[HN Gopher] Surround sound test files for every audio format
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       Surround sound test files for every audio format
        
       Author : austinallegro
       Score  : 181 points
       Date   : 2023-11-03 22:21 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (drive.google.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (drive.google.com)
        
       | seba_dos1 wrote:
       | I don't get one thing - why would devalue your submission by
       | typing "every" when it's clearly not true?
        
         | happytoexplain wrote:
         | What a strange thing to be condescending about.
        
           | dtx1 wrote:
           | True, it's weird but this is missing major formats like
           | auro3d
        
             | zer00eyz wrote:
             | https://www.audioholics.com/audio-
             | technologies/auro-3d-bankr...
             | 
             | Isn't auro3d mostly dead/beta maxed?
        
               | dtx1 wrote:
               | Sure, but it's something my receiver technically support
        
               | teh_klev wrote:
               | But no-one is shipping content with these long gone
               | formats any more. My almost 20 year old receiver supports
               | formats that have long since fallen by the wayside as
               | well, why put any effort into them for test and
               | diagnostics?
        
               | CamperBob2 wrote:
               | I was bummed that it didn't include 4-bit mono ADPCM,
               | myself. Nothing else evokes my childhood with Ma Bell
               | quite as effectively.
        
               | seba_dos1 wrote:
               | Old content still exists. Also, there are still SACD
               | releases being made in 2023 (though whether it makes
               | sense is another matter) and DSD is nowhere to be seen in
               | this set of files either.
               | 
               | That said, it's obviously impossible to include every
               | audio format out there, so I don't expect it to do so at
               | all. That's why I asked what's the motivation to write
               | such thing, because it's a very weird thing to say in the
               | first place. If it actually included some weird, exotic
               | and outdated formats it could perhaps be excused, but
               | apparently it doesn't even try to do that, so it really
               | feels like clickbait.
        
             | refulgentis wrote:
             | Dude what
        
             | globular-toast wrote:
             | Pretty sure Ogg/Vorbis supports multichannel. I don't see
             | that there.
        
             | asylteltine wrote:
             | Auro3d isn't a major format and it's entirely dead
        
             | nativeit wrote:
             | Some sort of CAD file for etching wax cylinders and vinyl
             | masters would warm the smart-ass cockles of my heart.
        
           | seba_dos1 wrote:
           | Nobody's condescending here (except you, perhaps). I don't
           | know much about audio formats myself, I clicked because I got
           | curious of "every audio format", but got a pretty basic set
           | of the most popular formats instead that's missing some
           | formats that even a dummy like me knows that exist, so I'm
           | genuinely curious why would someone add a completely
           | unnecessary and confusing word "every" into that sentence
           | instead of, say, "various". All it achieves is that it turns
           | a useful submission into a lie.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | The LPCM5.1 is an M2TS file at @498MB while the LPCM7.1 is
         | saved as WAV at only 23.2MB. That seems very strange unless the
         | 7.1 is significantly shorter. That would be very odd decision.
         | Seems to me that a library like this would be exactly the same
         | audio source just saved as the different formats. Maybe I'm
         | over thinking it, and just too OCD about making a library like
         | this public for fear of this very type of criticism
        
         | batch12 wrote:
         | Maybe it's the collector's goal to eventually have every one
         | possible
        
       | asylteltine wrote:
       | This is way more useful than people think thank you
       | 
       | Google products have become so user hostile at the expense of
       | their users. I literally cannot download this folder on my phone
       | I have to "share" each one individually. I also can't make an
       | actual copy of the files without downloading and uploading so
       | they save some precious space. Must be hard for such a small
       | company
        
         | solardev wrote:
         | With the Drive app you can just select all and download
        
           | ryandrake wrote:
           | I was going to post that on the web site, you can click the
           | title (Audio Test Files) at the top, and select Download. It
           | will create a ZIP and off you go. But then I tried it and OP
           | is right--it failed.
        
             | CamperBob2 wrote:
             | Ctrl-a will select all the files for downloading in
             | Firefox. That's the only way I could see to grab them all
             | at once.
             | 
             | You will end up receiving three .zip files that unpack to
             | about 5 GB total.
        
