sadly I haven't been able to figure out howto force it into using all the cpu threads, so it could process multiple files at once (like FormatFactory can do), any ideas if that's Reaper limitation?

 

If you're on a Mac, Myriad is still the shit even though its dead.
Its one of the only ones that will convert/process files and NOT destroy loop points and metadata embedded in the samples.

 

Use foobar2000 with its converter/encoder pack
https://www.foobar2000.org/download
https://www.foobar2000.org/encoderpack
You can just add all files to it, select them then right click, convert.
Then chose format, wildcard tagging/naming of the files.

 

https://wieslawsoltes.github.io/BatchEncoder/

 

My advice is not to convert anything to mp3. With the format problem we have been fighting for years: in the 90's we downloaded mp3 at 96 khz, after a few years we re-loaded the same album at 128 because it sounded better, then we went to 256, or 320, then we went to m4a ... it becomes a infinite loop! we will be forced to download forever, especially if we have a large collection.
My advice: do not convert anything to mp3 (or any other lossy codec): it is preferable, as far as possible, to search for your music in looseless and keep it in this format, it saves time and future headaches.
do looseless formats take up more disk space? Yes, but the problem can be easily solved by buying a new disk

note: the same theory also applies to downloaded movies to me: the best possible format is the one that will be most future-proof

 

appreciate your concern, but in this case it is necessary and perfectly acceptable. dont worry, it is not my production sample collection

 

windows. sorry, i should have put that in OP will update now

 

You can try AIMP Player. One of the best player with waveform view and many options and also includes a converter with shut down option.
Its Free too.
http://www.aimp.ru/?do=download&os=windows

 

I really like Ashamppo's Music Studio for easy conversion. I've never had a batch that was bungled or bust plus, it is my go-to for tagging albums' internal data--it's super smooth. With WAV files, I usually just use Studio One since I usually want to do more than just convert any WAV files I have. There are *a lot* of good coverters out there though. Just my 2-cents...

 

So FormatFactory can. Interesting. I downloaded it yesterday by your advice. I'll give a try mostly because (OT now) it seems it can convert images to the best lossy image format (heic, jpeg with steroids).

I don't really know if Reaper batch conversion can do multicore. I barely have tested that because since I discovered dbPowerAmp that was instant love.
If some time I need to apply VSTs to a conversion I'll compare Reaper with dbPowerAmp (which can also apply VSTs, only VST2).

 

also if you're up to some testing, I found out few months ago actually iZotope RX 7 Advanced does feature batch audio processor too - and I'd say when it comes to especially fast Loudness/LUFS normalization batch jobs, it's the best tool I could find so far

 

I use freeware "file blender" a lot. Not only for audio conversions but video & pic files.
No install needed and only 25 MB, a lot of conversions out of the box, customizable/expandable with other command line enabled progs.
No fancy UI though. Just drag 'n drop file on program window and voila, converted files under "out" directory where original files reside.

https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/file_blender.html

 

Last edited: Apr 7, 2020

Yes, in a way. Foobar opens a user defined number of encoder processes (lets say, lame.exe for mp3), where each encoder encodes one file and occupies one core. The advantage of fb2k is, you can save converter presets, where each preset defines output type, path, file naming from user defined code etc...

 

Oh yeah since Mac apps are off the table, AIMP!!! I actually used to use it on my Mac in WINE until I switched to Myriad. The only gripe I ever had with AIMP is the bitrate conversion. If you're batch converting a bunch of samples, you have to specify a bitrate otherwise it will automatically upsample everything to 32 bit/whatever sample rate you choose. So if you mix a bunch of 24/16 bit samples in your batch, you're going to have to convert/dither one of them one way or another and actually set AIMP to 24 or 16 bit, otherwise, it'll spit out all of em as 32bit files and bye bye disk space. Other than that it works great and uses Sox to do all its conversion.

 

i was about to start going through suggestions here and, dbPowerAmp, the first suggestion by @Xupito looks fine to me.
one thing i probably should have mentioned is that ideally i would like it to be relatively lightweight. not sure if this is yet, but if not i will continue through the suggestions.

has anybody got any reason why i should use something else other than dbPowerAmp?

thanks folks <3

 

Here Reaper is using four of eight threads at 20something% CPU load (additional progams running). Eight threads don't seem to be necessary. If I do some other things in parallel, the other threads are used too.

 

i tried dBpoweramp first as it was suggested first and it was exactly what i needed.

thank you all very much for the help <3 i dont know where i would be without you guys

 

I really like https://sector-seven.com/software/flicflac (for Windows) and use this very often ... it's very simple.

You choose and configure the output format and then you can drag and drop the file you want to convert and it starts immediately.

Best Regards,
Apex Mors Cordis

 

I didn't really compare the quality to other programs but you could of course also use the free Freemake Audio Converter.

 

Hey there,

I'm reviving this old thread because I'm looking for a converter that converts FLAC to MP3 with the option to keep the original tags. I had been using cdex portable up to this point but all tags get erased which is quite tiresome.

Any suggestions for a free solution?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Excuse my ignorance, dbpoweramp, as had been suggested in this thread, does exactly that. Thank you guys!

 

Last edited: May 12, 2023