Author Topic: Thanks Scott Brown for xACT! (Read 12895 times)

RRobar · « **on:** December 15, 2003, 03:06:37 PM »

Just wanted to sat thanks to Scott for putting out xACT for OSX.If you guys don't have it. GET IT!! Nice and easy to use. I've started burning all my audio discs on my mac it's so nice. Good Job!

Mic D · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2003, 04:46:25 PM »

yeah, xACT rocks! Thanks, Scott.

Chris K · « **Reply #2 on:** December 15, 2003, 04:52:03 PM »

so much better than everything else out there for mac..finlly i can convert aif to sh/flac without converting it to wav first

cheers
chris k

John Kelly · « **Reply #3 on:** December 15, 2003, 07:17:29 PM »

I'm just waiting for Scott to follow the HIG and convert the app to aqua.

Nice app Scott.

Tim · « **Reply #4 on:** December 15, 2003, 11:45:32 PM »

where is this? I have a friend who runs a mac and is looking for shn/flac/bt software...

thanks

John Kelly · « **Reply #5 on:** December 15, 2003, 11:51:35 PM »

http://www.etree.org/software/xACT.dmg.gz

Tim · « **Reply #6 on:** December 16, 2003, 12:03:07 AM »

thanks!

RRobar · « **Reply #7 on:** December 16, 2003, 08:41:46 AM »

Yeah, it's sweet! I wish someone would come up with a similar windows version.

scb · « **Reply #8 on:** December 16, 2003, 09:13:30 AM »

if you guys have any suggestions, please let me know. i'm thinking of adding in full info file creation for a future version

nic · « **Reply #9 on:** December 16, 2003, 09:15:23 AM »

" I'm just waiting for Scott to follow the HIG and convert the app to aqua."

maybe you should get Apple to follow the HIG for all of their apps first

greenone · « **Reply #10 on:** December 16, 2003, 09:43:08 AM »

Info file creation would be bitchin'. Maybe .torrent file creation too?

scb · « **Reply #11 on:** December 16, 2003, 09:47:54 AM »

>>maybe you should get Apple to follow the HIG for all of their apps first <<

exactly! xACT without brushed metal looked like a JV program, while right now it's varsity all the way...hehe

just want to say big thanks to dave for testing this and finding many of my dumb mistakes/bugs

greenone · « **Reply #12 on:** December 16, 2003, 02:29:07 PM »

Hey, for all I know the FLAC/sox/md5 part of it is bug-infested...I just abused the shorten/shntool area.

MattD · « **Reply #13 on:** December 17, 2003, 01:03:07 AM »

Get that thing on version tracker. I saw it in action on John Kelly's laptop tonight and it looked pretty nice. Any way to add a % complete/remaning? It looked like the FLAC compression he did was just a sideways "barber pole" and wasn't counting anything.

-Matt

scb · « **Reply #14 on:** December 17, 2003, 09:31:30 AM »

>>Any way to add a % complete/remaning? It looked like the FLAC compression he did was just a sideways "barber pole" and wasn't counting anything.<<

if i rewrite in objective C, then it's a no brainer. but the way applescript studio is set up, if i want to have that progress bar show correct percent (like macflac does) then it'll slow it down dramatically, because the language currently can't receive updates from the terminal apps. it can only receive the final output. in order to have it update the percent left, i have to direct the output from the flac binary to a file, and then read that file constantly to see the percent left. it slows it down a lot. to check this, compress something in MacFlac 2.1.2, then the same file in xACT. xACT will be faster

so if you want to see progress of the current file, just look at the files in the finder and see how big they are....

how do i get something on version tracker?

Chris K · « **Reply #15 on:** December 17, 2003, 11:26:20 AM »

whn converting aif to shn, the resulting file come out like this:

bandx2003-12-19d1t01.aif.shn

any chance to remove the aif part?

i have been doing it manually prior to making md5's, but a few times i've made the md5, then corrected the name (to bandx2003-12-19d1t01.shn) and then i had to redo the md5 (or correct it with a txt editor) cause the verification wouldn't take

not a real big deal, but something to consider?

thanks for listening

scb · « **Reply #16 on:** December 17, 2003, 11:39:08 AM »

Quote

whn converting aif to shn, the resulting file come out like this:

bandx2003-12-19d1t01.aif.shn

any chance to remove the aif part?

you manually made the names bandx2003-12-19d1t01.aif, correct? the simple fix is for you to remove the .aif extension when you name the files initially. then it'll just do .shn.

i could put in parsing of filenames to remove the extension, in fact i had it in for an earlier version but i didn't think it was necessary so I removed it...

