Precord0.9.5 audio recorder

Audio editors, music players, video players, burning software, etc.
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mcewanw
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#21 Post by mcewanw »

Flash wrote:How does mhWaveEdit manage to include built-in VU meters that look like old-school galvanometers, with a dial and a needle that moves? If you're recording stereo there are two VU meters.

I think I found mhWaveEdit's executable file in usr/bin/ but I can't open it to see what's inside. Even if I could, I'm sure I wouldn't have a clue what I was looking at. I assume it's a compiled program, and the source code is somewhere else.
Yes it is written in C. I downloaded the source code and part of that is vu_meter.c (with vu_meter.h). Whether or not it is easy to use these parts separately I haven't as yet determined (assuming I can...); would be nice.

EDIT: alas vu_meter only provides the functions for drawing the meter, it seems to me, and would also need a wrapper program driving it, which is the stumbling box, I'd say. In more detail, vu_meter seems to be tightly wrapped in to the main mhWaveEdit program via the recorddialog.c part of the source code. I have given up on that avenue of investigation.
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Precord v.2.0.0 uploaded: now handles mp3, ogg, and wav!

#22 Post by mcewanw »

# Changes:

Precord Version 2.0.0

# Added ogg, and wav to the mp3 encoding modes.
# MUCH improved quality of MONO recordings (I think): less encoding artifacts.
# Expanded bitrate/quality options.
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Precord v.2.0.1 uploaded: now handles mp3, ogg, and wav!

#23 Post by mcewanw »

# Changes:

Precord Version 2.0.1

# Added ogg, and wav to the mp3 encoding modes.
# MUCH improved quality of MONO recordings (I think): less encoding artifacts.
# Expanded bitrate/quality options.

Note: Version 2.0.0 also had the above; 2.0.1 just swapped the order of the select encoder radio buttons to what I preferred!
And I added a 1 second sleep to the stop record function.
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version 2.0.2 uploaded

#24 Post by mcewanw »

* Version 2.0.2 is much faster - A bugfix in which I shaved 2 seconds off the time it takes to switch between MIN and CONFIG gui

Precord 2.x.x has MUCH improved mono recording quality over earlier versions. Stereo recording quality same as previous.

Also records and plays back mp3, ogg or wav files.
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mikeb
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#25 Post by mikeb »

Very neat....just tried 2.02.....

I wonder if something could be arranged with arecord and tail or xdialog..hmmm

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#26 Post by mikeb »

Oo feature request time.....multiple sound card selection....then my effort is truly redundant :D

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#27 Post by mcewanw »

Well none of the direct soundcard access devices work on my computer

i.e. none of:

hw:0,0
hw:0,1
hw:1,0
or
hw:1,1

According to what I read pretty much everywhere, including here:

http://www.mail-archive.com/alsa-user@l ... 21125.html
and here:
http://www.mail-archive.com/alsa-user@l ... 21123.html

it is usually better to use plughw since that performs any needed conversions and supports more formats than native hw.

So I'm following that recommendation of using: plughw

However, I'm assuming the default soundcard and not specifying which card at the moment. I suppose I could add in selections for plughw:0 and plughw:1 if that is what you are looking for?
Or maybe, plughw:0,0 and so on...
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mikeb
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#28 Post by mikeb »

Ah yes...I remember you had that problem..well if plughw is more reliable so be it.

Yes ...a card selector in the large gui sort of thing. I happen to have a usb sound box for spdif and usb/bluetooth headsets are quite common....these will usually come up as the second card

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#29 Post by mcewanw »

okay, shouldn't take too long to do
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#30 Post by mikeb »

Not sure if it was a typo but
arecord -vv /dev/null 2>/dev/null

gives a much neater display...combined with resizing the console to show just one line an you have a very neat vu meter
try...

Code: Select all

rxvt --geometry 60x1 -rv -e arecord -vv /dev/null 2>/dev/null
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Version 2.0.3 uploaded

#31 Post by mcewanw »

# Changes:

# Version 2.0.3:
# No longer loses file entry content moving from MIN to Config GUI.
# Added sound card hardware selection (plughw:card,device)


no, I wanted

arecord -vvv (I prefer a small dynamic graph to a one line display), but I had already cut down the rxvt console as is in this 2.0.3 version. Note that the current VU meter is for setting up only. You can't use it whilst actually recording.

