Guitar and Drum Trainer 2 currently only plays 3 kinds of files:
- MP3
- OGG
- WAV
MP3 and OGG files are compressed audio files. WAV files are uncompressed audio files. Compression is a way to make large files smaller and ALL compression methods fall into 1 of 2 categories:
- Lossless compression
- Lossey compression
In lossless compression, when you decompress the file, you get the EXACT same file as you originally compressed. Lossless compression is most commonly used for data files like text documents or programs. If you've ever encountered a ZIP file, you've encountered lossless compression.
In lossey compression, when you decompress the file, you do NOT get the same file back. Lossey compression discards information that it considers useless. Audio and video compression format usually use lossey compression. Both MP3 and OGG are lossey compression schemes.
Creating MP3 and OGG files
Before you create an MP3 or OGG file, you need your raw uncompressed audio data. This will most likely either be from a WAV file or a CD. If you have a WAV file, then you just need to convert the WAV file to MP3 or OGG format. If you have a CD, then you need to rip the CD to disk.
Converting WAV to MP3 or OGG
Converting a WAV file to an MP3 or OGG file is called "encoding". There are many different encoders out there, but a very good one is the Acoustica Converter Pro. It will supports:
- MP3 -> WAV, MP3 -> WMA, MP3 -> OGG
- CDA -> MP3, CDA -> WMA, CDA -> OGG
- WAV -> MP3, WAV -> OGG, WAV -> WMA
- OGG -> MP3, OGG -> WMA, OGG -> WAV
CDA is what CDs use, i.e. You can rip audio directly from CDs to WAV, MP3 or OGG files with it. (You can also rip to WMA, but since I haven't added WMA support to GDT, we'll skip that for now.)
To convert an existing file (like a WAV file), you just need to load the file and choose your target format.
You can download a trial of Acoustica Converter Pro here.
There are many other converters and rippers out there, but many are illegal and others are of questionable quality. Try Google if you want a different one.
Loading Files into GDT
Click the open button in GDT then select the file type that you want to load from the drop down menu at the bottom of the open file dialog (WAV, MP3 or OGG). Browse to the file that you want to open, select it, and click Open. The file loads then you can click Play.
That was a really quick and basic run-through. Hopefully it will help get you up-to-speed or at least point you in the right direction.
Cheers,
Renegade