Foobar2000 installation guidance in 2023

[atticmike]

Hello future friends and foes,

I'm about to dive into installing Foobar2000 for the first time in 64 bit on Windows 12 in V2.

I'll be playing back high-bitrate audio files from either HDTracks / ProStudioMasters or my own collection from records that I've worked on, through a Lynx Aurora (n).

Would you recommend installing Foobar either in standard or portable? I won't be using it on a different machine but having everything in one folder sounds somewhat enticing.

Would there be any drawbacks from installing it in portable? Especially using it with the ASIO component? And general stability compared to standard?

It's probably also easier to wipe the slate clean after custom-tinkering around with it in portable?

I also don't want Foobar to associate file types with it, such as .wav or .aiff.

Are there any good looking themes that work with V2 in 64-bit?

Are there any components you'd recommend as a must-have?

I'd chose to stick with ASIO for playback since I'm using it with Pro Tools on a daily basis.

Oh before I forget, is there any conflict with DAWs when installing the Foobar2000 ASIO component? Could it brick my Pro Tools ASIO compatibility? It's probably highly unlikely but I'd rather ask the question than not.

Thanks in advance to everyone taking part in my topic.

 

[Ron Texas]

Standard installation.

 

[Sombreuil]

Would you recommend installing Foobar either in standard or portable? I won't be using it on a different machine but having everything in one folder sounds somewhat enticing.

Would there be any drawbacks from installing it in portable? Especially using it with the ASIO component? And general stability compared to standard?


Are there any good looking themes that work with V2 in 64-bit?

Are there any components you'd recommend as a must-have?


Oh before I forget, is there any conflict with DAWs when installing the Foobar2000 ASIO component? Could it brick my Pro Tools ASIO compatibility? It's probably highly unlikely but I'd rather ask the question than not.

Thanks in advance to everyone taking part in my topic.

- Some skins accept the portable version, but not all. Some will ask you to put files in both appdata and in the main folder.
- Deviantart or Github for skins.
- ColumnsUI for the most important component, but it usually comes with the skin itself.
- No conflict with DAWs. I use foobar with APO and Studio One works perfectly fine.

The most popular skin is called Georgia Reborn

Not sure if it's a good looking skin, but here is mine (name's Eole):

Spoiler

 

[yewneek]

Trying to get a decent skin installed and working is absolutely frustrating. Trying to get a display like Plex or Tidal I couldn't achieve, so something that's a nice bit of software on the backend, I just abandoned.
Dicking around with a crap UI isn't my thing.

Good luck with that.

 

[Anonamemouse]

I'd go for the standard version, and use the 32 bits version. Several plug-ins no longer work in the 64 bits version, like the loudness meter.

 

[Chr1]

Mathaudio RoomEQ

 

[Sokel]

Here you go:

Foobar setup

I hope this will help some friends setting up Foobar. You have to download the latest version here (better download the 32bit version as 64bit is new and old components don't work with it) https://www.foobar2000.org/download For DSD: You have to download and install the following...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[atticmike]

Does Foobar2000 after a full standard installation associate file types by itself automatically or do you have to activate it manually?

I actually don't want Foobar to automatically take over any of my .wav and other music file types on the system.

I'm just asking before I install it.

 

[JLGF1]

I install fb2k (32-bit) as portable.
Works with Georgia-Reborn skin (below). I don't think it works with 64-bit; I think I tried that.

 

[Sombreuil]

Does Foobar2000 after a full standard installation associate file types by itself automatically or do you have to activate it manually?

I actually don't want Foobar to automatically take over any of my .wav and other music file types on the system.

I'm just asking before I install it.

You can select the custom installation. Worst case scenario, you can still change after the install.

 

[boxerfan88]

I installed 32bit version coz I cannot move to 64bit. Reason being I use a fantastic VU meter (foo_vis_vumeter) that I love to watch while listening to music; and that VU meter component is very old and no longer maintained.

I installed in portable mode, because it makes it easy for me to just backup 1 folder, and I backup everything:: code + configuration + metadata DB + playlists.

I have been using fb2k builtin ASIO, so far so good, very stable.

 

[Anonamemouse]

If you're looking for more handy plug-ins, here's a ton of them

Foobar2000:Legacy components - Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase

wiki.hydrogenaud.io

 

[AnalogSteph]

Using a portable install makes it much, much easier to back up the configuration and take it with you.... quite literally. Which is all the better since you may have been tweaking it for literal years. Same goes for your playlists.

I am pleasantly surprised by how many plugins have gotten 64-bit versions so far... Meier crossfeed and decoding speedtest have been added to the standard DSP array for v2, there is one for the SoX resampler (although probably not as efficient as several functions using SSE had to be replaced for the recompile), plus HDCD decoder, De-emphasis DSP, even the rather obscure Center Cut DSP.
Notably still missing: foo_youtube (may still happen), foo_upnp and the DR scanner. And the Dolby Headphone wrapper which is for a 32-bit DLL.

You can always use the 32-bit version of Foobar as well, of course. It is not exactly the kind of application that screams for 64 bit.

 

[AudiOhm]

Walk, listen, jog, listen...then run...

Install the standard program play around, you will not be disappointed...

Ohms

 

[Da Roma IT]

First post... I hope I do well!
I say, perhaps upstream the most important thing would be to understand / measure (?) if the 64 bit version is sonically superior to the 32 bit one and then decide what to install. Does any technician have an opinion on this? Thank you.

 

[Sokel]

First post... I hope I do well!
I say, perhaps upstream the most important thing would be to understand / measure (?) if the 64 bit version is sonically superior to the 32 bit one and then decide what to install. Does any technician have an opinion on this? Thank you.

I have already measure them in any way possible,zero difference in measurements.

 

[Da Roma IT]

So I'll keep the 32 bit! Thank you

 

[2tec]

So I'll keep the 32 bit! Thank you

The only reasons that I know of that require the 64 bit version of foobar2000 would be very large libraries, very long paths/filenames or a real need for speed as in bulk transcoding, long dsp chains and or complex queries.

Most people will do just fine with the 32 bit version. For compatibility with themes, use either the latest 32 bit version or the latest old version.

Old versions of foobar2000

foobar2000

www.foobar2000.org

Here's my list of themes, most of the recommended themes are being updated and will work with v2

Foobar2000 Themes

A list of themes which can be used to skin Foobar2000

audio-file.org

 

[A_T_O_M_I_C_Rooster]

Just an FYI that I recently discovered. If you want to listen to your music unadulterated like myself there is a setting to disable replay gain. Here is the link, scroll down to 3.1 Disable replay gain.

https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/digital/pc-software/foobar-2000-for-dummies/

 

[2tec]

Replaygain does not adulterate audio, it simply adjusts the player's volume so each song's volume is relatively the same. This is referred to as audio normalization. Replaygain values can be adjusted to suit each individual and are stored as values in the metadate. The audio information is unaffected in any way.

Audio normalization - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

ReplayGain ~ Advanced Volume Normalization

ReplayGain is … a technique invented to achieve the same perceived playback loudness of audio files. ~ Hydrogenaudio Knowledgebase ReplayGain … allows players to normalize loudness for …

audio-file.org