ATRip
by VoiceCrystal
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Introduction ^
Thank you for using ATRip. ATRip allows the extraction of audio segments separated by
intervals of silence, from a .wav file. Individual audio segments
are written to their own .wav or .raw file.
The input .wav file is intended to be from "Loop" or "Sample" CD's, although
.wav files which contain segments of silent audio may also be used.
You specify of silence interval, as well as the silence level, as various CDs
or .wav files require, as they can have different levels of audio quality.
You can "Audition" your settings before writing the actual output files. When
auditioning, you may play them looped, as well as adjust the starting and
ending sample positions of individual segments.
We hope you find ATRip a useful utility.
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Using ATRip ^
Using
ATRip is a simple and straight forward process, with a little trial and
error involved. The steps listed below, will get you started.
Select an input file.
Click the "Browse" button on the main screen to browse for a 44 kHz, 16 bit stereo .wav file.
A file of this type can be extracted from an Audio CD, using various utilities
available, including CD-R software which comes with CD Recordable drives.
Please see the Extracting Audio Files section for more information.
Scan the input file.
When you click the "Scan" button, the input file will be scanned for audio segments
separated by intervals of silence. A list of segments found will be shown
in the Audition/Ripped Segment listbox after scanning is complete.
If you only see one or two segments listed, you may need to adjust the Silence
Window and/or Silence level. Decrease the Silence Window, Increase the
Silence Level, and re-scan the file until more segments are identified.
See Extraction Properties for more information.
Audition the segments
By double clicking on a segment displayed in the listbox, you can preview
the audio segments identified. You can play the audio segment one-shot,
or play it in a loop. You can also adjust the head and tail of the segment
to remove unwanted audio or add additional silence by setting the value to a negative number, if needed.
Rip segments to files
Once you are satisfied with your settings, you can "Rip" the segment to .wav
or .raw files. .wav files are the standard Microsoft Windows .wav file,
where .raw files contain only audio samples, without any header information.
You are done
You have just read the basic steps required to use ATRip. Please read the following
sections to learn how each feature can enhance the usability of ATRip.
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Extraction Properties ^
Silence Window
This setting allows you to specify the period of silence, to be used, to delineate
audio segments.
The value is in milliseconds ( ms ). There are 1000 milliseconds to a second.
The default value is 2000ms ( 2 seconds ), which should be applicable for
most input files containing segments to be looped. Files containing only
drum or other instrument samples may require a lower setting.
The slider control allows you to adjust the silence window to values between
450 and 5000 milliseconds. You may, however, enter any value desired directly
into its corresponding edit box. By adjusting this setting you may also preserve
a percentage of the existing silence between samples.
Silence Level
This setting allows you to adjust for background noise in the silence periods.
The value is for the maximum sample value to be considered "noise". The allowable
range is from 1 to 32767, although the slider adjusts from 1 to 100. The
default value of 50 is suitable for most purposes.
Noisy sources ( for example, LPs ) may require values around 255. Values lower
than 50 are rarely useful, except for some particular cases where the source
was generated using purely digital equipment.
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Output Properties ^
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Output Properties View | Out Directory
This value indicates the directory where files containing the ripped segments
will be written.
To change the directory, select the "Modify Output Properties", and then "Browse"
to select an existing directory.
Prefix
Each segment will be written to a file, whose name is specified by Prefix, with
an index number appended.
To change the name of the prefix, select the "Modify Output Properties", and
enter the desired prefix into the "Filename prefix" edit box.
.wav File Output
When this option is selected, the segment files generated will be Microsoft
Windows .wav files, usable by many audio applications for Windows.
.raw File Output
When this option is selected, the segment files generated contain raw audio
samples, usable by many audio applications and equipment which may not
be able to utilize Windows .wav files.
Input File
This option specifies the .wav containing segments to be extracted. This file
must be a 16 bit stereo .wav file.
Scan
This button causes the input file to be scanned for segments. It is only enabled
after an appropriate input file as been specified.
When scanning is complete, the Audition/Ripped Segment listbox contains a list
of the segments that can be auditioned or ripped.
Rip
The button causes the scanned segments to be written to .wav or .raw files,
as specified in Output Properties.
This button is only enabled after Scan has been run.
Audition/Ripped Segments
This is a list of scanned segments that can be ripped or auditioned.
Double-click on an entry to audition or edit the segment using the Audition Segment
dialog.
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Audition Segment Dialog ^
This
dialog allows you to preview ( audition ) a segment, in either one-shot
or looped mode.
You can adjust the head and/or tail of the segment, to remove unwanted audio.
When your adjustments meet your satisfaction, dismiss the dialog using the "Save"
button. If you wish to revert to the original setting, dismiss the dialog
using the "Cancel" button.
Play/Stop
Use the play button to listen to the segment. If loop is checked, use the Stop
button to stop playback.
