 Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some questions that i get asked frequently. See if it's in here first,
before you mail me. Topics are:
Audio recording
I can hear sound, but nothing is recorded and the LEDs don't light up
Most probable cause is the volume setting.
There should be a "speaker" icon next to your clock on the task bar. (If not,
use Start/Programs/Accesoires/Multimedia/Volume). Double click it to pop up the
mixer panel. Choose Options, Properties, and select "Recording" for "Adjust
volume for". Then, make sure all the volume controls in the bottom box have
been checked. Click OK. The panel now allows you to select recording volumes
and sources. Make sure that "Line in" (or Auxiliary) is checked and used as
only input. Now it should work.
How do I record streaming audio?
Many sound cards allow you to record "what you hear". This can be configured
as described in the previous answer. Just let CD Wave record while
the audio plays.
An alternative to using the sound card is to use our Freeware
SoundLeech program for the
recording. This allows you to record any sound played from any application,
and offers the best digital quality. The resulting WAV files can be
processed by CD Wave.
How can I adjust (raise/lower) input levels?
You'll have to do this with the mixer program for your soundcard. It is hiding
under the speaker icon next to the clock (see the previous question).
How do I schedule a recording?
Easiest way is to just use the "Start recording at" value in the Record dialog.
This requires the machine to remain powered on until the recording starts. If
the machine needs to be turned off in between, you can use the following
method.
You can schedule a recording by using the Task Scheduler of Windows. You can
find it under the MyComputer icon (in Windows 98 and 2000). Add a new item, and
point it to the CD Wave program (usually "C:\Program Files\CD Wave\CDWAV.EXE"),
which should be listed already. Use the "Advanced" scheduling settings to
supply the extra configuration data.
As commandline parameters, use the following:
...CDWAV.EXE /R "C:\My Music\MyRecording.wav"
This will start recording at the given time to the MyRecording.wav file. The
settings will be used from your last recording settings, including the format,
voice-activated start, stop on silence, and maximum recording interval. You can
change some of the parameters using the following switches:
/R
Recording mode, records to the given file (which will be overwritten if it
exists)
/S
Stop-on-silence, suppy /S to switch on, /S- to switch it off
/V
Voice activation, suppy /V to switch on, /V- to switch it off
/Q
Quit after recording, exits CD Wave immediately after recording stops
/T
Time. Specify hours:minutes (or just minutes) for the recording duration
Example: This starts recording to "C:\My Music\MyRecording.wav", for one and a
half hour, starting immediately and continue recording even if silent, and will
quit CD Wave when it is done:
...CDWAV.EXE /R "C:\My Music\MyRecording.wav" /T1:30 /S- /V- /Q
Recording produces occasional skips
There can be several causes for this. Let me name a few.
Most likely some problem in the soundcard driver. Make sure you have the latest
drivers for your card. If you have a Creative card like the soundblaster 16 or
any of the AWE series, use Microsoft's built-in drivers. They're better than
the ones Creative supplies. If this doesn't help, go to File, Preferences
and set the slider labeled "Recording Mode" to the middle position. This solves
the problem for some of the driver compatibility problems.
You're getting buffer overruns. The help file explains what this is, and how
you can solve it.
If you are running a version of Windows 95 or 98, see the Optimize your system
article for information on how to tune your system for best audio performance.
The audio is clearly clipped, but the red LED never lights up
Some soundcards are incapable of delivering "full scale" samples. This means
that analogue parts will clip the sound before they get to the A/D convertor.
An example is Creative's AudioPCI card with the 1373 chip. This
section of the LP to CDR tips
page contains some more information on this topic.
Can I merge files with CD Wave
Merging is not yet possible, this is on the wish-list for version 2.0. You can
download a freeware program to do the merge quite easily. You can find
"WavMerge" on Mike Richter's CDR Resources, files
page, under the "Audio files" section.
24-Bit audio
I get a "No Driver" error?
This happened when you try to convert from 24 bit or multichannel audio to other
formats (16 bit). For some reason, Microsoft's built-in sample rate converter
cannot handle 24-bit audio yet. There is a better converter in CD
Wave, which does all the resampling and conversions by itself, in 1.93 so
you should no longer see this error. Internally, CD Wave uses 32-bit processing
for all tasks.
Should I always record at 24 bits?
Definitely not. Many CD recording programs are unable to process 24-bit audio at
all. On most systems, CD Wave cannot convert to 16 bit either. The quality
difference between 24 and 16 bit is not as much as hardware vendors will want
you to believe, the gain is mostly in allowing more room for processing the
audio and for more dynamic range, the difference between soft and loud
passages. So if your target is to record a CD, use 16 bit.
Other programs cannot open CD Wave's file
Microsoft defined a new standard for 24-bit and multichannel audio. The rule is
that any format that either uses more than 2 channels or more than 16 bit must
use the new standard. CD Wave is following on this rule, and writes out WAV
files this way. The new format allows to describe what speakers are being used,
and how the data bits are ordered.
Many programs do not understand the new format, but use the old format
descriptor for a 24-bit WAV file. CD Wave will take an educated guess at the
bit ordering and channel assignments, and open the old format. However, it will
always write out files in the new format. The effect is that you can playback
the files that CD Wave produces with Media Player, but you cannot open these
24-bit files in Sound Forge, for example.
When writing a 24 bit file (without conversion), there is a setting to
force CD Wave to write out a "backwards compatible" WAV file for 24-bit stereo
files.