             | ShadowBanThis01 wrote:
             | Worked fine for me in desktop Safari... shockingly enough.
        
         | crazygringo wrote:
         | You're right that you can't download multiple files on the
         | _phone_. (Whether that 's a good decision or not I don't know
         | -- generally whenever I try sharing multiple files in iOS apps
         | it's wonky, where apps only receive the first file and throw
         | away the rest, so it might be a broader ecosystem problem.)
         | 
         | But just use your browser. Ctrl+A to select all files, hit the
         | "Download" button, wait a minute for it to create a .zip file,
         | and it downloads. Just tried it myself, works like a charm. (In
         | past experience sometimes the .zip archive step fails -- if so,
         | so just try a second time.)
         | 
         | > _I also can't make an actual copy of the files without
         | downloading and uploading so they save some precious space._
         | 
         | If you're trying to make a copy to your own personal Drive,
         | just select "Make a copy" from the context menu. That creates a
         | copy (not a shortcut) in your Drive root folder, no downloading
         | and uploading required. (In the mobile app that option appears
         | only for individual files, but the Drive website allows you to
         | do it for all selected files at once.) I just tried this now as
         | well and it works perfectly.
         | 
         | Or if you want to save space on your Drive, you can _drag_ them
         | to  "My Drive" (rather than explicitly making a copy) and it'll
         | create shortcuts instead.
        
         | vrytired wrote:
         | http://ohnodomo.duckdns.org/hosted/sharex/Audio%20Test%20Fil...
         | 
         | I've downloaded them and created a mirror for anyone else
         | having issues.
        
         | ShadowBanThis01 wrote:
         | Google Drive is so rife with fraud and BS. First off, if you
         | upload stuff to someone else's Drive, it counts against YOURS.
         | 
         | Second, there's actually no way to let someone upload stuff to
         | your drive. I needed a bunch of video footage from someone
         | else's phone, but she couldn't upload it even though I gave her
         | a link to a folder... because she doesn't have her own Drive.
         | So BS #2 is to support BS #1.
         | 
         | I don't remember if Google double-counts stuff "shared" with
         | you, against your Drive and the sharer's. But I wouldn't put it
         | past them.
         | 
         | Unfortunately DropBox doesn't offer competitive capacity/price
         | combos, and even worse they outright lose files. They lost an
         | entire video job I uploaded for a client; gigabytes of files
         | just disappeared for several days, and when they finally
         | responded to inquiries they had no explanation. I had to sign
         | up for Google just to get the job delivered (late).
        
       | j-bos wrote:
       | Can someone explain the purpose and use of these files?
        
         | dsr_ wrote:
         | Channel mapping from source through PC sound system to
         | multichannel receiver.
         | 
         | [PCs often have idiosyncratic default channel arrangements]
        
           | grujicd wrote:
           | And these channel arrangements can messed up if you pluging
           | headphone/mic in one of the ports, plugin new hdmi device, or
           | for some other reasons. If you use software for mapping
           | surround channels (Virtualmeeter, etc) things can also break.
           | Or channel levels can differ between front and surround
           | channels. Or even if you're lucky that nothing ever breaks
           | these files are useful during initial fine tuning.
        
         | raffraffraff wrote:
         | I used a tiny SBC and a 7.1 channel USB soundcard to upgrade a
         | 15 year old Yamaha AV 5.1 "Dolby Digital" receiver (with
         | toslink/spdif) to handle the latest codecs. The old receiver
         | has a "6ch input" selector that doesn't do any decoding - just
         | takes the 6 inputs, amplifies them and sends them to the
         | speakers. I also use the extra 2 channels from the USB 7.1
         | audio to a 2nd stereo amp that powers the adjoining room. (This
         | involves pulseaudio channel mapping).
         | 
         | It took about 2 days to make sure that absolutely everything
         | worked, including turning stereo into 5.1 + 2, and adding LFE
         | to the adjoining room speakers so they didn't miss out on
         | multichannel bass. Technically, I could map the extra channels
         | from a 7.1 or 9.1 source into their nearest 5.1 neighbors, but
         | I left that part disabled because I don't have any sources with
         | that many channels.
         | 
         | The most tedious part of the setup was proving that each source
         | type was supported, and all the speaker mappings were correct.
         | Test files are extremely useful and there's no one source for
         | all of them. I spent quite some time finding these files for
         | myself.
        
