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New to foobar2000..need help!

post #1 of 54
5/27/10 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 

Hi guys I've been using iTunes for years and we all know thats dead simple to get up and running. I have been hearing non stop about foobar2000 and it i want to install it and set it up properly. I've seen several tutorials online but do you guys know of a definitive setup guide? The whole player itself looks to be way over my head right now...so many options I get swamped really fast. The reason I wanna go to foobar2000 is because of my FLAC library and cause it have bit-perfect streaming. So guides, tutorials,cool skins,setups whatever you guys got to help a noobie like me would be great! Thanks!

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post #2 of 54
5/27/10 at 10:31am

Well what exactly do you want to know?

 

I've been using Foobar for a few months right now after years of WinAmp and I freakin love it, wouldnt want anything else.

So, let me know what you need to know cuz I might be able to help you out ;-)

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post #3 of 54
5/27/10 at 10:34am

 

There is no hard and fast way of getting foobar set-up, just that there are a crazy amount of options available. First of all don't read any posts on setting up foobar that are more than about 18 months old, foobar has changed a bit since then, much easier to set up.

 

As a starter download the latest version and install it, and select ''album list and properties (tabbed)", you can change it later if you want. It will probably look uninviting at first but that's due to not having any music. Go to File>Preferences>Media Library and add some music. Also good components to install can include:

 

foo_albumlist.dll (included in the download now I think)

foo_discogs.dll

foo_quicktag.dll (both taggers, forgotten which one's best)

foo_fileops.dll (file operations, delete, move, copy, rename)

foo_dop.dll (for an ipod)

foo_playcount.dll (playback statistics if you want them)

foo_out_wasapi.dll (good sound)

 

In the preferences window check the box at the bottom of the media library page marked 'library viewer selection enabled'. That should get you a working and good sounding version which you can play around with later. After that colours and fonts are in prefernces.

 

I might have missed something out though.

 

Edit:

Should add, most components are here: http://www.foobar2000.org/components

When it's set-up go to file>preferences>playback>output, and select wasapi: your soundcard as your output device and the appropriate sampling rate (as high as is recognised, probably 16-bit)


Edited by Marcus_C - 5/27/10 at 10:40am
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post #4 of 54
5/27/10 at 10:56am

Depending on your OS, you will want to consider WASAPI,  ASIO, or Kernal Streaming.

 

I'm using Windows 7, and WASAPI, and it works flawlessly. In Windows XP, I could only get Kernel Streaming to work Not sure why though. ASIO also works on Win 7, but if you decide to get ASIO4ALL, it's a bit more involved to set up. But not much.

 

Just download whatever component you decide on, and put the .dll file in your components folder. Default is, C:\Program Files\foobar2000\components. Open Foobar2000, go File > Preferences > Playback > Output. You'll see a drop down box on the right, and select whatever you picked. 

 

For skins, I'm not all that knowledgeable. Seems that most of the skins are for version 9.x.x or something. Definitely not version 1.0.3, which is what version I have. But skins aren't a big deal to me.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Damn. Marcus_C and I must have been typing at the same time..


Edited by J.Pocalypse - 5/27/10 at 10:58am
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post #5 of 54
5/27/10 at 11:00am
Thread Starter 

foobar.jpg

 

This is what foobar looks like..is there anyway to add album art but keep this view?

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post #6 of 54
5/27/10 at 11:05am
Quote:
This is what foobar looks like..is there anyway to add album art but keep this view?

 

Try DeviantArt: Foobar2000 or Hydrogenaudio.org

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post #7 of 54
5/27/10 at 11:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Digital Felon View Post

This is what foobar looks like..is there anyway to add album art but keep this view?


Not that I know of. I used to have a component running on version 0.8.something but when I updated to 0.9 it wouldn't work and I've forgotten what it's called anyway. There is a very popular user interface called columns_ui whichis very similar and does have an album art display (i think) called foo_uie_albumart but I don't use that as I like a dark interface and I can't be bothered to find out how to change colours with that. I'd be appreciative of an answer too.

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post #8 of 54
5/27/10 at 11:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Digital Felon View Post

This is what foobar looks like..is there anyway to add album art but keep this view?

 

Yes, there is.

 

This is what Foobar2000 Looks like for me right now:

 

Foobar.jpg

 

Here is how you can change several things:

 

Under View go to Visualisations and just fool around with that for a bit to see what things you would like to see and what not.
And the other option is to just right-click on the Menu Bars or the playlist menu and select what buttons and/or visualisations you want to select / de-select.

