Accessing wave files from an Audio-CD... I need '.wav', not '.cda'

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Vidiot

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Posted: 17th Jul 2010 08:24

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This isn't really a DBPro question, but I don't know where else to ask it. I want to access the digital audio directly off an audio-CD but there's a problem. On some of my computers, Audio-CDs appear as a series of wave files (Track01.wav Track02.wav... and so on) that contain the actual trachk data. But on this laptop, audio-CDs appear as a series of 1KB '.CDA' files. These files somehow point to the audio so that windows media player can open them, but I can't.

I'd like to be able to open them both via the LOAD SOUND, and by the OPEN TO READ commands.

Can someone tell me how or why it is I see ".CDA" files rather than ".WAV" files and what I can do about it?

The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? "Tea for Two". Deep Thought was Dyslexic.

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Mobiius

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Posted: 17th Jul 2010 14:07

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Isn't there specific CDAudio commands built into DBP? If not, then get the excellent enhanced audio plugin which does have them.

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Slartibardfast

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Posted: 17th Jul 2010 17:15

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As far as I know, an Audio CD is a different format, hence the need for 'Rippers' that convert them to WAV or other digital format which are more friendly (WAV/AVI/etc...)

All that it would need is some decoder function(s) to allow a program to read these, but there my knowledge stops.

As User indicates, there is a plugin that allows you to do this?

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 17th Jul 2010 17:29 Edited at: 17th Jul 2010 23:23

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Why not use the Help file??????

It took me two minutes to find the relevant command which I've never used before and the following snippet worked perfectly first time.

+ Code Snippet

load cdmusic 1, 1
play music 1
wait key
stop music 1
delete music 1
end

Edit There seems to be an annoying problem with the built-in commands - they don't detect when the track has finished playing.

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Mobiius

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Posted: 17th Jul 2010 23:55

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Or use enhanced audio. Which works perfectly.

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 18th Jul 2010 00:09 Edited at: 18th Jul 2010 00:45

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Which command/commands do you use to check whether the current track has finished? I couldn't see one from the thread.

Edit Actually none of the commands are recognized by the compiler. How do you manage to get the Enhanced Audio dll to work?

Edit2 Ignore first edit - I was being stupid. I needed to install the first version of the plug-in first.

However, there seems to be no way of testing whether the CD audio track has finished so this Plug-in (v1.55) seems no better than the built-in DBPro commands as far as .cda files are concerned. What have I missed?

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Vidiot

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Posted: 18th Jul 2010 04:28 Edited at: 18th Jul 2010 05:33

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Thanks Gandalf for the info and the sarcasm. I needed the one, not the other. Why be that way? Does it make you feel superior?

I looked at all the 'sound' commands. I was unaware that there was a seperate catagory of 'music' commands too. Seems kinda redundant if you ask me because they are all sound commands after all.

@Mobiius: I have the 'enhancements' add on but I can't seem to get the Encode To OGG VORBIS command to function. So for now, the rest of the OGG sound functions are useless to me. According to the docs it only works with wav files anyways. I don't know of any other function within the 'enhancement' add-on that would help me. Or do you mean a different add-on.

EDIT: I found the Enhanced Audio dll you were speaking of. And it seems to have everythig I was looking for! Thanks again!!!

The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? "Tea for Two". Deep Thought was Dyslexic.

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 18th Jul 2010 12:19

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Quote: "EDIT: I found the Enhanced Audio dll you were speaking of. And it seems to have everythig I was looking for! Thanks again!!!"

I seem to be the only one that can't get the plug-in to work completely with .cda files. Have you managed to find the function which detects whether a CD Audio track is still playing? I can find the right function for the other audio files but there doesn't seem to be one for the CD Audio section.

It's your turn to feel superior now.

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Mobiius

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Posted: 18th Jul 2010 15:48

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Ahhh, Now I see a flaw in the plugin. Having read the keywords file, there doesn't appear to be any kind of commands which even tell you which track is playing, let alone when it's finished.

That's a shame, because this plugin is far superior to the standard DBP commands. (Just don't ask it to play MP3's encoded at 160kbps, or try to read ID3 information from a file without ID3 information. It just crashes.)

I'm using it for an in car computer front end I'm writing. I even figured out how to get the album art from an MP3.

Video located here...

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 18th Jul 2010 17:00

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Thanks for that.