           | red0point wrote:
           | Can you provide a bit more details to your setup (HE, ...) -
           | it sounds perfect and exactly what I am looking for at the
           | moment.
        
             | raffraffraff wrote:
             | I bought a MeLE quiet PC (little bigger than a pi but with
             | case, x86, ssd, 16gb memory) and installed OpenSUSE
             | Tumbleweed because I wanted a rolling distro. Installed
             | kodi, mounted it on the back of a large monitor. Using a
             | cheap Startech 7.1 USB audio on a long USB connection that
             | takes it all the way to the Yamaha receiver. I've attached
             | a 2TB HDD to the MeLE and that holds most of my stuff.
             | There's a NAS in the attic too.
             | 
             | For the pipewire / pulseaudio channel mapping I can go into
             | the boring details if you want
        
       | slimsag wrote:
       | What is the license of these files?
        
         | hunter2_ wrote:
         | Suppose these were stolen from someone who established some
         | sort of license. Then knowing that would be extremely useful.
         | 
         | But suppose that simply isn't the case, and somebody just
         | created the files and let them go. Is it problematic for there
         | to be no license? The phrasing of your question (asking what
         | the license is, rather than asking whether there is a license)
         | suggests possibly yes. Genuinely curious. Should things that
         | legitimately lack a license be treated as if they have an
         | infinitely permissive license or an infinitely restrictive
         | license or something in between?
        
           | seba_dos1 wrote:
           | Most jurisdictions on Earth are pretty clear that no license
           | means no ability to use whatsoever (sans special cases like
           | fair use), so you don't have to type "all rights reserved" -
           | it's the default. Sometimes the act of sharing with intention
           | for others to use creates an implicit license though, but the
           | extent of such license depends on particular country's laws.
        
           | lxgr wrote:
           | You don't need to "establish a license" to receive copyright
           | protection in most jurisdictions (anymore).
           | 
           | Unless they specifically grant a license to the general
           | public (such as Creative Commons) or they release a work into
           | the public domain (in countries that know the concept), the
           | copyright is with its creator.
           | 
           | This only applies to copyrightable works and there are many
           | other edge cases, though.
        
           | cjbprime wrote:
           | This is not an open question. The infinitely restrictive
           | license is the default. Copyright rights (which include
           | permission being required for redistribution) have been
           | automatically granted for all creative works by default since
           | 1978 in the US, and other countries have generally adopted
           | compatible copyright laws.
        
             | Dah00n wrote:
             | Is this made by a US user?
        
               | hn_acker wrote:
               | I'm a US user, but if I'm understanding the Berne
               | Convention correctly, then most countries in the world
               | make copyright apply automatically without need for
               | registration. Quoting the Wikipedia article on the Berne
               | Convention [1] (disregard the citations in the quotes):
               | 
               | > As of November 2022, the Berne Convention has been
               | ratified by 181 states out of 195 countries in the world,
               | most of which are also parties to the Paris Act of
               | 1971.[4][5]
               | 
               | > The Berne Convention introduced the concept that
               | protection exists the moment a work is "fixed", that is,
               | written or recorded on some physical medium, its author
               | is automatically entitled to all copyrights in the work
               | and to any derivative works, unless and until the author
               | explicitly disclaims them or until the copyright expires.
               | A creator need not register or "apply for" a copyright in
               | countries adhering to the convention. It also enforces a
               | requirement that countries recognize rights held by the
               | citizens of all other parties to the convention.
               | 
               | With that said, the US does require the author to have
               | completed the registration process before filing a
               | lawsuit over copyright infringement [2]. I say "completed
               | the registration process" because the US Copyright Office
               | might refuse the registration, but the author will be
               | entitled to sue infringers afterward regardless of the
               | outcome.
               | 
               | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention
               | 
               | [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_Un
               | ited_St...
        
         | pdntspa wrote:
         | A license.... how quaint!
        
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       (page generated 2023-11-04 23:02 UTC)