Topic: FLAC 24 Problem/Question

[sullen]

ok, so im a little late jumping on the 24bit bandwagon.
and appologize for a "newbie" question,
but..........

i'm trying to compress my first 24 master into FLAC files,
i get this error message:
" ERROR - Unsupported compression type 65534 "

?? what have i done wrong ??

i did not touch bitdepth or resample, just did this:
24/44.1 from CF > .WAV > Normalized in soundforge > Tracked in cdwave > then tried to flac
and i get this error.

[JasonR]

When saving the file(s) in CDWave, turn the "Use alternate 24-bit format" feature on.

[sullen]

thanx!!!

[winisp]

This helps out a lot - I was wondering why I could compress some but not other 24 bit files.

Any one know the technical difference between default and alternate 24 bit format in CD Wave.

[JasonSobel]

This helps out a lot - I was wondering why I could compress some but not other 24 bit files.

Any one know the technical difference between default and alternate 24 bit format in CD Wave.

from the CD Wave online FAQ:

Microsoft defined a new standard for 24-bit and multichannel audio. The rule is that any format that either uses more than 2 channels or more than 16 bit must use the new standard. CD Wave is following on this rule, and writes out WAV files this way. The new format allows to describe what speakers are being used, and how the data bits are ordered.

Many programs do not understand the new format, but use the old format descriptor for a 24-bit WAV file. CD Wave will take an educated guess at the bit ordering and channel assignments, and open the old format. However, it will always write out files in the new format. The effect is that you can playback the files that CD Wave produces with Media Player, but you cannot open these 24-bit files in Sound Forge, for example.

When writing a 24 bit file (without conversion), there is a setting to force CD Wave to write out a "backwards compatible" WAV file for 24-bit stereo files.

to summarize, Microsoft defined a new "standard" for 24 bit wav files, and CD Wave follows the new standard.  the thing is, just about every other program continues to use the old standard.  so by checking off the "alternate" 24 bit format, you are actually using the standard 24 bit file format that just about everyone uses, and not the new Microsoft "standard"

[winisp]

Thanks. I checked the CD Wave help file - none of this info was there. I should have checked the CD wave site.