Loop
When this option is enabled, the segment will be looped during playback. Use
the Stop button to stop playback when this option is enabled.
Head Trim
Allows unwanted audio at the beginning of the segment to be removed. As this value
is the number of samples to be removed, values of 100000 and greater are
not uncommon.
To remove wanted audio from the beginning of the segment, increase this value
and playback the segment until the sound of the segment meets your satisfaction.
Tail Trim
Allows unwanted audio at the end of the segment to be removed. As this value is
the number of samples to be removed, values of 100000 and greater are not
uncommon.
To remove wanted audio from the end of the segment, increase this value and
playback the segment until the sound of the segment meets your satisfaction.
Save
If you are satisfied with the adjustments made in the Audition Segment dialog,
dismiss the dialog with this button.
Cancel
If you are not satisfied with the adjustments made in the Audition Segment
dialog, dismiss the dialog with this button.
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Extracting Audio Files ^
Audio
with segments to be extracted must be in .wav file format. There are several
way to get .wav files:
From non-CD media:
Microsoft Windows, as well as other sound card applications, allow the creation of
.wav files from the line input jack of your computer’s sound card. By connecting
a turntable and pre-amp, tape recorder, or other device with line level
outputs and running appropriate software, you can create .wav files.
When creating .wav files using this method, be sure to record the input using
16 bit stereo, as a recording rate of 44.1 kHz.
From CD media:
Most CD-ROM drives manufactured after 1997 have the ability to read CD audio
track as a data file. This feature is called "Digital Audio Extraction"
or DAE.
Most CD-R ( Recordable CD ) drives have this ability.
With the appropriate software, .wav files can be created directly from CD audio
tracks. These files are usually generated at 16 bit stereo files, at 44.1
kHz, the standard format of CD audio tracks.
Most CD-R drives come with software that can perform this. One example is Easy
CD Creator, from Adaptec ( www.adaptec.com).
Here are some other links to popular DAE CDRippers:
• CDFS is one of our favorites.
This very tiny, transparent & unobtrusive alternate CDFS.VXD written by Cyber7
adds several subdirectories to Explore with the wave files from the tracks
sitting right there, ready to use or copy to your hard drive.
CDFS download (39KB)
• Audiograbber is another favorite full featured shareware program.
http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/
• MP3Software - CD Rippers is a great source.
http://www.mp3software.simplenet.com/cdrippers.html
• Hitsquad - Shareware Music Machine is another good source.
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/win95/CD_RIPPERS/
If your drive does not have DAE capability, then the method for non-CD media
must be used, however, you should select CD input rather than line input,
using the sound card’s mixer application or settings in the application
software.
Note: Many programs that can perform DAE require the use of an ASPI device driver.
If your CD-ROM drive and extraction applications have DAE capability, but
doesn’t work, the ASPI driver may be needed.
This driver can be found by searching for APSI on the web, or try visiting Adaptec’s
web site.
From MP3 Files
Some MP3 players have the ability to export .mp3 files to .wav files. Usually,
this can be performed by use of the player’s "Export" function.
From other audio files
There are numerous audio file formats in use. Fortunately, there are applications
out there which can convert them to .wav files. Check out multimedia and
utilities area of www.winfiles.com,
as there is probably something there which will meet your needs.
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Error Messages ^
During
the course of ATRip usage, you may at one time or another, be presented
with an error message. A description of each message you might encounter
is listed below:
Cannot open source file.
The input .wav file specified cannot be opened. This message might occur under
the following conditions:
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File in use by another program. Exit the other program and try again.
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File is
no longer available. The file may have been deleted, or the media removed
from the system.
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You may not have permission to read the file, which can occur of you’re trying
to access a file from the network, or someone else’s computer or account.
Cannot allocate work buffer.
This error will occur if there is not enough memory available to process the
file. Since the work buffer is small, this error should occur only under
extreme conditions.
Source file too short to process.
This error will occur if the source file is less than 256 bytes. A file which
contains less than 256 is pretty much useless anyway.
Cannot find .WAV file header.
An important piece of information is missing from the .wav file. The file
may have been corrupted, created incorrectly by an application, or, may
be a non-wav file which has been incorrectly renamed.
Cannot find start of .WAV file data.
The .wav file contains no audio information, or has been corrupted.
Cannot create output file.
ATRip cannot create the file in the directory or drive specified. Make sure you
have write permissions
(Properties – Read Only not checked ) to the drive or folder. You will get this error
if you try to create an output file on a CD-ROM drive.
Unable to open browser.
The registry is missing information ATRip needs to launch your web browser.
Either install, or re-install a web browser in attempt to correct this
situation.
Any other errors.
Any other error you might encounter would be generated by Windows itself. Consult
Windows Help, or the whiz kid down the street.
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