Converting compressed audio
How can I open a MP3 file?
MP3 files hold audio in a comressed format. CD Wave currently cannot handle
compressed audio data. In order to use CD Wave on the files, you will have to
convert them first. Note that the decoded files will be much larger than the
compressed versions.
How do I convert files to standard WAV files for CD Wave?
A freeware program that will let you play and convert various formats is
WinAmp. To convert a file, playback the file using the WAV file writer
as output device (instead of the sound card). To do this, do the following:
Download and install the WinAmp program
Run WinAMP, pop-up the menu
Choose Options, Preferences
Go to "Plug-ins", "Output"
Select the "Disk writer" plug-in. Now press "configure" to select the output
directory. If you now play an MP3 file, the program will write a WAV file to
the selected directory.
Burning
The CD(R) I created has two seconds pause between each song.
You probably burned the CDR in Track-At-Once mode. In this mode, you can append
each track individually, but as the recorder turns off and on between writing
each track, it also inserts a pause in between.
To get a continuous live recording, use Disc-At-Once mode while recording. All
tracks on the CD will be written in a single pass, and no pause is inserted
between them. Drawback is that you cannot append any more data or audio after a
DAO recording.
What program should I use to burn the Audio CDR?
In general, you will have received some CD authoring program along with the CD
recorder. These usually can burn audio CDs as required.
Technical stuff
Why is splitting on 2352 byte/588 sample borders so important?
A CD audio disc is divided into sectors. Each sector holds 1/75 seconds of
audio, or 588 samples at 44100 samples per second, or 2352 bytes. If the size
of a WAV recording is not a multiple of 588 samples, the recording software
will fill the remainder of the sector with zeroes. If you have a continuous
recording (live), you’ll hear a short click in between two songs, as a result
of the padding zeroes. To prevent this, the program always cuts on 588 sample
borders, so two adjacent songs will have no clicks in between.
But the wave files are not a multiple of 2352 bytes in size?
The reason is that each wave file also contains a header with information on the
type of encoding used, the sample rate, the number of samples in the file, the
number of channels, etcetera. This header is about 52 bytes in size, but may
vary. The last file of a set may also be not aligned, because the original data
wasn't, and CDWave does not add extra padding data to the file.
Must I clip all my files to 2352 borders? Do you have a utility for this?
No (2x). Splitting on 2352 borders makes sense, just clipping does not.
If the tracks have no relation, i.e. their sound is not continuous, the only
way to avoid a click is to make sure that the first track ends in silence and
the next starts with silence. You do not have to clip the wave, because the CDR
software will pad the remainder of the last sector with silence.
Other systems
Is there a Macintosh version for CD Wave?
No, there's no Mac version of CD Wave. Since the application was written in
Delphi, and is also closely coupled to the Windows API, it will be very hard to
port to begin with. Currently, porting would mean completely rewriting the
whole program.
However, I received reports that the program runs fine under a Windows emulator
on the Macintosh, called Virtual
PC, made by Connectix.
Will there be a Linux version?
There are no plans to create a Linux version. Though there is a Linux version for Delphi now, called Kylix, porting
CD Wave to linux means a lot more than just recompiling it. In order to get
the maximum performance, CD Wave uses many Windows API calls directly, which
increases throughput considerably (up to 50% faster loading on low end systems).
Also the multimedia parts were programmed directly on the Windows API and
make up a large portion of the program's code.
Registration
I lost my registered version, how can I get it back?
Donwload the shareware version of CD Wave, it won't expire or so. Contact me,
and mention your name and city where you live (or lived, if you moved after
registering). It may take a few weeks to process your request. You will receive
a registration key.
Am I entitiled to free upgrades?
Yes, if you register any 1.xx version, you are allowed to upgrade to any 1.xx
version at no charge. Thus, if you registered 1.56 one day, you can download
and use 1.62 and continue using it without having to reregister.
If you register (and pay) online, you will be able to download a registered copy
(it mentions this fact in the About box). Your registration information
will be forwarded to me, so for future versions I know that you're entitled to
use them. Starting with version 1.73 you receive a registration key. With this
key, you can change the shareware version into a registered version. If you
registered a previous version, contact me, provide the name, place
and e-mail that you used for registration and you'll receive a key in
a few weeks.
I will register if that and that function is available.
You must be a very well educated person to make this not sound like a threat.
Basically, you cannot bend the rules. You can register the program "as is",
which entitles you to a number of free upgrades. If you do not like the
program, or feel that some key function is lacking, do not hesitate to write
me. But please do not use the above wordings, even if your intentions are good.
Actually sending the registration fee does a lot more to encourage me to
further develop this product than a promise of sending me money only if I spend
some time building a function.
I sent you my registration weeks ago, but haven't received a reply.
Apart form the CD Wave project, I have a full-time job, a house to take care of,
various pets, a girlfriend, and I play in a percussion group, a sort of
brassband, i sport a little too. So that means that there are times that I
cannot reply in time to each and every request. If you feel I've
forgotten you, just drop me an e-mail, and i'll let
you know as soon as possible if i can find you in my database.
More information
Where did you get the cdwave.com domain?
I registered it at NameSecure's
Domain Name Registration
.
How did you create the installer?
I used Inno Setup, a great
and free program by Jordan Russel.
Where can I find more about CD Recording, audio stuff, etc.?
The links section contains a list of useful sites
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