Girilal

I'm trying to playback an 8 channel piece using 8 individual mono files and 8 instances of sfplay. I tried using the int24 setting as indicated in the reference for sfplay. But it just got completely noisy and distorted. Is there a better way of playing back 24bit files?

24-bit-playback

AFAIK sfplay~ would normally recognize the bit depth from the header... Have you tried opening the files *without* specifying the bit depth?

Well, originally, I just played them through 8 instances of sfplay~.

But I was getting distortion on the gain~ sliders at unity (128). I had to drop the gain to 95 to avoid distortion. This led me to think that something isn't quite working as it should in terms if 24 bits.

But perhaps there is some other explanation?

Well, originally, I just played them through 8 instances of sfplay~.
But I was getting distortion on the gain~ sliders at unity (128). I had to drop the gain to 95 to avoid distortion. This led me to think that something isn't quite working as it should in terms if 24 bits.

But perhaps there is some other explanation?


you are better with using [buffer]~ and [play~], which does not play from disk.

I thought about that, but 8 mono channels of 15 minutes each in 24bit resolution is a LOT of buffer:-)

So, is sfplay~ supposed to play back 24 bit files without special instructions? But why is it distorting then? I know that the files are mixed to peak below 0db...

Strange that Max can do so much, but playing back 24bits is such a problem...

I tried it out and I am not sure I did it exactly the same as you but I generated 8 30 second harmonic sinewaves, mixed them to just below zero, exported them individually as mono 24 and then loaded up 8 sfplays and I got transparent results - no distortion. I did not use any special message to sfplay and everything was kept at 0db. sfplay just loaded them up, no distortion. Did you try again without using that message?

Originally I didn't use any message at all, just loaded them in and that's it.

I only used the message later, thinking that is what I need to do to get sfplay to read 24 properly.

Very strange. And I know the files are all just fine, as I did a down-mix to stereo using them just yesterday.

But thanks for your help! (And for going through the trouble of reproducing the set-up!!) If anyone can think of anything else, I'd be grateful.

Originally I didn't use any message at all, just loaded them in and that's it.
I only used the message later, thinking that is what I need to do to get sfplay to read 24 properly.

But thanks for your help! (And for going through the trouble of reproducing the set-up!!) If anyone can think of anything else, I'd be grateful.


I now switched over everything to using live.gain instead and I have no problems any more. Very strange...

24 bit playback