PTE 5.6 unable to work with WAV sound clips suddenly

[Ed Overstreet]

I have just produced a slide showcase show for my club in PTE 5.6 final edition. I used the same template I've been using since 5.6 came out. It worked last month. This month, however, for no reason that I can see, when I attach WAV sound clips to two of the slides in the showcase, there is no sound playback from those clips. When I open the WAV clips in Audacity, I can see the waveform and I can hear the sound over my speakers. But not in PTE. I've checked all the settings I can think of in PTE to see if I inadvertently messed something up, but I can't see anything.

I am attaching the *.pte file for reference. maybe someone else can spot what's going on. I'm suffering from a bad cold at the moment and my head feels stuffed with cotton wool, maybe that's part of the problem but I have a deadline and I can't wait for the cold to clear.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

PS just checked and I can't get sound from this show's clips in 5.5 either, though I can get sound from a show that I created using the same template in February. I can also get sound from THAT show in 5.6. So I'll attach below both *.pte files. Other than the different default setting for the time intervals for new slides (7 vs 8 seconds) I don't see any differences in Project Options.

Weird.

problem_show_is_March_but_Feb_is_OK.zip

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Open them in audacity then export as MP3, add the MP3's to your show.

Yachtsman1

[Ed Overstreet]

Thanks Eric. I was just returning to this thread to report that by doing exactly as you suggest, I managed to get the sound clip to play. So great minds run in the same channels, I guess

I still don't know why the WAV clips won't work, they have in the past, but I can get the MP3 clips to run as long as I use the Audacity MP3 conversion dll to do the trick (the other mp3 utility I have was telling me a codec wasn't found, a message I'd never got from it before, but the Audacity conversion route seems to be working OK).

God I hate Windows. Things that should be straightforward and replicable suddenly aren't, and darned if I can figure out why. But the project is done, that's what matters, for now.

I do wish computer software engineers would one day learn to write operating system and other software that a reasonably intelligent non-engineer can get to work correctly without doing contortions or gnashing his/her teeth for hours. it would be nice for a change

[davegee]

Ed,

This is just a stab in the dark - I remember having a similar problem and the answer was, as usual, User Error!!

There is more than one kind of WAV file and the correct one for most apps is WINDOWS PCM (*.WAV).

Check that it is the right kind of WAV file?

DaveG

[fh1805]

Hi Ed,

Have you ever used these particular WAV files in a sequence before? It is possible that you have come up against a problem associated with DRM (Digital Rights management) protection.

Last year I experienced an instance where a track ripped from a recently purchased CD showed up in PTE as being only a fraction of a second in length. At the time it happened to me I reported it here on the forum and our resident technology expert, Brian (Conflow) suggested that it was probably as a result of DRM.

As a result of my experiences I added Exact Audio Copy software to my portfolio as this seems to produce good rips when Windows Media Player doesn't.

regards,

Peter

[Conflow]

Peter,

It's funny you should mention DRM and your problem of last year. In the past two weeks I had reasons to use

'Windows Media Player 10' on this HP-Laptop over a period of a few days and guess what ???

My CD-Drive started to act up whilst playing an Mp3-CD Disc and my Spider-Player started to become intermittent.

Both 'faults' took me by surprise as both systems were perfectly functional prior to using the Win Media-Player.

I then inserted a Memory-Pen with a 'new' Mp3 File ~ all was O.K. Then tried a Data-Disc in the CD-Drive also O.K.

Had the fault's been within the Laptop-System's both the Pen and Data-Disc would have reflected the above faults.

After a few hours I dawned on me that the Win-Media Player had created its own 'Library-Files' and it was checking the

DRM issue through its Com's Port ~ Bingo,got it !! ~ I went into its Folder and removed ALL of those created Libraries

and its 'bloated' Media Files and disabled it's Cddb Utility.(Unfortunately you can't unload it without consequences)

The Laptop and it's Programs are now restored and back running perfectly. I won't be using Win Media-Player again and

like you I decided to use an alternative the 'Win Classic-Player 321' (Its not a Windows program) and it really works.

