How do I prevent Stem Creator from compressing the audio quality so badly?

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  • Wades
    Wades Member Posts: 22 Member

    @Ninesense Yes I've read the post again and again to check if I didn't miss some informations but apparently not. I also tried to convert my .wav to ALAC but the .stme file from Stem creator can't get analyzed by traktor pro 3.


    I have no idea how to tag NI support in this topic, but I contacted them through the form online. After discussing with a person from the NI support during weeks, sending my different files to prove how bad the audio quality was with the .stem.mp4 file Stem Creator made, here is the last answer I had:

    "Thank you for your answer.

    On this info, you can see that the stems are rendered at 256 so that explains the quality drop. I also suggested you send an email to the address you can see here, as I think you would get a faster response.

    At the bottom of this page you will find information about the audio quality. If you still have questions about the stem creator, please contact the email you have there.

    "

    So I am really sad and pissed of this game because I had to explain my problem and I was the one to let him know "Hey do you see your software can only export at 256kpbs audio file ?" and now they answer me to check and ask the stem creator support (which they are supposed to manage)

    I also try to ask them about this problem on their facebook page but they just gave me the roadmap of development which is available on the forum (here https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/5305/traktor-pro-3-feature-roadmap#latest) too but nothing more..

    What a great way to treat and help their customers (at least they reply) but damn it has been 7 years, 7!!

    @Jonas_NI @Kaiwan_NI @Nico_NI @Matt_NI @Friedemann_NI I'm sorry to tag all of you and complain about something but I get really frustated about the situation. I bought all the eco-system (Maschine mk2, mk3, JAM, KK49mk2, Traktor z1, x1mk2 , f1, z2, and now I have a S8) and I prepare my live performance with some of those gears (MK3 + KK49 + S8) I really like the brand and the midi controller you propose but I can NOT use them as I would like to in live because the audio quality from stem creator is bad!

    I think we would like to get heard here. PLEASE!

    Thanks in advance and best regards!

  • Ninesense
    Ninesense Member Posts: 70 Helper

    Yep it's quite frustrating for sure.

    Did you try the same stem files on a Mac to double check if the issue is the PC Traktor?

    A bit more then 1 year ago, my traktor couldn't analyze either... then after I think 6 years of complaining they finally updated traktor and now it analyzes.. but I can only say on the mac.

  • Wades
    Wades Member Posts: 22 Member

    Hey @Ninesense no I didnt I don't have a Mac to try but it should normally work on both PC and Mac. Please can someone from NI team could reply to us about this topic?

    Thanks

  • Wades
    Wades Member Posts: 22 Member

    Just up this topic!


    Hey @Ninesense! Do you have a mac or a PC? Have you try to use stem creator on mac then try to load it into traktor on PC?

    I was wondering if this chain could work correctly!

    Thank you

  • Ninesense
    Ninesense Member Posts: 70 Helper

    Hi Wades


    I use PC to make the stems and Mac to play.

    The Stem creator tool isn't working on the latest OS of mac, so I had to find a PC Emulator to do it.

  • Wades
    Wades Member Posts: 22 Member

    Hi @Ninesense

    Well unfortunatelly Traktor does not work as it should on PC (it doesn't want to analyze .stem.mp4 file made with .aac stems in Stem Creator) but it works correctly on Mac.

    You're lucky.

    I made another topic to renew our request, don't hesitate to participate in it to try to make things change:

    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/46721#Comment_46721

  • Ninesense
    Ninesense Member Posts: 70 Helper

    Best of luck Wades. I wish NI dedicated just a small amount of resources to just maintaing the stem creator tool and stems.

    They are waiting for Izotopes automatic stem maker but I don't have high hopes for it to work well on music that isn't Drums, Bass, Vocals, Instruments...

    My format for example is Kick, Bass, Leads, Atmos. Only way to do it now is with actual Stems...

    Creating the stems on a windows machine using Alac then playing it on the Mac.

  • thevikingboarder29
    thevikingboarder29 Member Posts: 1 Newcomer

    So glad I read this early, was in the process of creating a whole library of my tracks stemmed out and looking to buy some NI controllers with 4 faders but no way with all these issues.

    I understand with the current state of everything post covid/chip shortage, apple silicon update etc this might not be a priority but I feel like of all updates, adding wav compatibility and getting this working on apple silicon/pc cant take that many man-hours..

    Anyway, Ableton seems to have their s*** together.. i was just looking for more of a dj library than a live set. Anyone have any other alternatives that work?

  • Ninesense
    Ninesense Member Posts: 70 Helper

    Ableton is great but for this kind of thing it has a few drawbacks.

    You can't see the whole waveform of the track, only seperate stems.

    Not as easy to map.

    Not as easy to prepare sets.

    There are a lot of other things that Traktor makes easier for DJing stems.

    For 2 years it's been working ok for me. No the Stem creator tool doesn't work now on mac, but I run it through parallels and it's ok, it works. I use a program to convert 24bit wav to 24bit Alac, and all is good.

    Just wish they updated the stem creator so it worked on mac again.

  • Mutis
    Mutis Member Posts: 472 Pro

    I chatted with simplestems app to get NI support among other features. Let’s hope NIzotpe release something in the future too.

    BTW VDj had implemented an stem creator tool, alongside spleeter stems, all inside their app so if someone was considering jumping in maybe worth a look…


  • Ninesense
    Ninesense Member Posts: 70 Helper

    Interesting stuff, NI I think will soon have something similar. But still for those of us that can make their own stems, that sound 100% clean from artifacts, would be great if NI kept up with updating the stem creator tool as it worked already perfectly for this kind of workflow.

  • red_nick
    red_nick Member Posts: 101 Member

    The SDK from https://www.stems-music.com/stems-is-for-developers/ has the Windows version of the tool in STEM-SDK.zip\STEM SDK\stems-command-line-tool\ni-stem.Win.1.0

  • Sand
    Sand Member Posts: 4 Member

    It's very strange how unsupported traktor feels, as if it is being run by a skeleton crew that convenes twice a year in a janitor's closet to check in on it before they go back to doing other things. The upside to this stems mess is it got me into making material for the remix decks to give me something to do with my F1, but who knows how long before the remix decks somehow stop working too

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