Gapless Winamp output without the use of a plugin.


Recommended Posts

I am a very big Pink Floyd fan. I pretty much listen to them everyday of the week.

They are also the only band that has more than 1 album that I love every song on.

The only problem is that most audio players have a small gap between songs, and when you're listening to Pink Floyd it can ger really annoying.

I tried many plugins but all of them didn't work too well and they didn't allow me to use my other DSP plugins.

I then started messing around with Winamp and found the trick to doing this without a plugin.

I only did this in Winamp 5 but it should work on just plain old 2.

Lets get on with the guide now.

1)Open Winamp and right click "Options>Prefrences" or just press ctrl+p

2)In the treeview on the side look for the group titled Plug-Ins. In that group there should be an Output selection. Click it.

3)You should now see a box in the area next to the treeview. In that box there should be things that say "Nullsoft Disk Writer plug-in" and "waveOut output". Look for one that says "Direct Sound output". Click it and then press the configure button at the bottom of the window.

4)A new window should've popped up. Look on the top of it and click the tab "Buffering". This is the final part. all you need to do is Adjust the Buffer-Ahead on Track change to a high number.

There are 3 slider bars that allow you to adjust the Buffer settings.

Buffer Length

This adjusts the length of the buffer. This also limits the Prebuffer and Buffer-ahead.

Example: If I had a Buffer Length of 2400 ms then my Prebuffer and Buffer-Ahead could only go from a range of 0 ms - 2400 ms.

Prebuffer on start/seek/underrun

This tell Winamp how much data to eat before it outputs sound. I don't really understand what that means, so I can't inform you on this.

The suggested amount for this is 500 ms - 1000 ms.

Buffer-Ahead on track change

This is what we want to change. This tells Winamp when to start reading the next song to get a gapless transition. For me, I just set it to 5000 ms (5 seconds) but that is a bit to high for some people. I'd say anywhere from 1000 ms to 5000 ms is a good range. If you have low memory, a slow computer, or and outdated one, then set it lower, but not to low, or else it'll still have gaps.

The way this works is like this.

Example: If I set the Buffer-Ahead to 5000 ms, then Winamp will start reading the next song where the current song had 5 seconds left until it ends. This make it so winamp can trnasition them smoothly.

After that is all done, click the apply button on the window and then close the propterites window. Try it out! open two songs and set it near the end. If it worked then there should be no gap.

Waluha!

You know, I was wondering the same thing as you were and I too decided to fiddle around with those settings, because I have alot of Game soundtracks that loop. When I did it though I didnt think it was the best way to it though. Seems I was wrong.

Good stuff.

Oh, Ill also point out, It should be fairly obvious, but you cannot set the Buffer-Ahead any higher than the max amount winamp is allowed to buffer tracks. :D

which is what Dazza said.

OK folks, let's get this right:

When you get to the buffering tab, Whatever the value for "Buffer length" is is going to be the *MAX* you can make the "Buffer-ahead on track change" setting. So, if you leave "Buffer length" at 2000 you can't set "Buff-ahead ..." to any higher than 2000.

That is what Kenta meant when writing

  "Kenta" said:
Buffer Length

This adjusts the length of the buffer. This also limits the Prebuffer and Buffer-ahead.

Example: If I had a Buffer Length of 2400 ms then my Prebuffer and Buffer-Ahead could only go from a range of 0 ms - 2400 ms.

HTH

Hmmmm - RIO Karma - =costs money = I have to spend money

WinAmp = free = I can listen to it through my 210 Watt Receiver in my AV system which I have my computer routed through and add effects, set EQ, etc.... - And I don't have to pay for it.

Guess which one *I* am going for.

What's funny is that you're still using a plugin.

It's just that they plugin you're using *comes* with Winamp. =)

What you mean to say is that you're not downloading *another* plugin.

Just about *everything* in Winamp is plugin based. Input plugins, output plugins, DSP plugins, visualization plugins...

If you didn't have any plugins, Winamp wouldn't do very much...

Dazza: I daid it, but it wasn't in a very good position to read it from.

Superkicky: I could send you the updated Direct Sound output plugin to see if that works.

If you want it just PM me.

semifamous: Yes your right, but it's the way out language developed.

Think of it this way. If you had hot coffie and let it set on the counter for a few hours and then drank it, you'd say it's cold.

Then you do the same thing, but with an ice cold soda. When you go to drink it, you say it's warm, even though the soda and coffie are about the same tempature.

The same can be said with the included plugins and the 3rd Party plugins. But if we got technical, yes, they are just plugins.

I still notice one "little" gap in live recordings, to fix it, choose "remove silence at the beginning / end of track" in "other" tab.....

Use this trick, plus Kenta Guide, and you will no hear gaps between songs.

