Bringing wifey to the "dark side"

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Until Virtual DJ supports replay gain tags for auto volume leveling I will not be a buyer.
All my music has replay gain tags embedded in the metadata, auto leveled to the EBU R128 standard of 89 decibels.

No question that VDJ is a fantastic program, and I have played with the free version a fair bit, but there is lots of free or nearly free mixing software out there that support this very basic feature (even winamp), so why not VDJ?
Does VDJ impliment any form of auto-leveling at all? I could not get it to behave as if it did and was constantly riding the faders to achieve similar volume levels between tracks.
After searching through the VDJ forum I found that it does not support replay gain tags.

If someone who uses VDJ could enlighten me on how to auto-level without either a) using any form of on board dynamic compression or b) running an auto-leveling program such as mp3 gain through my entire library beforehand, otherwise it's a deal breaker for me.

Even though I use 2 separate programs, winamp for video and mixx for audio, I will happily continue to do so until someone can show me an all in one solution that meets the above criteria.
 
I just set it on Auto, all my files have been leveled (Sony Sound Forge) and can't complain about the way VDJ handles the small differences.
 
Yeah, I guess I could do that with either sound forge, mp3gain or similar, it's just that replay gain does not alter the file in any way, it simply analyzes the file and sets a tag stating what the file loudness is in db (headroom) in relation to the standard I mentioned above, and then you can set the global playback output level (mine is set at 95db) in any player that supports it.

It also works on my FLAC files as well without actually altering the files native volume level. This is important to me as these are my archives and I do not want to alter the file in any way.

Now I can always take those tagged master files and create additional mp3 or flac files from them and implement an auto leveling program during the conversion process to end up with all files leveled to 95db so they will play back on anything at the same level whether replay gain tags are supported or not.

I just feel I shouldn't have to go that extra step and create (and maintain) a separate drive with duplicate pre auto-leveled files for something that should be supported natively in software.

Maybe I will have to make some noise in the VDJ forum and see if we can get replay gain support implemented in a future release or update as I really would like to start using the program.

I'm not trying to cut off my nose to spite my face either by not wanting to do the workaround and create and maintain a separate pre-levelled drive (well ok, maybe
I am, LOL).

It's just that for the money they charge for the program it should be a no brainer that this is supported considering the numerous free programs that do.
 
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I'll take this a step further in thinking. You have to also imagine at some point you may change products (step away from VDJ) - then what? Are you going to now ask another vendor for this feature?

IMO, if this is a feature you need across your library - and you're maintaining a separate library anyways (one archive FLAC and one MP3), then take the time and apply this to your library .. this way you're not relying on someone else to supply what you want and can do for yourself. In addition, you're also already set for whatever may come your way.
 
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Well I'm not actually maintaining a separate drive at this point. My working drives are just clones of my master and contain both mp3 and flac files. When I add music to my master I tag with replay gain and then I simply clone to the working drives without having to do any extra conversion to another format or run any auto leveling program.
 
Please correct me if I'm wrong .. I think you meant - you're not maintaining a separate library. Is your library one conglomeration of flac and mp3?

Or are you converting to mp3 and then separating the flac and mp3? As I understood it, you were archiving flac and converting to mp3.

Regardless, I still feel that if it is your library and something you can do easily vice waiting on someone else to step in, take control of the process and do it yourself.
 
Yes, my library is one conglomeration of flac and mp3. When adding music it's either audio cd ripped to flac or if I need to download from a pool or itunes etc. then it's most likely mp3 if that's the best I can get.
Since my audio program (mixx) reads just about everything, and supports replay gain tags, no need to do any extra conversion/leveling etc. Just update the master then clone to the working drives.

This way it cuts down on the time involved with the workflow for adding new music with the bonus of allowing me to always being able to play the best quality file I have in my library. (Yes I know, let's not go there, hehe)
 
I understand. I do something similar, however the entire library is mp3. This affords me the ability to find a product that supports one standard. lossless is archived off (no need for it in an mp3 library) and I can reconvert if I need to down the road. I understand your aim.

As for the gain tags, every product will not have the same features nor should they. What would be the difference if they all did the same thing? You really can't compare 'free' with something that costs. Someone that builds something and lets it go for free either doesn't need the money or is making it in other ways. A purchased product usually caters to the mass of what the customers want. Failure to do so will drive those purchases away. The key word there is 'mass'. If they don't see value in adding something, then they won't. In addition, while you think it's a simple change, programatically, it may be a very detailed change.
 
All my files are stored in HDD as WAV. Then there's backup for my mp3's and now I'm converting the WAVs to FLAC. And again the WAV and mp3 files are backed up to DVD+R and now Blu-Ray. All files may be tweaked before converting if I find something I don't like in the sound.

BTW Tagging is done with Tag & Rename, I'm picky with my tags.
 
I'm real finicky about my tags too - MP3Tag does all mine.

Are you converting everything from WAV and MP3 to FLAC?
 
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Yep, all my original files have been saved as WAVs.
 
A little follow up on my VDJ startup. You may remember me posting about my HP Pavilion G4 (pentium) was working okay with VDJ but it was pegging 75%-90% CPU. I bought a new machine, problem solved. Saturday is my first wedding with VDJ so I got out the pentium box and noticed that task manager was pegging 50% with no apps running. Did some investigating and found out WDFME.exe was the culprit. Deleted it and now the box is running 15%-20% CPU with VDJ running audio. Of course the part that pisses me off is, while I was in the process of trying to optimize that box, I turned something off that has my desktop too bright. I've been dinking around with display settings but have yet to figure it back out. Should have known to not be playing with turning crap on/off. Well at least I've got 2 VDJ capable boxes handy.
 
Western Digital application sucks got rid of it on all my PC's with WD drives.