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Old 07-29-2022, 03:52 PM   #1
Kundalinguist
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Default Batch Conversion of old .sd2 files (ProTools&DP)

Hi folks. Just wondering if anyone has a quick and easy way to convert old sound designer audio files?

I have several old Digital Performer project files from a time before I changed over to Reaper and they still used .sd2 back then. As such, I have to go into my old Leopard Mac install on my ancient Mac Pro and open those files to convert them in Digital Performer 6. It's do-able, but tedious.

I was looking at batch converter for this job, but it's not loading the .sd2 test file I have. I don't expect miracles. The converter already handles a lot of formats, but I can't expect it to handle these antiquated file types of mine that I still have archived. As such...

Does anyone know of a conversion app or program that doesn't require a significant layout of cash that might convert these old files for me in a faster way? Figured I'd ask some experts cause Google isn't all that useful anymore with all the ads flying at me.

Much appreciated.
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Old 07-29-2022, 06:14 PM   #2
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wow. sd2. first thing that comes to mind is ffmpeg. maybe sox. do they handle sd2? are you still on a mac? windows? linux?

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Old 07-29-2022, 06:31 PM   #3
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I had a copy of XLD in my old Sierra install and that worked at converting the .sd2 (it's a separate plugin they supply for that task). However, I think that simply converting those files will not cause them to align in the project, unless they are aligned to the beginning of the project or continue in one unbroken piece all the way through.

In other words, I still may be stuck with going back to that Leopard Power Mac to do the conversion.
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Old 07-29-2022, 07:51 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kundalinguist View Post
I had a copy of XLD in my old Sierra install and that worked at converting the .sd2 (it's a separate plugin they supply for that task). However, I think that simply converting those files will not cause them to align in the project, unless they are aligned to the beginning of the project or continue in one unbroken piece all the way through.

In other words, I still may be stuck with going back to that Leopard Power Mac to do the conversion.
I think the phrase "too clever by half" is suitable for whomever created .sd2. If you want positional information you are likely exactly right. As I recall it's the resource fork that contains a bunch of that important information used to relink and define the file and that is not easily read and preserved in conversion.
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Old 07-29-2022, 09:10 PM   #5
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Yeah, I'm not sure if this thread is going to help me solve my problem, but perhaps someone will tip me off to yet another cool conversion app.

I'm actually surprised Reaper couldn't convert sd2s. They've made it such a powerhouse.
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Old 07-29-2022, 09:27 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by Kundalinguist View Post
Yeah, I'm not sure if this thread is going to help me solve my problem, but perhaps someone will tip me off to yet another cool conversion app.

I'm actually surprised Reaper couldn't convert sd2s. They've made it such a powerhouse.
Back when I was running windows and dealing with sd2s on a semi-regular basis I was using Cool Edit which was a veritable can opener when it came to audio files. It couldn't do anything natively with sd2. You could sometimes get useable audio if you new in advance the sample rate, bit depth and byte order you were opening when using the .raw option. This was stripped of all metadata because you couldn't read the resource fork without HFS and a Mac. This was a while ago and my memory may not be 100% accurate.

As I understood it the inscrutability of sound designer II files was in their relationship with HFS and MacOS. All of the important details lived outside of the actual audio container which provided some advantages. Cross platform compatibility was not one of them.
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Old 07-30-2022, 08:12 AM   #7
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I saw someone suggested Quattro DSP to convert sd2 files, maybe they have a demo?
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Old 08-01-2022, 03:42 PM   #8
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Recent versions of Adobe Audition (post 2012) appear to be able to open SD2 files. Unfortunately Audition is subscription only. I would have thought that someone might have created a .flt file for older versions but I've not found one yet. However I did find

http://www.railjonrogut.com/sdTwoWav.htm

which appears to be able to convert SD2 into BWF files which Reaper can read.
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Old 08-01-2022, 04:19 PM   #9
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Thanks James. Doug, I didn't see any mention of sd2 in Quatros ads.
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Old 08-01-2022, 05:58 PM   #10
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There's an article on the AVID forum stating you can do this using iTunes. Not sure if it works but maybe worth a try. Here's the link...

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=405900

Edit: Also NCH seems to have a solution...
https://www.videoconverterfactory.co...d2-to-wav.html

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Old 08-01-2022, 06:45 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ts335 View Post
There's an article on the AVID forum stating you can do this using iTunes. Not sure if it works but maybe worth a try. Here's the link...

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=405900

Edit: Also NCH seems to have a solution...
https://www.videoconverterfactory.co...d2-to-wav.html

<<TS>>
I downloaded Switch and realized I'd worked with it before. NCH software.

I may also try the iTunes approach. The thing is that the files have to stay intact in a way that allows them to align properly in the project. With DP6, I convert them natively within the song file. If I use a conversion app. It may not work as planned.

But this is great. At least I'm getting a list of ideas here, some of which I'm familiar with, and others that I'm learning about for the first time. iTunes .sd2 conversion is one of them.
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Old 08-02-2022, 07:26 AM   #12
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didn't the reaper user 'Runaway' or something like have a thing called AA translator?


I think that converted between many formats.


https://www.aatranslator.com.au/


M
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Old 08-02-2022, 07:43 AM   #13
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XLD works fine here (on mac, no plugin or whatever).
TwistedWave, Izotope RX, DSP Quattro works fine too.
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Old 08-02-2022, 08:27 AM   #14
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The more the merrier. XLD is on my computer. That's what I tested first, I believe, because I had experience with it before.

