StripWav

The WAVE File Purifier

- Recommended in Recording magazine, November 1998 -
- Recommended in Electronic Musician magazine, November 1998 -
And STILL IN DEMAND!

Overview This program has one function: to convert newer WAVE files containing extra header information to the canonical format that many older programs require. This will often help solve problems with WAVE files that one program thinks are "unreadable," but that can be read fine by other programs. Download StripWav: StripWav 2.0.3 for Windows 95, NT, 2000, ME, XP, 7, and 8 (300 KB) StripWav 2.0.2 for Windows 3.1 (608 KB) Requirements The 32-bit version requires Windows 95 or later, and the 16-bit version requires Windows 3.1. A Windows-compatible sound card is required to play files (but not to strip them). Administrative privileges are required to run the installer. Registration The shareware version has no expiration date, but will show a registration dialog when it is first run, and more often if you strip lots of files. Registration costs $25, and can be done securely. Rationale My initial purpose for this program was to remove the summary information placed by Cakewalk Pro Audio (a sequencer program) into the WAVE files generated by its Export To Wave command. This extra information is legal according to the definition of the WAVE file format, but causes problems with older programs that assume that everything after the file header is sample data. In particular, using Cakewalk's WAVE files with Easy CD Audio (a CD mastering program) results in incorrect calculation of the file length and bursts of static between tracks. Basic Features: You can strip a file by starting the program, then opening the file with the File menu or dragging one or more files from Explorer onto the program window. You can also specify a file on the command line if you run the program from the DOS prompt or from a batch file. An additional "/close" argument will cause the program to close when it finishes processing that file (it stays open if there was an error). Advanced Features for Version 2: Quick Strip option, which can handle most files immediately--no more waiting while it copies the entire file. The old Slow Strip algorithm has been sped up as well. A number of features support stripping large batches of files, including file lists and multiple selections when browsing. A Play button lets you preview files. All information removed from the file is listed. You can automatically use distinctive names for stripped files to distinguish them. The program can alert you when files are compressed or otherwise incompatible with the audio CD format. Note for users of ACID and ACID Pro: I'm told that the "beatmapped info" inserted by ACID Pro can cause files to be played at the wrong speed in ACID. StripWav successfully removes this information, allowing such files to be played correctly. Note for users of Easy CD Creator: I have heard that some versions of Easy CD Creator (possibly version 3 and later?) don't correctly pad the end sector to a multiple of 588 samples when writing a WAVE file to CD. This produces an audible click at the end of tracks. So, If you hear clicks when you write your files to CD, and running StripWav on your files first doesn't solve the problem, you may need to use an editor like Cool Edit to manually add silence to the end of your file, to a multiple of 588 samples. Or try WavTrim, which will do this automatically. Release History for Version 2: 2.0.1: 9 June 97 Removed time-limit code that was intended just for the beta. Fixed a DLL reference to make the installation work correctly on Windows NT. 2.0.2: 18 June 97 Handled the .WAV extension correctly (was requiring the extension to be .wav). Added support for 16-bit Windows. Fixed a memory allocation error in the About box. 2.0.3: 13 September 98 Replaced the registration system and installer with smaller and simpler ones. The download is now one-fourth the size. Registered users of previous versions can obtain a new registration code free of charge; just e-mail me. Changed the default for Auto-Strip On Open to false, since some folks were unpleasantly surprised by it. Please note: I'm still supporting this product... I've just not had any bugs reported from thousands of users in the last sixteen years! Send any comments or suggestions to tjweber@lightlink.com.