Spin Doctor X

[Fritzthatsit]

I have used Spin Doctor for years, so I am quite familiar with it and have used various versions that were fully functional with earlier Macs and earlier operating systems. I recently purchased the latest Toast 11 in order to get a compatible version with my newer iMac. I am using Mac OS 10.6.8. I have Toast 11 V 11.0.4, and Spin Doctor 1.01. Of course I have noticed how much of the functionality of the program seems to have gone by the wayside, but at least I am able to get most of what I want out the program,which is to digitize my old record collection. The re-occuring problem I have been having, however, is that when I want to export the current track I'm working on into iTunes, it cuts off the beginning of the track. The amount of time that is cut off varies from seconds to minutes--it seems quite random. I have noticed that this happens when I adjust the starting point of the track after I have highlighted it by dragging across the wave form. If I highlight the track and do not do further adjustment with the colored L shaped toggle above the wave form display it seems to save and export the track ok. Also, if I try to save the track as an MP3 into iTunes directly from Spin Doctor, it sends short clip of the track of only a few seconds. So far my work-around for that glitch is to send an AIFF file to iTunes (which works ok as long as I don't adjust the beginning of the track as mentioned earlier) then convert it to an MP3 in iTunes, and then delete the AIFF file. Does anyone have advice for these two problems? Everything else that doesn't work with Spin Doctor X isn't vital, although it sure would be nice that a fully functional program.

[tsantee]

Spin Doctor X is amazingly unfinished. I can think of a possible workaround that may do the job for you. Instead of sending to iTunes send to Toast. You can preview the tracks in Toast to check that everything is how it should be. Unfortunately you only can send to Toast's Audio window rather than the Convert window. So after the tracks are in the Audio window choose Save as Disc Image. When that is finished switch to the Audio files setting in the Convert window and add the saved .sd2f file. You'll see the individual tracks which now can be sent to iTunes from Toast.

 

If this becomes too much of a hassle I recommend the application Sound Saver from Bias Inc.

[prl]

Spin Doctor X is amazingly unfinished. I can think of a possible workaround that may do the job for you. Instead of sending to iTunes send to Toast. ...

That's a restrained way of putting it.

 

I have had very little (effectively no) success transferring digitised recordings from Spin Doctor to Toast after they have been edited in the ways that I need to to "clean up" after automatic track extraction.

 

Fritzthatsit, have a look in Spin Doctor - What Is Going On? to see a collection of problems that I and others have reported about Spin Doctor X.

[Fritzthatsit]

I did make a discovery regarding Spin Doctor X. It works better with Toast open at the same time. Apparently, it must use some of Toast's elements like it's MP3 encoder. WIth Toast open, I was able to save the edited wave file directly into iTunes as an MP3 completely in tact. Also, I have figured out a workaround to the problem I encountered by adjusting the starting point of the highlighted track, thus cutting off the beginning of the saved track. Move the curser (triangle) to exactly where I want to start the track and and highlight from there by dragging across the wave form. Go back and check if the starting point is the same as the curser, if it isn't, just delete the highlighted track and try it again. It's not hard to get it exact. Well, at least these are steps in the right direction. I miss the old version that just worked!

 

 

 

That's a restrained way of putting it.

 

I have had very little (effectively no) success transferring digitised recordings from Spin Doctor to Toast after they have been edited in the ways that I need to to "clean up" after automatic track extraction.

 

Fritzthatsit, have a look in Spin Doctor - What Is Going On? to see a collection of problems that I and others have reported about Spin Doctor X.

[tsantee]

I did make a discovery regarding Spin Doctor X. It works better with Toast open at the same time. Apparently, it must use some of Toast's elements like it's MP3 encoder. WIth Toast open, I was able to save the edited wave file directly into iTunes as an MP3 completely in tact. Also, I have figured out a workaround to the problem I encountered by adjusting the starting point of the highlighted track, thus cutting off the beginning of the saved track. Move the curser (triangle) to exactly where I want to start the track and and highlight from there by dragging across the wave form. Go back and check if the starting point is the same as the curser, if it isn't, just delete the highlighted track and try it again. It's not hard to get it exact. Well, at least these are steps in the right direction. I miss the old version that just worked!

Congratulations on finding a way that works for you. Toast doesn't have an mp3 encoder but apparently it helps to have Toast open when using Spin Doctor X. Thanks for sharing your discovery.

[rzaj]

I'm finding a similar problem.

