QUOTE

Get it here.

Getting a 404 error.

Whoops. Fixed.

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 09:24

@schnofler. I picked up the last build, but still get an error message when it tries to decode flac or mp3 files.
It look pretty close to the previous one:

CODE

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: java.util.Arrays.toString([Ljava/lang/Object;)Ljava/lang/String;
at abchr.audio.CLIProcessor.process(Unknown Source)
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory$Decoder.process(Unknown Source)
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)

@Busemann. I sure hope you´re wrong, since we really need an updated Java version on Mac OS X!

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 09:41

Heh. Now, that's stupid. This new bug is actually caused by a line I put in there to test the fix for the last bug and then forgot to comment out.

Should work now. Get fixed version here.

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 09:52

We are getting closer. This time it dont crash, but displayed this error message.

user posted image

CODE

abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3 could not be decoded.
I/O error while processing Message_From_Silence.mp3
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory$Decoder.process(Unknown Source)
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)
javax.sound.sampled.UnsupportedAudioFileException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3 could not be decoded.
I/O error while processing Message_From_Silence.mp3
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)
abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.
I/O error while processing Message_From_Silence.flac
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory$Decoder.process(Unknown Source)
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)
javax.sound.sampled.UnsupportedAudioFileException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.
I/O error while processing Message_From_Silence.flac
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)

Maybe it dont see my flac and madplay executables in /usr/local/bin ?

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 11:48

OK, I'm not sure where this comes from. Maybe you could try again with this version? It won't fix the problem, but it might give some more information.

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 12:04

New output:

CODE

abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.
Call to flac failed.
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory$Decoder.process(Unknown Source)
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)
javax.sound.sampled.UnsupportedAudioFileException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.
Call to flac failed.
at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)
at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)
at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)

So it cant find my flac executable.

I copied flac into the abchr-java directory, but that did not change anything either...

Perhaps its other Mac OS X users around here that can give it a go?

Edit: I should tell that both flac and madplay are working fine in Terminal

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 13:30

QUOTE(solaris @ Apr 1 2005, 10:04 AM)

So it cant find my flac executable.

I don't think that's the problem. Anyway, I've built another version, which prints the output of the CLI app to the console. Sorry for bothering you so much with testing my program. Your help is definitely appreciated.

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 13:51

QUOTE(schnofler @ Apr 1 2005, 09:30 PM)

I don't think that's the problem. Anyway, I've built another version, which prints the output of the CLI app to the console. Sorry for bothering you so much with testing my program. Your help is definitely appreciated.

No problem.
Its highly usable for me to get this fixed as well!

Here are the important parts of the output from the last build:

CODE

ERROR: -o/--output-name cannot be used with multiple files
Type "flac" for a usage summary or "flac --help" for all options
abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.
Call to flac failed.

---------------------

MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al.
audio: "./abchrtemp/tmp5p6ez5.wav": No such file or directory
abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3 could not be decoded.
Call to madplay failed.

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 14:16

OK, here's another build.

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 14:43

Hmmm, this seems to be a hard one!

CODE

cmdarray: flac -d -s -o abchrtemp/tmpetazke.wav "/Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac"

Message_From_Silence.flac": ERROR initializing decoder
state = FLAC__FILE_DECODER_ERROR_OPENING_FILE

An error occurred opening the input file; it is likely that it does not exist
or is not readable.
abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.
Call to flac failed.

--------------------

cmdarray: madplay -o wave:abchrtemp/tmp9us65h.wav "/Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3"
MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al.
"/Users/krmathis/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3": No such file or directory
abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3 could not be decoded.
Call to madplay failed.

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 14:46

Could you try executing the command lines ABC/HR uses (flac -d -s -o abchrtemp/tmpetazke.wav "/Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac" and madplay -o wave:abchrtemp/tmp9us65h.wav "/Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3") manually in a console from the ABC/HR directory?

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 15:02

QUOTE(schnofler @ Apr 1 2005, 10:46 PM)

Could you try executing the command lines ABC/HR uses (flac -d -s -o abchrtemp/tmpetazke.wav "/Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac" and madplay -o wave:abchrtemp/tmp9us65h.wav "/Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3") manually in a console from the ABC/HR directory?

None of the command lines above work in Terminal, but these two work fine:
"flac -d -s -o abchrtemp/tmpetazke.wav /Users/**/Downloads/ABX\ Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac"
"madplay -o wave:abchrtemp/tmp9us65h.wav /Users/**/Downloads/ABX\ Testing/Message_From_Silence.mp3"

So the decoders dont accept "/folder name/filename.ext", but use /folder\ name/filename.ext instead?