[EDIT] NOTE: When the VU meter is running you can freeze it with ctrl-s and scroll up to see lots of sound card statistics. Then restart it with ctrl-q

Been trying rxvt -e arecord -vvv etc... with wav files (since easier to arrange) but the pause controls won't work when starting arecord with rxvt -e (problems with parent/child processes not being able to find each other and so on). No way out of all the issues that I've found with that as yet (easier in C...!).
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#32 Post by mikeb »

Personel taste eh....mini version with mini player perhaps :D

I tried with my bash version and just killed the parent rxvt when going into record mode...
kill `ps | grep arecord | grep rxvt | cut -f 2 -d ' '`
I also launched alsamixer and the vu meter from the one button...sort of made sense since it also gives an instant indication that the correct input has been selected so no blank failed recordings.

Fast with the update..nice one :)
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#33 Post by mcewanw »

mikeb wrote: I also launched alsamixer and the vu meter from the one button...sort of made sense since it also gives an instant indication that the correct input has been selected so no blank failed recordings.
That's a good point. It's true that more often than not I fire up both VU and alsamixer when setting up.
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#34 Post by mcewanw »

What I'd really like is to have the VU working when recording mp3 and/ogg, but I've not managed to split the audio from the VU noise when piping arecord into lame (for example). If you find out how, let me know.
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#35 Post by esmourguit »

Bonjour à tous,
Can i share with you my feelings on Precord.
I know nothing about audio, but i'm testing this Great little program.
But there are two things a little disturbing:
- I am obliged to adjust the microphone up and audio output too. It seems that the record level is fairly low. Or did it come from my microphone?
- I am forced to click the stop button at the end of listening to the recording. Could it be automatic?
Cordialement ;)
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#36 Post by mcewanw »

esmourguit wrote: It seems that the record level is fairly low.
Have you activated Mic Boost in Alsamixer and turned up PCM and Capture volumes to their maximum's. Until I discovered Mic Boost a year ago, I used to suffer from the low record level you describe, but I don't find that problem now. To activate Mic Boost in alsamixer you move along to it and press letter "M". It makes a very big difference to the recording level. Test it without recording by running the VU display whilst selecting MIc boost, and also turning up the Capture volume controls. Mono recording works particularly well (and loud) on my system.

If the recording levels are still too low, you'll need to find a more sensitive microphone or use a preamp with your Microphone I'm afraid. You should however find that Precord recording levels are just as loud as, for example, mhWaveEdit (also on Puppy 4.3.1 in Multimedia menu) or any other recording app.

As for having to press "stop", there was a reason for that that I can't remember. I'll look into it again, but I so remember deciding that it was the best compromise to another problem. In theory it shouldn't be necessary of course so perhaps I'll find a way of modifying that action in the future.
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#37 Post by esmourguit »

Bonjour à tous,
Thank you for your reply.
Here is an overview of Alsamixer. I don't know how to enable Mic Boost in Alsamixer.
Cordialement. ;)
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mcewanw
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#38 Post by mcewanw »

Regarding play and stop.

When the audio file ends playing the Linux process involved dies. Unfortunately, there is no way, that I know of, for that event to be signalled back to gtkdialog to re-enable the play button. Otherwise that would allow an automatic stop without human intervention.

Only one play process is, by core design, allowed to run in Precord at a time since it would be extremely difficult to control/keep track of more than one.

I could provide a version of Precord which does not disable the play buttons but instead simply allows the user to press Play at any time to restart the file playing. I'll upload a version that operates in that manner for testing to see what the general opinion is on these two ways of arranging things.
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#39 Post by mcewanw »

Have you tried moving the cursor further to the right hand side in Alsamixer. The Mic Boost control lies further to the right than is shown in your overview. If you can reach it, you then press key 'M' to activate it.

Also, I suggest you turn down the Mic volume when recording, since the mike you show in your overview may be for playback, which can interfere with your recording. Instead, I suggest using the TAB key to until the alsamixer heading moves to the Capture screen (rather than 'All') and see what you have available in there. You should see 'Capture' maybe, and Mic. You need the volume of 'Capture' turned right up, and the Mic control should be activated (using space bar). But different sound cards maybe show different screens. The Mic Boost control would be on alsamixer 'All' (to the right hand side, off the screen, as I said, of the alsamixer overview you uploaded).

In a few minutes you'll find an alternative version of Precord on the first thread post which doesn't disable the Play button (instead, pressing Play a second time simply restarts the playback from the beginning...)
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#40 Post by mcewanw »

I have to go and sleep; it is very late (night turning to morning) here...
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