[Abcde-users] Problem with 'abcde -d disc.flac'

Sat Nov 17 18:44:35 GMT 2018

On Sat, 17 Nov 2018 13:34:52 +0100
Bjørn Forsman <bjorn.forsman at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Matthias,
> 
> Thanks for the info! (Responses inline below.)
> 
> On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 at 00:00, Matthias König <mk at silverserver.at>
> wrote:
> > With this command you can test if your CD has a pregap:
> >
> > $ cdrdao read-toc cd.txt  
> 
> $ cdrdao read-toc cd.txt
> Cdrdao version 1.2.3 - (C) Andreas Mueller <andreas at daneb.de>
> /dev/sr0: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-H62N      Rev: CL00
> Using driver: Generic SCSI-3/MMC - Version 2.0 (options 0x0000)
> 
> Reading toc data...
> 
> Track   Mode    Flags  Start                Length
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>  1      AUDIO   0      00:00:32(    32)     04:12:00( 18900)
>  2      AUDIO   0      04:12:32( 18932)     03:39:50( 16475)
>  3      AUDIO   0      07:52:07( 35407)     04:54:38( 22088)
>  4      AUDIO   0      12:46:45( 57495)     03:38:10( 16360)
>  5      AUDIO   0      16:24:55( 73855)     03:50:72( 17322)
>  6      AUDIO   0      20:15:52( 91177)     04:39:28( 20953)
>  7      AUDIO   0      24:55:05(112130)     02:20:67( 10567)
>  8      AUDIO   0      27:15:72(122697)     04:02:43( 18193)
>  9      AUDIO   0      31:18:40(140890)     03:57:70( 17845)
> 10      AUDIO   0      35:16:35(158735)     02:52:05( 12905)
> 11      AUDIO   0      38:08:40(171640)     02:59:20( 13445)
> Leadout AUDIO   0      41:07:60(185085)
> 
> PQ sub-channel reading (audio track) is supported, data format is BCD.
> Raw P-W sub-channel reading (audio track) is supported.
> Analyzing track 01 (AUDIO): start 00:00:32, length 04:12:00...
> Found pre-gap: 00:00:32
> [...]
> 
> Ok, so no doubt this CD (and my copy of it) has pregap=32.
> 
> > An example cuesheet from a CD with pregap:
> >
> > PERFORMER ""
> > TITLE ""
> > FILE "" WAVE
> >   TRACK 01 AUDIO
> >     INDEX 00 00:00:00
> >     TITLE ""
> >     INDEX 01 00:00:32
> >   TRACK 02 AUDIO
> >     TITLE ""
> >     INDEX 01 09:33:05
> >   TRACK 03 AUDIO
> >     TITLE ""
> >     INDEX 01 19:02:10
> >
> > And from a CD without pregap:
> >
> > PERFORMER ""
> > TITLE ""
> > FILE "" WAVE
> >   TRACK 01 AUDIO
> >     TITLE ""
> >     INDEX 01 00:00:00
> >   TRACK 02 AUDIO
> >     TITLE ""
> >     INDEX 01 09:33:05
> >   TRACK 03 AUDIO
> >     TITLE ""
> >     INDEX 01 19:02:10
> >
> > You can export the cuesheet contained in the flac file with this
> > command:
> >
> > $ metaflac --export-cuesheet-to=- cd.flac  
> 
> Ah, I wondered why the abcde manual talked about _embedded_ cuesheet
> when all I saw was the .cue sidecar file.
> 
> $ metaflac --export-cuesheet-to=- U2-October/October.flac
> FILE "U2-October/October.flac" FLAC
>   TRACK 01 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 00:00:00
>   TRACK 02 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 04:12:00
>   TRACK 03 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 07:51:50
>   TRACK 04 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 12:46:13
>   TRACK 05 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 16:24:23
>   TRACK 06 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 20:15:20
>   TRACK 07 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 24:54:48
>   TRACK 08 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 27:15:40
>   TRACK 09 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 31:18:08
>   TRACK 10 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 35:16:03
>   TRACK 11 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 38:08:08
> REM FLAC__lead-in 88200
> REM FLAC__lead-out 170 108829980
> 
> So no pregap there. But that makes sense, since the sidecar .cue file
> lacks pregap too.
> 
> On Fri, 16 Nov 2018 at 01:43, Matthias König <mk at silverserver.at>
> wrote:
> > By default abcde uses mkcue to create the initial cuesheet. Just run
> > mkcue to see if it is created correctly.
> >
> > $ mkcue
> > FILE "dummy.wav" WAVE
> >   TRACK 01 AUDIO
> >     INDEX 00 00:00:00
> >     INDEX 01 00:00:32
> >   TRACK 02 AUDIO
> >     INDEX 01 09:33:05
> >   TRACK 03 AUDIO
> >     INDEX 01 19:02:10  
> 
> $ mkcue
> FILE "dummy.wav" WAVE
>   TRACK 01 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 00:00:00
>   TRACK 02 AUDIO
>     INDEX 01 04:12:00
> [...]
> 
> I see my mkcue output lacks the "INDEX 01 00:00:32" part. So it's
> mkcue that gets it wrong!
> 
> I found this page[1], which says that
> 
> """Well, abcde uses mkcue rather than cdrdao to extract the disc's
> TOC, and mkcue does not do the fancy sub-channel reading that cdrdao
> does. You will miss out on pregaps, ISRC-codes and such. More
> importantly (because this actually affects the audio), I don't think
> mkcue handles the PRE_EMPHASIS flag at all.
> """
> 
> (The quote is from 2011, but it seems nothing has changed wrt. abcde
> using mkcue.)
> 
> So there it is. mkcue has issues. An it fails on my CD, where cdrdao
> succeeds.
> 
> So why doesn't abcde use cdrdao instead of mkcue?
> 
> In abcde manpage I find
> 
>     CUEREADERSYNTAX
>         Specifies the syntax of the program we use to read the CD CUE
> sheet. Right now we only support 'mkcue', but in the future other
> readers might be used.
> 
> I guess I have to look at other ripper programs. I see there is a
> project called whipper, and it seems to use cdrdao instead of mkcue.
> 

Hi Bjørn,

Thanks also for your replies and for pointing to whipper.

Matthias