Support Services — FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Table of Contents

latest update: 01/15/08

Deliveries — DDP & CD-R

Making DDP file sets & CD-Rs…MORE.

Errors

Error messages & issues…MORE.

File System

File names, organization & maintenance…MORE.

General

A “kitchen sink” collection of host & 3rd party software answers…MORE.

Intel Support

Advice for Intel hosts…MORE.

I/O & Peripherals

Series 300 as well as 3rd party audio, HUI & optical disc peripherals…MORE.

PACE InterLok

iLok considerations…MORE.

Legacy Systems

Backwards compatibility, hardware issues, etc. with Sonic Systems…MORE.

Plug–Ins

Plug–in considerations…MORE.

Projects

Advice about Projects…MORE.

Pro Tools™

Things to watch out for when working with Digidesign™ hardware…MORE.

Series 300™

3rd party cable recommendations for our 8 channel Series 300 products…MORE.

Uninstalling

How to uninstall Sonic Studio products…MORE.

Deliveries — DDP & CD-R

General

Always be sure to insert a blank disc before starting your delivery.

My Drive Particulars

How do I find out if my optical disc recorder is capable of handling CD Text, Indexes and ISR Codes?

To find out what capabilities your disc drive has, jump to this FAQ’s section on peripherals…

Delivering DDP File Sets

DDP file sets created by Sonic Studio applications, always in their enclosing folder, can be copied to any writable medium you choose, DVD-R or hard disk, for transport to your replicator. Check that the medium you choose has enough space to hold the file set. Also check with your replicator to determine which medium they can handle and whether they are even capable of using DDP as an premastering format. Many bargain companies are not ready to handle DDP deliveries so, we at Sonic Studio suggest you find a reputable facility that does accept DDP file sets of your valuable masters.

Here are some specific suggestions…First, use DVD-R blanks rather than CD-Rs to deliver your DDP file set. That way, the replicator is less likely to confuse your CD-R with DDP files as a CD-ROM job and replicate 1000 CD-ROMs of your DDP file set!

Second, the contents of the entire DDP folder or directory must be sent to the replicator. We suggest that you place the contents of the entire folder on the root of the ROM. Some replicators expect the DDP files to be seen on mounting the ROM. In addition, we do not recommend that you zip the files. For information on checksums please see our KnowledgeBase page for a detailed discussion.

We also recommend that you always create a new, empty folder to contain each DDP file set. On the Desktop is a reasonable location for that new folder, making it easier to archive and helping to prevent common problems.

CD Text

Open Session CD burning will not work if CD Text or ISRC metadata is included.

Note that, while CD-Rs delivered by Sonic Studio products include CD Text, DDP file sets created by Sonic Studio products do not contain CD Text data.

Delivering CD Text with Your DDP

soundBlade and PreMaster CD only add CD-Text metadata to CD-R deliveries, not DDP file sets. To insure a smooth replication process, we recommend that you generate a PQ List and include a printed copy with your replication master, whether your job includes CD Text or not. Use the PQ List button in the Windows > Mark Info > PQ Delivery tab. This file is an essential check list for your replicator, so their quality control can be maintained.

In addition, a PQ List is a perfect way to ensure that CD Text information is delivered to replication. Since CD Text metadata does not appear in DDP file sets generated by PreMaster CD or soundBlade, the PQ List is the vehicle to move this information into replication.

The PQ listing uses the information you enter in the Mark Info dialog to generate a “plain text” or ASCII text file so, before you create a PQ list and a CD-R with CD Text, double check your information in Mark Info. Remember to avoid metacharacters in CD Text strings, like #, / and $, just as you would if you were naming computer files.

Click on the PQ List button to save and open a PreMaster CD PQ Log. Then, review, edit and append any information missing or in need of expansion. Fill in the Client name, Date, Work Order (WO) number, if applicable, and the UPC/EAN. Edit the Project name and disc Title to make sure it’s correct. Add the disc Artist under disc Title. Check each track name and make any corrections necessary. If your job is a compilation, be sure to add Track Artist to your listing, preferably after the individual track names.

Finally, be sure to indicate, on both the printed PreMaster CD PQ Log and the text file accompanying the DDP file set, that you want CD Text to appear on the final, replicated Compact Disc. Include your contact information right on the PreMaster CD PQ Log in case any questions arise.

CD Text & iTunes

I have CDs that I can put in my Mac and the disc and track titles show up automatically. I entered CD Text in Sonic, and the info shows up on a CD player but not on a Mac…What’s up?