AA Translator would probably be a good investment (@ $200 USD) if the projects I had to salvage were important enough. But in many instances, they are outlines/sketches of songs that I later went on to re-record in another DAW. I just imported the MIDI data and replaced everything else.

These songs are from 2008 and earlier, so even the VSTi options were far more limited back then. What I want to find is an easier way to update those project files so that I can tinker with the ones I haven't listened to in a long time. [Just in case there's a multi-platinum number one hit single in there that could lead to my becoming rich, famous and addicted to yoga.]
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Old 08-04-2022, 05:41 PM   #15
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The current prerelease versions of REAPER will play back and convert SD2 files, if you add the .sd2 extension to the file. If anyone is interested in this feature it would help us out if you could try it and give us feedback in the appropriate place, which is here:

https://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=37
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Old 08-04-2022, 05:50 PM   #16
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Quote:
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The current prerelease versions of REAPER will play back and convert SD2 files, if you add the .sd2 extension to the file. If anyone is interested in this feature it would help us out if you could try it and give us feedback in the appropriate place, which is here:

https://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=37
You had me at "anyone."

It goes without saying that I will be nominating Reaper for the Nobel Peace Prize and a knighthood. Thanks Schwa. I knew I could count on the Reaper crew to catch my fall. You guys are the best.
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Old 08-04-2022, 06:20 PM   #17
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Not sure if it does SD2, but Audacity does various types of batch conversions, some that are rather obscure. Mac or PC. Check into it. A friend was able to convert some old PAF audio files from a PARIS system.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kundalinguist View Post
Hi folks. Just wondering if anyone has a quick and easy way to convert old sound designer audio files?

I have several old Digital Performer project files from a time before I changed over to Reaper and they still used .sd2 back then. As such, I have to go into my old Leopard Mac install on my ancient Mac Pro and open those files to convert them in Digital Performer 6. It's do-able, but tedious.

I was looking at batch converter for this job, but it's not loading the .sd2 test file I have. I don't expect miracles. The converter already handles a lot of formats, but I can't expect it to handle these antiquated file types of mine that I still have archived. As such...

Does anyone know of a conversion app or program that doesn't require a significant layout of cash that might convert these old files for me in a faster way? Figured I'd ask some experts cause Google isn't all that useful anymore with all the ads flying at me.

Much appreciated.
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Old 08-04-2022, 07:01 PM   #18
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drichard: The "Paris" system. I was going to buy one of those back in the day. That was the cat's meow alternative to Pro Tools. I never thought of checking out audacity, but it's probably a good option as well.

Not sure if you read, but Schwa & team just included .sd2 conversion in the latest prerelease. I'm going to test it out.

If it works (why wouldn't it...) then I'll be quite content to also use Reaper for those conversions because I'm used to the interface and I know I can trust the results.

Reaper. What can't it do?
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Old 08-04-2022, 08:55 PM   #19
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[I'm pasting a copy of my post from the pre-release thread to make sure Schwa sees it. I'm sure he will, but might as well double up just to be sure...]

Schwa

.sd2 file conversion is working as intended.

I located my source file; set the desired parameters, and then out came a .wav file that played the audio content in its new format.

Perfect. Thank you very much. The only thing I have not tested yet is how this conversion will work in aligning files in an old DP project, meaning: if there is something stored in the way of alignment information within the transformed audio file. I'll try that tomorrow. I'm using this on a Mac, so the original fork info should be intact.

Thanks again.
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Old 08-04-2022, 10:16 PM   #20
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This is outstanding work Schwa! A good example of why Reaper and the community around it is so amazing.

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Originally Posted by Kundalinguist View Post
Perfect. Thank you very much. The only thing I have not tested yet is how this conversion will work in aligning files in an old DP project, meaning: if there is something stored in the way of alignment information within the transformed audio file. I'll try that tomorrow. I'm using this on a Mac, so the original fork info should be intact.

Thanks again.
I think for the DP conversion you might need to talk with Michael/Runaway from AATranslator. I see some references to Digital Performer in the manual but he would be able to tell you for certain.
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Old 08-04-2022, 10:54 PM   #21
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Quote:
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You had me at "anyone."

It goes without saying that I will be nominating Reaper for the Nobel Peace Prize and a knighthood. Thanks Schwa. I knew I could count on the Reaper crew to catch my fall. You guys are the best.
Tickets for Stockholm? Arise, Sir Schwa! Lol.
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Old 08-05-2022, 08:16 AM   #22
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Thanks everyone. I'm going to file this thread under "successful ventures" in that it brought to light a number of useful apps for file conversion and also fired up the Reaper dudes to include .sd2 files in the batch converter.

Life is (mostly) good.
[When it's not being dispensed in 20 second increments via the news.]
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Old 08-11-2022, 02:20 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by plush2 View Post
I think for the DP conversion you might need to talk with Michael/Runaway from AATranslator. I see some references to Digital Performer in the manual but he would be able to tell you for certain.
Unfortunately, native DP sessions are not yet supported by AATranslator
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Old 08-11-2022, 04:48 AM   #24
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Quote:
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Unfortunately, native DP sessions are not yet supported by AATranslator
But I'm sure your app. has done a good many people a lot of good with what it can do. I know it's been around for quite some time and has probably helped many people out of a bind. Glad you showed up. I appreciate it.
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Old 08-15-2022, 09:40 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kundalinguist View Post
But I'm sure your app. has done a good many people a lot of good with what it can do. I know it's been around for quite some time and has probably helped many people out of a bind. Glad you showed up. I appreciate it.
Thanks for the feedback - yes been around for a little over 13 years now and we still have quite a few surprises up our sleeve ;-)
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