New Amarra 4

[DancingSea]

37 minutes ago, Munchoba said:

I give up.

Haven<t used Amarra 4 Luxe in a while, using Roon almost all of the time now. 

Feeling nostalgic and wanting to hear some Hip, I say: Let's  crank up the old Amarra... 3 hours later, still scanning my relatively small library (yes, playing through Chrome) I see the Hip album I want. Starts playing nd a minute later... Crashes and closes.

 

I've given over $1000 to these clowns in all of their iterations (Symphony, SQ+,Amarra Tidal...IRC you name it).

I can't stand it any more.

Too bad... was a wonderful sound.

 

I feel gypped.

 

Bernard

 

Sorry to hear that. Must be very frustrating. 

 

I use A4L every day as a player only, not for library management. It works very well. Seldom crashes. Sounds great. 

 

I do do get a periodic pop when changing tracks. Though the last beta update seems to have made it better.  Same issues with multi set cds Being combined into one. 

 

I highly recommend only loading 20 cds or so at a time and using it as a player.  I gave up long ago on the A4L large  library abilities. 

 

It it also helps to make sure your artist and album artist tags match. 

[Munchoba]

Might just try this after I calm down.

Thanks for the tip.

Pretty bad though if it's come to this.

 

Bernard

[DancingSea]

9 hours ago, Munchoba said:

Might just try this after I calm down.

Thanks for the tip.

Pretty bad though if it's come to this.

 

Bernard

 

I’ve gotten used to it. I use iTunes for library management, something it does better than any of these 3rd party apps. 

 

I renember the days of cd’s. Going through the drawer, loading the player, etc. A4L is much more convenient than that.  And sounds amazing. 

 

As I've written throughout this thread, I made peace by accepting what A4L is, and isn’t.  Now I’m relatively at peace and it remains my primary player - of which I own many. 

[GregWormald]

22 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

 

I’ve gotten used to it. I use iTunes for library management, something it does better than any of these 3rd party apps. 

 

I renember the days of cd’s. Going through the drawer, loading the player, etc. A4L is much more convenient than that.  And sounds amazing. 

 

As I've written throughout this thread, I made peace by accepting what A4L is, and isn’t.  Now I’m relatively at peace and it remains my primary player - of which I own many. 

 

Yes.

With the addition that also I remember LP's, still use them, and they still sound better than digital (on my system and with my ears).

[foodfiend]

I think all of us who continue to use Amarra 4, use it accepting its quirks and have various workarounds to cope with them. Library management has never been a strong suit, for example. If you are not prepared for that, my advice is to steer clear.

[jos]

1 hour ago, foodfiend said:

I think all of us who continue to use Amarra 4, use it accepting its quirks and have various workarounds to cope with them. Library management has never been a strong suit, for example. If you are not prepared for that, my advice is to steer clear.

I agree with DancingSea that there should be an Amarra Player only option on top of iTunes, like Pure Music, with te same sound quality. That would be a killer-application. Most people still use iTunes and connect it with various players, like Audirvana Plus.

[quark]

15 minutes ago, jos said:

I agree with DancingSea that there should be an Amarra Player only option on top of iTunes, like Pure Music, with te same sound quality. That would be a killer-application. Most people still use iTunes and connect it with various players, like Audirvana Plus.

 

Completely agree with iTunes controller, especially considering A4 doesn’t work properly. 

 

Respect to everyone on this thread, but accepting quirks isn’t the point.

The point is theyre selling a product that doesn’t do what they are selling it for.

The fact that even direct play somehow seems to be so far superior sound quality to the others I’ve tried makes it all the more frustrating. I’ve tried to go back to Audirvana, but as an Audiophile I cant persist.

I don’t want to load several albums in at the time, I want my whole music library there and be able to make playlists from a wide variety of my music that I feel like at that time. The software is supposed to be able to do this, and is sold as such. 

 

I’m not even bothered about the library too much as I’ve put a lot of effort in with a piece of software called Yate to make the meta data of my audio files as accurately as possible, although not being able to ignore "The" before an artist name is a bit daft.

 

Problem for me, that should clearly not be accepted as a quirk, is things like  not being able to change playlist order, cant delete songs from a playlist and cant create playlists from the iOS app. That’s not quirks that should be ignored, that’s Basic audio software functions not functioning properly, functions that the software is being sold to do. 

 

 Anyway, I’m hoping future updates will solve the silly playlist problems. 

 

In the meantime I wonder if anyone can help me.

After updating Amarra Luxe i’m experiencing a few problems. I haven’t contacted support as the last few times no one has bothered to answer me.

After updating I clear the library and rescan. My songs appear in the songs section, but the artist and album sections are completely blank. Has anybody experienced this?

I could reset settings but I would lose the 30 odd playlists I’ve painstakingly created.

Does anybody know how to export playlists? So I can reset all settings and then put my playlist back in?