Just goes to show how easy it is to get caught out...

Regards,

Brian.

[fh1805]

Brian,

It's nice to know that even the "experts" can get caught out. It makes us "mere mortals" feel just that little bit less idiotic!

regards

Peter

[Ed Overstreet]

Hi Ed,

Have you ever used these particular WAV files in a sequence before? It is possible that you have come up against a problem associated with DRM (Digital Rights management) protection.

regards,

Peter

Hi Peter. Whatever the problem was, DRM it wasn't (I hope!). The WAV files in question are all recordings I made of my own voice over my own microphone, in Audacity. Unless Windows is now putting DRM on my own recordings of my own voice without my knowledge I don't think that's the problem. At least I sure hope not.

[Ed Overstreet]

Ed,

This is just a stab in the dark - I remember having a similar problem and the answer was, as usual, User Error!!

There is more than one kind of WAV file and the correct one for most apps is WINDOWS PCM (*.WAV).

Check that it is the right kind of WAV file?

DaveG

Thanks for the tip, Dave. I don't think this was user error, not that I've never made user errors of course!

As I mentioned in my reply to Peter, both WAV files were created in Audacity by recording my own voice (these are comments submitted to me by club members who want me to read them out during the presentation of their slides, so that's how I do it). They were generated using the usual "Export as WAV" option in Audacity, after making the recording, same as I've been doing six times a year for the past four years in producing these slide-showcase presentations for my club.

Why suddenly I'm getting these problems, and the message from my dBPowerAMP Music Converter utility is now telling me it's not able to find a codec (but of course not giving me the name of the codec that it can't find, which isn't a very helpful error message ), for the first time in four years, is beyond me. Maybe it's something to do with my upgrading something else in the past month that over-wrote a shared dll somewhere, who knows? And trying to track that down is way beyond my expertise and patience level.

As far as I can tell, these WAV files are in the same WAV format that always worked until yesterday ...

[Guest Yachtsman1]

Hi All

It was reported earlier last year that wmp10 would not allow track ripping, which is why I never upgraded, I still use 9

Yachtsman1

[davegee]

Hi Ed,

FWIW I have just imported a music file into Audacity and exported it as a WAV file which I then put into PTE firstly under the MUSIC tab and then under the Customize Slide option.

In both cases the file played OK.

I noticed that in AUDACITY there is no alternative WAV file other than the default. Therefore my post above refers specifically to AUDITION.

The "User Error" I mentioned was choosing the wrong WAV type in the dropdown menu in AUDITION when Saving.

Do you have a main music file playing as well as the comments?

DaveG

[Ed Overstreet]

Do you have a main music file playing as well as the comments?

DaveG

I used to have a main file with nothing but silence in the background, incorrectly thinking I needed that to be able to customize timings on the Timeline, until one day I realized that wasn't necessary. The problem with these WAV files occurs whether or not that background file is set in Project Options, so I don't think that's related to the problem.

Just realized that I forgot to mention in my first post that both WAV files were attached as Add Sound comments to particular slides in the show. The MP3 files that now work OK are also attached as Add Sound clips, to the same slides in the same show.

I'm searching my memory for what upgrades I loaded in the past month since the last time I did this and it worked, but I'm drawing a blank. Mostly it's been the weekly Microsoft security updates, who knows what those might have done? I can't see why they should affect sound files, but there are lots of things in Windows that don't make sense to me so that's not new. I log all major updates or installations in a spreadsheet, with dates, and the only new installations I made in the past four weeks (during which the problem developed) are Gadwin Print Screen and the latest version of Audacity. I don't see why a print screen utility would affect sound files, and as a check I uninstalled the current version of Audacity and re-installed the previous version I'd been using (I keep copies of all my downloads, on an external drive) and that didn't make any difference, so I don't think it's anything to do with the latest Audacity upgrade.

As I say, puzzling and annoying, but thanks to the MP3 export function in Audacity I can live with it, at least so far.

Thanks very much to you and everyone else who took the time and trouble to check this out and reply! Much appreciated.

