Converting SDIR files to more universally useful .wav files

Some of you will use Apple’s extremely useful Impulse Response Utility to make IRs. What this process results in is a .SDIR file that works seamlessly with Apple’s Space Designer plugin, but nothing else.

These .SDIR files are really just audio files but with an AIFC header. This presents difficulties for software like REAPER and SOX and MAX and possible Ableton (I’ve not checked).

When you’ve made an SDIR, locate it on your hard drive.
Make a copy of that file and rename the extension .wav or .aiff
This will look like a sound file and the apple Finder, Protools and other software will actually play it, but not everything will like the file yet…

Open the file in Quicktime and save it out as a .wav in a new folder and the headers will be fixed and it will behave like a normal .wav file and most IR plugins should be able to import and use it.

If you have loads of SDIR files and you want to batch convert them, then FFMPEG is your friend, it will open the SDIR files and make wavs that work very quickly.
Here’s the batch

Open your terminal, then:

cd the/directory/of/SDIR/Files

mkdir wavIR

for f in *.SDIR; do ffmpeg -i "$f" -acodec pcm_s24le "wavIR/${f%.SDIR}.wav"; done

I have tried the above with all of the SDIRs that are bundled with Logic and these are now available to be used in ReaVerb or with the HISS tools in Max.