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User guide

AMoody edited this page Jan 12, 2021 · 1 revision

Project conversion

Limitations

This software is used to convert project files from audio editors, it doesn't convert audio files (although see 64-bit-audio-files).

The source project file is stored internally during conversion in a database which uses the AES31 fields. EDL features which are not part of the AES31 format are not converted.

Opening the source

Use either the 'File' menu and open or the open button.
Make sure the 'Files of Type' drop down box has the right type selected.
Browse your file system for the project file to be converted.
When the project has loaded there is a summary shown and a list of the sound files which are referenced by the project.
For those which have been found the duration and sample rate are shown.
If there are missing files you need to find them elsewhere and import them to your audio editor later.

Setting the preferences

There is a setting for sample rate and frame rate. The sample rate setting is used to determine which audio files are the correct sample rate for the project.
In an AES31 project all of the audio files must be the same sample rate.
You could change the sample rate here to be different from your source file and save to an AES31 file. The destination AES31 file would have the right settings for your new sample rate but all of the audio would now be the wrong sample rate and would be placed in a subfolder called 'WRONG_FORMAT'.
There are also some settings for 64 bit audio files. You'll need to use a bit of trial and error there to get settings which make files your audio editor can read.

Saving the destination

Use either the 'File' menu and save as or the save as button.
Make sure the 'Files of Type' drop down box has the right type selected.
You might want to create a new empty folder to put the converted file in, the audio files if they're found will be copied here too.

Importing an AES31 file

Some audio editors will automatically scan subfolders for any audio files which aren't in their expected location.
If for some reason there's a subfolder called 'WRONG_FORMAT' this will contain files which need to be converted separately.
If your audio editor finds these before they're been converted it can cause problems.
A typical workflow would be...

  1. Save project from project translator to a new empty temp folder.
  2. Check for a subfolder called 'WRONG_FORMAT', if it exists, MOVE it somewhere so it's not a subfolder of the project folder.
  3. Open your audio editor, create a new empty project in yet another empty folder.
  4. Either a. Import the audio files from 'WRONG_FORMAT', your editor should complain about them and offer to convert them. or b. use software (e.g. ffmpeg or sox) to fix the 'WRONG_FORMAT' files and place the fixed files in the temp folder.
  5. Import the AES31 file to your project in your audio editor, it should now find the audio files too.
  6. Use the audio editor to consolidate the audio files in to the project folder so the temp folder is no longer needed.

Importing an Ardour file

Project translator creates an Ardour file in v2 format. When you open it Ardour creates a copy of the .ardour file and updates the existing file to the latest version.
The folder structure which was created by project translator is now used by Ardour.