Audio quality?

Paul_T

I normally use WaveShop to do basic editing, but one thing that is missing is the ability to just break a .wav file into separate files. WavePad will do this, which is why I bought a license, but the resulting files sound absolutely awful. Looking at the results in WaveShop, the waveforms look very different.

I don't think I did anything other than tell the software to "break this large file into smaller pieces", but it did a fandango on the bits in the .wav file.

Is there something I am missing, some setting I have to disable to prevent Wave Pad from turning the files into low fi junk? Doe it transfer it to 64bit mp3 and back a dozen times by default, because that's what it sounds like.

borate

Not getting that result. Loaded a WAV and split it into equal parts, then Saved ALL as. Each part had identical specs to the original...

Paul_T

I don't see an option of Saved ALL as.

Here's what I'm doing

1) open a .wav file

2) add a few bookmarks.

3) Edit -> split file -> Split at Bookmarks

4) Choose the output folder

5) Set output format to .wav,

6) check settings, use Auto (Preserve as Original Format), Encoding: PCM Umcompressed, Channels: Match Source, Sample Rate: match source, Sample size 16bit Integer

7) Split.

This seems to leave the data unchanged, other than splitting it up into tracks. Not sure what went wrong before.

I know that there are many options for processing the audio and I must have enabled something inadverdently. At this point, I'm not looking to process anything, just split into files.

Thanks.

borate

Your steps were followed and results were good. Save ALL (no AS in the current release) is available in the Menu, should it be needed...

Thomas_Frank

WavePad may re-encode your WAVs using a compressed format during the split process. Ensure that “Preserve original format” or “No compression” is enabled in the save/export settings. For clean splits without any re-encoding, tools like Audacity or FFmpeg’s -ss and -to options will maintain original audio quality perfectly.

Pips NYT

borate

AI, which is not always 100% accurate, has this to say...

"When using basic split options (such as “Split at Cursor” or “Split into Equal Parts”) on an unedited WAV file and saving as WAV, Wavepad does not reencode the audio—it simply divides the original file.

Any section that is not altered between splits will retain its original encoding, but if adjustments are made (applying effects, changing sample rate, or exporting as another format), those parts may be reencoded."