Files will not import

[mightyduck]

Hi,

I am on a MacBook Pro running Mojave with, I guess, the latest version of ProTools HD native. But I’ve been using without any hardware just with the Mac speakers lately to do some editing and stuff.

For some reason when I go to import audio there’s a group of files that won’t import. It’s not all files it’s just a group of files that I believe were transferred from CD that I made back onto the hard drive and they are AIFF– C files.

You don’t show up in the dialog box when I choose them or anything.

Wassup wit dat?


Best,

mightyduck

[Darryl Ramm]

But what actual format is in that AIFF-C container? Pro Tools will not just open any format.

Can you open those file in Quicktime? Or can you get whoever made them (yourself? ) to just give you an AIFF PCM file? Do you have the original CD? Do you mean it was a Redbook CD?

Here is a useful set of different AIFF-C encoded file examples, some of which will and some will not import into Pro Tools. http://www-mmsp.ece.mcgill.ca/Docume...F/Samples.html

[mightyduck]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

But what actual format is in that AIFF-C container? Pro Tools will not just open any format.

Can you open those file in Quicktime? Or can you get whoever made them (yourself? ) to just give you an AIFF PCM file? Do you have the original CD? Do you mean it was a Redbook CD?

Here is a useful set of different AIFF-C encoded file examples, some of which will and some will not import into Pro Tools. http://www-mmsp.ece.mcgill.ca/Docume...F/Samples.html

Hi Darryl,

As best I remember, these tunes were created in Logic 8, on a Powerbook [aluminum], and bounced to disk, then written to CD, then copied back off the CD onto a MacBook Pro. They do open in Quicktime. Quicktime says they are linear pcm, 16 bit little-endian signed integer, two channels 44100Hz.

Can they be converted, losslessly, to something that will open / import to PT?

I dunno.

EDIT: I converted one of them to WAV, using "To WAV converter", and it imports. Still wondering what the problem was, though.


Best,

mightduck

[JFreak]

AIFF and WAV are compatible, have same data different header.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by mightyduck

Hi Darryl,

As best I remember, these tunes were created in Logic 8, on a Powerbook [aluminum], and bounced to disk, then written to CD, then copied back off the CD onto a MacBook Pro. They do open in Quicktime. Quicktime says they are linear pcm, 16 bit little-endian signed integer, two channels 44100Hz.

Can they be converted, losslessly, to something that will open / import to PT?

I dunno.

EDIT: I converted one of them to WAV, using "To WAV converter", and it imports. Still wondering what the problem was, though.


Best,

mightduck

I am not sure what is going on if they are linear PCM. You could also try in Quicktime exporting the file as "audio only" (duh) and seeing if you can import that into Pro Tools. But you found a way that works already.

[JFreak]

Also not sure why but PT has always had trouble with AIFF even though back in the day (remember the PT6 era "enforce mac/win compatibility") when many were still using mac-only SD2 files, DigiDesign presented WAV and AIFF as equal. that has of course later changed in favor of broadcast wav.

Point being in 2020 it is a no-brainer to convert to WAV before importing to PT.

[mightyduck]

Thanks, guys. I always wonder when converting from one to the other if anything gets twisted. Do you know if the "To WAV converter" software is good and "accurate". It seems to work fine, but I'm listening on my laptop right now.

I will try exporting from QT as "audio only" and see if that works too.

I guess PT is set up now so that sessions can have more than one audio file type. That being the case, I wonder why it prompts to choose a file type when creating a new session.


Best,

mightyduck

[mightyduck]

O.K., I opened one of the files in Quicktime and exported it as "audio only". It turned into an "Apple MPEG-4 audio" file. I was able to import the file into Pro Tools.


Best,

mightyduck

[JFreak]

Linear PCM is uncompressed RAW audio samples. The way you store it makes no difference.

Say your "format A" stores your sample "12345678" and your "format B" stores the same sample "87654321", then you have "file A" that is 12345678 and "file B" that is 87654321, but you can losslessly convert from A to B and vice versa, because there is no compression, decompression and recompression happening.

Got it? AIFF "Linear PCM" and WAV files are just the same, so long as you can read them.

[mightyduck]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Linear PCM is uncompressed RAW audio samples. The way you store it makes no difference.

Say your "format A" stores your sample "12345678" and your "format B" stores the same sample "87654321", then you have "file A" that is 12345678 and "file B" that is 87654321, but you can losslessly convert from A to B and vice versa, because there is no compression, decompression and recompression happening.

Got it? AIFF "Linear PCM" and WAV files are just the same, so long as you can read them.

AIFF-c files do use compression, though.

Best,

mightyduck