I'm using [readsf~ 2] to play a stereo wav but for some reason there is no signal coming from the middle outlet. even when I use [readsf~] without the argument I'm only getting the left side of the stereo image throught the dac.

am I not supposed to get left channel through the left outlet and right channel through the middle?

I can see in the help file that i also have to set the number of channels in the preceding message box.

quoted from the help file: -
"Open takes a filename, an onset in sample frames, and, as an override, you may also supply a header size to skip, a number of channels, bytes per channel, and endianness."

I tried

[open ../sample.wav 0 0 2<

the first 0 being the onset, the second being the header size to skip (which I don't understand) and the 2 being the number of channels. But still no right output.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

@liamorourke Are the wav files mono or actually stereo as you say?
If you are unsure then upload one so I can check it...... I imagine they are small?
The header is the start of the file that declares its format..... sample rate, size, bit size.......
David.

they are stereo. I've checked in audacity. Also... if they were mono then surely I'd be getting a mono signal from readsf~ but I'm not... I'm getting left only stereo

"The header is the start of the file that declares its format..... sample rate, size, bit size......."

do I have to include this? as the sound seems to be playing correctly anyway... albeit left-side only. Are the arguments ordered? So that pd will only recognize the third argument as the number of channels? ie. if i only put one argument.... 'number of channels' it becomes the first argument... which according to the helpfle is actually onset
thanks

@liamorourke [readsf~ 2] will only output at the left outlet with a mono (1 track) file.
[readsf~ 64] will read a 64 track file.
The argument sets how many outlets there are, but will not distribute 1 track across the 2 outlets.
As I always understood you can specify onset only...... or specify the whole set of 5 arguments in the open message. Yes, the arguments must be in the correct order.
I have never tried specifying more than the onset. The header gives the information anyway and is automatic and easy. Maybe long ago you could start reading the file quicker by giving the arguments and skipping the header...... unsure.
But with no arguments [readsf~ 2] will read a 2 channel file.
I don't think "stereo" means anything in sound files.
If you try a file ripped from a cd does that work as you would expect?..... something from your library...
David.

so possibly they are in fact mono but audacity is duplicating the signal across two stereo channels. I wondered if I now export it it from audacity and make sure it is set to stereo export.

okay... I ripped a stereo file from a track on my HD and cut a snippet from it. Then bounced it in audacity and put it into my patch and it works fine (both sides in stereo). but whats really weird is that now that I've put that in there all of the other sounds that were in mono have also started working in stereo. Without me changing them at all. Like I said it's all working now though so I'm happy.. and at least now I've learnt a bit about readsf~ messages. Thank you again David

@liamorourke That makes me think that header info added as arguments by a user (to the "open" message) is "remembered" by [readsf~] until it is overwritten by a "real" header arriving?
David.

that would make sense. Thanks again