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Gear / Technical Help => Post-Processing, Computer / Streaming / Internet Devices & Related Activity => Topic started by: voltronic on March 08, 2024, 07:51:43 PM

Title: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: voltronic on March 08, 2024, 07:51:43 PM
I have finally found an easy solution to splitting polyphonic WAV files to stereo tracks without having to split to mono files and then recombine those to stereo.


1. Install FFMPEG (https://ffmpeg.org/download.html).

2. Copy/move the WAV to the directory containing ffmpeg.exe, or copy ffmpeg.exe to the directory containing the WAV file.

3. Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory containing your WAV and FFMPEG.

4. Enter the appropriate command based on how many channels your PolyWAV contains, replacing [inputfilename] with the name of your WAV:


Code: [Select]
*FOR 8 CHANNELS*

ffmpeg -i inputfilename.wav -filter_complex "[0]pan=stereo|c0=c0|c1=c1[a]; [0]pan=stereo|c0=c2|c1=c3[b]; [0]pan=stereo|c0=c4|c1=c5[c]; [0]pan=stereo|c0=c6|c1=c7[d]" -map "[a]" 1_2.wav -map "[b]" 3_4.wav -map "[c]" 5_6.wav -map "[d]" 7_8.wav


*FOR 6 CHANNELS*

ffmpeg -i inputfilename.wav -filter_complex "[0]pan=stereo|c0=c0|c1=c1[a]; [0]pan=stereo|c0=c2|c1=c3[b]; [0]pan=stereo|c0=c4|c1=c5[c]" -map "[a]" 1_2.wav -map "[b]" 3_4.wav -map "[c]" 5_6.wav


*FOR 4 CHANNELS*

ffmpeg -i inputfilename.wav -filter_complex "[0]pan=stereo|c0=c0|c1=c1[a]; [0]pan=stereo|c0=c2|c1=c3[b]" -map "[a]" 1_2.wav -map "[b]" 3_4.wav


You can run the 8-channel command on a file containing fewer channels without problems. Just be aware you'll be left with silent stereo files for the channels that were not recorded.

I adapted this from one of the solutions found here (https://superuser.com/questions/1241474/ffmpeg-splitting-an-8-channels-wav-into-4-stereo-wav-files). The other solutions listed there all returned errors, as did the syntax found in the official documentation (https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/AudioChannelManipulation#Arbitrarychannelreductionmapping).
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: voltronic on March 08, 2024, 07:54:09 PM
Next task is to verify that this works for 32-bit float files.
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: aaronji on March 09, 2024, 01:03:52 PM
Why not use WaveAgent for 24-bit files?
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: voltronic on March 09, 2024, 01:44:52 PM
Why not use WaveAgent for 24-bit files?

I was not able to get WaveAgent to export directly to stereo tracks. Fortunately a user on GS Remote just showed me what I was doing wrong. I will likely go back to using WaveAgent now... :facepalm:
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: aaronji on March 09, 2024, 01:50:51 PM
Ha, ha! It is really simple, but not clearly documented. Another nice feature is that you can drop multiple files into WaveAgent (if there were auto-splits or different sets/bands or whatever) and do the same split on all simultaneously.
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: goodcooker on March 09, 2024, 02:08:48 PM


Reaper will also explode Poly files. I started with Wave Agent but kinda got used to Reaper already so I'll probably stick with it.
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: Gordon on March 09, 2024, 03:03:29 PM
iZotope RX makes it real easy as well!
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: voltronic on March 09, 2024, 03:26:05 PM
iZotope RX makes it real easy as well!

Only if you have Advanced. I have standard, and it only supports mono or stereo files.
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: live2496 on April 01, 2024, 02:36:29 PM
ffmpeg is awesome for lots of stuff. I primarily use it to cut/extract snippets from original (long run) mp4 video files.

Really quick for repeated tasks once you get the syntax figured out.

Gordon
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: kliked on April 02, 2024, 11:08:07 AM
Why not use WaveAgent for 24-bit files?

I was not able to get WaveAgent to export directly to stereo tracks. Fortunately a user on GS Remote just showed me what I was doing wrong. I will likely go back to using WaveAgent now... :facepalm:

Care to share?
Title: Re: Split PolyWAV to Stereo Tracks with FFMPEG
Post by: voltronic on April 02, 2024, 12:13:17 PM
In the split / combine window, clear the default selections. Then select the first two tracks in column 1, the next two tracks in column 2, etc.