Topic: Sound Devices Wave Agent work flow

[ts]

Can anyone explain to me the manual combine process of two mono files in this program in Windows 10? No matter what I do I get the error reading: There are no valid mono files to combine in the take list. Please import mono files.

Thanks!

[Gordon]

do you have a mixpre II series?  is so wave agent doesn't work.

[ts]

do you have a mixpre II series?  is so wave agent doesn't work.

Shows I'm working on now where recorded on a 6, series I.

[goodcooker]

For my first outing with the Mixpre6 v1 I ran all the channels on 24/96 as a kind of litmus test -

Mics on 1-2
SBD on 3-4
A second pair of mics on 5-6
The mix channels.

Everything went great but there's clearly some adaptation on my part that I need to get a handle on.

Unoacking polywav files and arrranging the files in my linear editor (Wavelab) is going to take some getting used to.
The 96kHz files are around 31 minutes each so that's a new thing for me - I usually record at 44.1 and get 2 hours per file.

I guess my real question related to Wave Agent is that when I unpack the polywavs the resulting files are not numbered the same as the inputs -
Mix is 1-2
inputs 1-2 are 3-4
inoputs 3-4 are 5-6
and inputs 5-6 are 7-8

Also renaming the file name and input channels didn't result in any changes in the ouptput of Wave Agent - the output files are numbered Mixpre003_1, Mixpre003_2 etc. I hoped that it would be what I named them when setting it up before the show vinceherman2023-10-25 for the file name (which appeared on the screen while recording and the channel names that I gave them MBHOL, SBDR etc.

I have to admit that dealing with polywavs and mono files is just as much of a pain as I thought it would be when recording multiple channels.

[aaronji]

^ You can output stereo pairs in Wave Agent (i.e. MixPre-1_3_4.WAV would be the stereo file from inputs 1 and 2).

[EDIT: Corrected typo.]

[Ronmac]

do you have a mixpre II series?  is so wave agent doesn't work.

MixPre ii series poly files recorded at 24bit can be manipulated in Wave Agent. 32bit files, from any recorder, do not work in Wave Agent.

[goodcooker]

^ You can output stereo pairs in WaveLab (i.e. MixPre-1_3_4.WAV would be the stereo file from inputs 1 and 2).

I ended up adding each pair of mono files together into a stereo file - 003 and 004 into an empty stereo track in Audio Montage end to end and rendering that into a stereo file for the audience source and then another for the sbd source. Then I can go back and mix the two stereo files together in a new montage to get my finished project.

[aaronji]

There was a typo in my earlier post. I meant "Wave Agent" and not "WaveLab". In any event, here is the process in Wave Agent.

1. Import all polywaves into Wave Agent.
2. Highlight all of the files in Wave Agent.
3. Select "Split Poly".
4. Tick the boxes for which tracks go into which file. Any combination is possible.
5. Click "Process" (make sure to select the relevant output directory; the software retains your last choice, so you usually need to change it).

See the first screen shot. That produces the files you see in the second screenshot. After that, I use the "Open Append" feature in Audition to put all of the files for a given source together.

Also, in Audition, it is possible to just open the polywave and manipulate it as needed. I don't have any experience with WaveLab, but you can probably do the same.

[goodcooker]

There was a typo in my earlier post. I meant "Wave Agent" and not "WaveLab". In any event, here is the process in Wave Agent.
1. Import all polywaves into Wave Agent.
2. Highlight all of the files in Wave Agent.
3. Select "Split Poly".
4. Tick the boxes for which tracks go into which file. Any combination is possible.
5. Click "Process" (make sure to select the relevant output directory; the software retains your last choice, so you usually need to change it).
See the first screen shot. That produces the files you see in the second screenshot. After that, I use the "Open Append" feature in Audition to put all of the files for a given source together.
Also, in Audition, it is possible to just open the polywave and manipulate it as needed. I don't have any experience with WaveLab, but you can probably do the same.

Thanks for your advice. Wave Agent is really easy to get the files unpacked. Wavelab (at least old version 6 that I use, my editor of choice) doesn't support poly files. They have to be unpacked separately.

I guess my real questions to the group about it are -

Why does it name the unpacked files to it's own standard instead of the file name you give it and also rearrange the order to NOT correspond to the input channel numbers? I don't get why the Wingman app and the device itself allow you to name the files and give the input channel a name but neither carry over to your unpacked polywav. It makes no sense to me that it would drop the chosen filename and then name the mix channels 001 and 002, then name input channels 1&2 as 003 and 004, inputs 3&4 as 005 and 006.

Am I missing something? Or is this just something I have to get used to?

[GLouie]

AFAIK, you just have to get used to it. The SD polywav is at least, consistant. If you record the stereo mix, that is always polywav1-2, and any armed tracks fall in line next.

Not everyone wants to record the stereo mix, or even every input. Keeping the polywav numbering with the inputs would be impractical. I can't speak to Wave Agent; I prefer to used Reaper's explode feature and not have to do an extra step to separate the polywav tracks. I think it's still called a beta release.

I have to write down a track list of the final polywav, even if I have a written input list and whether I recorded the stereo mix. It's something I need with the MixPre10, where I was recording 10 inputs and the mix.

[goodcooker]

Keeping the polywav numbering with the inputs would be impractical.

I have to write down a track list of the final polywav, even if I have a written input list and whether I recorded the stereo mix.

IMO keeping the inputs and exploded wav files numbered the same seems WAY more practical and making the mix 7-8 makes more sense but I don't design things I just buy them and use them. I'm not always going to record the mix tracks so that will change the numbering in the usual use case.

I've always kept a written list of notes when using more than 4 tracks so I guess that my hope to assign the track names at the time of recording in the app and have that follow through the remainder of the workflow using their proprietary software was a little optimistic.

There's always trade offs in the world and the tiny size and great sound totally outweigh any perceived inconvenience in learning a new workflow.

[GLouie]

I'm not sure I follow. If it's a matter of Wave Agent not allowing renaming when separating, I don't know. I'd ask Sound Devices. I don't know if there is a way for Wave Agent to otherwise know how to name tracks on the polywav to match the inputs you used and which are the stereo mix.

You're not the first to ask for this. AFAIK, the polywav won't contain such information - or SD won't do it.
If you arm inputs 1 & 3 and record those with the stereo mix, you get a 4 track polywav, 1,2,3,4.
If you arm inputs 2 & 4 and record those with the stereo mix, you still get a polywav with 4 tracks, 1,2,3,4.
If you only record the stereo mix, the polywav is just tracks 1,2. How do you label it as tracks 7,8 (on a MixPre 6), and how do you know it wasn't inputs 7,8 on a MixPre10? It would also be nice to mark tracks recorded in stereo. Keeping notes is a small price to pay for the capabilities at this price and size. I just avoid Wave Agent and explode directly in Reaper, then follow my notes and relabel/manage the Reaper tracks, no big deal and it's never more than 12 tracks.

You should ask SD. It would be interesting to hear their response. Maybe the 800 series does this.

[ts]

^ You can output stereo pairs in WaveLab (i.e. MixPre-1_3_4.WAV would be the stereo file from inputs 1 and 2).

I ended up adding each pair of mono files together into a stereo file - 003 and 004 into an empty stereo track in Audio Montage end to end and rendering that into a stereo file for the audience source and then another for the sbd source. Then I can go back and mix the two stereo files together in a new montage to get my finished project.

I'm doing something similar in Adobe Audition multitrack view. Opening tracks 3 and 4, panning 3 hard left and 4 hard right and mix down to stereo file. Works great. Its probably not the right way to do it, but works for me.