Computer Audiophile readers using Mac OS X are very familiar with the sample rate ritual required to play high resolution material through iTunes. In the near future Sonic Studio's Amarra hardware/software package will render this ritual obsolete. Amarra has built-in auto sample rate recognition, in addition to many other great features, that enables listeners to switch between sample rates without touching Audio Midi Setup or closing iTunes. The output from Amarra remains bit perfect at every sample rate up to 24/192. However, Amarra is still being refined before its official release date fairly soon. Plus, the current global economy has most people exercising restraint before shelling out money for items that don't keep the heat on or keep the roof over their head. In the spirit of saving money and increasing convenience I now present CA-SampleRate my semi-automatic sample rate solution. Did I mention it's free? <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/free_as_in_beer">(As in beer)</a>
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<b>What's The Problem?</b>
As I stated in the opening paragraph Mac OS X with iTunes has an issue with playing material of varying sample rates. Here is what a typical listening experience with iTunes on Mac and content with differing sample rates looks like.
1. Open Audio Midi and set sample rate to 16/44.1.
2. Open iTunes and play only 16/44.1 content bit perfect every time.
3. Close iTunes.
4. Change Audio Midi to 24/96.
5. Open iTunes and play only 24/96 content bit perfect every time.
6. Follow this pattern every time a sample rate change is required.
As you can see switching sample rates is a process that takes a person out of the music listening state of mind. This process makes the Mac feel more like a computer than a music server that can take your mind anywhere the music drifts. Not only does the listener have to manually adjust the sample rate, but the listener also must close iTunes and reopen the application for it to output bit perfect audio. Simply changing the sample rate in Audio Midi without closing and reopening iTunes only degrades the sound. In layman's terms iTunes only cares about the sample rate at the time iTunes is opened. This whole process may not sound that bad, but it really gets old. As one collects more high resolution material this annoyance only gets bigger.
<b>CA-SampleRate = Semi-Automatic</b>
The other night I was thinking of a way to make this whole sample rate situation much more convenient. Knowing that I wasn't out to reinvent the Amarra wheel I focused on the Mac OS X Automator. After about one hour of trial and error with different methods I settled on what I believe is a really cool, convenient, and simple semi-automatic solution.I call it the CA-SampleRate application.
Running this little application does the following:
1. Closes iTunes, if open.
2. Launches Audio Midi Setup.
3. Pauses for eight seconds enabling a sample rate adjustments by the listener.
4. Closes Audio Midi Setup automatically.
5. Reopens iTunes
Using CA-SampleRate in the aforementioned listening session would now look like this:
1. Open Audio Midi and set sample rate to 16/44.1.
2. Open iTunes and play only 16/44.1 content bit perfect every time.
<s>3. Close iTunes.</s>
<s>4. Change Audio Midi to 24/96.</s>
<s>5. Open iTunes and play only 24/96 content bit perfect every time.</s>
<s>6. Follow this pattern every time a sample rate change is required.</s>
3. Click <b>CA-SampleRate</b> and select the correct sample rate when Audio Midi pops up.
4. Continue listen to music at new sample rate.
<b>Now What?</b>
Simply download the zip file containing the CA-SampleRate application and unzip it to your applications folder. I recommend going one step further and dragging the application to the Dock so you have one-click access to this new simple semi-automatic solution. Then start listening in iTunes as usual and run the app whenever you need to change sample rates. The application does what it's supposed to do and then exits so there are no extra items running inthe background on your music server. Note: Please feel free to modify CA-SampleRate in any way that simplifies the process, then share your idea with the other Computer Audiophile readers. I'm also hoping that a reader can come up with an Apple script to change the sample rate as part of this Automator application. I spent a little time on this part, but wanted to get the application out the door before I really dug into the script. Here is a little video of CA-SampleRate in action, followed by a screenshot of the Automator actions and the zip file containing the actual application for all the Mac users. Enjoy :~)
<center>
<a href="http://files.computeraudiophile.com/2009/0218/CA-SampleRate.zip">Click here to download the CA-SampleRate application</a>
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<center>CA-SampleRate Demonstration</center>
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<img src="http://images.computeraudiophile.com/graphics/2009/0218/CA-SampleRate-Settings.png">
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