Chris K · « **Reply #17 on:** December 17, 2003, 11:48:49 AM »

i wouldn't say I manually did it...when i split regions in peak, it adds the aif to the track names

again its not a big deal, as i'm saving time not having to convert to wav first!

blu666z · « **Reply #18 on:** December 17, 2003, 12:58:43 PM »

Quote from: RRobar on December 16, 2003, 08:41:46 AM

Yeah, it's sweet! I wish someone would come up with a similar windows version.

I have every intention of doing just that. Let me know what is needed and I will start on it after x-mas. Still like to see some screenshots when you get a chance Scott.

-Kevin

scb · « **Reply #19 on:** December 17, 2003, 01:08:53 PM »

>> i wouldn't say I manually did it...when i split regions in peak, it adds the aif to the track names<<

ahh. well maybe i'll put in batch file renaming in a future version. and i had totally forgotten about screen shots...maybe when i'm back home this weekend and on my machine i'll do those

blu666z · « **Reply #20 on:** December 17, 2003, 02:49:22 PM »

No biggie Scott. I am leaving for home on Sat and won't be back until the Sunday after x-mas.

-Kevin

MattD · « **Reply #21 on:** December 17, 2003, 05:54:47 PM »

http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/

This could be an easy way for people to check for updates, if you plan on continually adding to/modifying. However, if you have some end goal in mind, it might be best that you do what you're doing now by making it available to those who want it.

Cooker · « **Reply #22 on:** December 18, 2003, 05:44:40 PM »

Scott, +T for making a bitchen app. Reason #32,654 why i want a Mac

Kevin, I'd love to help you test or debug. PM me when you have something...

scb · « **Reply #23 on:** December 20, 2003, 10:33:50 AM »

i'll make a wiki page at wiki.etree.org about this app one of these days

a few screen shots (none it action though). just the main window

decode tab:

scb · « **Reply #24 on:** December 20, 2003, 10:34:29 AM »

encode tab

scb · « **Reply #25 on:** December 20, 2003, 10:36:27 AM »

fix tab

scb · « **Reply #26 on:** December 20, 2003, 10:37:52 AM »

shntool tab with "len" selected

scb · « **Reply #27 on:** December 20, 2003, 10:38:07 AM »

shntool tab with "join" selected

save · « **Reply #28 on:** December 20, 2003, 06:00:29 PM »

wow looks nice scott....for once in my life i kinda wish i had a mac

Chris K · « **Reply #29 on:** December 20, 2003, 08:33:50 PM »

it looks nicer on my screen!

Mic D · « **Reply #30 on:** December 21, 2003, 08:46:31 PM »

[thread hijack]

Probably a stupid question, but how are you guys making these screen shots?

[/thread hijack]

scb · « **Reply #31 on:** December 21, 2003, 08:50:15 PM »

apple shift 3 or apple shift 4

Mic D · « **Reply #32 on:** December 21, 2003, 09:44:39 PM »

Thanks!

John Kelly · « **Reply #33 on:** December 21, 2003, 10:16:00 PM »

Scott, one question: is there any way to make the "window" that shows the file names a place where you can drag files to? Whenever I open the app I almost always try to add the files by dragging them to that part of the window, but it never works and I have to go all the way down to the dock.

Not a big deal, but it would be nice.

scb · « **Reply #34 on:** December 22, 2003, 09:01:13 AM »

yeah, it's not hard to do, but for some reason it's not letting me do it. not sure why. i can create a new app and it works fine, but i can't add it to this one for some reason. working on figuring out why

Chris K · « **Reply #35 on:** December 22, 2003, 03:06:50 PM »

every time i mount the dmg file, it asks me if i need to install flac/shn components, and when i say no, it gives me 20 applescript errors, but then opens up fine, and seems to work

am i doing something wrong...

i'm not at the g4 right now (stuck behind this hp at work) so i can't be specific, but i can provide more details later..

greenone · « **Reply #36 on:** December 22, 2003, 03:43:27 PM »

That's what you get for saying no to SCOTT BROWN!

Er.

I've always said no and I've never had a problem...

Yeah, this post is helpful.