 

I hope this helped you out ;-)

 

Edit: Forgot to mention that I'm using version 1.01 of Foobar as you can see, you are using v1.03 so there are probably some differences between the two. I'm not familiar with v1.03 myself but to be honest I dont realy want to, this version works perfect for me and does everything that I want from a digital media player.


Edited by Scrivs - 5/27/10 at 11:38am
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post #9 of 54
5/27/10 at 11:35am

This here HeadFi is an excellent site with many knowledgeable correspondents and I hate to cross post but really for advice on foobar you are best advised to get it direct from the horses mouth.

 

Visit the official foobar forum.  http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=28

 

My own advice would be to take things slowly. One of the great things about foobar is how easy it is to customise to your own exact specification and at the same time retain a small footprint. Once you are thoughly familiar with the basic tool (playlists are a bit different to iTunes) then when it occurs to you to want something different (WASAPI, ABX, different UI, whatever) then go away and install what you need and customise it. That way you soon have a version of foobar unique to your own requirements  but you understand perfectly how it has been put together.

 

Whatever you do. Enjoy. I love Foobar to bits. I bet you soon will as well. Welcome...

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post #10 of 54
5/27/10 at 11:55am

@Scrivs, is that in this menu, sorry to add another screen clip but is that an update on version 1 or a third party plug-in??

 

This is my version of foobar 0.9.6.9 since about this time last year

foobarpaste.jpg

 

edit: never mind, found it,

after 10 minutes of playing, thanks @Scrivs, how did I miss those options all that time??

Untitled.jpg

 


Edited by Marcus_C - 5/27/10 at 12:39pm
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post #11 of 54
5/27/10 at 12:02pm

Scrivs I would love that exact player heh. I'm currently using a theme that I downloaded but it is flashy and not near as functional. A very tough transition from the ease of itunes. I'm going to try and go for your setup. Simple. Only thing that I see that might be missing: Search? I could REALLY use a search heh. 

 

 

Edit: Just kidding...I played around with the quick setup and got it pretty fast heh. Now the only thing is getting my album artwork to show. I currently have it setup however itunes put it. Foobar isn't finding any of it though.


Edited by DDVX - 5/27/10 at 12:08pm
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post #12 of 54
5/27/10 at 12:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus_C View Post

@Scrivs, is that in this menu, sorry to add another screen clip but is that an update on version 1 or a third party plug-in??

 

This is my version of foobar 0.9.6.9 since about this time last year

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7307/foobarpaste.jpg

 

No, I'm sorry, that menu brings up seperate tools.

My apologies for the wrong indications.

 

The way I got all those things in my menu bar was just by right-clicking the bar and selecting all these things that you can see in the drop down menu like: Buttons / Playlist Switcher / Seekbar / Visualization: Peak Meter etc. etc.

To change the color of the fonts or whatever you can go to: File -> Preferences -> Display -> Default User Interfaces... here you can change loads of other things aswell.

Oh, and I didnt install any plug-ins or different skins or anything besides the WASAPI output, just is just the original v.1.01...

 

I would also recommend you to install that WASAPI output to get an improvement on your sound quality.

This thread should help you doing that: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/463890/how-do-i-setup-foobar-with-wasapi-i-see-no-option-in-output

At the bottom I made a short guide of how to get it installed, you should get it to work of you follow those steps.


 

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post #13 of 54
5/27/10 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marcus_C View Post

edit: never mind, found it,

after 10 minutes of playing, thanks @Scrivs, how did I miss those options all that time??


Hahah not a problem mate!, I'm glad I could help and that you got it working now ;-)

Just mess around with all the options and go through every menu just to see what everything does and what its for, thats how I discovered these things. There is no harm in trying ;-)

 

Cheers.

 

PS. That Pendulum album is quite sick btw! Haha. I also listen to quite alot of DnB, mostly Dubstep though.

 

Edit: One more thing, if you right click the colums like Playing or Artist or whatever, you can select and de-select whatever colums you want to see there, I found that there were quite a few useless colums showed that were taking up space for the ones I did want to see and by clicking Groups you can chose in whatever order you want these colums to be showed.


Edited by Scrivs - 5/27/10 at 1:06pm
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post #14 of 54
5/27/10 at 1:02pm
Thread Starter 

I think im just going to stick to itunes9 cause foobar200 is way to complicated..

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post #15 of 54
5/27/10 at 2:35pm

download this skin http://tedgo.deviantart.com/art/DarkOne-v2-1-156697932 its the best and easiest to use imo.

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