When you put a CD-DA or Red Book–formatted disc in your Mac, the operating system looks at the number of tracks and track spacing, then submits that information to an on–line database owned and operated by Gracenote®. If the information matches one or more of the CD titles in their database, that information is used to display the disc and track titles on you Mac.

This mechanism has nothing to do with CD Text, which is sub–channel metadata available to some CD players. See Gracenote for more information.

To add your client’s CD to the Gracenote database…

Step 1 - Start iTunes, then insert the finished CD into the computer’s drive.

Step 2 - Enter the Album Name and Track Names in iTunes.

Step 3 - Choose Advanced > Submit CD Track Names.

Marking for PQ

When preparing your material for CD and DDP delivery, you should perform all your editorial, such as cutting, pasting, compositing and fading, before you create the PQ Marks that define your CD Tracks. If you move segments after PQ Marks have been placed, your Mark locations should definitely be checked.

To automatically create most of your PQ Marks after you’ve finished editing and sequencing, try this:

Step 1 - Click on your top Panel, then zoom out to see your whole program with the View > Zoom to Entire Project command or by hitting the E key.

Step 2 - Choose Edit > Select All to select all segments on the time line.

Step 3 - Choose Mark > Edited Black to Marks.

This will generate Start and End of Track Marks where ever there is a edited gap between segments. Once you have those Marks, you can manually add any Start of Track Marks missing from the program by placing the Edit Point where you want a new Start of Track Mark to go and choosing Mark > Start of Track Mark.

Noise On CD-R Deliveries

If you find that a CD-R burned with Sonic Studio software has intermittent noise and distortion not present on the DDP, here are two suggestions for addressing this issue:

1. Purchase high quality CD-R blank media optimized for low speed writing. Commodity media, optimized for high speed writing, are designed for CD-ROM use and has a dye layer designed for the high speed writing regime commonly found in PC's today. Sonic Studio products are designed to write at relatively low speeds, and high speed media will not write reliably at low speeds of 8x and below.

2. Write your disc at lower speeds. Not only does this ensure that the data stream will be uninterrupted, regardless of host overhead but, the jitter on the resulting disc is much lower. Though higher speed writes can produce lower measurable error rates, the overall jitter on the resulting disc is much higher and, to an audio engineer, jitter is far more important to general quality of playback that correctable errors.

3. Find out what drive mechanism you have. We have found that the Sony DVD-RW DW-Q28A, found on some G5 Macs, produce subcode errors and exhibit various other problems. To find out what particular disc mechanism you have and suggestions for a 3rd party replacement, jump to this FAQ’s section on I/O & Peripherals and read through it completely.

EAN/UPC

European Article Numbers, known as EAN, and Universal Product Codes, or UPC, are standardized, static bar codes printed on and associated with retail merchandise. EAN and UPC have both been folded into an international standard known as the Global Trade Item Number or GTIN, a 12 digit number contains a unique company ID assigned by GS1, a unique product number and a validation check digit.

EAN-13 are 13 digits while UPC-A, a subset, is 12 digits. In both soundBlade and PreMaster CD, a 12 digit UPC must have a leading zero added, the zero being the country prefix for the United States, to make it conform to the EAN-13 format.

As an example, the UPC for PreMaster CD is 691045703393. When entering that UPC into PreMaster CD or soundBlade’s UPC/EAN field, the number should be modified to read “0691045703393,” with a leading zero.

ISR Codes (ISRC)

Unlike UPC/EAN, ISRC, which identifies the entire disc title, ISR Codes are used to identify individual tracks on a disc. Some things to remember when using ISR Codes for the first time…The first 5 places must be numeric or uppercase letters. The 6th through 12th places must all be numeric. Although often supplied with them, dashes or hyphens should be removed from ISR Code strings prior to entry in the Mark Info window.

Source–Mode Complete DDPs

DDP file sets created by soundBlade are “source-mode complete.” This means that 2 seconds of pre–gap are present, with silence before the first Start of Track (SOT) mark. DDP file sets created by some vendors are “source-mode incomplete,” and are lacking the 2 second pre–gap.

-43 Error

When delivering a DDP, this error can happen when you forget to specify a folder for delivery, and instead attempt to deliver straight to the root of your boot volume. Also see the Errors section below for a more general discussion of this error message.

Errors

-43 Errors

The -43 error can mean, “File not found,” “Folder not found” or, “Target not found.” In general, this error occurs when the operating system is not able to complete a command or process because of lack of permissions, file system damage or, because a file was moved or renamed.