I guess the only solution for now is to write your own function. The .cda file is only 44 bytes long and contains the track duration data. Once we know how that is coded I guess it's a simple matter to read the relevant bytes and calculate the duration ourselves and check with DBPro's timer() function whether the track should have finished. Here's what I've found so far from Wotsits format:

CDA music tracks file format
  by Wojtek Kaniewski 1997

Note: Everything in this file is based on my own investigations.
        All information that you'll find in this text file do not
        come from Microsoft Corp.

CDA files are generally RIFF resources. The RIFF id of .CDA file is
  "CDDA" (43h, 44h, 44h, 41h). They contain only one data block
  called "fmt " (66h, 6dh, 74h, 20h). In current version of .CDA file,
  this block is 24 bytes long. Here's structure of it:

Offset  Length  Description
     00h     02h     CDA file version. Currently equals 1. If it has
                     other value, following data may be out of date.
     02h     02h     Number of track.
     04h     04h     CD disc serial number (the one stored in CDPLAYER.INI)
     08h     04h     Beginning of the track in HSG format.
     0Ch     04h     Length of the track in HSG format.
     10h     04h     Beginning of the track in Red-Book format.
     14h     04h     Length of the track in Red-Book format.

As you see, time is represented in two formats: HSG and Red-Book.
  HSG can be calculated as following: 
    
    time = minute * 4500 + second * 75 + frame

Red-book is much easier to use, because it contains minutes,
  seconds and frames in unmodified form, byte-packed:

Offset  Length  Description
     00h     01h     Frame
     01h     01h     Second
     02h     01h     Minute
     03h     01h     not used

Now, I'll show you an example file. First part is a hex dump
  of the file, the second is the explanation of the fields.

52 49 46 46 24 00 00 00  43 44 44 41 66 6D 74 20  RIFF$...CDDAfmt 
     18 00 00 00 01 00 04 00  B8 24 F6 00 F7 11 01 00  .........$......
     B4 5C 00 00 0A 25 0F 00  20 10 05 00              .\...%.. ...

01 00       - first version of CDA file :)
     04 00       - fourth track
     B8 24 F6 00 - serial number of CD in CDPLAYER.INI is [F623B8]

F7 11 01 00 - begining of track in HSG format
     B4 5C 00 00 - length of track in HSG format

0A 25 0F 00 - begining of track in Red-Book format (15:37)
     20 10 05 00 - length of track in Red-book format (05:16)

That's all. It should be enough to write CDA Viewer :) If you need more
  info or something isn't clear, feel free to write.

Wojtek Kaniewski
  wojtekka@logonet.com.pl

+ Code Snippet

  CDA music tracks file format
  by Wojtek Kaniewski 1997

  Note: Everything in this file is based on my own investigations.
        All information that you'll find in this text file do not
        come from Microsoft Corp.

  CDA files are generally RIFF resources. The RIFF id of .CDA file is
  "CDDA" (43h, 44h, 44h, 41h). They contain only one data block
  called "fmt " (66h, 6dh, 74h, 20h). In current version of .CDA file,
  this block is 24 bytes long. Here's structure of it:

     Offset  Length  Description
     00h     02h     CDA file version. Currently equals 1. If it has
                     other value, following data may be out of date.
     02h     02h     Number of track.
     04h     04h     CD disc serial number (the one stored in CDPLAYER.INI)
     08h     04h     Beginning of the track in HSG format.
     0Ch     04h     Length of the track in HSG format.
     10h     04h     Beginning of the track in Red-Book format.
     14h     04h     Length of the track in Red-Book format.

  As you see, time is represented in two formats: HSG and Red-Book.
  HSG can be calculated as following: 
    
    time = minute * 4500 + second * 75 + frame

  Red-book is much easier to use, because it contains minutes,
  seconds and frames in unmodified form, byte-packed:

     Offset  Length  Description
     00h     01h     Frame
     01h     01h     Second
     02h     01h     Minute
     03h     01h     not used

  Now, I'll show you an example file. First part is a hex dump
  of the file, the second is the explanation of the fields.

     52 49 46 46 24 00 00 00  43 44 44 41 66 6D 74 20  RIFF$...CDDAfmt 
     18 00 00 00 01 00 04 00  B8 24 F6 00 F7 11 01 00  .........$......
     B4 5C 00 00 0A 25 0F 00  20 10 05 00              .\...%.. ...

     01 00       - first version of CDA file :)
     04 00       - fourth track
     B8 24 F6 00 - serial number of CD in CDPLAYER.INI is [F623B8]

     F7 11 01 00 - begining of track in HSG format
     B4 5C 00 00 - length of track in HSG format

     0A 25 0F 00 - begining of track in Red-Book format (15:37)
     20 10 05 00 - length of track in Red-book format (05:16)

  That's all. It should be enough to write CDA Viewer :) If you need more
  info or something isn't clear, feel free to write.