Edit:
Still dont work if I move all the files to a directory without spaces.

CODE

cmdarray: madplay -o wave:abchrtemp/tmp9us65h.wav "/Users/krmathis/Downloads/1.mp3"
MPEG Audio Decoder 0.15.2 (beta) - Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Robert Leslie et al.
"/Users/**/Downloads/1.mp3": No such file or directory
abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/1.mp3 could not be decoded.
Call to madplay failed.

Even if the "madplay -o wave:abchrtemp/tmp9us65h.wav "/Users/**/Downloads/1.mp3"" command works fine

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 15:12

Aaah.. very good. I think we're getting close. This might actually work.

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 15:29

QUOTE(schnofler @ Apr 1 2005, 11:12 PM)

Aaah.. very good. I think we're getting close. This might actually work.

W O R K I N G !

Both flac and mp3 decoded, offset correction, gain correction and playing just fine.

But its not 100% yet.
Its only working if I launch it from Terminal, not if I double-click the abchr.jar

schnofler

Apr 1 2005, 15:36

QUOTE(solaris @ Apr 1 2005, 01:29 PM)

W O R K I N G !

Nice.

QUOTE(solaris @ Apr 1 2005, 01:29 PM)

Its only working if I launch it from Terminal, not if I double-click the abchr.jar

That's strange. Double-clicking the jar file should do exactly the same as starting it from a terminal, shouldn't it?

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 15:42

QUOTE

That's strange. Double-clicking the jar file should do exactly the same as starting it from a terminal, shouldn't it?

I thought so as well. But obviously there is some difference.

Could it be because this debug build is trying to write the output from the external decoders to the Terminal, which obviously is not running?

Busemann

Apr 1 2005, 17:19

QUOTE(solaris @ Apr 1 2005, 01:29 PM)

But its not 100% yet.
Its only working if I launch it from Terminal, not if I double-click the abchr.jar

Works by double-clicking it here.

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 17:33

QUOTE(Busemann @ Apr 2 2005, 01:19 AM)

Works by double-clicking it here.

Yes, it launches fine on double-click.
But I get the message "File blablabla.flac could not be decoded" when I try to play from a compressed audio format (ex. flac, mp3). Wave files is working fine.

Can you play from a compressed format, when you double-click to start?

Busemann

Apr 1 2005, 17:38

QUOTE(solaris @ Apr 1 2005, 03:33 PM)

QUOTE(Busemann @ Apr 2 2005, 01:19 AM)

Works by double-clicking it here.

Yes, it launches fine on double-click.
But I get the message "File blablabla.flac could not be decoded" when I try to play from a compressed audio format (ex. flac, mp3). Wave files is working fine.

Can you play from a compressed format, when you double-click to start?

you're right, it doesn't decode anything other than wav. I thought you meant the app didn't open..

krmathis

Apr 1 2005, 17:48

Sorry, I didn't express myself clear enough.

schnofler

Apr 2 2005, 07:03

Maybe Mac OS doesn't run the application from the directory the jar file is in. This little program will tell you its working directory. If it's different from the directory the jar file was in, you could try moving ABC/HR's clicodec.cfg and the abchrtemp directory there.

krmathis

Apr 2 2005, 07:24

That dont seem to be the problem.
When I launch userdir.jar it tells me that the User Directory is the same directory where userdir.jar is located. Even if I move it deep into subfolders, the User Directory follow...

I'm no coder, but are you sure its not the debug code you added yesterday that is causing this?
Because when I launch abchr.jar from Terminal it writes the output from the external decoders to the terminal window. Which it cant do when I launch abchr.jar directly

schnofler

Apr 2 2005, 08:02

QUOTE(solaris @ Apr 2 2005, 05:24 AM)

I'm no coder, but are you sure its not the debug code you added yesterday that is causing this?
Because when I launch abchr.jar from Terminal it writes the output from the external decoders to the terminal window. Which it cant do when I launch abchr.jar directly

It's possible, yes. But actually, it should just dump the output to null, which wouldn't produce any problems. And if it doesn't (but rather fills some buffer which might overflow), I'd expect it to hang or crash, rather than produce error messages. Anyway, I'm only guessing here. I'll make a version without debug messages later.

krmathis

Apr 2 2005, 08:12

Here are the output to console.log when I launch it with double-click:

QUOTE

===== Sat Apr 02 2005 ===== 16:06:46 Europe/Oslo =====
cmdarray: flac -d -s -o abchrtemp/tmpetazke.wav /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac

abchr.audio.DecodeFailedException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.