4992 Error

I'm getting a 4992 error when I try to burn a CD.

If you are seeing a "CD-R Not Ready - no tracks" message with a 4992 error, it means you have one or more illegal characters in your DDP path. Check the path name carefully, fix the path name, then try burning again.

File Names

The name of my sound file, as it appears in the segment name, is cut off and the end has a pound sign (#) added to it. What’s going on? or… My sound file doesn't open correctly. Only one channel opens and I know it’s not mono. What’s going on?

Take a look at the segment that appears in the Panel. Is it’s name different from the source sound file? Is it truncated or cut off, with the end has a pound sign (#) and some number added to it? The reason why both these things happen is that the file name is too long. Rename the file(s) so that the entire file name is less than 27 characters. Then, it should open correctly.

The problem is the length of the directory and/or sound file name. Take a look and see if your sound file names, as they appear in soundBlade or PreMaster CD, are “funny,” in that they have a pound sign and alphanumeric string after that where a reasonable name should have been. This happened because the name was too long, so the operating system chopped it down. Once that happens, soundBlade usually looses the ability to “follow” the original source file.

To prevent this from occurring, check file names before you start a job, reducing long names prior to diving in. Keep the total name length descriptive but under 27 characters and you’ll be sure that the OS won't change it for you.

Damaged Projects

There are situations where a Project can be damaged to the extent that it no longer opens correctly or, nothing happens when you try to open the Project. Fortunately, soundBlade keeps a backup for you. Before discussing the backup, a bit of explanation is necessary…

A Project is actually composed of two or more files, arranged in a hierarchy and stored within an all–enclosing directory or folder. The top of the hierarchy is the Project file itself, located in the enclosing folder. The Project file has the same name as the enclosing folder, the name given the first time you saved the Project.

Also within the enclosing folder is at least one sub–folder, named EDLs. This sub–folder contains one or more EDLs or Edit Decision Lists. EDLs contain your editorial decisions while the Project file “wraps” or unites any EDLs pertaining to that Project.

If you save a Project more than once, soundBlade does not overwrite the existing EDL, as is the standard behavior for an application. Instead, it renames the existing EDL, giving it a “dot S” suffix. It then saves the current EDL state into a file with no suffix. soundBlade will rename and save up to three old versions of the EDL, each with a S1, S2 or S3 suffix. The file with the S3 suffix is the oldest version. So, if you save a Project four times during the course of your work, there will be four EDL files; three with “dot S” suffixes, and the newest without any suffix.

So, how to “restore” one of those older EDL backup files? In Finder, simply rename the most recent EDL file to “soundBlade Project damaged” or something similar. Then, duplicate the most recent backup EDL, the one with the S1 suffix. Change the duplicate’s name from “soundBlade Project.S1 copy” to “soundBlade Project”. Then, in soundBlade, File > Open Project… and see if the Project opens correctly. If it does, select Save As… and save the recovered Project with a new name. If it does not open correctly, try the same process with the S2 or S3 version of the EDL.

File System

General

When creating, copying or moving files, consider the file name and path name. Use short path names and employ only alphanumeric characters. The only non-alphanumeric characters that should be used are the hyphen ( - ) and underscore ( _ ) characters. Other characters, such as !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, {, }, |, [, ], \ and / will very likely cause problems later in your work.

Sound files with names longer than 27 characters will prevent waveform metadata from being built and will result in Projects that do not correctly link source sound files. See the Errors section below for a discussion of sound file names.

Do not use different audio files with the same file name within a Project. Rename beforehand, where necessary, with a descriptive name for later ease of archiving, restoration and project interchange.

Naming Conventions

When Sonic Studio applications read or “parse” a sound file name on open or import, they assumes the following form;

filename.channel_number.extension

So, ChorusTake09.02.wav would be interpreted as channel 2 of ChorusTake09, a WAV file. The channel number is optional can also take the form L or l and R or r, which would be interpreted as left and right. Leading zeros in the channel number is also optional.

In the absence of complete information in the file name, the application will resort to metadata in the header to attempt to open the file and correctly build waveform metadata. However, if waveforms are not built correctly or split stereo or multichannel files are not opening correctly, you may want to rename the files using one of the many utilities available for that purpose.

