Reaper and mp3's

[billyshuler]

I was working on a project that I am planning to share in this forum. The project was large, 1.4GB. So I thought that I would convert the files to 320Kbps mp3's and create the project with them. When I loaded all the mp3's into the project and hit play Reaper was using so many resources that it couldn't play the whole project without dropouts. I am just curious as to how Reaper handles the playback of mp3 files. I should mention that there were no effects used in the project. I'm still using REAPER v2.004.

Some DAWs convert the MP3s to WAVs internally and work with them just as they would a WAV file.

If Reaper works with them as actual MP3 files then it is having to decode all MP3s simultaneously which is the same as trying to play X (however many tracks you have) MP3s at the same time and can use a lot of CPU power. What are some of the specs on your computer? CPU speed? RAM? etc.

Maybe someone who knows Reaper better, inside & out (pipelineaudio) can comment.

[billyshuler]

I've been a Samplitude user for 6 years, and I know for sure it converts mp3's to wav upon inserting them into a project. I didn't see Reaper convert anything, so I'm thinking you're right danny.guitar. I've tried 3 different computers
computer 1 = 1.3ghz Athlon 256mb ram
computer 2 = 2.4 Pentium 4 512mb ram
computer 3 = 3.3 Pentium 1GB ram

All three computers show similar behaviour, which I find a little unusual.

[pipelineaudio]

Try ogg or wavepak

Reaper doesnt convert jack unless you tell it to, so you can insert new files even while reaper is playing. Theres the performance tradeoff of not having a real import process

Somehow ogg seems to work well...might try flac and monkey too

mp3 is pretty hardcore on the cpu use

[billyshuler]

Thanks for the info. I will try the ogg. I got to thinking about it and if Reaper did covert mp3's to wav upon adding them to the project then I really wouldn't be saving any space anyways.