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dcsTools Audio Importer

Navigation: TroubleShooting

Some Files Fail to Convert

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You may encounter a situation where an incoming (source) audio file fails to convert and import successfully. When an import fails completely, you will usually see an error message in the dcsTools Audio Import Manager Message Center. Depending on the type of problem there was in converting and importing the file, the source file will end up in one of the Audio Paths "Bad Audio" sub-folder or will remain in the source folder. In other cases, the file may appear to have been converted and imported correctly, but the resulting audio doesn't sound right at playback.

Possible Causes of a Failed Conversion

The source audio file is a Read-Only file. dcsTools Audio Importer will not convert and delete a source audio file containing the read-only file attribute. The solution in this case is to remove the read-only attribute - you can use Windows File Explorer or another file manipulation application to correct this problem.

The source file is a .daf multi-cut header. dcsTools Audio Importer cannot convert a .daf multi-cut header file as there is no audio within the file. See the Import Notes for XStudio, DCS and Maestro Users topic for additional information.

The source file is not a supported audio file type. dcsTools Audio Importer recognizes audio files in a source folder by the file's extension, which is associated with a file type. Supported broadcast industry file types are .wav, .mpg, .mp2, .mp3, .daf, .dff, and .raw.

The source file is a variable bit rate file. As a default, dcsTools Audio Importer does not process variable bit rate source files. This file type can take a long time to process and the resulting output file may not always be correct. You can change the default behavior by modifying the "FilterMpegVbr" core dcsTools Audio Import Service registry setting. See the dcsTools Audio Import Service Registry Information topic for additional details.

Stop the dcsTools Audio Import Service prior to making changes to its registry settings. Once changes have been made, restart the service and test to be sure you get the desired results. It is recommended you use Windows RegEdit application to make any changes.

Possible Reasons for Converted Audio not Sounding Right

The output file gain is very high at playback. While it generally is the case that the source file gain is too high, another possible cause that the source file is a monaural (mono) file. dcsTools Audio Importer as default is set up to handle mono audio files without this issue, but if you change the default "RateConvertQuality" core dcsTools Audio Import Service registry setting, the result may be that a mono audio file's gain is doubled during the conversion process. See the dcsTools Audio Import Service Registry Information topic for additional details.

The output file playback sounds slow, too fast or is unintelligible. Certain source file sample rate and bit rate combinations can cause problems like this with the default core dcsTools Audio Import Service registry settings. If you do not convert any (or very many) monaural source files, consider changing the default "RateConvertQuality" core dcsTools Audio Import Service registry setting to see if it corrects this problem. See the dcsTools Audio Import Service Registry Information topic for additional details.

Stop the dcsTools Audio Import Service prior to making changes to its registry settings. Once changes have been made, restart the service and test to be sure you get the desired results. It is recommended you use Windows RegEdit application to make any changes.