Is there such a thing as a .WAV previewer on planet Terra?

[FrankF]

Greetings pop pickers,
I have amassed hundreds of poorly named audio doodles over the years, and I'm hankering after a utility that will allow me to preview a multitrack .WAV file just by hovering over it, rather than having to open it in a DAW.
I don't mind if I have to nominate a folder or two to be "processed" so that these previews can be created, and then subsequently called into service every time I hover over the associated .WAV file.
I downloaded a tiny program called "wavprev", but it crashed with memory problems on a medium-sized file, although it's supposed to work with multitrack .wavs.

Does anything like this exist, or is there perhaps a DAW that does some kind of "drag and drop preview" as a 2nd best option?

[muzines]

You don't mention your platform, but on the Mac, in the Finder you can just select a file (eg step through the files with a cursor key) and hit the spacebar and the audio file will play.

(If you leave the file playing, you can just hit the down arrow to go to the next file and it will play automatically, as a quick one-key way to step through and audition a list of audio files).

[FrankF]

Hi Desmond,

that's exactly the kind of thing I'm after, but in Windows or in a DAW. As I say, I don't mind creating hundreds of preview files first (or getting the s/w to do it): just the first 20s of a multitrack .wav would do it.

I guess at worst I could just try a few DAWs (I have Reaper), and see which one loads up a file the quickest, but that's just what I'm trying to avoid.

[muzines]

I guess at worst I could just try a few DAWs (I have Reaper), and see which one loads up a file the quickest, but that's just what I'm trying to avoid.

Don't most DAWs have some kind of audio preview window? Logic has, Live has, I'm less familiar with other DAWs but I would have thought this was a fairly standard feature?

I'm sure there also probably also other Windows tools to let you catalog and preview audio files, but I'm not the person to tap for Windows software recommendations!

[James Perrett]

Take a look at the Media Explorer in Reaper (in the View menu). You can set it up to automatically play a file when you click on it.

[The Elf]

There's certainly an auto-preview in Cubase, and in Kontakt.

[FrankF]

Take a look at the Media Explorer in Reaper (in the View menu). You can set it up to automatically play a file when you click on it.

Thanks for that, that's almost perfect! If only it had a hover "option", then I'd be made up.
I reckon Global Warming is caused by excessive mouse-clicks, so I'm trying to cut down.

There's certainly an auto-preview in Cubase, and in Kontakt.

Is that Kontakt Player? Do you have to click the file, or can you hover over it?
I've just bought Reaper, so I couldn't justify buying another DAW just for this feature, but I think Player is free, so maybe I'll download it and have a go.

[The Elf]

Is that Kontakt Player?

Don't know. As you say, download it and give it a try.

[FrankF]

Is that Kontakt Player?

Don't know. As you say, download it and give it a try.

Ah, sorry, I thought you were using it. Do you mean Kontakt Player?

[The Elf]

Is that Kontakt Player?

Don't know. As you say, download it and give it a try.

Ah, sorry, I thought you were using it. Do you mean Kontakt Player?

I use Kontakt, not Kontakt Player. I'm suggesting you download Kontakt Player and give it a try.

[muzines]

Thanks for that, that's almost perfect! If only it had a hover "option", then I'd be made up.
I reckon Global Warming is caused by excessive mouse-clicks, so I'm trying to cut down.

Don't use the mouse for this stuff - select one item and move the cursor up down with the keyboard to move through the list. Accurately moving the mouse to the next file one by one has a much higher physical and cognitive load.

[FrankF]

Thanks for the suggestions, chaps, I'll give them a go.

[Martin Walker]

For previewing loads of audio files on my PC across a range of formats, I use Resonic.

This is (for me anyway) a stunningly fast utility with a host of features (the one I use most often is comparing versions of mixes, as you can switch back and forth between files while maintaining the current playback position), but at its heart it does what you're after. "Resonic makes extensive use of multi-core processing. Every important part is optimized for speed, which results in extremely fast browsing, seeking, and playback."

Resonic Player is free for personal and non-profit use from - feature set here:

https://resonic.at/player

Personally I have a Resonic Pro license, since this version is a powerful sample manager, audio browser, and creativity tool for audio professionals and comes loaded with a unique set of inspiring and workflow-enhancing features, audio extraction, slicing, REX auditioning, and an extensive metadata system. Here's a comparison of the two versions:

https://resonic.at/product-comparison

Hope this helps!

Martin

[FrankF]

Thank you, Martin, that looks muy interesante!
I've downloaded the Player version and shall check it out this aft.

[Martin Walker]

Good luck with Resonic Player, and do let us know your feelings about it Frank.

Martin

[FrankF]

Well, I've just spent a most pleasant couple of hours rummaging through some 20-year old .wav doodles, whimsies and other sonic malarkey,

so many thanks to Martin W for that recommendation!

As you said, Martin, it's a great little programme, and it even loads (and AUTOPLAYS!) big files with a dozen or more tracks (not far shy of a gigabyte in some cases) virtually INSTANTANEOUSLY! Very impressive indeed.

That said, the free version is limited to files containing 8-tracks max, although it does tell you how many tracks the file contains, which is useful if you can't find your old scribbled notes or whatnot.

Not quite sure I'd use all the extra features in the Pro version, so I'll stick with Player for the moment. I can imagine keeping this running in its own right every time I open Reaper, just to browse audio files at lighning speed w/o interfering with the DAW project.

[muzines]

Looks a useful tool.

[FrankF]

Another neat little trick I found is that it lets you rename a file while it's playing, or you can pause it and rename it. In both cases playback stops, but hey, that's better than VLC player.

[Martin Walker]

Hi again FrankF!

Glad to hear that Resonic Player did the job for you - I use the Pro version on an almost daily basis because of its speed and versatility, and have been following the progress of both since I first mentioned Resonic Player in my then PC Notes column in SOS May 2013:

https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/pc-notes-5

By the way, Tom Wolf the developer is also very open to feedback and suggestions for future features on both versions - a visit to his forum is also a good idea as other users highlight features they like and describe ways of using Resonic: https://forums.liqube.com/

Martin