Sample convert mortgage

Hi,

I am in the same position as this poster

I need to convert a montage from 44.1 to 96. Then replace the 44.1 files with the 96 versions. Is there a more elegant solution in WL9?

Cheers

Yes! It’s a new feature in WaveLab 9 that I use almost daily. Make sure to have the 44.1k montage open and look in the File Ribbon tab for the “Custom Montage Copy” option in File>New>From Current File>Customized Duplicate. I do this so often I have a shortcut designated.

Here are some things to consider before you do it though:

-Find all the audio files associated with the 44.1k montage, convert a copy of them to 96k, and save them to a new separate sub-folder of their own (you’ll see why later). You can use the batch converter in WaveLab to convert the needed files to a new folder, though I tend to use Weiss Saracon, iZotope RX5, or Myriad for sample rate conversions. I haven’t given the new SOX in converter in WL9 a fair shot.

-It’s easiest if the files have the exact same name as the original files although you can tell WaveLab to ignore certain characters in the new or original files to help it find matches. For example, if your new files have _96k at the end and the original files did not, you can tell WaveLab to ignore the _96k in the new file names to find a match.

-Once you have the 96k (or any alternate sample rate) files in their own folder, select the “Custom Montage Copy” option mentioned above (remember the original montage has to be open and the current file).

-Choose the 2nd option “Duplicate With New Audio Files” and direct WaveLab to the folder with the alternate sample rate files and press OK.

Assuming all the file names match perfectly, WaveLab will recreate your 44.1k montage at the new sample rate with all the clips and markers perfectly placed and it keeps all the metadata and markers. It’s basically a perfect copy of the montage at a new sample rate.

I used to do this manually in 8.5 and earlier and it was painful and slow, now I can do it in a matter of seconds. I hope this helps you.

For me, I always have a folder of 96k or 88.2k WAV files that are processed via my analog gear and cleaned up/trimmed up and named well. I convert them to 44.1k to assemble the montage and send a DDP off to the client to approve…then once the project is approved I go back and recreate the montage at the higher sample rate to make the 24-bit/high sample rate masters, vinyl pre-master, and other things. To me it’s an essential feature in WaveLab and I really thank PG for adding it.

Before WaveLab 9, you could change the sample rate of a montage, but as noted in the thread you linked to, the markers and clips would shift too much as they were tied to the audio samples of the montage and not the timeline.

Ah, YES! Thank you so much for your most helpful and comprehensive reply. I completely missed this new feature. This is going to save a lot of time.

No problem, not only is this a HUGE time saver for me, it also helps ensure accuracy as I was manually entering the clip and marker times for each after converting the montage to 88.2 or 96k and then redoing any fades/envelopes. I could do an album in about 5 minutes but there was also too much room for human error.

Now it’s done in about 5 seconds, then change the limiter and dither as needed and you’re good to go.