Ripping Audio CDs to .ape, then converting to individual .WAV

Magnakai · 16 Jun 2016

hi all, firstly pls. know that i have registered at Daemon Tools Forums, but there seems to be some error at their site, and i am not getting any verification mail after registering. i'm not sure how many days i must wait before i can post there. but my issue is fairly simple and i believe many of you would know how to resolve this already.

i am using windows 7 x64 ultimate sp1.

i have a bunch of original audio cds, which i want to rip into individual wav files lossless. i have used daemon tools ultra to 'Grab A Disk' into .ape format. naturally, a cue file is created. but details in the cue file are commonly wrong... not accurate in their start/end times. with the .ape files i have tried 2 subsequent methods to convert them to .wav:-

1. remount the .ape file i just created with daemon tools again, then use WMP to rip them directly to individual wav tracks.
2. convert the .ape to one big .wav file using monkey's audio- decompression, then using EAC to 'split file according to .cue, with gaps'.

the results are the same : always give me many tracks which are 2-3 secs shorter than the described duration on my album sleeve cover. some other tracks have their duration lengthened to the point that it would carry 1-2 secs of the next track. eg. track 6 would play to the end, then with about 2 secs gap and the first 1 second from track 7 would play in the end of the track 6 file. track 7 would then naturally start off with 1 second short.

searched over this and tried many methods. do u have a method that is better than the 2 i mentioned? would be good that your method would not require downloading more 3rd party utils.

ur help greaty appreciated, thanks.

fireberd · 16 Jun 2016

I "rip" audio CD's to wav all the time. You are "complicating the ham sandwich" with your procedure.

I use the free "Audiograbber" CD ripping program (it will require downloading the program). It will "rip" (extract) songs from a CD (either all or selected tracks) and save them at wav (full fidelity) files. It saves the songs as individual song files, no sorting or further audio conversion is required. There are other Audio CD ripping programs that will also do this, just what I have used for years. I have a recording studio and do a lot of audio work and many of my musician friends also use this.

One caution, if you download Audiograbber, watch out for the crapware that comes with it when installing. Decline/uncheck all of that and only install Audiograbber.
Audiograbber, free CD ripper, mp3 encoder and audio recorder for Windows

Magnakai · 16 Jun 2016

hi, thanks for ur reply but would Ripper A and Ripper B and Ripper C all produce a 1 identical wave file? eg. would inserting my CD in a drive then using WMP to directly rip a track produce a different wave file as one generated by audiograbber?

i'm sry i don't do any audio editing work or recording so don't have your level of understanding. my only goal is to extract tracks from a cd at the purest, most exact highest audio resolution possible (to the cd source), in wav format. i don't want any other fancy encoding/feature preferably. i did it the way i described because i didn't want to use WMP for any reason and have it permanently disabled at windows installation, and because i have daemon tools already installed. i'll be giving audiograbber a try, but if were to achieve what i stated as my goal, could you guide me what settings to use in audiograbber?

also, could u suggest the best method (not those 2 i mentioned in original post) for converting the .ape files i already generated to proper wave files with correct timing, since i have been through quite a few cds already; i could use audiograbber for future ones.

thanks

fireberd · 16 Jun 2016

When you rip a CD to a wav, that is the best audio format. 16 bit, 44.1Khz is standard "CD Quality" (what is used for commercial audio CD's). There are only two options in Audiograbber, wav or mp3. Select wav (I believe the default option).

I have never encountered or used .ape files. I don't know what would be used to convert them to standard audio files (.wav).

ignatzatsonic · 16 Jun 2016

Monkey's Audio - a fast and powerful lossless audio compressor

Monkey's Audio from the above link will supposedly convert APE to WAV.

Here's another good ripper to look at: CDBurnerXP

https://cdburnerxp.se/en/download

Magnakai · 16 Jun 2016

yes firebeard, the quality detail about .wav i understand. so if i use WMP to rip a track to .wav, and then i use audiograbber to rip a track to .wav, both of those .wav files would be exactly identical (apart from audio quality)? i would like to know this.

hi ignatzatsonic, you should read read my original post again- i already used monkey's audio, the tracks come out mistimed. cdburnerxp i used that program many years back, mainly to create iso files. but if u think i can use it to convert .ape to .wav, i might give it a try, although i feel it's not so simple. i think the problem lies in the cue file generated with the .ape file.

'the results are the same : always give me many tracks which are 2-3 secs shorter than the described duration on my album sleeve cover. some other tracks have their duration lengthened to the point that it would carry 1-2 secs of the next track. eg. track 6 would play to the end, then with about 2 secs gap plus the first 1 second from track 7. track 7 would then naturally start off with 1 second short'.

ignatzatsonic · 16 Jun 2016

As far as I know, CDBurner XP won't convert anything and is just a ripper/burner.

There are dozens of Google hits for APE to WAV conversion, but they may all lead back to Monkey--I've never used APE at all for lossless, just FLAC and WAV.

Magnakai · 18 Jun 2016

hi firebird, i'm giving audiograbber a go now. under settings>rip offset, what is 'Shorten last track by 10 frames' for? By default, it is ON. i have attempted to search for this, but cannot find the specific answer. i have also checked 'Spin up disc before reading starts'.

on the main panel, i have checked 'Normalize settings'.

fireberd · 18 Jun 2016

I don't know about either of those settings, spin up and shorten. They are not checked on mine (and its the default settings - I've never looked at those before).

Normalize means it will set all ripped songs to approximately the same volume level. This can be useful if the songs on CD's are at different volume levels (and a common problem with burned CD's). On a side note, I always set my song volume to "0" before burning so they are all at the same volume level.

I've used Audiograbber for about 10 years. It used to be Shareware.

Magnakai · 21 Jun 2016

ok thanks for the advice firebeard.

strange, shorten on mine is on by default. the pc i use to grab is on a laptop (no choice, the optical drive is there).

btw, could u recommend a free simple, straightforward utility/program for converting .wav above 16bit to 16bit? i noticed u can't normalize wave above 16bit in audiograbber. like decompressed flac from vinyl recording.