Solution for when Foobar does not want to work on Mac OS X

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kap'n krunch

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It had stumped me for a LONG time...
Some albums I don't mind using VLC but for ones where gapless playback is needed I go for Foobar...besides I like the EQ way better than the one on VLC...it also is more stable as in, if you are decompressing files, VLC will stop here and there and Foobar doesn't (buffer size is bigger on Foobar?)
It just so happens that after a few days of the Mac being awake it just does not play back even though VLC does..
Since Foobar for Mac is extremely basic and there is almost no support or updates I thought it would be unsolvable, but , guess what? I went the route of Roy in The IT Crowd, although without actually restarting the Mac: you just have to open Foobar and while it's open , go to "Force Quit" and select Foobar and ...
VOILÁ!!!!
IT WORKS AGAIN!!!
 
Force quit will do just that for any app that has crashed or is otherwise unresponsive. This is like the Task Manager "3 finger salute" in Windows which should be pretty familiar territory there. Apps can crash in OSX too. I'm one of those people who usually find ways to crash things others don't. It's a talent. :)

I tried Foobar a long time ago. I remember having to launch it with Wine. It wasn't slick. I still use Songbird running in 10.13.6. It lets me leave the sound output set to 5.1 and any channel format I play comes out the correct speakers. VLC player does not allow that. And it's geared to video chapters so no gapless playback for audio files. I tried the newer Vox player someone mentioned. Same deal with having to reset your audio output per channel format. Screw that. Songbird is a long in the tooth 32 bit app and it still just works.

I see the newer OS builds are locking out 32 bit apps now. All these subscription scams are starting up. Screw all of that too.
 
Thank you for the tip...
I looked up the "plug ins" link on this page and it states that "Songbirdnest.com is available for purchase or lease" so I guess that is not a good sign (I know, SO HARD GETTING GOOD HELP THESE DAYS!)...if you could direct me to Songbird's official site I'd highly appreciate it!
Muchas gracias....

Yup. I gathered that Force Quit is Mac's Task Manager but at least I don't have to restart the Mac!
 
I never knew there was a Foobar for Mac! I use it on Windows.

I have been using Vox on Mac, but only for stereo playback. Will have to check out Songbird: my Mac is old, so it'll probably work fine :p
 
Hi:
I am using VOX app for Mac to play surround music through my marantz receiver. I play 5.1 files without problems but the quad Flacs only sounds in stereo.
¡Muchas gracias!
Was not aware of this nifty little player!!!
I hope it doesn't lock it in the future and ask me for money to keep using it...I see the EQ has only presets in FREE mode, but that's OK...
 
You have to reset your OS audio channel format directly for what you want to play with Vox. And a lot of other older crude media player apps! Not sure what's up with that and no patience for it. Vox is supposed to be newer... Just another screw up on the scene apparently? Or my expectations are skewed from using a simple media player app for years that let me mix channel formats in a single playlist with everything coming out the correct speakers.
 
You have to reset your OS audio channel format directly for what you want to play with Vox. And a lot of other older crude media player apps! Not sure what's up with that and no patience for it. Vox is supposed to be newer... Just another screw up on the scene apparently? Or my expectations are skewed from using a simple media player app for years that let me mix channel formats in a single playlist with everything coming out the correct speakers.
That is not the case with VOX. You can create a playlist with songs in stereo and surround. The only problem is that mixes 4.1 or 4.0 are reproduced in stereo. I don't know if it's a VOX or a MAC problem
 
That is not the case with VOX. You can create a playlist with songs in stereo and surround. The only problem is that mixes 4.1 or 4.0 are reproduced in stereo. I don't know if it's a VOX or a MAC problem
That's literally the bug I meant! (Or "faux pas" if "bug" is too strong.)
It's a Vox problem. Old Songbird still just works.

Why'd they name their app the mixing board abbreviation for "vocals"?
Maybe when they release "GTR" it will work better? :D
 
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