[fh1805]

Ed/Dave,

Audacity supports 5 different WAV encodings. You can see them all, and pick one, by doing Edit...Preferences...File Formats...Uncompressed Export Format (drop down list).

regards,

Peter

[davegee]

Hi Peter,

I see what you mean but it is not likely that Ed would have changed the default.....or is it?

In Audition all variants are selectable in the dropdown which appears when you Save As which makes it easier to pick the "wrong" one.

DaveG

P.S. I looked at the details of the WAV file that worked for me (in Explorer) and they are as follows:

Bit Rate 1411 kbps

Sample Size 16 Bit

Channels 2

Sample Rate 44Khz

Audio Format PCM

[Ed Overstreet]

Hi Peter,

I see what you mean but it is not likely that Ed would have changed the default.....or is it?

In Audition all variants are selectable in the dropdown which appears when you Save As which makes it easier to pick the "wrong" one.

DaveG

I don't think I changed any defaults. I did recently get a copy of Peter's excellent PDF tutorial on using Audacity and modified all the Preferences exactly as he suggests in that document, but none of them seem to involve changing the WAV format from what it was before.

I only used the Export to WAV feature, not the Save As feature, in generating these WAV files (this is how I've always produced WAV files in Audacity), and with that option it doesn't give you any choices of WAV formats, and if it did I'd just use whatever the default was since I never deviate from software defaults unless I have a good reason to and know what I'm doing (which I don't here, the different WAV formats is news to me today).

[davegee]

Ed,

See edited PS above.

DaveG

[Ed Overstreet]

Ed,

See edited PS above.

DaveG

Interesting. My Explorer doesn't give that kind of information, what I see when I click on Properties for the WAV files (under the ID Tag tab) is

File and Location (not relevant here)

Type : wav file

Extension: wav

length

size 2841 kb

uncompressed 1419 kb

Comp Ratio 4 to 1 (200%) (didn't know that WAVs compressed, thought that was MP3s)

Format IEEE Float

Frequency 44100

Channels 2

Bits 32

at the bottom of the screen in the right corner it says "dBpowerAMP" I guess because that utility installs and runs when you right-click on the WAV file, there is a Convert option that launches the utility. Not sure why this is getting mixed up in the ID Tag for the WAV file which hasn't been converted with that utility.

In the past I've always used dBpowerAMP to convert to MP3, I only started using Audacity's MP3 dll yesterday when I downloaded and re-installed the current Audacity and noticed the MP3 plug-in on the webpage and decided to try it (which fixed the problem). However the problem I'm reporting had happened before I'd done this, so I don't think this is due to some conflict between dBpowerAMP and the MP3 Audacity plug-in.

Not sure why my Explorer isn't giving me the same info yours is. I have XP Home edition SP2 if that's any different.

[davegee]

XP SP2 (Media Centre Edition)

In Explorer - Rt click - Properties - Summary.

I think that two things are possibly relevent:

Compression ratio???????

and

Lack of PCM anywhere.

Try altering File format to WAV (Microsoft 16Bit PCM)

Something else appears to be at work here - Audacity says "UNCOMPRESSED EXPORT FORMAT"

DaveG

[Ed Overstreet]

Just on a whim (I have been accused by those close to me that I have compulsive tendencies) I generated a new short voice recording in Audacity, exporting it twice, once as a WAV and once as an MP3, then tried attaching the clips (one at a time) to a different slide in the same show where the problem popped up. Again, the WAV doesn't play, the MP3 does. When I go to Explorer, right-click on the WAV file, and try to use dBpowerAMP to covert the WAV to MP3, it still gives me the error message about the (unknown from the stupid message) codec needed to do the compression not being found. So this isn't a one-off gremlin, the problem is still there. But the Audacity MP3 plug-in does work around the problem nicely.

However, if I go into the same show and use Add Sound to attach a large WAV file that I ripped (through Dell Jukebox) about a month ago, to the same slide to which I'd associated the above-mentioned test WAV file that failed to play, THIS large WAV file from a month ago plays just fine when that slide comes up in playback through PTE 5.6. So the problem isn't with all WAV files, just recent ones.