 

With SpinDoctor X, Version 1.0.1 (v582), I can capture AIFF audio and see it displayed as a waveform. I can designate tracks and see the tracks displayed as colored bars. The Start Time and End Times on the "General" screen seem to be what I would expect. But here's the thing: The Track Duration indicator is way off. For a track indicated by Start and End times to run approximately 00:01:56.000, the Track Duration is listed as 00:36:31.000. Though Track Durations vary wildly, discrepancies appear for every track. When I export a project to either iTunes or Toast, Individual track duration is consistent with that Track Duration figure (36:31.000 rather than the 01:56.000.) And I play a track in iTunes, it begins someplace in the middle of a completely different track (from the same album, at least.) This is aggravating, to say the least, and more aggravating than useful. And for what I want to do, it's pretty useless.

 

I wanted a version of CD SpinDoctor compatible with Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. I purchased Toast 11 largely for the SpinDoctor software bundled with it.

 

I tried finding clues in the online User Guide (http://images.roxio.com/support/enu/CDSpinDoctorHelp_English.pdf)

My startup screen looks nothing like what is indicated. I have no SpinDoctor New Project screen as shown on Page 8. I do get a dark grayish screen Untitled screen listing sources on the left, that divided into Device and Applications. The Preference screen seems to give options for Auto Define, Advanced and Auto Capture, although Advanced would only allow me to change the location of the scratch disk. The file drop-down only gives me options for "New," "Open" and "Open Recent." I am given no choice as to Assistant or Advanced Mode.

[tsantee]

I'm finding a similar problem.

 

With SpinDoctor X, Version 1.0.1 (v582), I can capture AIFF audio and see it displayed as a waveform. I can designate tracks and see the tracks displayed as colored bars. The Start Time and End Times on the "General" screen seem to be what I would expect. But here's the thing: The Track Duration indicator is way off. For a track indicated by Start and End times to run approximately 00:01:56.000, the Track Duration is listed as 00:36:31.000. Though Track Durations vary wildly, discrepancies appear for every track. When I export a project to either iTunes or Toast, Individual track duration is consistent with that Track Duration figure (36:31.000 rather than the 01:56.000.) And I play a track in iTunes, it begins someplace in the middle of a completely different track (from the same album, at least.) This is aggravating, to say the least, and more aggravating than useful. And for what I want to do, it's pretty useless.

 

I wanted a version of CD SpinDoctor compatible with Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard. I purchased Toast 11 largely for the SpinDoctor software bundled with it.

 

I tried finding clues in the online User Guide (http://images.roxio.com/support/enu/CDSpinDoctorHelp_English.pdf)

My startup screen looks nothing like what is indicated. I have no SpinDoctor New Project screen as shown on Page 8. I do get a dark grayish screen Untitled screen listing sources on the left, that divided into Device and Applications. The Preference screen seems to give options for Auto Define, Advanced and Auto Capture, although Advanced would only allow me to change the location of the scratch disk. The file drop-down only gives me options for "New," "Open" and "Open Recent." I am given no choice as to Assistant or Advanced Mode.

Try saving the entire audio capture as a single file and then open that file in Spin Doctor X to attempt the track marking. I don't know if it will help but it's worth a try. I'm sorry that this application is such a mess and that Roxio has done nothing about it. Griffin Technology has an application called Final Vinyl which can separate track with AIFF files. I suggest giving it a try. I found the download link on Griffin's support page for its iMic. It comes bundled with the iMic but Griffin has never sold it as an individual application so my sense is you are free to use it.

[prl]

Try saving the entire audio capture as a single file and then open that file in Spin Doctor X to attempt the track marking. I don't know if it will help but it's worth a try. ...

I've tried doing that, but it didn't help.

 

rzaj, have a look at the topic I linked to. I've had quite similar problems to the ones you describe.

[prl]

Try saving the entire audio capture as a single file and then open that file in Spin Doctor X to attempt the track marking. I don't know if it will help but it's worth a try. ...

I've tried doing that, but it didn't help.

 

rzaj, have a look at the topic I linked to in my reply to Fritzthatsit. I've had quite similar problems to the ones you describe.

[Fritzthatsit]

I made another amazing discovery about Spin Doctor X... after dragging the curser over the wave form. It's not "marking" the END POINT of a track, After spending countless hours digitizing music this weekend, and sending it to iTunes, I realized that little problem after listening to several songs and realizing that it kept the unwanted tail of the track in the mp3 I sent iTunes and didn't end the song where I indicated in the colored highlighted area. I can't figure out any way of making this work, out side of listening to the end of the record while it is playing and stopping the recording right at the point where I want it end. That, of course makes one more black mark on the new Spin Doctor X.

[ThePaintingGuy]

Possible solution to start/end times:

 

But, first I must say:

Very frustrated with Spin Doctor... used to be easier on my G5.

 

What about sending the tracks to iTunes as AIFF with "handles" before an after (excess audio) then Get Info on the track in iTunes and adjust the beginning and end numerically (with time code changes). If you "convert to" an other file type (maybe even the same AIFF) you will get a rendered version with proper start/stop times.