WAV or MP3

I know samples are saved as WAV but if I convert them to MP3 (for naming purposes) will they still be ok to use as samples?

I'm guessing they will...

Will I encounter any issues?

Thanks

 

I wouldn't recommend converting them to a lossy format.

If you want to convert them to a format more amenable to tagging, go for FLAC as opposed to MP3.

 

or AIFF, no compression and taggable

 

I strongly discourage use of AIFF.

FLAC and ALAC are fully taggable , just like AIFF. FLAC has only 50-60% of the file size of an AIFF while delivering bit-identical audio. In other words, you save 30-40% storage space at no cost.

The fact that AIFF is uncompressed actually gives rise to another disadvantage it has compared to FLAC. Due to AIFF's larger file size, it takes much longer to read off storage. The extra time needed for reading uncompressed AIFF off the drive is larger than the time it takes the CPU to decompress the FLAC.

 

Meh buy all my stuff off Beatport so can't be stuffed with FLAC, Traktor has had problems with FLAC in the past as well.

Hard drives are cheap and audio takes f all time so that's not a good argument

AIFF FTW

 

This thread has nothing to do with beatport. OP has files as WAV on his hard drive, as it is the format in which traktor saves samples. If he went for AIFF, he'd have to change the format. Same as with FLAC.

Not anymore. Moot point.

Wat?

 

You're right not sure what I was arguing about... LOL

The start of the thread was correct though, why would you convert them to FLAC etc at least with AIFF they're still in roughly the same format as with WAV.

OP why do you need to change format? For naming purposes?, what does this mean?

 

I don't see your point there. And I already explained why I consider AIFF a poor format for storing fully mastered, published tracks so I don't think I need to repeat myself...

well, i posted ITT under the assumption that OP desired good tagging support, as tagging in WAV is extremely problematic for a bunch of reasons. I rejected his plan to go for MP3 because of generation loss. (My implicit assumption there was that some of the samples were generated from MP3 files.)

 

Aiff. Lot of metas in the file plus pcm sound.

 

As for "lot of metas:" FLAC has superior tagging tagging capabilities to AIFF.

As for "PCM sound:" FLAC will provide bit-identical audio to AIFF at only 50-60% the file size. The cost of network bandwidth and storage space might not be that big nowadays, but it does cost some. Using AIFF instead of FLAC (or a codec similar to FLAC such as ALAC) in OP's scenario is like not taking a free lunch.

Honestly, I sometimes get the impression that people are so brainwashed by the marketing of giants like Beatport and Apple that they don't think about efficient solutions.

 

Personally I don't see the benefit of FLAC, especially on MAC, ITunes can't play them, CDJs can't play them, Traktor can but has issues (I'm guessing they're fixed in 2.5)

It's a bit of a dud format

 

on a Mac, i would consider ALAC, even though overall, it's not quite as good as FLAC. it's still a helluvalot better than AIFF.

i don't think itunes is a decent media player. (and not just because of its very poor format support. itunes is so bloated and buggy, it's more like an operating system than a media player.)

anyway, even if you must use itunes, there are ways to make it play FLAC. and if you're not willing to tweak itunes, at least it can still play ALAC so you can go for that. if you replace FLAC by ALAC in everything I said above, the argument still goes through. AIFF and WAV suck compared to modern lossless compression codecs.

I'm not a fan of CDJs, either. but for that matter, CDJs cannot play remix sets. and this thread is about samples/remix sets which OP wants to use with traktor. not with CDJs, not with itunes.

you are repeating a moot point. the issues have been fixed.

well, this doesn't make for an intelligent discussion. FLAC has a huge amount of support. Traktor can play it. So can Serato as of 2.4.3. Android phones can play it out-of-the-box. Lots of consumer audio can play it out-of-the-box (e.g., TVs and Blu Ray players from companies like Panasonic, Logitech Squeezeboxes, Sansa Clip, iPads with Rockbox firmware, etc. etc.)

And once again, OP wants it for his samples. We don't need 100% compatibility for every imaginable usage scenario for that purpose. (Besides, it's not like ever player handles AIFF.) We just need Traktor support.

 

You make good points, but even in a NI world Maschine can't play back FLAC samples, it just goes to show how unsupported the format is.

Android is pretty useless to DJs unlike the iPad so are all the players you mentioned.

Not many people are going to be using Serato and Traktor (unlike CDJs and Traktor, and iTunes and Traktor).

I just don't think FLAC is a good format for what the OP wants.

FYI I'm checking out Boomkat that has all of their lossless stuff in FLAC so I can see me using it more in the future, sort of undivided if I would want to to DJ with FLACs, have to do some testing

 

we're getting a bit off-topic here. i understand that not everything supports FLAC and that may lead some users to choose another format for certain applications.

in fact, that's comparable to a MP3 vs AAC decision. without doubt, AAC is superior to MP3 technologically, achieving quality comparable to MP3 at a lower bitrate. but still, many people prefer MP3 because of its much wider adoption. you car stereo simply may not decode AAC.

but still, for OP's purpose, FLAC seems ideal, as there is no compatibility problem of that nature. AIFF would be an oddball choice. your whole argument is a fallacy. from the fact that FLAC is unsuitable in certain *other* usage scenarios such as CDJ DJing, it doesn't follow that FLAC is unsuitable for OP's usage scenario.

 

If we forget about what format may be best for what purpose, then can the remix decks actually use non-WAV files as samples, or does Traktor just convert them to WAV all the time?

 

Of course, traktor can use non-WAV files as samples. It doesn't just convert them to WAV all the time.

Do you really think we would have had a long discussion if that wasn't the case? Besides, you could have easily tested this yourself.

 

You're right, I was being very very lazy.

When I've used the remix decks to save loops of playing tracks it always creates a WAV file regardless of the source format (well mine are all FLAC or AIFF).

 

ok, let's take one step back.

whenever traktor saves loops and samples you created on-the-fly, it stores those samples individually as WAV files in the "All Samples" folder.

the OP, John Laffan, was well aware of that when opening up this thread (just re-read the first post). he asked the question if he can convert those WAV files to another format. specifically, the format he had in mind was MP3. despite all our other differences, both ekwipt and i implied "yes, he can" but suggested the OP go for a lossless format instead.

converting the files in the All Samples folder from WAV to another format supported by traktor has the advantage of better metadata (i.e., "tagging") support. (there may be other advantages as well, depending on the target format you pick.)

of course, converting those samples to another format is easily done (there are tools that can do the necessary work in batch). you'll just have to import them (as loops or one-shots) after conversion. once you've imported them, you can delete the original WAVs.

i hope this clarifies things.

 

I think we're clear now

My 2c on which format to pick would be to go with AIFF. Although I'm a big fan of FLAC, it's adoption hasn't caught on much as I'd hoped and developers have had various issues with it. I think this is why Beatport chose AIFF over other formats, which is a shame as FLAC is great format with some very easy to use tools to go with it.

I would still be using FLAC now if the FLAC bug in Traktor didn't result in me having to re-beatgrid my entire collection. Once bitten twice shy I guess.

I would think the difference in CPU/hard disk usage between lossless compressed and uncompressed is not that big of a deal unless your machine is a few years old. I have no evidence to back this up, just my gut feeling.

If John is just going to use his samples in Traktor, then Traktor will quite happily tag the WAV files, you won't be able to see the tags in any other app but they'll stay in the audio file and be transferable to other machines.

 

I haven't tried, but if you have a remix that references wave files, my gut feeling would be that if you converted the wave files to mp3, the remix set would not be able to find the files because they are named differently. Adding to that that I'm assuming OP was actually talking about remix sets, and one that already existed etc.