Maybe the sudden unexplained disappearance of the unidentified codec formerly associated with dBpowerAMP is somehow related to the problem with the WAV export from Audacity not playing correctly? This is getting into messy terrain which I probably don't want to wander into...

Showing my age again, but I'm beginning to feel like a character in the old TV series "The Twilight Zone." Time to go find something else to do for a few hours ...

[Ed Overstreet]

XP SP2 (Media Centre Edition)

In Explorer - Rt click - Properties - Summary.

I think that two things are possibly relevent:

Compression ratio???????

and

Lack of PCM anywhere.

Try altering File format to WAV (Microsoft 16Bit PCM)

Something else appears to be at work here - Audacity says "UNCOMPRESSED EXPORT FORMAT"

DaveG

Just saw this as I posted my previous, will try 16bit PCM and see what happens will report back in a couple of minutes.

[Ed Overstreet]

XP SP2 (Media Centre Edition)

In Explorer - Rt click - Properties - Summary.

I think that two things are possibly relevent:

Compression ratio???????

and

Lack of PCM anywhere.

Try altering File format to WAV (Microsoft 16Bit PCM)

Something else appears to be at work here - Audacity says "UNCOMPRESSED EXPORT FORMAT"

DaveG

BINGOOOO! Thanks Dave.

Yep that does it.

OK what changed is that in the past month I read Peter's Audacity guide and, following his advice, changed the WAV format to 32 bit from what I'd been using in the past (the 16-bit PCM default). THAT was the problem. The new test WAV file as a 16-bit PCM Export from Audacity plays back just fine.

Also my dBpowerAMP utility can convert the 16-bit PCM WAV file to an MP3 with no problem, no error message about a codec missing. Obviously my system doesn't "like" 32-bit WAV files, for whatever reason. (Home Edition not media edition of XP, maybe that's it??)

Peter, if you're still following this thread, you might want to think about re-wording that recommendation in your PDF for people to change the WAV format. Or at least add a footnote saying that on some systems this is NOT necessarily a good idea, if you plan on using WAV instead of Audacity-generated MP3 final output for playback in PTE or elsewhere. (I can't get Dell Jukebox to play back the 32-bit WAV files either, so this problem on playback isn't unique to PTE 5.6).

Thanks very much for the help Dave.

I think I'll leave Audacity set for 16-bit PCM WAV format for now, just to be on the safe side ...

Cheers everyone, thanks again for great and quick help in trouble-shooting this. Again I am impressed with what a great resource this forum is!

[davegee]

Ed,

Because of the file sizes, I would SERIOUSLY consider sticking with 256 kbps MP3 files.

DaveG

[Conflow]

ED,

I see Dave got there before me, AAhhh well, I might be wrong but I think I see your problem, you wrote:-

Format IEEE Float

Frequency 44100

Channels 2

Bits 32

The 32 bits shown above refers to the Composited Stereo Sound ~ and for a WAV Recording that should be 16.bit per Channel

and 'set' for:- WAV(Microsoft 16bit PCM) which is the same as a Musical CD-Disc.

An XP Machine can't do 32.bit Stereo per channel ~ only 16.bit as is the case with Commercial CD-Musical Discs.

The same applies to your 'db-PowerAmp' it can't find a 32bit encoder because there isn't one, its a 16.bit Program.

For the benefit of others I 'attach' a Diagram which will show the correct settings.

Regards,

Brian.Conflow.

[fh1805]

Peter, if you're still following this thread, you might want to think about re-wording that recommendation in your PDF for people to change the WAV format.

Yes, I'm still following this thread. I'll pick this point up over the weekend sometime.

regards,

Peter

[Ed Overstreet]

ED,

An XP Machine can't do 32.bit Stereo per channel ~ only 16.bit Regards,

Brian.Conflow.

Guess that also explains why my Dell Jukebox can't do anything with the 32-bit WAV file either. Thanks Brian.

Maybe in the future, if and when I get a new computer with Vista or whatever other new Windows system can handle 32-bit WAV files, I'll try that setting in Audacity, but it sounds like for XP machines that isn't a good idea.