 

 Thanks for any help guys :-) 

[Munchoba]

On 22/10/2017 at 2:44 AM, DancingSea said:

 

I’ve gotten used to it. I use iTunes for library management, something it does better than any of these 3rd party apps. 

 

I renember the days of cd’s. Going through the drawer, loading the player, etc. A4L is much more convenient than that.  And sounds amazing. 

 

As I've written throughout this thread, I made peace by accepting what A4L is, and isn’t.  Now I’m relatively at peace and it remains my primary player - of which I own many. 

 

  How do we use iTunes as a library manager and still use Amarra? Kind of liking that option.

thanks

 

[DancingSea]

4 hours ago, Munchoba said:

 

  How do we use iTunes as a library manager and still use Amarra? Kind of liking that option.

thanks

 

 

Don't get too excited, its not nearly the same as a genuine iTunes integration mode.

 

Before each listening session, I go through my iTunes library and drag 5 - 10 CDs, sometimes a few more, into a folder on my desktop titled "Amarra Selections".

 

I launch Amarra 4, I prefer browser mode, but it doesn't matter which mode.  Clear all songs out of A4L.  Then use "Add To Library" to load the CD's from the "Amarra Selections" folder.  The loading takes like 30 seconds.

 

A4L handles these small batches quite well.  I listen daily with few issues.  The whole dragging and loading process adds a couple of minutes to the process at most.

 

And in that light, I get the benefits of the iTunes library with the sweet A4L sound.

 

Yes, A4L ought not be this way, yada yada yada.  But A4L is this way.  Either adapt to its idiosyncrasies, or move on to something else.  Otherwise, you'll drive yourself crazy.

 

All that said, A4L remains my player of choice.

 

 

[quark]

1 hour ago, DancingSea said:

Yes, A4L ought not be this way, yada yada yada.  But A4L is this way.  Either adapt to its idiosyncrasies, or move on to something else.  Otherwise, you'll drive yourself crazy.

 

 Thank you for your words of wisdom DancingSea, but with great respect to you we don’t all want to listen to music the way you do and nor can you expect us to be as accepting as you seem to be.

 It is clearly not okay to advertise and sell a product to serve a purpose which it does not nearly fulfil.

Having witnessed the excellent sound quality makes it extremely difficult not to persist, but encouraging Sonic Studio by frequent highlighting its poor function is an appropriate course of action, considering it’s poor execution of what it is sold as.

 I respect your approach in accepting this, but please accept mine and any others that wish to encourage Sonic Studio to improve its function. ?

[Munchoba]

I miss the simplicity of Amarra Symphony with iRC.

I wonder why they're getting worse and not better. I agree with Quark that the new A4luxe should not be on the market given it's many flaws. How ironic that Sonic Studios, an audio software company, turns a deaf ear to our legitimate beefs.  I will try Dancing's workaround though... I know: Sucker born every minute.

thx

 

 

[Spherical Cow]

Amarra 4 is still junk software. Buggy, cumbersome, ridiculously inadequate and poorly thought out user interface, and slow to start and exit. I do like the way it sounds; however, for all the  inconvenience and time used for Amarra, one might as well play vinyl. It's a shame since they almost had it right with Amarra 3.04. The feeble attempt at a music database without a genre sort function is idiotic. Forcing users to jump through hoops to play music is not a good sales technique.

[Spherical Cow]

2 hours ago, Munchoba said:

I miss the simplicity of Amarra Symphony with iRC.

I wonder why they're getting worse and not better. I agree with Quark that the new A4luxe should not be on the market given it's many flaws. How ironic that Sonic Studios, an audio software company, turns a deaf ear to our legitimate beefs.  I will try Dancing's workaround though... I know: Sucker born every minute.

thx

 

 

 

Because they don't know what they're doing outside of their ability to make it sound good. The user interface and database are poorly thought out and poorly executed. The decision to dump iTunes integartion was a horrible decision. Leveraging, arguably the best and most ubiqitous music database, and attempting to design your own was a laughably stupid idea. 

[ddalmas]

please mr cow don’’t be so accusing them!

they are  Great artists to fool around peaple , they are great artists to have the abilty to sell  such an horrible software, thêy are wise to be  completely deaf to their customers who claim in a sinchronous choir against  the immense ocean of inadequateness of their software,and so on...

please mr cow do not accuse thêm but accuse only all that people who ,trusting in someonelse’s  good faith (SS team in this case) have bought such a shaming software with the best expectations from it an trusting in a real way of  collaboration with the developers to bring a very good sounding player to the top of the heights !!

please mr cow accuse only us that are so frustrate to be still here t o talk around shit!

accuse only people like me Who still is here and do not have still thrown in the trash the originale of their frustration,only because i still hope that some Kindl of unespected wisdom wll fullfill the idiot savant !!

 

please mr cow accuse only me and all the brave people who still believe in honor and pride of human beings,but please do not accuse them ,as they are the winners on us!

 

ciaociao to everyone like me  still here ,as idiots,to read and write on this thread about all the missions impossible 

ciao ciao

[Lio_B]

About Amarra's iTunes integration.

