No stems creation with my FLAC files

Engine DJ Software Engine DJ (Mac & PC)
1

Hi,

being new to DJing I just bought my Denon Prime GO+, am all excited and so on…

But now I am facing a big problem and wonder, how nobody noticed before: DJ Engine software wont accept any FLAC music files when it comes to rendering Stems. It will tell, “it is not a Stereo file”.

The same files all work well with Virtual DJ, so I think, that this is a flaw of the Engine Software, can somebody confirm? Or have I overlooked anything?

Everything but having to downgrade my files to MP3 is welcome.

Some additional information: most of the FLAC files wouldn’t play on my windows PC using the standard Windows Player. VLC Player has no problem to play them and even the old-fashioned Windows Media Player accepts them. To fix this (and reduce the size of the tag pictures dramatically) I used MP3tag 3.28 which also offers a “FLAC optimization” which seems to fix that playback issue.

2

Hi,

this is strange, I use almost exclusively FLAC files and so far I have not encountered a problem … on the other hand, I don’t use stems very much. Maybe your files are not stems compatible. That the software tells you, that it is not a stereo file, is an indicator that something is not right … are these 5.1 FLAC files or mono? I have never used the FLAC optimization in mp3tag, maybe that changed something that was important? Or there was something wrong from the beginning, because the standard Windows player plays all my files …

Check that the tracks are stems-compatible:

Stems Rendering:

11025, 44100, 48000, 88200, and 96000 Hz

Here is the full list from the Engine DJ manual:

File Formats Lossless: WAV 16-32 bit, 44.1k – 192k AIFF 16-32 bit, 44.1k – 192k FLAC, ALAC

Compressed: MP3 32 kbit/s – 320 kbit/s + VBR/CBR M4A/AAC MP4 OGG Vorbis

Stems Rendering: 11025, 44100, 48000, 88200, and 96000 Hz

What is the history of your FLAC files? Where are they from? They seem to have some unusual properties. Some DJs have reported issues with stems which were related to stems incompatibility.

1 Like
3

FWIW, I have zero issues with FLAC files and have been using them even on my first SC5000.

My cover-images are mostly 600x600, which is enough imho.

4

Where did you purchase the flacs and what is an example track?

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5

FLAC can support 1-8 audio channels. How many channels do your files have?

6

It seems like I do have 8 Channels… So “No Stereo File” starts to make sense to me. Nevertheless, VirtualDJ can handle that so it is not in the nature of my File not to be “Stem-Ready”. I uploaded one of my files to “indiehd” and these are the results:

|Tested Property|Your File’s Properties|Validation Requirement|Validation Result|

|File Size|22,569,575 bytes|> 128 bytes|PASS|

|File Format|flac|= “flac”|PASS|

|Data Format|flac|= “flac”|PASS|

|Bitrate Mode|vbr|= “vbr”|PASS|

|Lossless|yes|= “yes”|PASS|

|Channels|8|= 2|FAIL|

|Sample Rate|44,100 kHz|>= 44,100 kHz|PASS|

|Bits per Sample|16|>= 16|PASS|

|Bitrate|978,735|> 150,000|PASS|

|Encoder|Lavf61.1.100|(None)|PASS|

|Channel Mode|(COULD NOT BE DETERMINED)|= “stereo”|FAIL|

|Compression Ratio|17.3%|> 10.0%|PASS|

|Encoding Char. Set|UTF-8|(None)|PASS|

|Mime Type|audio/flac|= “audio/x-flac”|PASS|

|Play Time|184.48 seconds (3:04)|> 0 seconds|PASS|

7

I used AudialsOne2025, Apache206 - Miami

8

I went with 500x500px, but Audials gave me Images that were up to 15MB in size. After reduction they are around 50-100kB and the visible difference not an issue for me.

9

Okay great!

I think 16MB image is the max for a FLAC, but WHY would someone even want such an image…

Weird distribution to have 8 channels from a vendor. Someone has made some major errors encoding these.

10

I found the picture size ridiculous too :slight_smile: Was happy to find that MP3tag came with that feature. I instantly donated the developer some money as soon as i found out that he added this.

The distributor is one of the few streaming services that is supported by the PrimeGo+ :slight_smile:

But what now? Do I need to “reencode” the files to FLAC with 2 Channels or will EngineDJ be getting the capability to handle >2 Channels?

Does someone know if I can use Mediapurge / ffmpeg for this kind of manipulation? (I will try out later anyway but I don’t know if maybe some command line parameters are required - if somebody had them at hand, it would be nice to have them.)

11

So we have this clear, you’re using software to rip files from a streaming service?

Does that then make this sentence a bit of a bad faith comment, as im sure the ‘distributor’ doesn’t want you doing that.

2 Likes
12

I knew it as soon as Audials was mentioned. Recording from a streaming service, but using FLAC and then saying MP3 is a downgrade. :thinking:

13

Ah didn’t know that it was recording software. Well, certainly not doing a fine job then…

2 Likes
14

In germany it is legal - idk about other countries.

15

Yup. Sure sounds like it. Stereo = 2 channel audio.

17

Can you be a bit more specific about what you felt to know? I am leaving the delivered stream unaltered - sometimes it gives me FLAC, sometimes it is mp3 and in some rare cases it is mp3 with the Codec Lafvf61.1.100 which I need to convert to a different codec - keeping it MP3 nevertheless. It is not that I intend to inflate an average quality stream with some fancy settings just for the feeling. :roll_eyes:

18

I doubt it. Copyright is about as strict as in my country. Home use is a grey area.

But anyways, try and record to 2-channel audio.

1 Like
19

It might be, but what are you then doing with those files? will you ever record a mix, post it on a website, do a DJ gig, perform to friends? Once you do one of those things you are then moving outside of the ‘own use’ field and into something else.

As you’re new to DJing per your OP, i would strongly advise you to purchase your music legally and start building up a collection. That way you are then free to use it for DJing (at licensed venues) and you’re also supporting the artist. Depending on the type of music you play, many of these producers are not rich, so they rely on this income to support their continued work.

Or look at it another way, if you ever dabble in producing yourself, release a track and then find you’re only getting 30% of the income from your music because of piracy, would you be happy with it and would it give you motivation to carry on producing? I wouldnt take a 70% pay cut at work, and im not sure anyone else would.

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20

Why not just run it through audacity if you want it as mp3, use the normalise/mp3 conversion macro. Make sure you choose the mp3 output rate at 320 48000 stereo option. It will slightly degrade the quality but you won’t notice through headphones or any home setting.

Actually I think you can just import then export out to your desired format without having to use the macro.

Not sure if it converts to FLAC but you can have a look in the output settings. Never needed this as all my tunes are recorded from my old vinyl so I didn’t require high quality record crackle when I did mine.

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21

Checking Audials, it looks like this is software for improving audio quality of recorded streaming music? Sounds like there is an issue with the encoder Audials is using. Also, stealing music from streaming services like this is a bad look.

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