Extras - encoders
Notes on the encoders installed - Where to find the most up to date encoders
To install the encoders to add Ogg, Au and other sound formats to FTS, see Sound Formats on the Extras page.
This page gives more information about the encoders for techy users of FTS.
Notes on the encoders installed
This installs the last version of SOX that was released under the LGPL (12.17.5). The most recent versions are GPL which means I can only include them with a project which is itself open source.
Version 12.17.5 of SOX works fine for decoding and encoding AU files, which is the main need here - the latest GPL version of it has improvements mainly in the various effects, which FTS doesn't use it for.
For Ogg Vorbis, this installer installs the "official" encoder oggenc, along with the more recent and considered better encoder in Aoyumi's aoTuV series of encoders - the recommended version aoTuV Release 1. Formore about this, or to find about newer versions of oggenc2, see the Hydrogen Audio page about Ogg Vorbis. There's a check box in FTS in Record to File window (Ctrl + 11) to let you choose whether to use oggenc or oggenc2. This installer also installs the decoder of course, oggdec.
top
Where to find the most up to date encoders
This is only relevant for users of FTS who are knowledgeable about this area. If unsure whether you need a more up to date version of the encoders, then you are best sticking with the ones that come with the program.
The encoders are usually the most important thing as they affect the sound quality - compressed sound standards tell you how any encoded sound should be decoded, so they always get decoded the same way, but often leaves plenty of latitude for different ways of encoding them. This is true also for the mp3s.
This download may not have the most up to date versions, particularly for Ogg Vorbis, which is in a state of flux as of writing, with an unofficial beta that is considered better than the official version, and a new and better beta of the unofficial version currently under development.
In all cases, you download the program and then copy it into your FTS folder and make sure it has the same name as the already existing version. If you want to roll back, delete the new file and run this installer again - it installs the files only if they are more recent than the version already present.
For Ogg Vorbis, for the official encoder, check the Ogg Vorbis site. For the unofficial version, oggenc2, currently considered better for encodiing, check the Hydrogen Audio page about Ogg Vorbis. Also check the Wikipedia article about the Ogg format.
For the other formats, see the SOX page. This is more up to date though as far as I know the latest release doesn't change anything that affects the .au encoding / decoding, which is its main use in FTS - to convert audio clips to au format for use in e.g. java applets.
For mp3s, check the Wikipedia article on Lame. The actual Lame web site only has source code, but has a section with links to other sites with binaries at: Lame and mp3-related links page - check under the Windows section.
top
|