Possible to repair a WAV file?

[sdsumike619]

I've been converting a long playlist of MIDI files to WAV since this morning (several hours) through a firewire device into Sony Vegas. Everything was going great until Vegas decided to lock up. It looks like the wav file was saved because I have a 4GB wav file in the folder. When I try to drag that file onto the timeline, it inserts, but there's nothing there, just a little blip on the timeline. I tried to play the WAV file in windows media player, no luck. BUT when I play with VLC, the file plays, all the way to the end, all 6 hours and 42 minutes of it, where it locked up.

So, if VLC can play it, then the wav file must be ok. Is there anything I can do to make Vegas recognize it?

[zoobie]

Midi files aren't musical by nature. They're just signals which are assigned an instrument.

[netmask56]

I would try loading the file into Adobe Audition or similar audio editor and then re-save it. Might help

[aedipuss]

you probably exceeded the filesize limit of 4GB for wav. it's a 32bit format. if you want bigger there is w64(64bit wav). if an audio editor won't open it it's probably too corrupt.

[sdsumike619]

Yes I know what MIDI files are. I'm converting them to wav audio by playing them through a roland sound module, and then into the computer via an Inspire firewire device. I don't have adobe audition, but I'll try to find something else to open it with..

[sdsumike619]

you probably exceeded the filesize limit of 4GB for wav. it's a 32bit format. if you want bigger there is w64(64bit wav). if an audio editor won't open it it's probably too corrupt.

Ah, you just cleared something up for me. I recorded more audio last night (didn't lock up) and you're right, the file saved as w64. I didn't know what that was, nor did I know there was even a filesize limit for WAV. It can't be too corrupt if VLC is playing it fine right? The file has a wav extension and it's 4.28GB in size.

[Cornucopia]

Midi files aren't musical by nature. They're just signals which are assigned an instrument.

That's one way of looking at it. The other way is that they are ONLY musical by nature (hence the NAME).

@sdsumike619, if they won't open in audition when it expects a standard *.WAV file, you should be able to load it in to AA via the RAW module, you will just have to specify the correct header info (which I assume you already know since you set it up to record a particular way in Vegas). That should get you as much as is possible to get.
Then, as was mentioned, you will want to do an immediate SAVE_AS, making sure to abide by *.WAV's 4GB limits (though on some systems, it's 2GB).

You've got to remember, the *.AVI & *.WAV formats are over 20 years old! They never expected to get to the filesizes they commonly are now...

Scott

[aedipuss]

maybe? if it's already at the max filesize you may not be able to re-save it after fixing it as it might need header data added. if ;you can get it into an editor then maybe cut part of it off and try saving.

[Cornucopia]

My guess is that the 4GB "file" was pre-allocated when hitting the record button, and then the data got filled in as it recorded. Which means that if it didn't use up the full 6.75hrs (at 16/44/2ch/LPCM) it probably has silence or random noise at the end of the file which can/should be truncated.

Scott

[sdsumike619]

What about Audacity - think that would open it? I don't have it, but I know it's freeware, heard it talked about a lot on forums...

[Cornucopia]

It can also do a "RAW" import, so should be up to the task.

Scott

[sdsumike619]

audacity appears to be importing. I tried to open as WAV, that didn't work, so I found the import menu. It popped up a dialog asking me for settings (wtf is an endian??) I just accepted the defaults... waiting to see if the import is successful..

[sdsumike619]

I successfully imported the big wav file into Audacity, but I don't see anywhere to export as w64 in this program.. Should I try to save it as wav?

[Cornucopia]

Endian-ness is how the numbering of the byte is ordered. Regular human decimal notation is Big-endian (the Bigger/MoreVarying digits are read first). Motorola-based devices, and OSes that were originally built on them (Mac) order things as big-endian (most significant bit first). Intel-based devices and OSes that were originally built on them (Windows PCs) order things as little-endian (least significant bit first). Also, file formats that originated from those OSes would also follow suit (AIFF from Apple/Amiga is B.E., WAV from Microsoft is L.E.), but in recent years this line of origination has blurred somewhat.

If you get the endian-ness wrong, YOU WILL KNOW IT, as it sounds like digital screeching (watch out for your ears & speakers). If it doesn't work one way, try the other - there's only 2 ways to go about it.

Scott

[Cornucopia]

Yes, as long as it's less than 4GB, saving as WAV SHOULD be ok.

Scott

[sdsumike619]

While I'm waiting for this thing to export, here's another question for the gurus (Scott)
So I played these MIDI files from a playlist one after the other, with 2 seconds of silence between each one. I need to have each song encoded to an MP3 file, and the files have to have names of course. Is there some way, either in Audacity, or in Vegas to automate the encoding of and naming of the files? i.e., do I have to go through and place markers on the timeline for each song, and encode each song to MP3, name each song..

[Cornucopia]

I think I've seen a script like this for Vegas way back when (~2005), but couldn't tell you now where it was. I'm pretty sure Audacity can't do that.

What you're wanting to do is this:
1. Playlist -> Marker List
2. Marker List imported to timeline
3. Clips/regions cut according to timeline markers
4. Cut clips/regions saved each according to marker (playlist) names

Is that right?

I used to have a script for ProTools that I created myself that did something different (importing list from Excel spreadsheet after live recording for thousands of SFX clips for game). But that required couple of external macro utilities and it was on a Mac at the time, so I don't think it is recreatable here/now. Sorry.
I know there is either a WAV or MP3 editor that can be set to automatically cut on gaps - maybe you could cut on the gaps and get a folder full of 0001.wav, 0002.wav, 0003.wav, etc., and then use a batch renamer that used your playlist export as a filenaming source...

Scott

[sdsumike619]

Scott, yep, that's exactly what I need to do... I think I'll spend more time trying to figure out how to automate it than just doing it. There's a batch render script I think I can use. So I can encode them all out, then just rename the files as they need to be. It's just a one time thing so what the heck haha

[budwzr]

Midi files aren't musical by nature. They're just signals which are assigned an instrument.

Yes, they are basically scripts.

I think your point is that Vegas cannot make music out of them without all the associated VST's and whatnot. And even so, if the MiDi isn't coming from Acid, it's gonna be a non-starter. You know how proprietary Sony is. Hahaha.

[turk690]

Yes I know what MIDI files are. I'm converting them to wav audio by playing them through a roland sound module, and then into the computer via an Inspire firewire device. I don't have adobe audition, but I'll try to find something else to open it with..

Adobe had to shut down the servers that authenticated serial numbers for CS2, so they just posted the binaries and serial numbers for them that do not need authentication for those that still use them here http://www.adobe.com/downloads/cs2_downloads/ That means you can now "try" out Audition 3....