Squeezeslave, ReplayGain and Bitrate Limiting

[bernt]

Starting Squeezeslave (0.8-25) with --oldplayer I can set ReplayGain in SC settings but it has no effect if I use Bitrate limiting.

Squeezeplay works fine with ReplayGain and Bitrate limiting.

Is this expected behavior?

This is on Windows XP SP3.

Kind Regards
/Bernt

[ralphy]

I always disable bit rate limiting, so I haven't noticed this issue. Replay gain should work with bitrate limiting. I'll investigate.

It might be related to the player types in squeezecenter as --oldplayer uses the softsqueeze player id. In my development source, I've added the ability to specify the player type to use, so you can pick the player you want to emulate with squeezeslave, with it you can try using the squeezeplay id, to see if you observe the same behaviour. I'll post a windows binary in a couple days for you to try.

Ralphy

[bernt]

Thanks for your help.

[ralphy]

bernt,

I've uploaded a 0.8-26 release for win32 and lnx26 to sourceforge https://sourceforge.net/project/show...kage_id=176494 which includes a new option -e/--playerid. The linux version is built for OSS and will need to be started using aoss or by loading the snd_pcm_oss module.

Try running squeezeslave on the XP box by adding -esqueezeplay -m00:00:00:00:00:02 to the command line you've been using and see if you have the same problem. Note that the squeezeplay player type only works with SC versions 7.3 or newer, prior to that squeezeplay used the softsqueeze player type.

Also try replacing -esqueezeplay with -esqueezebox2 -m00:04:20:00:00:01 and rerunning the test.

Make sure you use a different mac address for each player type, to ensure the correct default settings are used.

Ralphy

[bernt]

Sorry, but it don't seem to work.

Tested with this settings in SC.
Fixed volume. (Did a quick try without Fixed volume but it did'nt make any difference.)
Bitrate limit 320kb/s.
Smart ReplayGain.

Tested with this albums.
Krokus Headhunter from 1987. Albumgain -3,63. FLAC
Nickelback Dark Horse from 2008. Albumgain -10,08. FLAC

There's still a huge difference in volume. The player showed up as Squeezebox and Squeezeplay in SC so I guess I got that part right.

[ralphy]

I thought it might be related to the player type definitions in squeezecenter, apparently not. I'll take a more indepth look over the weekend.

[bernt]

I appreciate your help. I fear that my coworkers will kill me some day if I walk away from my desk one more time without hitting pause.

[ralphy]

bernt,

Attached is a patch to Slim/Player/SqueezeSlave.pm for you to try. It might not apply cleanly unless you set replayGainMode back to 0 first. Please remove the current player settings from server.prefs before restarting SC.

I've found Track Gain does a much better job keeping the levels constant. Even on my SB3 the levels are more constant with Track Gain than when I'm using Smart Gain, but I'm still running 7.2.2 which might be part of the reason why.

Please give both gain settings a try and report back on the results.

[bernt]

Thanks for the update. I tried both Albumgain, trackgain and turned Replay gain of and there was no difference.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong? Can anyone else confirm this so you don't waste your time fixing something that is not broken?

Kind Regards
/Bernt

[Moonbase]

Gave it a quick try using SC 7.4-25624/Win and Squeezeslave 0.8-33-win32, above patch applied.

Above patch

• makes settings come up with no b/r limit
• shows "Volume Adjustment" setting on Player page
• does apparently not apply RG (I think I would hear -5.90 dB)

Also interesting:
When using parameter "-esqueezeplay -m00:00:00:00:00:02", the SqueezePlay settings come up but Squeezeslave playback becomes unstoppable! (I.e., you can press the Pause button in the WebUI as often as you want, it will continue playing and revert back to the "Pause" symbol.)

Sorry had no more time to actually measure or debug things.