{"id":883,"date":"2014-03-23T14:48:34","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T18:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/?p=883"},"modified":"2014-03-23T14:49:33","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T18:49:33","slug":"ditto-x2-track-import-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/ditto-x2-track-import-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Ditto X2 Track Import Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

TC Electronic recently released the Ditto X2<\/a> guitar looping pedal. Building on the success of the previous version, the X2 allows you to import backing tracks and export \/ import your own loops. However, getting this feature to actually work<\/em> is another matter. There are a few show stopping pitfalls to be aware of which I’ll try to clarify here in the hopes other users might benefit.<\/p>\n

First, some good news: Linux support. Though not officially supported the import \/ export functions work fine under Linux. When connected via USB the pedal is recognized as a USB storage device. Simply open it using your file manager and drag and drop into the Track folder. I have found no Linux specific issues with it. The issue below affect all operating systems I have tested: Windows, OS X and Linux.<\/p>\n

The following summarizes the issues I have experienced:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Track Source<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nIssue<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nSolution<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Own Ditto Exported Loops<\/span><\/td>\nRe-importing TRACK.WAV fails – despite being 44.1K <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nConvert tracks \u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
StarJam Downloads<\/span><\/td>\nImporting fails as some are in 48K format.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nConvert tracks<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
JamTrack Central Fee Tracks \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\nProvided mp3’s import fine<\/span><\/td>\nN\/A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Details for each issue and solution are below.<\/p>\n

Exporting \/ Re-importing Own Tracks<\/span><\/p>\n

I encountered this rather show stopping issue: I could export my own loop and it would appear in the Track folder when connected via USB. I could copy off the exported TRACK.WAV and TRACK.AIF file just fine. However, I could not get any .wav loop I created to import, though .mp3 files would import and convert fine. \u00a0It was so weird:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Record own loop
\nSave using export switch
\nConnect to usb
\nMount and copy off track.wav and track.aiff
\ndelete track.wav and track.aiff from ditto
\nUmount
\ndisconnect usb
\nDittox2 flashes green, track is still present.
\nClear track using store\/clear switch or Loop switch
\nDittox2 is now blank. No light.<\/p>\n

Reconnect via usb
\nRemount
\nTrack folder is empty (as expected)
\nCopy over previously saved track files exported above.
\nUmount ditto
\nDisconnect usb
\nLight does not turn green.
\nNo loop is available to play.<\/p>\n

The final solution I came up for in this case is to convert the exported TRACK.WAV file into the same format it is already in. Yes, despite being in 44.1k my Ditto X2 simply refused to import the very file it produced. I verified this on three computers, with three different operating systems. It just does not work. The exported files are not corrupted, you can play them back in whatever software you like – they\u00a0seem<\/em>\u00a0fine, they are 44.1K, but the Will Not Import.<\/p>\n

Sadly, I have yet to convince support this is an issue (“works fine for them”), though I did open a thread <\/a>on their forum on this as well. I even exchanged the pedal, the new one shows the exact same behavior.<\/p>\n

In Linux converting an exported track can be done with a simple command. For OSX and Windows, you will need to use a sound conversion utility.<\/p>\n

$ffmpeg -i \u00a0TRACK.WAV -ar 44100 -acodec pcm_s32le mytrack.wav<\/span><\/p>\n

You can use the file<\/span> and sox –info<\/span> commands to verify the format of the original and converted file. This should now import and play back on the Ditto X2. \u00a0Pretty silly you have to do this, but it is the only way I could ever get my own exported tracks to re-import. \u00a0If you encounter the same, I encourage you to open a ticket with TC Electronic to report the issue so they can address it (I see a firmware update in the near future.)<\/p>\n

StarJam Tracks:<\/span><\/p>\n

TC Electronic provides free downloads of these .wav format backing tracks from their website<\/a>.\u00a0However, the versions served from the website are a mix of both 44.1K and 48K format, and the 48K files absolutely will not work when you attempt to import them as the Ditto2 only supports 44.1K. I’ve pointed this issue out to their support, which responded they would inform the dev team so hopefully this will be remedied soon. You can verify the sample rate of these tracks by examining the file properties or with various tools. For example:<\/p>\n

$:file *<\/span>
\nGreg Koch – Carny Girl.WAV: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, stereo 44100 Hz<\/span>
\nSteve Morse.WAV: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, stereo 44100 Hz<\/span>
\nSteve Stevens Breathe.wav: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 24 bit, mono 48000 Hz<\/span>
\nSteve Stevens Ditto Man.wav: RIFF (little-endian) data, WAVE audio, Microsoft PCM, 24 bit, mono 48000 Hz<\/span><\/p>\n

You can see above these are provided in both formats.\u00a0In order to use any of the 48K loops, you will need to convert them to 44.1K, or covert to .mp3. \u00a0In Linux this is as simple as:<\/p>\n

$ffmpeg -i Steve\\ Stevens\\ Breathe.wav -ar 44100 -acodec pcm_s32le Steve\\ Stevens\\ Breathe\\ 44.1k.wav<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0-acodec pcm_s32le argument is optional and just explicitly sets the precision manually.<\/p>\n

You can also convert these 48K tracks to .mp3 \u00a0which the Ditto X2 will automatically then convert to .wav.<\/p>\n

$lame\u00a0Steve\\ Stevens\\ Breathe.wav<\/span><\/p>\n

Jam Track Central Tracks<\/span><\/p>\n

You can download a free bundle of these in .mp3 format. I had no issues importing these, the Ditto X2 imported and converted them fine.<\/p>\n

Other Ditto X2 Tips<\/span><\/p>\n

Factory Reset<\/span>
\nHold loop button 13 seconds.
\nNote: Sometime I’ve had to clear any backing track first (hold switch up for 5 seconds), then do the reset.
\nhttp:\/\/support.tcelectronic.com\/entries\/39311176-Ditto-X2-How-to-do-a-factory-reset<\/p>\n

DIP Switches in battery compartment<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/how-do-i-change-the-recording-mode-on-my-ditto-looper-x2
\nChange the recording mode behavior
\nhttp:\/\/support.tcelectronic.com\/entries\/40472018-Ditto-X2-USB-Disk-Mode<\/p>\n

Re-importing track files doesn’t work<\/span>
\nhttp:\/\/support.tcelectronic.com\/entries\/38992438-Ditto-X2-Re-importing-track-files-doesn-t-work
\nPlease check that the files you are trying to import to your Ditto X2 doesn’t have the default file name (“Track.wav” or “Track.Aiff”). If it does, it won’t replace the existing file stored in the Ditto X2 which has the same name.
\nSimply renaming your file to something other that the default name will fix this problem.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TC Electronic recently released the Ditto X2 guitar looping pedal. Building on the success of the previous version, the X2 allows you to import backing tracks and export \/ import your own loops. However, getting this feature to actually work is another matter. There are a few show stopping pitfalls to be aware of which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linux","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":887,"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timelordz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}