A good starting point for file naming is to use a 11 digit root name for all files in job, where the client or customer is assigned a four digit alphabetic code and the session receives an 6 digit numeric date stamp. The extra 11th character is an underscore, which will be parsed without problem by most all modern DAWs. For instance, your client’s name is Wunder Productions, so you assign them the alpha string WUPR. That string will always be used for their files. A date code for a tracking session on July 10, 2006 would be 060710, with year, month and day in that order so a computer file system always sorts it correctly. The resulting root file name for all files generated on that day for that session start with the string “WUPR060710_”. You could then add an abbreviation to signify a specific file. Be sure to keep the total file name length to under 27 characters, including any file extension that may or may not be visible in the file system browser. Again, this ensures that the file name will be parsed correctly, regardless of platform.

File Storage

Sonic Studio products are fully compliant with Mac OS 10.4.3 and higher. Therefore, sound files can be used from any drive that your computer can access. This includes network–attached and removable drives as well near –line optical drives.

That said, not all mountable storage devices are suitable for reliable real-time or higher speed reads and writes of sound files. Always run Sonic Studio products from the boot volume. Always store all files involved in your jobs on direct-attached, local volumes or networked–attached storage: internal ATA, FireWire, SATA, SAS or FC are acceptable. USB-attached storage peripherals of any kind should never be used. Also, disks must have more than enough free space, to store, record and playback all of your sound files.

Although you may find it will actually work, never use LAN or WAN–networked, flexible media or optical drives to record or playback sound files due to their excessive latency. Always copy files from those storage types to a dedicated, local, direct–attached hard disk or networked–attached storage, such as Fibre Channel, then use that disk for all work. When you are finished with those sound files, you may copy them back to a high latency volume.

Permissions

Check that you have read and write permissions for the entire application package. Select the application and Get Info from the File menu. In the resulting window, examine the Ownership & Permissions section, specifically the Details. Your account should be set as Owner, with Read & Write access. The Group should be admin, also with Read & Write access. Others should be Read only. If this is not the current setting, change it, then close the window.

If you don’t own the current version of Alsoft’s DiskWarrior, you should also boot from the Apple-supplied Install disc that came with your computer. Run the Disk Utility application and perform a Repair Permissions pass on your host. This is a routine maintenance task that, along with DiskWarrior, should be run about once a month. The current version of DiskWarrior repairs permissions as well as file system problems.

Routine Maintenance

Always monitor the amount of free space on your boot volume. Some of the space on your boot disk is used by the operating system, and insufficient free space will initially slow down your host, then de–stabilize it. See the discussion on virtual memory below for more information on memory considerations.

If you own a copy of Alsoft’s DiskWarrior, run it monthly or whenever your host behaves strangely. If you don’t own a copy, you should. Periodic maintenance is still needed with OS 10 and there is no better file system maintenance utility than DiskWarrior. DiskWarrior 4 will also repair permissions…see the Permission section above.

If you have not yet purchased your copy of DiskWarrior, do so today. Then, resort to Disk Utility, which is included in your Applications/Utilities folder. Disk Utility can repair very basic file system inconsistencies and can repair permissions, another source of annoyance or dysfunction.

Another tool that you should have before trouble starts is AppleJack, a free utility that offers more functionality than Disk Utility but cannot perform the miraculous repairs that DiskWarrior can.

General

Host Requirements

What are the requirements to run my application?

A) soundBlade and PreMaster CD require the following:

CPU: Apple Mac with PPC G4 or G5 ≥ 1 GHz or, Intel Duo processor

Display: 15" or larger display

RAM: 1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB or more preferred

Disc: Apple–approved, internal or external FireWire recordable optical disc mechanism

OS: Mac OS 10.4.3 or newer

USB: One available USB port for iLok USB Smart Key

iLok: iLok USB Smart Key with current iLok driver from ilok

Since Sonic Studio applications use Core Audio, the quality of your playback and delivered discs will be entirely dependent on the hardware and associated drivers used. Note that both applications are supported on Macintosh OS versions 10.4.3 or newer for optimal device compatibility as well as CD Text support. USB peripherals, other than HUI products such as mice and keyboards, are not supported and may interfere with the operation of the product.

Current Releases

The current version of all our software is always available for download in the Downloads section of this site.

soundBlade Instability

If you have recently started using soundBlade or have added new plug–ins to your host, you may be experiencing instability due to certain VST plug–ins. See the soundBlade Instability section below for more information.

G4 Hosts

Be aware that G4 hosts, due to their limited floating point processing capability, should always have the Energy Saver pane of System Preferences set to Optimization > Better Performance when working with audio applications. Also, it has been reported that recording at 96 kHz can introduce discontinuities in the resulting sound file with G4 hosts.

