Old 12-20-2014, 02:21 PM   #1
Davifol
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Default Importing audio files recorded by Quicktime

Will, or does, Reaper support importing of m4a or aifc audio files? I certainly don't mind if Reaper encodes them to another format internally or post edit, as these won't be used in production, but will be used as reference points if I decide to develop tracks from them at another time.

I ask this because I use Quicktime to record live takes or experiments, as its quick to load, I know the keyboard shortcuts by heart and find it visually non-invasive, meaning I can focus on performance rather than UI or advanced tools. If I like takes, I keep them. If I don't, I delete them. But most of the time, I only want to keep certain portions of takes - the interesting bits so to speak.

I've been exploring Reaper, which is great, but, if I go to Insert > Media Track, while I can see my takes recorded with Quicktime, they are not importable, assumably because the recordings are encoded in Apple MPEG-4 or AIFF-C audio, meaning I seemingly cannot import m4a or aifc audio files into Reaper.

So bottom line - does Reaper support Apple MPEG-4 or AIFF-C audio files and if so, how do I import them into Reaper so that I can edit them?

Thanks!

Last edited by Davifol; 12-20-2014 at 02:43 PM. Reason: Additional encoding details added
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Old 12-20-2014, 03:01 PM   #2
crimsonmerry
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Try renaming the extension from .m4a to .mp4 then drag/import to Reaper. Works for me in Windows.
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Old 12-20-2014, 03:08 PM   #3
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This works in REAPER 4 OSX, but not REAPER 3 OSX.
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Old 12-20-2014, 03:34 PM   #4
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Hi Davifol, welcome to this forum!

Iirc, you can also export audio as .wav/.aiff from Quicktime. Perhaps not quite as easy, but it should work...
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Old 12-20-2014, 04:36 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crimsonmerry View Post
Try renaming the extension from .m4a to .mp4 then drag/import to Reaper.
^ this.... and if you have any trouble importing mp4 files, read msmucr on the subject:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=146520 (post #9).
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:40 AM   #6
Davifol
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@Flex, @Banned, @dfackler, @crimsonmerry - big howayez and thanks for getting back to me lads- all of your help got me most of the way there!

So, on OSX Mavericks, I changed the extension from m4a to mp4 and imported successfully into Reaper64 v4.76., so problem solved... but... but there was one surprising thing.

For context, when I play the original m4a in Quicktime, I hear a normal stereo track. However, the track imported into Reaper is, I assume, a multichannel track, which has only 1 channel with audio content in it. You can see this in the screenshot I attached. So Quicktime records an apparently stereo track, yet encodes it into a multichannel track - in this case, Reaper refers to it as (and don't laugh, I was in hurry, right? ) "SolinaFaradaySparkTikki test [chan 8] items [1]".

I'm going to have to investigate this further, as this would explain why other audio players, VOX for example, only plays back these takes in the left speaker - assumably a true stereo track in a multichannel codec would have audio data in both channel 1 and channel 2, as opposed to just channel 1 as in this case. That or there is some Apple funniness going on behind the scenes. I can't tell right now, but I can start editing!

So until I get to the bottom of Quicktime (or my setups) issues, I'm using Reaper to convert the multichannel track to mono via the Item > Item Settings >Take Channel Mode: Mono (down mix). At least thats something to work with.

So guys, thanks again. If any of you have encountered this before I'd love to hear back about it. Regardless, enjoy Xmas -have fun with your music - home studios are the ultimate escape route for this time of the year IMO
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Old 12-22-2014, 04:52 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Davifol View Post
Reaper refers to it as (and don't laugh, I was in hurry, right? ) "SolinaFaradaySparkTikki test [chan 8] items [1]".
Here, you're within your rights.
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@Flex
Here, less so.

Dammit, that's the second time I've been called 'Flex' on this forum this month!
Oh well.... I've been called worse....
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Old 12-22-2014, 05:57 AM   #8
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@Fex - I'm sorry! You are now well within your rights to call me Dlavifol
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Old 12-22-2014, 06:21 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Davifol View Post
You are now well within your rights to call me Dlavifol
You're only saying that because you think I won't remember....
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Old 04-04-2017, 03:00 AM   #10
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On Windows, installing VLC allowed me to drag in m4a files without renaming. If you're running the 64-bit version of Reaper, you need the 64-bit version of VLC.

The default Windows download is 32-bit for some reason, and the default Mac download is 64-bit. A bit of Googling will yield you the right version (the VideoLan website is a total maze). I'm not sure if VLC is used by Reaper on the Mac by default though - IIRC it favours the AVFoundation codecs. You might need to add VLC to the list in Reaper's preferences > Media > Video/REX/Misc > video decoder priority.
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Old 07-16-2020, 04:53 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djangotsp View Post
On Windows, installing VLC allowed me to drag in m4a files without renaming. If you're running the 64-bit version of Reaper, you need the 64-bit version of VLC.

The default Windows download is 32-bit for some reason, and the default Mac download is 64-bit. A bit of Googling will yield you the right version (the VideoLan website is a total maze). I'm not sure if VLC is used by Reaper on the Mac by default though - IIRC it favours the AVFoundation codecs. You might need to add VLC to the list in Reaper's preferences > Media > Video/REX/Misc > video decoder priority.
This is the correct answer .. it also allows to drag mp4 files into reaper for video
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