sfrecord file size limit
Greetings,
I'm building a patch that records 8 audio channels and saves them as a single multichannel 96KHz/24bit wav file.
Since I know that there is a size limit of 2GB (or 4?) for wav files, I was wondering if there is a better format/method available in Max/MSP for recording big audio files (like wav64) without having to split them.
Any idea?
Thanks!
Alex
Thanks for the reply.
> The size of a data chunk in a WAV file is coded as a long, i.e. 32bits.
> So the max size is indeed 4GB. AIFF works the same way.
Yes, some audio files use only 31bits. 1bit for the header.
I've done a little test with sfrecord and it stops the recording when the audio file size is 2GB.
So I guess that the WAV format used in Max/MSP is a standard 31bit + 1bit for the header information.
>
> But you also have to make sure that the OS can handle such big files.
> Not so long ago, it wasn't possible on a Mac.
With NTFS on Windows it should not be a problem.
> For SDII (on MacOS) I don't know if there is such a limit, It looks
> like the size of the sound is not memorized in the resource fork, so
> maybe the only limit is the limit allowed by the OS for the data fork.
This sounds really interesting. I'll do a test tomorrow.
> > I was wondering if there is a better format/method available in
> > Max/MSP for recording big audio files (like wav64) without having to
> > split them.
>
> Why don't you want to split the channels? Hard drives are fast now, and
> the 8 files shouldn't be too difficult to sync.
Because the HD performance are super-fast when try to record one file, fast/normal when recording a few files at the same time, but fall drammatically when you tru to record at high bit and samplerate a large number of tracks.
I would like to build a patch that can handle even 24 or more channels without a problem on a single audio file, since sfrecord can write up to 28 channels on a single file.
Greetings,
Alex
> I'm afraid you can't record in SDII on Windows with Max/MSP.
You are right. SDII isn't available in the Windows version of Max/MSP.
I have also done a test with the RAW format but the limit of 2 GB is still there.
If only sfrecord could write W64 (wav64) and RIFF64...
maybe in Max5?
Thanks.
Alex
>If only sfrecord could write W64 (wav64) and RIFF64...
Yes, and CAF (CoreAudio), that would be sweet!
/J
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jr.abstractions for MaxMSP
http://www.sonicescape.net/maxmsp/
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what is the nature of your project that requires so much data?
I am involved in various projects from music making/sound design to audio recording and would like to build my own audio recorder with Max for adapting it to every possible situation.
I hope that the sfrecord object will be updated soon to save in those new format.
In the meantime, I think that searching for an alternative method for breaking the 2GB limit in Max/MSP it's a good way to learn more things.
Cheers.
Alex
Alessandro Camnasio schrieb:
> I am involved in various projects from music making/sound design to
> audio recording and would like to build my own audio recorder with
> Max for adapting it to every possible situation.
>
> I hope that the sfrecord object will be updated soon to save in those
> new format.
I googled for wav64, and only found some hints for software using it
(Nuendo), no specs at all.
As a 64-bit resolution for sound files would be useless waste of space,
it will only be used by wannabe professionals who don't understand and
think "more is better"...
Stefan
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Stefan Tiedje------------x-------
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> I googled for wav64, and only found some hints for software using it (Nuendo), no specs at all.
> As a 64-bit resolution for sound files would be useless waste of space, it will only be used by wannabe professionals who don't understand and think "more is better"...
Wav64 (aka w64) is a 64bit format. This does not necessarily mean that the bit resolution of the audio data will be saved at 64bits.
Wav and AIFF are 32bits format but you can save your audio data at 8, 16, 24 and 32 bits at your choice.
With w64 and Riff64 it's the same concept. You can still save at 16, 24 and 32 bits. So there will be no waste of space.
You can find those format, not only in Nuendo/Cubase, but also in Soundforge, Audition, etc.
These companies are implenting those formats, because there are real benefits. For instance, you can generate very large audio files beyond the typical 2GB limit.
Greetings,
Alex
Wav64 is supported in Reaper too. And don't ask why some of us use this format!! There are some sampling applications that are using this format, producing IR in high quality (and the IR files are in order of 50 Mb for a IR produced with a sweep of 1 minute, in stereo.) (see NAT3 and NAT4 from Acustica). So we need that the buffer in Max can read this format, it's not a waste of space or a issue that bigger is better! (for Stefan).