Memory Usage

Though your Sonic Studio product will run with 1 GB of RAM, your host will perform better with 2 GB of RAM. Free disk space on your boot drive is also important. Mac OS is a Unix–based operating system and employs a sophisticated memory manager. The operating system allocates virtual memory as needed. Virtual memory is a hard disk–based buffer that the operating system uses in conjunction with installed RAM. Your host resorts to virtual memory when it has run out of available RAM, your “real” memory. Once virtual memory is used, the overall responsiveness of your host slows down considerably and performance will suffer.

To find out if your host is using virtual memory, an indication that you may want to purchase more RAM for your host, do the following:

Step 1 - Launch Application > Utilities > Activity Monitor.

Step 2 - Select Window > Activity Monitor (command-1) to open the main window.

Step 3 - Click on the System Memory button, to the right of the CPU button.

Step 4 - This pane shows you two important values, “VM size” and “Page ins/outs.”

These two metrics tell you how much virtual memory is being used and how much data has been written to (ins) and read from (outs) the virtual memory buffer. If the “outs” value is not zero, it means that your host has less RAM than it needs and has resorted to using virtual memory. In this instance, you should consider purchasing more RAM.

Conflicting Software

Note that the DC30 Xact Driver from SQUARED 5 has been shown to cause problems with JAM image file creation in conjunction with Sonic Studio products. If you have installed the DC30 Xact Driver, please disable it prior to using soundBlade.

Recommended Companion Software

We recommend X Overload2 for configuring your system. See Ming & Mitchell for more information.

We recommend SuperDuper! for basic back–up needs. See Shirt Pocket for more information.

We recommend PatchBurn, for Mac OS 10.4, if you own a 3rd party optical disc mechanism. See PatchBurn for more information.

We recommend DiskWarrior for safe and reliable file system verification and repair. Periodic maintenance is still needed with OS 10 and there is no better file system maintenance utility than DiskWarrior. See Alsoft for more information.

We recommend AudioTest for generating a wide variety of test sound files. See Katsura Shareware for more information.

Keyboard Shortcuts

The Mac operating system includes an ability to assign unique key combinations to a menu command. System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts > Application Keyboard Shortcuts is where this function is controlled. To learn more, look in System Preferences Help, search for "shortcuts" and read the entry for "Creating keyboard shortcuts for applications".

An easier and more broadly functional approach is to use a macro utility, such as Script Software’s iKey. For those that already own a license, Startly's QuicKeys is over twice as expensive for a new license but is competitively priced for upgrades of existing licenses.

Source Material

Sonic Studio products handle a variety of source file formats. It is therefore very tempting to “grab” what you need and add it to your Project. However, some source material might be in formats other than the final 44.1 kHz sample rate and 16 bits word length necessary for CD production. PreMaster CD determines the characteristics of the files you import based on the metadata they contain. It will warn you if the sample rate is not the required 44.1 kHz where necessary, while resolutions longer than 16 bits are rounded down and redithered to 16 bits during the delivery stage.

soundBlade is capable of SRC or sample rate conversion. Although all of the conversions implemented by soundBlade are of very high quality, you may consider modifying your audio material beforehand with your favorite SRC utilities.

In recording and production environments, the AES/EBU data used for digital interchange may contain a resolution of up to 24 bits of linear PCM–encoded data, sampled at up to 192 kHz. Audio Compact Discs, on the other hand, carry only 16 bit data. That’s one very good reason not to use these CD–DA—formatted “audio CDs,” as a mastering source. Engineers always appreciate source material at the highest possible resolution and sample rate in order to produce the best possible result.

Because all your material destined for inclusion in a final CD replication master will eventually be rounded off, when necessary, to a 16 bit word length, any material using 17 to 24 bits must be word length–reduced to match the CD-DA standard. This is usually accomplished by “rounding down” longer length words to 16 bits. Because the audio data is being modified, it must also be redithered or subtly randomized with an injection of tiny amounts of “shaped” noise in order to prevent distortion.

In the Window> Preferences > Delivery pane, you will find a default preference to always redither the data when delivering either a CD, DDP or when simply playing back audio. This is necessary whenever any audio data is modified, as with a fade or gain change, in order to “linearize” or reduce subtle distortion in the resulting data. Redithering is always a trade off between lower distortion and a slightly but audibly elevated noise floor. Sonic Studio products employ an