Replay Gain Tool with FLAC files: Partitionize input by resolution and channel count required. Mixed albums failing without proper indication

[luziferius]

I got a FLAC encoded album with mixed sound resolutions [1]. In my case, one track has a resolution of 24 bit, while the rest has the common 16 bit resolution. When I tried to compute replay gain values using soundKonverter, the computation simply failed for this album without giving a message about why it failed. Additionally, the failing subprocesses are not recognized as "finished", so the replay gain dialog stays in the "currently running" state indefinitely. Hitting "Close" asks if I really want to abort the running process, although none are running anymore. Quote from "metaflac --help":

All FLAC files specified must have the same resolution, sample rate, and number of channels.

soundKonverter does group by sample rate, but misses the other two criteria.

Possible fixes:

• Do not fix the issue (split the album by resolution and channel count), but give a proper error message about why it fails.

• Properly partitionize the album using all three criteria.

[1]: Such mixed albums are released by some artists on digital distribution platforms, so users will get caught by this. Free, real world example (choose FLAC as download format): https://truongasm.bandcamp.com/album/truongasm-presents-vol-1-pretty-cuts