  Wojtek Kaniewski
  [email protected]

I haven't translated that into plain English yet but it looks like a start.

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Vidiot

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Posted: 18th Jul 2010 19:56

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@Gandalf: Me superior? Never! LOL Ok, I did a search for a description of 'HSG format' and all I could find was the article you quoted from. Is HSG japaneese for track/Sector/block or something simple like that?

Thanks again for some more really useful information. But it leads to the next question: Does anyone know a function within DBPro or any add-on that would allow me to open a sector off a CD? To use the .cda file's information, I would need to access sectors that don't appear as a part of a file. I don't have the 'c' skills to write my own DLL. Heck, I have enough trouble using the DLLs that have already been preped specifically for DBPro.

The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? "Tea for Two". Deep Thought was Dyslexic.

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 19th Jul 2010 01:56

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I don't know about sectors but the following snippet shows you how you can play selected tracks from a CD Audio disk. This uses the native DBPro commands and no plug-ins.

The demo code plays tracks starting with Track 3. I'm sure you can tweak it if necessary.

I couldn't get the Enhanced Audio plug-in to work in the same way.

+ Code Snippet

byte42 as byte
byte43 as byte
nTracks = get number of cd tracks()
for i = 3 to nTracks
  track$ = "D:track"+space$(2-len(str$(i)))+str$(i)+".cda"
  if mid$(track$, 8)=" " then track$ = left$(track$, 7)+"0"+right$(track$, 5)
  print "trying to open file ", track$
  open to read 1, track$
  skip bytes 1, 41
  read byte 1, byte42
  read byte 1, byte43
  close file 1
  duration = 1000 * (byte42 + 60 * byte43) + 100 ` milliseconds plus a bit just in case
  load cdmusic i, 1
  play music 1
  timeNext = timer() + duration ` stop in duration milliseconds
  while timer() < timeNext
    set cursor 20, 20
    print "playing track ", i, " duration = ", byte43, " minutes,", byte42, " seconds"
  endwhile
  stop music 1
  delete music 1
  wait 100
  cls
next i
end

Thanks for raising this question - I've learnt something useful by working on it.

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Vidiot

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 05:37

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Thanks for that snipit. It worked great. I really appreciate the help and encouragement.

The project was to create a subset of the features of an existing program designed to play back multiple simultaneous audio files in a live theatre or show situation. The existing program really just creates a cue list that can be saved as a show and makes it easy to play the tracks or edit the order of the tracks or rename tracks. Ultimately, what I'd like to add is the ability to rip CDs within the program. Right now, they use Windows Media Players to rip the tracks and I can continue to do that while I build the parts of this program that I can.

And even if I can't reach the objective of riping CDs myself, I'll still learn a lot along the way.

The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? "Tea for Two". Deep Thought was Dyslexic.

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baxslash

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 15:30

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Quote: "There seems to be an annoying problem with the built-in commands - they don't detect when the track has finished playing"

I think I read somewhere that if you use something like the following it detects it fine but I haven't tried it...

+ Code Snippet

play music 1
stop music 1
play music 1

I'll have to try it later...

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 16:22

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That will start playing the current track, then immediately stop it, and finally start it again. How would all that help?

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baxslash

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 16:30

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Quote: "That will start playing the current track, then immediately stop it, and finally start it again. How would all that help?"

When your PC isn't working and you turn it off then on again, how does that help? I don't know but have you tried it?

I just read it somewhere on the forums, someone said they did that and it detected "music playing" again...

Maybe it resets something that doesn't initialise properly the first time (not that I've tried it myself you understand)

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 16:46

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Quote: "When your PC isn't working and you turn it off then on again, how does that help? I don't know but have you tried it?"

Point taken - I'll try it. Seems a clumsy hack though.

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baxslash

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 16:57

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What did you just call me?

I may be a clumsy hack but at least I'm a drunk too!

...just kidding, yeah it sounds clumsy but if the DBP command doesn't work what else can you do? I'd try it myself but no speakers here at work!

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Green Gandalf

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 17:00

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Quote: "what else can you do"

Use my snippet?

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baxslash

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Posted: 20th Jul 2010 17:14

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Quote: "Use my snippet?"

Point taken. I just thought I'd post it as a possible solution to the "music playing" bug in case anyone was having that problem.

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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / Accessing wave files from an Audio-CD... I need '.wav', not '.cda'