Sample conversion tools?

What's your choice of tool(s) when converting all types of sample files to the MPC 3000 .snd? So far I've tried:
- Wavsnd
Spits out #11 errors regularily. Converts just one or a couple of files.
- MPC Editor
Doesn't convert my sounds and produces errors #11 when saving a PGM
- RS-16X
Maybe it's just me, but I never get more than one sample into a pad bank. Can't find a method to convert single sounds.
- Chicken Systems Translator 6 (free)
Translator's performance remids me of early 2000's Java applications running horribly slow on Macs. As the free version lacks conversion capabilities, I refrained from investigating in this any further. Yes, I've read the answers by ChickenSys here on that matter, yet I can't be convinced to put $80 on software I couldn't test and which performs unbelievably slow.
- MPC3000 Converter
Only for legacy OS X, or maybe OS 9.
- SoX
Would love to find a cmd line example that actually renders valid files. Example: sox -r 44100 -b 16 A24bitStereoWAV.wav /Volumes/MPC-PART--A/converted.snd is being reported on the 3K with "This file is internally corrupted and can't be loaded: its internal type ID doesn't match its 3-letter name extension."

I'd be happy to see your working SoX cmd line example here, I'm not afraid of the Shell. Don't mind Windows or Mac, I'm at home in both worlds.

Are you using 44.1kHz/16bit WAV files with these conversion utilities?

No as (most of them are 24bit, 44.1kHz, Integer) I'd prefer to have a one-in-all tool, which probably doesn't exist (as in: with good performance, single stepped, reliable). SoX should provide all that but I can't figure out the right cmd line as of now.

That is why wav2snd and MPC Editor are not working, they need to be in 44.1kHz/16bit for those utilities to convert them.

SoX doesn't mention that it supports conversion to Akai MPC .SND files, it only seems to mention that it supports NEXT .snd files, and without support for MPC .SND files, it isn't going to work either...
http://sox.sourceforge.net/Docs/Features

You will most likely have to script something with a couple of different utilities, if you want something single step in use.

Thanks Simon, here's what I've came up with in the meantime:
Assuming you are either using Linux/Unix/OS X and have both Perl and SoX installed, copy this script

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/520086-simple-perl-front-end-batch-processor-sox-users-osx-linux.html

save it as sox_batch.pl and adapt my $soxPath = "/Applications/SoX"; to where ever your SoX executable resides. Fire up the Shell/Terminal and type

perl /PATH/TO/sox_batch.pl -s IN_DIR -d OUT_DIR 16bit -r 44100 -b 16

where PATH/TO/ is the path to the script and IN_DIR/OUT_DIR are the input/output folders to your samples. As you point out, SoX is unable to convert directly to the MPC .snd format, the only (free) way I know of now is to use wav2snd for that step. After doing this, I still need to boot up OS X to access all partitions of a MPC formatted ZIP disk.

Tedious, albeit free (as in beer)

I'm curious to know the exact specs of the Akai MPC 2000/3000 .snd file format. Any pointers are appreciated.

3K. wrote:After doing this, I still need to boot up OS X to access all partitions of a MPC formatted ZIP disk.

Can you see all partitions of an MPC formatted disk?

I thought you could only see the first partition?

3K. wrote:I'm curious to know the exact specs of the Akai MPC 2000/3000 .snd file format. Any pointers are appreciated.

I think this is the only real detail on the MPC .SND format specs I have come across...

http://mda.smartelectronix.com/akai/akaiinfo.htm#8

If you open them all in Audacity and then export them they will be 44100khz 16bit - then drag and drop them into MPC editor and your all set

Simon, my Windows 7 64bit recognizes only the first of two partitions (this ZIP is formatted with Vailixi OS as two hybrid MPC partitions, can't use disk2file due to missing ASPI drivers, which are unavailabe for Win7 64). OS X recognizes all partitions, hence yet another OS reboot.
Thanks again, Simon, for the details provided on the .snd specs, I still can't figure out though what encoding/setting it has. I doubt that, knowing these, we could find an application that provides the right features for saving into that format. Would like to see that proven wrong, though. Is it by any chance close to the Mac OS 7/8/9 SND file format?
Is there a full version of MPC Editor still available, is it Win7 64 compatible (as in accessing all partitions, how much would it cost?

John, thanks for pointing me to Audacity, it's a pity though it isn't a complete solution to the job. The perl script does its job by far faster and it's more convenient to me, now that I know how to use it.

I would say that the Akai .SND file specification is not going to be the same as any other file specifications, and that any program that can work with Akai .SND files would have to be specifically written to support that particular file format.

I recommend Awave Studio.
Batch conversion.
Reliable.
Works fine in Parallels.

I have Translator Pro but prefer Awave Studio.
I sample into my mpc rather than transfer but I know it works well.

i have a different very fast approach for MPC samples (3k):

i use the switch converter to batch convert my samples into stereo 16bit 44,1khz wave files.

compile packs of sample sets (Drums, bass, pads, etc.)

then i use wave2snd for batch conversion

mpcpgm maker is a nice tool, use it also along with awave

Translator is only usefull for me for my EMU Samplers (in addition with Emulator X3).

Awave studio for PC - the best.

I went for Translator 6 Akai Edition, served me well now for 3 days and was worth it's money. Previewing folders IS darn slow, but so is copying to ZIP disks. You get used to slowing down, it leaves time to think up something musical …

Thanks for all your input.

3K. wrote:I went for Translator 6 Akai Edition, served me well now for 3 days and was worth it's money. Previewing folders IS darn slow, but so is copying to ZIP disks. You get used to slowing down, it leaves time to think up something musical …

Thanks for all your input.

Previewing folders didn't used to be that slow.
They introduced that last year in an "update".
It's one of the numerous bugs with Translator.
They fix some and they make some new ones.
It's the buggiest software I've ever used.

I don't trust it one bit.

jimmie wrote:I don't trust it one bit.

Me too. I've converted roughly 600+ samples in the last days without testing any on the 3K
So here's me loading a few samples in the 3K, mapping them on the pads … guess what happens? Trigger any of the converted sounds and hell breaks loose like a badly created LSD style glitch, randomly triggered samples play with echo and feedback galore. If it weren't horrifying me for a minute, assuming my 3K went belly up, it kinda would've been funny. At first I suspected the 3K itself going bonkers due to whatever hardware failure, but starting from scratch and recording my own samples with the 3K proved it's 100% fine with this. Some demo sample .snd downloaded from the web plays fine too, just as those exported by MPC Editor.

Seems I'm pretty much f***ed with Translator 6, there's not much support to expect from a company which major application takes almost a minute to show the contents of a sample folder. Maybe there is, I'll keep you posted.