Importing Pro Tools files into Cubase

[guitarwiz800]

Hi there everyone, I'm new here, great forums. Anyhow, someone recorded a gig for me in Pro Tools and they sent me the tracks on CD's. I dont have a Mac, but I have a PC running Windows Xp Pro, and I use Cubase. When I browse the CD, the files are listed (with the track names) but the file type just shows as "file" with no extension. Is there anyway that I can get these files converted/imported on my PC so I can work with the tracks in Cubase? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
Aaron
amchavez1@aol.com

[zenkonami]

If they were using a Mac, it's possible that they recorded the audio as SD2 files, which a PC can't read (even though as I understand it, they are very similar to WAV files except for the header.)

You might try the following:

1) Try renaming the files and adding a ".wav" or ".aif" extension to them. You might luck out if they are indeed WAV or AIFF files.

2) You'll need to find a Mac and an audio converter program such as Cleaner to convert the files into WAVs or AIFFs. Alternatively, if you could find a Mac with Pro Tools on it, I believe you can select and export the files from Pro Tools into another format.

I could be forgetting some things, but those are the first two that came to mind. Mac doesn't really care about extensions, so you might try copying them to a hard drive and trying option #1 first. Love to know how you solve it when you do.

[guitarwiz800]

Thank you for the reply. I tried step one with no luck. I can't try step 2 because I don't have access to a Mac. I am going to keep poking around at this and see what I come up with. Any other input would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[PlatinumSamples]

You can use my free utility sdTwoWav (www.railjonrogut.com) to convert sd2 files to WAV files... but it'll just give you the audio files. Your best bet is to buy the MBox Mini which is the cheapest entrance into Pro Tools... That way you'll be able to open the session (if you're running 7.3) on XP.

Rail

[guitarwiz800]

The thing that stumps me is, when I browse to the files, they don't show what type of file they are, the file type under properties just shows as "file". So in that case, I am not sure what I even need to convert?

[azwun25]

it sounds like he sent you an audio CD not data. When you browse an audio CD it will look like this

1 CD Track 1 File or something to that effect. If it is indeed an audio CD use the Cubase feature "import audio cd"

[tamasdragon]

sd2 is obsolete, but wavelab can convert it to you. If it's an audio cd, than you can easily grab it down, if it's data, than hope that the sender was wise enough to make some broadcast wave file, or exported everything from the same starting point.

Tamas Dragon

[guitarwiz800]

Again, thanks for the replies! I am not sure whats on the CD to be honest, because all that shows are files with no sort of extension. I will try a few more things to hopefully convert.

[azwun25]

pop it in a cd player to see if its an Audio CD if it is, follow the instructions above

[PlatinumSamples]

On a Mac (pre OS X) there was no need for a file extension -- the application association was kept in the files' resource fork. What you have the odds are 90% guaranted to be sd2 files -- which on a PC have to be opened as RAW data files and converted to WAV, etc. My app I mentioned above will do that for you - but you'll need to know the sample rate and bit depth of the audio data. Also since the byte order on a non-Intel Mac is reversed, you'll need to flip the bytes. The sample rate, etc are also stored in the files' resource forks.

Pro Tools 7.3 includes a version of MacDrive which lets you open Mac sessions and even record to Mac formatted hard drives.

Rail

[upscaps]

first thing u need to do is install macopener/macdrive on ur pc so u can see what u have.

if they r wav (& consolidated) it should be as simple as copy and paste to new folder

or

Your best bet is to buy the MBox Mini which is the cheapest entrance into Pro Tools... That way you'll be able to open the session (if you're running 7.3) on XP.

Rail

[guitarwiz800]

PlatinumSamples, your a genius! I believe your program solved my problem! I converted one file and was able to open it in Cubase. I am converting all them now to make sure it works 100%.. THANKS a lot!!!!