WMRECORD(1) WMRecord WMRECORD(1)NAME
WMRecord - General Purpose Recording Utility for Linux
SYNOPSISwmrecord [-d <dsp>] [-m <mixer>] [-h]
DESCRIPTION
WMRecord is a general purpose recording utility for Linux systems run‐
ning X11, currently using the Open Sound System (OSS) to access the
audio subsystem. The interface is designed to work in conjunction with
WindowMaker's Dock or AfterStep's Wharf, two popular window managers
for the X Window System. An alternative interface incorporating a more
general purpose GUI toolkit is planned but not imminent.
WMRecord was originally conceived as a tool for recording memos, inter‐
views and meetings, and this approach is reflected somewhat in the
interface. Recordings are made to one of 99 numbered slots or tracks
which the user may browse through. There is no limit (other than the
constraints of the file system) to the size of recording you make.
Recordings are automatically saved to disk, but may be erased or
recorded over as necessary.
The user may select the input source, line quality and bit rate of the
recording as well as determining whether or not to record in stereo.
All settings are automatically saved by the program, so there need be
no fiddling with configuration files in order to manipulate the set‐
tings.
Version 1.0.5 now uses the WAVE file format for recording samples. This
should allow users to import recordings into other applications and
therefore increase the usefulness of WMRecord. However, recordings made
with version 1.0.0 will no longer be playable with the new release.
OPTIONS
By default, WMRecord uses the devices /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer to manip‐
ulate the audio hardware. There is currently no way to change this from
the interface, but it is possible to override these settings at the
command line using the following switches:
-d <dsp>
Set the DSP audio device.
-m <mixer>
Set the Mixer device.
The main display area of the interface shows the length of the record‐
ing in seconds (or in playback mode, the number of seconds elapsed),
the recording source (icons representing either a microphone, a line
jack or a CD) and the sample rate. Two green LEDs represent mono or
stereo mode and two red LEDs represent 8-bit or 16-bit sound quality.
Directly underneath are the Record, Stop and Playback buttons and
underneath that is the track selection which comprises a display of the
current track number, Previous Track and Next Track buttons, and the
Erase track button. Using the right mouse button on the Previous and
Next track buttons changes the volume.
Arranged from top to bottom on the right hand side of the interface are
controls for selecting the Input Source (either Mic, Line or CD), the
Sample Rate (either 8000, 11025, 22050 or 44100), the Mono / Stereo
toggle and the 8-bit / 16-bit toggle.
FILES
All files are stored in the directory $HOME/.wmrecord. Recordings are
listed "rec01.wav" ... "rec99.wav", while the configuration file is
called "wmrecordrc".
CAVEATS
WMRecord uses the OSS (Open Sound System) as its interface to the audio
hardware. WMRecord also assumes that samples are little-endian. As
such, this means that WMRecord is probably limited to the x86 architec‐
ture.
There is no processing of the recorded audio. This means that there is
no noise filtering, and data is written to disk uncompressed.
8-bit data does not appear to be recorded correctly.
There is no more space on the interface for new buttons. *sigh*
CREDITS
The interface is based on an excellent dockapp called WMTune, with the
input source icons being taken from another excellent app called
WMMixer. Well, I'm not too good at drawing fiddly little things and
these applications look great. The sources for WMTune (and other dock‐
apps for that matter) also came with a general purpose dockapp library
which I have also used for creating the window and copying pixmaps
around. I think that this should be packaged up into a separate library
for WindowMaker / Afterstep as it really cuts down the number of hoops
you have to jump through in order to please Xlib.
TO BE DONE
- Find a better way to update the configuration file. Normally I
would have left all updates until the program received a signal
or a DestroyNotify event but this does not seem to achieve the
desired effect in WindowMaker.
- Implement a method for selecting the dsp and mixer devices with‐
out the need for command line switches.
- Fix the playback timing bug: the playback counter updates more
rapidly than the rate at which the recording is being output,
unless high quality settings are specified.
- Allow a user to impose a maximum recording time.
- A configure script or Imake setup, perhaps?
AUTHOR
Malcolm Cowe <malk@bruhaha.demon.co.uk>
Linux 4th October 1999 WMRECORD(1)