For those who own Amarra 3, you can test:

- Amarra 3 toggle with iTunes

- Amarra 3 in playback mode

From a purely sound quality level, Amarra alone is better

Their choice to separate from iTunes  is good for this reason, for library management is more complicated.

[ddalmas]

We all know that in stand alone the programs sound better than in iTunes dependent mode, but if in standalone it is a disaster well .....the minor damage is to use it in iTunes dependance mode..isn’t it?

ciao ciao

[quark]

 So I have managed to work out where the playlist files are on a Mac if anyone is interested.

In the users Library folder, so:  Users Library/application support/Sonic Studio/Amarra 4/AmarraUserPlaylists.xml

 If you need to clear all settings, copy the XML file somewhere else and put it back in after and all your playlists will return ?

 

The latest download of Luxe on the sonic studio website you now seem to be able to delete tracks from playlists and delete playlists.?? thanks sonic studio

sound is sublime.

 But could do with being able to change playlist track order and have playlist duration times,  and be able to do it on the iOS APP also please.

 

However for some reason with the latest Luxe download in browser mode, Artists, Albums and Playlists sections are completely cleared(songs section is ok). Refreshing Playlists section restores your playlists, but refreshing Artists and Albums sections doesnt ?

 

Also, sorry DancingSea, i was having a bad day yesterday, please forgive my rant :-)

[Lio_B]

1 hour ago, ddalmas said:

We all know that in stand alone the programs sound better than in iTunes dependent mode, but if in standalone it is a disaster well .....the minor damage is to use it in iTunes dependance mode..isn’t it?

ciao ciao

It all depends on the usage and listening conditions.

when you use Amarra to run a playlist without being in a position of audiophile (in background music), actually the management of the iTunes library is important.

But if you are in audiophile listening position, installed in front of your system, you can quickly find the tracks you want to listen to, and in this configuration the playlist management is less important.

For me the playlist management is not a priority, it is above all sound quality, to each his point of view.

[Spherical Cow]

4 hours ago, Lio_B said:

About Amarra's iTunes integration.

For those who own Amarra 3, you can test:

- Amarra 3 toggle with iTunes

- Amarra 3 in playback mode

From a purely sound quality level, Amarra alone is better

Their choice to separate from iTunes  is good for this reason, for library management is more complicated.

 

They should have left the integration option. Personally, I can't hear much of a difference between integration and stand alone through my Quad ESL-63s. Now that Apple has trimmed down iTunes, it seems to be slightly better than it was previously. For me, AppleScript and what can be achieved with scripting on large databases is what keeps me coming back to iTunes as a manager. Audirvana, Amarra, and JRiver all can't get a database right IMHO.

 

I really have not seen software as buggy as Amarra on so-called production software since the late 1980s. Do what you do well and leave the management of files to someone else.

[DancingSea]

13 hours ago, quark said:

Also, sorry DancingSea, i was having a bad day yesterday, please forgive my rant :-)

 

Nothing to forgive, rant away!!! 

[DancingSea]

Yes, when used as designed, A4L is a troubled affair.  I think of A4L as a virtual multi-disc CD player.  Load in a few CD's, have a nice listening session, clear all songs, repeat.

 

With the most recent beta versions, I experience few bugs in this baby food approach.

 

I've tried Fidelia, even bought the Wave Arts Tube Saturator which works with A+ as well.  They sound good.  But for me, A4L in browser mode (Chrome) is better sounding for sure.

[Dov]

It seems to me that if Amarra A4L had a simple player like VOX (able to read an iTunes library, without creating a new complex database) and  keep its sound quality, it would be a winner for all of us on this forum. But...

[DancingSea]

1 hour ago, Dov said:

It seems to me that if Amarra A4L had a simple player like VOX (able to read an iTunes library, without creating a new complex database) and  keep its sound quality, it would be a winner for all of us on this forum. But...

 

I agree completely. Fidelia very simply accesses the existing iTunes library. Doesn’t even have to really load. My 45K tracks are available right away. 

 

Sonic Studios should at least give us the option to choose between the iTunes database or their proprietary madness. 

[lbcyclist]

I had Amarra 3 on my mac pro which I am about to retire, I bought a mac mini as a music server and Amarra 4 Luxe. I installed it yesterday and it has been a day of frustration. First, everything takes forever, second it shuffles tracks between playlists, clearing the library doesn't actually do that, I had to go and delete multiple playlists manually, it's app is amateurish at best, takes forever to scroll through lists while it fetches data in small chunks and doesn't anticipate what you'll do next. In short, it's a mess. I mailed them asking for my money back and reinstatement of my Amarra 3 licnese which I will install and use with iTunes as I did until now. 

[quark]

On 24/10/2017 at 12:26 PM, quark said:

 However for some reason with the latest Luxe download in browser mode, Artists, Albums and Playlists sections are completely cleared(songs section is ok). Refreshing Playlists section restores your playlists, but refreshing Artists and Albums sections doesnt