Edited by retri
  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 years later...
  • 2 months later...
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • My kid tried, so I took her to Microcenter and showed her the differences in price as well as storage and specs. We bought a Windows machine. She loves it, and is off to college this fall with her gaming level PC at the price of a Mac that came with a 512GB SSD, and half the RAM.
    • Hasleo Backup Suite Free 5.4.2.1 by Razvan Serea Hasleo Backup Suite Free is a free Windows backup and restore software, which embeds backup, restore and cloning features, it is designed for Windows operating system users and can be used on both Windows PCs and Servers. The backup and restore feature of Hasleo Backup Suite can help you back up and restore the Windows operating systems, disks, partitions and files (folders) to protect the security of your Windows operating system and personal data. The cloning feature of Hasleo Backup Suite can help you migrate Windows to another disk, or easily upgrade a disk to an SSD or a larger capacity disk. System Backup & Restore / Disk/Partition Backup & Restore Backup Windows operating system and boot-related partitions, including user settings, drivers and applications installed in these partitions, which ensures that you can quickly restore your Windows operating system once it crashes. Viruses, power failure, or other unknown reasons may cause data loss, so it is a good habit to regularly back up the drive that stores important files, you can at least recover lost files from the backup image files in the event of a disaster. System Clone / Disk Clone / Partition Clone Migrate the Windows operating system from one disk to another SSD or larger disk without reinstalling Windows, applications and drivers. Clone entire disk to another disk and ensure that the contents of the source disk and the destination disk are exactly the same. Clone a partition completely to the specified location on the current disk or another disk and ensure that the data will not be changed. File Backup & Restore Back up specified files(folders) instead of the entire drive to another location to protect your data, so you can quickly restore files(folders) from the backup image files when needed. Incremental/Differential/Full Backup Different backup modes are supported, you can flexibly choose data protection schemes, which can improve backup performance and save storage space while ensuring data security. Delta Restore Delta restore uses advanced delta detection technology to check the changed blocks on the destination drive and restore only the changed blocks, so it has a faster restore speed than the traditional full restore. Universal Restore This feature can help us restore the Windows operating system to computers with different hardware and ensure that Windows can work normally without any hardware compatibility issues. Hasleo Backup Suite 5.4.2.1 changelog: The program crashes when sending emails Application notifications cannot be displayed in the Windows Notification Center Updated Italian and German translations Fixed other minor bugs Download: Hasleo Backup Suite 5.4.2.1 | 33.9 MB (Freeware) Links: Hasleo Backup Suite Website | Hasleo Backup Suite Guide | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • 99% of Control Panel will be moved to Settings. Then by 2050, 20% of settings will have been moved to the Configuration Menu. I have no issues with Settings as it exists now in Windows 11. Bring everything over and be done with it.
    • We collect the few carcasses we get (as long as drivers report them, as they should) and while we have our fair share, we don't have nearly enough crashes with deer "to paint the roads with deer carcasses" in Finland. Also, if you can't handle the risks, DO NOT DRIVE. I really don't want everything to be so simple and stupid, that I don't have to worry about my surroundings (I also hate Apple devices because they kind of decide everything for you and offer very little customization vs. Android). Most people probably encounter much higher risks and dangers in their daily jobs than they encounter on roads. Just a few weeks ago I twisted my anckle at work while walking and I haven't had even a near miss with an animal in traffic for many years despite driving something like 27000+ km/year (there were a couple of off years in there too) and seeing many deer, a few moose and many smaller creatures on the road. I find it extremely rare to have deer stumble directly in front of me - it happens, but in my opinion not nearly enough to warrant considering it super dangerous (I actually find it exhilarating when it does happen as it changes the daily commute and it actually requires me to stay focused). It is probably more common to have some idiot with their face glued to their phone wonder in front of you or a kid on an electric scooter disregard all traffic rules. Here in the Nordics we also have plenty of snow and that kind of f's up anything that relies on lines or other clear lane indicators. The one time I have (kind of) started raging while driving was when I had a loan car from service and it had lane guidance. That freaking thing basically felt like it wanted to hit every pothole and bump it could and I really, really freaking hated it (came close to ripping the whole steering wheel of, I tell you . Didn't feel safer at all, quite the contrary, and it distracted me from the road more than anything else I've driven before, constantly fighting that f'ing thing to go where I wanted it to go (no clear lines, a crack in the pavement, etc. and it became confused as hell and required more adjusting than any traditional car). Also noteworthy that globally the amount of people with driver's licenses is pretty low (like under 20 %), many countries have great public transport systems and many walk and cycle (even during the winter).
    • The snipping tool has come a long way. Every feature they add reduces the need for third-party utilities; in the past it seemed MS shied away from adding features to some in-box tools just so there would be a more robust third-party developer base. Now that we finally have boxes, circles and arrows, can they finally add text bubbles?
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      BlakeBringer earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      Helen Shafer earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      emptyother earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      Crunchy6 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      KynanSEIT earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      660
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      266
    3. 3
      Michael Scrip
      235
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      164
    5. 5
      +FloatingFatMan
      152
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!