• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Editing BWF files on a Mac

R

RadioMan203

I do quite a bit of audio production on a Mac since I'm use to the tools I use. Whenever I need to save/edit a broadcast wave format (BWF) file I always need to move over to the PC to work with it and get it ready for the automation system. I'm looking for software that will allow me to read and edit BWF files on the Mac. I came across BarbaBatch, but at $400 it's a little too pricey for me to justify. It would just be more conveinent to use the Mac with this additional functionality.

If you know of a solution please let me know.

Bill
 
> I do quite a bit of audio production on a Mac since I'm use
> to the tools I use. Whenever I need to save/edit a broadcast
> wave format (BWF) file I always need to move over to the PC
> to work with it and get it ready for the automation system.
> I'm looking for software that will allow me to read and edit
> BWF files on the Mac. I came across BarbaBatch, but at $400
> it's a little too pricey for me to justify. It would just be
> more conveinent to use the Mac with this additional
> functionality.
>
> If you know of a solution please let me know.
>
> Bill
>

You might want to look at BoomRecorder for OS X (10.4 only). It's designed to record and export BWF files. The demo version will work with up to three tracks but no metadata is exported.

http://www.vosgames.nl/products/BoomRecorder/

Also, since Avid systems use BWF files, ProTools (ver. 6 and up including LE) will export in the BWF format. I mean, if BarbaBatch is 400 bucks for a little more money you could get an M-Box and ProTools LE.

db
 
> > I do quite a bit of audio production on a Mac since I'm
> use
> > to the tools I use. Whenever I need to save/edit a
> broadcast
> > wave format (BWF) file I always need to move over to the
> PC
> > to work with it and get it ready for the automation
> system.
> > I'm looking for software that will allow me to read and
> edit
> > BWF files on the Mac. I came across BarbaBatch, but at
> $400
> > it's a little too pricey for me to justify. It would just
> be
> > more conveinent to use the Mac with this additional
> > functionality.
> >
> > If you know of a solution please let me know.
> >
> > Bill
> >
>
> You might want to look at BoomRecorder for OS X (10.4 only).
> It's designed to record and export BWF files. The demo
> version will work with up to three tracks but no metadata is
> exported.
>
> http://www.vosgames.nl/products/BoomRecorder/
>
> Also, since Avid systems use BWF files, ProTools (ver. 6 and
> up including LE) will export in the BWF format. I mean, if
> BarbaBatch is 400 bucks for a little more money you could
> get an M-Box and ProTools LE.
>
> db
>


I hate tried using BoomRecorder, but it doesn't offer the ability to select the settings I need to make it work with the automation systems I work with (they use 32,000k by 192k sample rate). While some systems write a file they call "BWF" it doesn't really mean they're compatible, since the broadcast wave format files I've worked with are compressed. I was actually able to read them in the Mac program Amedeus II, but it reads the file as an MP3 and will overwrite the Broadcast Wave information, turning it into an MP3 file, which does me no good as these automation systems will only read the BWF files.

I appreciate your input.

Bill
 
> Bill,
>
> Not sure if this will help you but I use a great little
> shareware piece called Sound Converter. $10 for full
> license and it's a batch converter for OSX.
>
> http://www.dekorte.com/projects/shareware/SoundConverter/
>
> It's worth a look.
>
> Write me if you have any questions.
>

That was another app I previously looked at, but it doesn't support BWF at all. Other than the overly pricey BarbaBatch the only program I found that works with BWF files that are compatible with radio automation was an alpha release of Winamp for Macintosh, and that was for playback only. Since I do alot of audio restoration on the Mac it would be nice not to have to move all the files from one box to another just to convert them for the automation.

