[RRod]

Any of you fine gents know of any software/plugin that lets you switch between different recordings in a semi-synched way? That is, say I have 3 recordings of a particular symphonic movement I want to compare; I'm looking for software that would let me switch between so that I end up in the same part of the piece when I switch. Something that lets you pick a section of a given track and cuts out the same section of the other tracks would work too. With all the stuff around to let YouTube catch copyrighted background muzak, I figure perhaps something like this exists, but my Google-fu has been weak.

 

[PleasantSounds]

Perhaps foobar2000 with ABX plugin would help you - provided that you're on the PC platform.
It plays two tracks synchronously and lets you switch between them.
Alignment may still be a problem if you're trying to compare different performances, not just different renders of the same recording.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Another way would be to use an audio splitter program to cut out the portions of recordings you want. That way, you can load them all in a playlist and switch between them.

 

[RRod]

  Perhaps foobar2000 with ABX plugin would help you - provided that you're on the PC platform.
It plays two tracks synchronously and lets you switch between them.
Alignment may still be a problem if you're trying to compare different performances, not just different renders of the same recording.

 
I'm trying to compare different performances (6 to be exact) of the LvB symphonies. Total timing can be a minute or two apart for a given movement, so I wasn't sure if something like foobar could handle that. I guess I can load it back up in Wine.
 

  Another way would be to use an audio splitter program to cut out the portions of recordings you want. That way, you can load them all in a playlist and switch between them.

 
I wouldn't have any technical issues splitting, but we're talking 4 CDs worth of material, so I'm hoping for something a bit more spontaneous 

 

 

[The Life]

I'm trying to compare different performances (6 to be exact) of the LvB symphonies.

There's a great iOS app that does precisely this for the 9th and one that does it for Vivaldi's four seasons.

 

[zareliman]

   
I'm trying to compare different performances (6 to be exact) of the LvB symphonies. Total timing can be a minute or two apart for a given movement, so I wasn't sure if something like foobar could handle that. I guess I can load it back up in Wine.
 
 
I wouldn't have any technical issues splitting, but we're talking 4 CDs worth of material, so I'm hoping for something a bit more spontaneous 

 

Foobar2000 also lets you work with a ramdisk, but if you're using wine I think there might be quality loss due to the emulation. If you want to use it as a reliable source I think you need a windows native system running WASAPI or ASIO with foobar2000.

 

[limpidglitch]

If I understand your question correctly, the feature you are looking for is present in all multitrack DAWs I'm aware of.

In Audacity, for example, if you import all the six versions of a track you want to compare and arrange them below each other, and align them in time as best as possible, you can just hit play and click the solo button on whatever track you want to listen to on its own. If you continue to shift-click on the solo button for the various tracks, whichever was the last one you solo'ed out will be so exclusively, yet the playhead will keep on moving inexorably. You can of course also compare whole albums, or several albums, in the same manner, just by extending to the right.
 
It's also possible to make this exclusive solo mode the default behaviour, through Preferences.
 

 

[RRod]

  If I understand your question correctly, the feature you are looking for is present in all multitrack DAWs I'm aware of.

In Audacity, for example, if you import all the six versions of a track you want to compare and arrange them below each other, and align them in time as best as possible, you can just hit play and click the solo button on whatever track you want to listen to on its own. If you continue to shift-click on the solo button for the various tracks, whichever was the last one you solo'ed out will be so exclusively, yet the playhead will keep on moving inexorably. You can of course also compare whole albums, or several albums, in the same manner, just by extending to the right.
 
It's also possible to make this exclusive solo mode the default behaviour, through Preferences.
 

 
The issue I'm worried about is that these tracks might differ significantly in timing (since they are different performances all together). Will Audacity "figure it out" and put me in the same section of the song when I switch? I'll give what you say a try and report back. Thanks!

 

[limpidglitch]

The playhead will move on as if nothing has happened, moving linearly in time and playing whatever comes up, so it all comes down to how well you can align things. I think it worked pretty well with the Bach showed in that screen capture, but we might be looking for slightly different things (and I originally did it in Audition, but that shouldn't make any difference).

 

[RRod]

  The playhead will move on as if nothing has happened, moving linearly in time and playing whatever comes up, so it all comes down to how well you can align things. I think it worked pretty well with the Bach showed in that screen capture, but we might be looking for slightly different things (and I originally did it in Audition, but that shouldn't make any difference).

 
Ah ok. Yeah I'm hoping for something that will make semi-seamless transitions and that will make it easy to line up any given section with minimal work. Like say I'm listening to LvB 5 and I want to mark the oboe solo and the transition from the 3rd to 4th movement; I want to not have to worry about re-aligning the tracks for each comparison.

 

[limpidglitch]

Hmm… should be doable, there are automatic alignment algorithms that work reasonably well, but no implementation that only maps the data without stretching and moving it about, at least to my knowledge.
Would have been a nifty tool though, I agree.

 

[RRod]

  Hmm… should be doable, there are automatic alignment algorithms that work reasonably well, but no implementation that only maps the data without stretching and moving it about, at least to my knowledge.
Would have been a nifty tool though, I agree.

 
Any links to the ones that at least try something? I know companies like Google have to have this kind of stuff for screwing reviewers ^_^

 

[limpidglitch]

I'm most familiar with Adobe's automatic dialogue replacement tool, which to my mind seems to be part way there.
 
I don't know about any equivalent open source efforts, though VideoSync might be worth a look.