Chris K · « **Reply #37 on:** December 22, 2003, 04:40:36 PM »

Quote from: greenone on December 22, 2003, 03:43:27 PM

Yeah, this post is helpful.

made me laugh...that's a help upon itself...

scb · « **Reply #38 on:** December 22, 2003, 08:49:17 PM »

>>every time i mount the dmg file, it asks me if i need to install flac/shn components, and when i say no, it gives me 20 applescript errors, but then opens up fine, and seems to work

am i doing something wrong...
<<

yes. you're supposed to copy it from the .dmg to your hard drive, not launch it from the .dmg

i have all of the binaries bundled within xACT, and then once they are installed they're deleted from xACT. the .dmg is read only, so it gives errors when it tries to delete them from that dmg. just copy the app from the image to your drive and then you'll be set

John Kelly · « **Reply #39 on:** December 23, 2003, 08:50:21 AM »

Scott, what about a way to sort the added files? Or at least have them parsed in alphabetical order. My tracks always end up entered in all screwy (still works of course, but I'd like them to be encoded/checksumed in order).

Chris K · « **Reply #40 on:** December 23, 2003, 09:24:26 AM »

Quote from: John Kelly on December 23, 2003, 08:50:21 AM

Scott, what about a way to sort the added files? Or at least have them parsed in alphabetical order. My tracks always end up entered in all screwy (still works of course, but I'd like them to be encoded/checksumed in order).

i ran into the same problem, this is how i got to workaround it so this files are in proper order. there is probably another way, but this is how i am doing it and it is working:

from the xACT interface click the "ADD FILES" button and navigate to the folder/files you wish to decode/encode/etc

instead of choosing the FIRST file of the bunch (ie bandx2003-12-19d1t01.aif) select the LAST FILE (bandx2003-12-19d1t12.aif) and while holding the shift key, select the first file in effect selecting all the files in between. click "choose" in the navaigation box and it should bring all the files in the correct order in the xACT interface

try it...it works...why, I'm not sure....i'm just and end user, not a developer...kinda the story of my life i guess

oh, and scott thanks for the tip on copying the xACT program from the dmg to my applications folder (actually it sits nicely in my dock, next to toast)...it did the trick...do i need that "stuff folder" thats in the dmg also, or is that just the flac/shn codes for installation?

scb · « **Reply #41 on:** December 24, 2003, 09:27:53 AM »

>>Scott, what about a way to sort the added files? Or at least have them parsed in alphabetical order. My tracks always end up entered in all screwy (still works of course, but I'd like them to be encoded/checksumed in order)<<

yeah that's 1 line of code. notice how i have it sorting them in the "len" and "fix" tabs already (since you *need* them in sorted order for those to work properly). I just didn't sort the encode and decode sicne it wasn't needed. but it's just a matter of me calling my sort function on the encode and decode filenames

i've added support for checking multiple md5s or flac fingerprints at 1 time now too, and some monkey's audio users are bugging me to add .ape encoding. so all that will probably be in 1.2 or 1.3 (since i was already working on a 1.2 maybe the next public release will be 1.3)

scb · « **Reply #42 on:** December 24, 2003, 09:30:22 AM »

>>do i need that "stuff folder" thats in the dmg also, or is that just the flac/shn codes for installation? <<

it's the license info for flac, shorten, shntool, etc. gives proper credit and the licenses that say "free for non-commercial use" yadda yadda. you don't need it, but i needed to include it to properly include those programs

MattD · « **Reply #43 on:** December 24, 2003, 10:57:47 AM »

I still say you should have a warning pop up if anyone chooses "encode to .ape."

John Kelly · « **Reply #44 on:** December 24, 2003, 11:37:54 AM »

That would be hilarious, and I'd love to see it.

greenone · « **Reply #45 on:** December 26, 2003, 05:50:56 PM »

Maybe it could make some howler monkey noises or something.

Hilarious idea...

scb · « **Reply #46 on:** December 26, 2003, 07:32:53 PM »

>>Maybe it could make some howler monkey noises or something<<

or i could have it play a clip of O.A.R. same thing

John Kelly · « **Reply #47 on:** December 26, 2003, 08:44:46 PM »

Zing!

But there are seriously people asking for .ape in it??? Haven't seen anything on (the seriously dead) Mac Tapers or even Laptop Tapers...

scb · « **Reply #48 on:** December 26, 2003, 11:32:54 PM »

got an email from someone who's on some classical lossless lists, they apparently use ape over there

greenone · « **Reply #49 on:** December 26, 2003, 11:59:38 PM »

Ask them if they think 'lossless' applies to files that are unrecoverable once they're compressed.