Bill
 
> > Bill,
> >
> > Not sure if this will help you but I use a great little
> > shareware piece called Sound Converter. $10 for full
> > license and it's a batch converter for OSX.
> >
> > http://www.dekorte.com/projects/shareware/SoundConverter/
> >
> > It's worth a look.
> >
> > Write me if you have any questions.
> >
>
> That was another app I previously looked at, but it doesn't
> support BWF at all. Other than the overly pricey BarbaBatch
> the only program I found that works with BWF files that are
> compatible with radio automation was an alpha release of
> Winamp for Macintosh, and that was for playback only. Since
> I do alot of audio restoration on the Mac it would be nice
> not to have to move all the files from one box to another
> just to convert them for the automation.
>
> Bill
>

You might also want to check out Media Rage 2.0 for OS X it claims to edit and export BWF and a whole lot of other weird audio formats all for the low price of 29.95. Their is no mention as to whether Media Rage supports batch exporting and it may only work on the metadata of the file. The website is not very clear about the product.

http://www.chaoticsoftware.com/ProductPages/MediaRage.html

Other than that you might need to consider getting a Windows app like AMR 1.2 and using Virtual PC. Both would cost a great deal less than BarbaBatch.

I use VPC 6 for a couple of WinApps and have had little trouble with it.

db
 
> > > Bill,
> > >
> > > Not sure if this will help you but I use a great little
> > > shareware piece called Sound Converter. $10 for full
> > > license and it's a batch converter for OSX.
> > >
> > >
> http://www.dekorte.com/projects/shareware/SoundConverter/
> > >
> > > It's worth a look.
> > >
> > > Write me if you have any questions.
> > >
> >
> > That was another app I previously looked at, but it
> doesn't
> > support BWF at all. Other than the overly pricey
> BarbaBatch
> > the only program I found that works with BWF files that
> are
> > compatible with radio automation was an alpha release of
> > Winamp for Macintosh, and that was for playback only.
> Since
> > I do alot of audio restoration on the Mac it would be nice
>
> > not to have to move all the files from one box to another
> > just to convert them for the automation.
> >
> > Bill
> >
>
> You might also want to check out Media Rage 2.0 for OS X it
> claims to edit and export BWF and a whole lot of other weird
> audio formats all for the low price of 29.95. Their is no
> mention as to whether Media Rage supports batch exporting
> and it may only work on the metadata of the file. The
> website is not very clear about the product.
>
> http://www.chaoticsoftware.com/ProductPages/MediaRage.html
>
> Other than that you might need to consider getting a Windows
> app like AMR 1.2 and using Virtual PC. Both would cost a
> great deal less than BarbaBatch.
>
> I use VPC 6 for a couple of WinApps and have had little
> trouble with it.
>
> db
>

Unfortunately, Media Rage only supports reading and writing the tags of a BWF file (and from what the results of my trail determined, only on uncompressed BWF files to boot). I have tools on my Windows boxes that do the job, but I wanted a native Mac solution since all my sound restoration and audio editing software runs under OS-X. Virtual PC, while not the most terrible piece of software on the planet, is far from speedy when trying to do processor intensive tasks. Using the tools I already had in VPC is painfully slow when compared to both my deaktops and laptops. So far, it looks like I'll either have to pay the $400 bend-over price for BarbaBatch or just give up the idea of trying to do this on the Mac.

Bill
 
> > > > Bill,
> > > >
> > > > Not sure if this will help you but I use a great
> little
> > > > shareware piece called Sound Converter. $10 for full
> > > > license and it's a batch converter for OSX.
> > > >
> > > >
> > http://www.dekorte.com/projects/shareware/SoundConverter/
> > > >
> > > > It's worth a look.
> > > >
> > > > Write me if you have any questions.
> > > >
> > >
> > > That was another app I previously looked at, but it
> > doesn't
> > > support BWF at all. Other than the overly pricey
> > BarbaBatch
> > > the only program I found that works with BWF files that
> > are
> > > compatible with radio automation was an alpha release of
>
> > > Winamp for Macintosh, and that was for playback only.
> > Since
> > > I do alot of audio restoration on the Mac it would be
> nice
> >
> > > not to have to move all the files from one box to
> another
> > > just to convert them for the automation.
> > >
> > > Bill
> > >
> >
> > You might also want to check out Media Rage 2.0 for OS X
> it
> > claims to edit and export BWF and a whole lot of other
> weird
> > audio formats all for the low price of 29.95. Their is no
> > mention as to whether Media Rage supports batch exporting
> > and it may only work on the metadata of the file. The
> > website is not very clear about the product.
> >
> > http://www.chaoticsoftware.com/ProductPages/MediaRage.html
>
> >
> > Other than that you might need to consider getting a
> Windows
> > app like AMR 1.2 and using Virtual PC. Both would cost a
> > great deal less than BarbaBatch.
> >
> > I use VPC 6 for a couple of WinApps and have had little
> > trouble with it.
> >
> > db
> >
>
> Unfortunately, Media Rage only supports reading and writing
> the tags of a BWF file (and from what the results of my
> trail determined, only on uncompressed BWF files to boot). I
> have tools on my Windows boxes that do the job, but I wanted
> a native Mac solution since all my sound restoration and
> audio editing software runs under OS-X. Virtual PC, while
> not the most terrible piece of software on the planet, is
> far from speedy when trying to do processor intensive tasks.
> Using the tools I already had in VPC is painfully slow when
> compared to both my deaktops and laptops. So far, it looks
> like I'll either have to pay the $400 bend-over price for
> BarbaBatch or just give up the idea of trying to do this on
> the Mac.
>
> Bill
>

