wmrecord(1)
NAME
WMRecord - General Purpose Recording Utility for Linux
SYNOPSIS
wmrecord [-d <dsp>] [-m <mixer>] [-h]
DESCRIPTION
WMRecord is a general purpose recording utility for Linux
systems running 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 immi
nent.
WMRecord was originally conceived as a tool for recording
memos, interviews 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 con
straints 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 settings.
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 manipulate the audio hardware. There is cur
rently 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 recording in seconds (or in playback mode, the number
of seconds elapsed), the recording source (icons repre
senting 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 but
tons and underneath that is the track selection which com
prises 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 architecture.
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 applica
tions 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 Window
Maker / 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 without 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 set
tings 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>