I/O error while processing Message_From_Silence.flac: flac: not found

at abchr.audio.SampleFactory$Decoder.process(Unknown Source)

at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)

at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)

at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)

at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)

javax.sound.sampled.UnsupportedAudioFileException: File /Users/**/Downloads/ABX Testing/Message_From_Silence.flac could not be decoded.

I/O error while processing Message_From_Silence.flac: flac: not found

at abchr.audio.SampleFactory.createSample(Unknown Source)

at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$SampleLoader.run(Unknown Source)

at abchr.gui.ABXPanel$4.construct(Unknown Source)

at guiutils.SwingWorker$2.run(Unknown Source)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:552)

Looks familiar..

krmathis

Apr 9 2005, 03:12

Bump!

Are there really no other ABX applications that run on Mac OS X out there?
ABC/HR for Java is pretty good. But its unusable for me because it creates those nasty popping noices when switching audio tracks...

Oh well!

krmathis

Mar 22 2006, 15:54

A year has passed (almost), and I'm still looking for a "decent" ABX application for Mac OS X!
Any new application out there?

krmathis

May 19 2007, 03:28

QUOTE(krmathis @ Mar 22 2006, 23:54)

A year has passed (almost), and I'm still looking for a "decent" ABX application for Mac OS X!
Any new application out there?

Another year (and more) have passed, and I'm still looking for an ABX application for Mac OS X!

It would be great if we had a native OS X application, with these features:
* Lossy audio support (MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, Musepack, ...)
* Lossless/Uncompressed audio support (Apple Lossless, WavPack, FLAC, PCM (AIFF and WAVE), ...).
* Gain correction.
* Offset correction.
* Select playback range.
* Sessions.

iwod

May 19 2007, 07:16

i am interested too... anyone?

Kees de Visser

May 19 2007, 15:37

QUOTE(iwod @ May 19 2007, 14:16)

i am interested too... anyone?

Me too !
Any suggestions for which (audio) Mac developers to ask ?
I'm always surprised by the little interest in ABX applications, even (especially) by audio professionals.
It might be quite some work to develop an ABX and/or ABC/HR tool. Nevertheless I hope someone is willing to take the challenge. Mac (OSX) is very popular in the (professional) audio community.

krmathis

May 19 2007, 17:10

QUOTE(Kees de Visser @ May 19 2007, 23:37)

Me too !
Any suggestions for which (audio) Mac developers to ask ?

I have asked Stephen Booth (the Max and Play developer). But not quite sure if I ever got a reply.
He already have the needed playback frameworks running, and have shown that he can handle audio applications. So I really think he is the right guy for this task.

We just have to convince him!

Kees de Visser

May 22 2007, 15:19

QUOTE(krmathis @ May 20 2007, 00:10)

I have asked Stephen Booth (the Max and Play developer).

Since I like Max a lot, I came up with the same idea

I've posted a request on his forum. Please post a message there if you want to support this request.
http://sbooth.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1369

GregDunn

Feb 16 2008, 11:13

QUOTE(schnofler @ Apr 2 2005, 08:03)

Maybe Mac OS doesn't run the application from the directory the jar file is in. This little program will tell you its working directory. If it's different from the directory the jar file was in, you could try moving ABC/HR's clicodec.cfg and the abchrtemp directory there.

I know this is an old thread (sorry - just joined recently!) but if anyone is still looking for a workaround to make this software run on OS X 10.4, try this: move its folder as high in the hierarchy as you can. Then try to double-click the JAR file. For me, at least, some Java apps do not run if they're buried too deep in the directory tree. I moved the folder directly into the "Applications" folder and abchr ran just fine. Sticking it any lower caused similar exception logs to those listed. Give it a try - can't hurt.

Kees de Visser

Feb 16 2008, 14:16

QUOTE(GregDunn @ Feb 16 2008, 18:13)

I know this is an old thread (sorry - just joined recently!)

Well, AFAIK there still isn't an ABX application for OS X so this thread is still actual

Thanks for your input.
FWIW, WinABX seems to run ok under CrossOver (wine) under OS X so that could be an option until a real OS X application becomes available.

JonTHn

Apr 17 2008, 15:30

Hi, Found this thread and I'm too interested into a solution OSX based.

But in the same time I found the solution for this problem of decoding. In fact on OSX when launched from Terminal all variables like PATH and some others are set so flac can be found. But when launched with a double click all these Environment variable are not set so flac can't be found.

And finally the solution is to change the way the file are decoded in Options > Settings > Decoders

You just have to write the complete path to your flac or XXX binary decoder.

If installed with macports should be something like /opt/local/bin/MYDECODER

Below an example that worked for me. (With 2 different path to get a better explanation)