digiconv - quickly convert digital audio files

current: V0.31b / 6.1.2002
and still alive and working in 2007 :-)


"quick download and use"


complete instructions (hopefully)

Please be informed that I see the actual version more as an beta-release than a complete application!

To add a file to the list of source files click on "add file" and select the file(s) to add. You may do that as often as you like. Files get processed one after another from top down. In the case of joining two mono-files into one stereo-file each 1st file goes left and each 2nd one right.

To remove a file from the list select it and press "remove selected". When there is no file selected the uppermost is removed.

I think it is useful to start setting the source-paramters where the Guess-button might help you. It always takes the selected or the uppermost of your files. In the case of a wave- or an aiff-file it reads the header-information and fills all relevant fields. If that header is wrong you may change them as you like. In the case of a raw-PCM-file it only tries to guess the bitrate as it somehow depends on the filesize. Sometimes it is possible to determine whether it is mono.

All parameters:

source type
  • raw PCM
  • WAV
  • AIFF
- please not that ANY additional information that resides in WAV- or AIFF-files such as copyrights, timestamps, overviews etc. is not copied into the processed file. only the sampledata gets through!
source mono / stereo
  • mono
  • dual mono
    - this lets you join 2 mono-files into one stereo-file. the filename of the first one is taken.
  • stereo
source bitrate select the appropriate bitrate. this setting is important for the conversion process! but for now you can't change the bitrate of your files. (bitrate in = bitrate out)
source byteorder
  • BigEndian (Mac)
  • LittleEndian (Intel)
Select the byteorder of the sampledata in your file. Wav-files are usually LittleEndian, AIFF-files BigEndian regardless of the Platform! ProTools-SD2 from a Mac is usually pure PCM in BigEndian-order.
   
output type
  • raw PCM
  • WAV
  • AIFF
    - digiconv writes the AIFF-sampledata without block-aligning regardless of the setting in the sourcefile.
output mono / stereo
  • mono
  • dual mono
    - this lets you split a stereo file into 2 mono-files. left-channel gets a "_L" and right channel a"_R" appended to the filenames.
  • stereo L/R
  • stereo R/L
    - this lets you swap the channels in a stereo file
output samplerate enter or select the appropriate samplerate. this setting is not needed for the conversion process and does not affect the sampledata. the value only gets written to the header. so for a raw-file it is not available.
output extension this gets appended to the processed file.
output byteorder
  • BigEndian (Mac)
  • LittleEndian (Intel)
Select the byteorder of the sampledata in your file. Wav-files are usually LittleEndian, AIFF-files BigEndian regardless of the Platform! ProTools-SD2 from a Mac is usually pure PCM in BigEndian-order.

"use Output path": if checked ALL! processed files go into the specified folder. That's if you're converting directly from a CD-ROM (remember that the ROM stands for read-only-memory). You may change it using the "browse"-Button or by editing the edit-field. It is initially taken from the 1st added file. If left unchecked each output file will be created in its source's directory.

Pressing "Do it!" starts the conversion. The button is grayed out and shows the number of the file processed and the conversion progress in bytes down to zero. All buttons and input-elements are disabled, except the former Bye-Button that may be used to interrupt the conversion. A progress bar informs you of the progress (what else?). When finished all the little buttons and fields are enabled again.

To quit press "Bye"...

As far as I know there should be no more functions. No drag&drop, no registry, no eastereggs...

and finally here is a nice screenshot:screenshot

As you see it is not meant to win a design award (yet).

Why does it not convert bitrates or samplerates?
Because those things may affect the quality of your sounds as they alter the sample-values. All digiconv does is rearranging bytes and creating appropriate header-information. In order to change the bitrate for example you're usually better off using some kind of dithering.


download

Version 0.31b

exe for Win32 in zip-format (209kB) 6.1.2002
changed:

  • AIFF-support (1st try, please report problems)
  • fixed the bug with the wrong waveheader (see below)
  • new "reset all"-button
  • added a little issue to the guess-function to probably recognize mono-raw-files

remarks

  • nothing done about runtime-errors yet
Version 0.30b

exe for Win32 in zip-format (207kB) 3.1.2002
changed:

  • again a new conversion routine, now more flexible
  • new user interface
  • free choice of input/output-format

!NOTE!: there is a bug when writing the waveheader, I fixed it, just need to do some checks, V0.31 is being released soon!

remarks

  • no real error-checking
  • additional information a wave-file may provide is not copied into the converted file
  • no aiff-support yet
 

a history, documentation, download and infos regarding the earlier version to be found

HERE

LINUX: using wine to run digiconv worked fine for me, performance is maybe a tiny little bit weaker than in a native win32 environment. Perhaps someday I try to port it to native linux-code.

There is NO readme or documentation included yet. So read this page carefully!


performance

Some examples in case someone is interested. All times approximately.

System: AMD mobileAthlon-XP 1600 MHz, 512MB Ram, UDMA HD
WinXP, split 1 file, approx. 55MB 10 sec
System: AMD Athlon 600 MHz, 196MB Ram, UDMA-66 HD
Win98, 4 files, total approx. 95MB 30 sec
Win98, 1 file, 25MB 6 sec
Win98, 12 files, total approx. 186MB, from CD-ROM to HDD 1:55 min
Win98, 2 files, total approx. 53MB, from CD-ROM to HDD 30 sec
   
System: PentiumPro 350 MHz, 128MB Ram, SCSI-UW HD
Win95, 4 files, total approx. 95MB 40 sec

...any additional experiences?

A good example for the benefit in speed is importing audio in ProTools 5.0: If you select a stereo-wave-file to be imported ProTools splits the channels into 2 seperate mono-files. Here this takes about 2:30 minutes for a 40MB-file. digiconv does the same job within 12 seconds !!!


contact & feedback & issues

The software is provided as it is. I will neither charge anything for using it nor take any guarantee that it does what you expect it to. Especially I'm not to be held responsible for any damage to your system or your data. Always have a backup copy of all your important stuff! Use at your own risk!
In case you like it or you even want to copy and publish it I would really like you to always name the original source (that's me). If you would like to donate some money for my great work you're always welcome :-).

As you see the little version-number you guess that the software is at developing stage. So if you would like to give me some feedback or you even want to contribute to the development please do that!

contact me via email: digidesign(at)guessmer.de
But please read this page before asking silly questions :-).

hope you like it after all,
regards from Leipzig, Germany

nach oben

Viel Spaß!
Christian Güssmer 2002