I only suggest VPC as a last resort.

You might want to pose your question on this site:

http://www.osxrecording.com/

There are a profusion of audio conversion apps for Mac, as you've researched, but apparently this is a need they're all missing.

Time to start e-mailing and requesting this feature from all of these software makers and break the hold that Audioease has with its overpriced Barbabatch.

db
 
> > > > > Bill,
> > > > >
> > > > > Not sure if this will help you but I use a great
> > little
> > > > > shareware piece called Sound Converter. $10 for
> full
> > > > > license and it's a batch converter for OSX.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> http://www.dekorte.com/projects/shareware/SoundConverter/
> > > > >
> > > > > It's worth a look.
> > > > >
> > > > > Write me if you have any questions.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > That was another app I previously looked at, but it
> > > doesn't
> > > > support BWF at all. Other than the overly pricey
> > > BarbaBatch
> > > > the only program I found that works with BWF files
> that
> > > are
> > > > compatible with radio automation was an alpha release
> of
> >
> > > > Winamp for Macintosh, and that was for playback only.
> > > Since
> > > > I do alot of audio restoration on the Mac it would be
> > nice
> > >
> > > > not to have to move all the files from one box to
> > another
> > > > just to convert them for the automation.
> > > >
> > > > Bill
> > > >
> > >
> > > You might also want to check out Media Rage 2.0 for OS X
>
> > it
> > > claims to edit and export BWF and a whole lot of other
> > weird
> > > audio formats all for the low price of 29.95. Their is
> no
> > > mention as to whether Media Rage supports batch
> exporting
> > > and it may only work on the metadata of the file. The
> > > website is not very clear about the product.
> > >
> > >
> http://www.chaoticsoftware.com/ProductPages/MediaRage.html
> >
> > >
> > > Other than that you might need to consider getting a
> > Windows
> > > app like AMR 1.2 and using Virtual PC. Both would cost a
>
> > > great deal less than BarbaBatch.
> > >
> > > I use VPC 6 for a couple of WinApps and have had little
> > > trouble with it.
> > >
> > > db
> > >
> >
> > Unfortunately, Media Rage only supports reading and
> writing
> > the tags of a BWF file (and from what the results of my
> > trail determined, only on uncompressed BWF files to boot).
> I
> > have tools on my Windows boxes that do the job, but I
> wanted
> > a native Mac solution since all my sound restoration and
> > audio editing software runs under OS-X. Virtual PC, while
> > not the most terrible piece of software on the planet, is
> > far from speedy when trying to do processor intensive
> tasks.
> > Using the tools I already had in VPC is painfully slow
> when
> > compared to both my deaktops and laptops. So far, it looks
>
> > like I'll either have to pay the $400 bend-over price for
> > BarbaBatch or just give up the idea of trying to do this
> on
> > the Mac.
> >
> > Bill
> >
>
> I only suggest VPC as a last resort.
>
> You might want to pose your question on this site:
>
> http://www.osxrecording.com/
>
> There are a profusion of audio conversion apps for Mac, as
> you've researched, but apparently this is a need they're all
> missing.
>
> Time to start e-mailing and requesting this feature from all
> of these software makers and break the hold that Audioease
> has with its overpriced Barbabatch.
>
> db
>

Thanks for the tip on that site. I'm also going to drop a line to the development team of the Audacity audio editor, as perhaps they want to set the pace and add this capability to their editor's Mac version.

Bill
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom