1AUDEMO(1)                   General Commands Manual                  AUDEMO(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       audemo - Network Audio System record and play demo
7

SYNOPSIS

9       audemo [-audio servername] [-toolkitoption ...]  [directory]
10

DESCRIPTION

12       audemo  provides  an X-based window-oriented user interface to the Net‐
13       work Audio System service.  It allows the  user  to  play  pre-recorded
14       sound  files,  record  new  sound files and to manipulate Network Audio
15       System buckets.
16

AUDEMO AND THE ATHENA WIDGET SET

18       audemo uses the X Toolkit Intrinsics and the Athena  Widget  Set.   For
19       more information, see the Athena Widget Set documentation.
20

SCREEN LAYOUT

22       audemo starts out with a single window divided into several areas:
23
24       o   A collection of command buttons.
25
26       o   A left and right level meter.
27
28       o   A volume indicator and control slider.
29
30       o   An information window.
31
32       o   An editable field containing the directory to be searched for sound
33           files.
34
35       o   An editable field containing a list of sound files to search for.
36
37       o   A window containing the list of sound files that  may  be  selected
38           for playing or loading into buckets.
39

PLAYING A SOUND FILE

41       To play a sound file you must first select it from the list of files in
42       the file window.  You can control which files are listed in this window
43       by  editing  the  Directory  and/or Template fields and clicking on the
44       Rescan button.  To select a file, single-click on the  filename.   This
45       will  highlight  the filename and display information about the file in
46       the information window.  The information displayed includes:
47
48       Filename
49           The full pathname of the file.
50
51       File Format
52           The file format of the audio file.
53
54       Data Format
55           The encoding format of the audio data.
56
57       Tracks
58           The number of tracks of audio data.
59
60       Frequency
61           The frequency at which the audio data was sampled.
62
63       Duration
64           The duration of the audio data in seconds.
65
66       Text
67           Any text information stored in the file.
68
69       Once the file has been selected, you can start it playing  by  clicking
70       on  the  Play command button.  A shortcut for playing a file is to dou‐
71       ble-click on the file name.  This will select the  file  and  start  it
72       playing.   When  a  file  is  playing, the Play command button is high‐
73       lighted.  To stop the playing of a file, click on the highlighted  Play
74       button.   To enable the left and right level meters, click on the Meter
75       button before starting to play the file.  To disable the left and right
76       level  meters,  click again on the highlighted Meter button.  To adjust
77       the volume level, use the volume slider.
78

RECORDING TO A FILE

80       audemo can record sound files in any supported file  and  data  format.
81       To  record  a  sound  file you must first bring up the record window by
82       clicking on the Record command button.  This will  bring  up  a  window
83       containing the following fields and controls:
84
85       Filename
86           The  name  of the file you wish to create.  Unless a path is speci‐
87           fied here, the file will be created in the current directory.
88
89       File Format
90           A menu of file formats.
91
92       Data Format
93           A menu of data formats.  Note that each file format does not neces‐
94           sarily support all of the data formats listed.
95
96       Max Duration
97           See RECORDING TO A BUCKET.
98
99       Read Only
100           See RECORDING TO A BUCKET.
101
102       Frequency
103           The  sampling  rate  (in hertz) for the recording.  Higher sampling
104           rates yield better quality sound but take up more disk  and  memory
105           space.   Common  sampling  rates  are  8000 (good for voice annota‐
106           tions), 11000, 22000, and 44000.
107
108       Mic(rophone)
109           This button tells the audio  server  if  you've  got  a  microphone
110           attached  to the audio input jack.  Clicking this button will high‐
111           light it and cause the audio server to boost the input  gain  to  a
112           level suitable for recording with a microphone.
113
114       Comment
115           Text (such as a description) you wish to put into the audio file.
116
117       Gain
118           This slider is used to adjust the recording gain level.
119
120       Record
121           This button starts or stops the recording.
122
123       Monitor
124           This button enables or disables monitoring.
125
126       New Bucket
127           See RECORDING TO A BUCKET.
128
129       Dismiss
130           This  button  stops  recording and monitoring and closes the record
131           window.
132
133       Once you have selected the filename, file and data formats,  frequency,
134       mic  level, comment and gain, you are ready to record.  To listen in on
135       the audio that will be recorded you can click on  the  Monitor  button.
136       This will direct all the audio received from the audio input jack to be
137       played on the speaker.  When you're  ready  to  record,  click  on  the
138       Record  button.   All the audio received from the audio input jack will
139       now be recorded into the file.  The recording will continue  until  you
140       click on the Record button again or click on the Dismiss button.  NOTE:
141       Audio data can accumulate very rapidly,  especially  at  high  sampling
142       rates, resulting in large files.
143

BUCKETS

145       The  Network  Audio  System  service  provides the capability to create
146       server resident sound objects called buckets.  audemo allows  the  user
147       to  create  buckets,  record  into them, play from them, load them with
148       data from a file and dump their contents into a file.  Note that  buck‐
149       ets  created  by audemo are destroyed when audemo is terminated.  These
150       options are available when you bring up the buckets window by  clicking
151       on  the  Buckets  button  in  the  main window.  The buckets windows is
152       divided into two areas:
153
154       o   A collection of command buttons.
155
156       o   A table of buckets currently accessible.  This table  contains  the
157           following columns:
158
159           Description
160               The text description.
161
162           Duration
163               The duration of the audio data in seconds.
164
165           Tracks
166               The number of tracks of audio data.
167
168           Frequency
169               The frequency at which the audio data was sampled.
170
171           Format
172               A code letter indicating the encoding format of the audio data.
173               A key to the format code letters can be displayed  by  clicking
174               on the Format Key button.
175
176           Access
177               A combination of code letters indicating the access mode of the
178               bucket.  A key to the access code letters can be  displayed  by
179               clicking on the Access Key button.
180

CREATING A BUCKET FROM A FILE

182       To  create  a  bucket from from an audio data file, select the filename
183       from the list of files in the file window then click the Load button in
184       the  buckets  window.   The  first line of the buckets table should now
185       contain the information about the newly created bucket.
186

PLAYING FROM A BUCKET

188       To play a bucket, select the bucket you wish to  play  by  clicking  on
189       it's  information  in the buckets table.  The entry you click on should
190       be highlighted.  Then click on the Play button in the  buckets  window.
191       A  shortcut  for playing from a bucket is to double-click on the bucket
192       information.  This will select the bucket and start  playing  from  it.
193       To  stop  the playing of a bucket, click on the highlighted Play button
194       in the buckets window.  The level meters and volume level can  be  con‐
195       trolled in the same way as when playing from a file.
196

RECORDING TO A BUCKET

198       To  record into a new bucket, click on the Record button in the buckets
199       window.  This will bring up the record window.  This record  window  is
200       the same as the one used for recording to files.  Instead of specifying
201       a filename, in the Max Duration field, enter the maximum  duration  (in
202       seconds) of data that the bucket is to hold.  Clicking on the Read Only
203       button will prevent other applications from writing into or  destroying
204       the  bucket.   The frequency, mic level, format and comment are used in
205       the same way as when recording to files.  Once all of  the  fields  are
206       set  appropriately,  click  the New Buckett button.  This will create a
207       new bucket according to the specifications given.  The  first  line  of
208       the  buckets  table  should now contain the information about the newly
209       created bucket.  To begin recording into the bucket, select the  bucket
210       by  clicking  on it's information in the buckets table.  Then click the
211       Record button in the record window.  All the audio  received  from  the
212       audio  input  jack will now be recorded into the bucket.  The recording
213       will continue until you click on the Record button again, click on  the
214       Dismiss  or the bucket is filled.  The Gain slider and the Monitor but‐
215       ton operate the same as when recording to a file.
216

SAVING A BUCKET TO A FILE

218       To save a bucket to a file, first select the bucket by clicking on  its
219       information in the buckets table.  Then click on the Save button in the
220       buckets window.  A dialog box will pop up prompting you for the name of
221       the  file  in  which to save the bucket data, and the file format.  The
222       data format used will be that of the bucket.  Note that each file  for‐
223       mat may only support selected data formats.  If no path is given in the
224       filename, the file will be created in the current directory.   Clicking
225       on  Ok or pressing the RETURN key will cause the file to be created and
226       the data from the bucket to be written to the file.
227

DELETING A BUCKET

229       To delete a bucket, first select the bucket by clicking on it's  infor‐
230       mation  in  the  buckets table.  Then click on the Delete button in the
231       buckets window.  If the audemo has the appropriate  access  permissions
232       for the bucket, the bucket will be deleted and it's information will be
233       removed from the bucket table.
234

EXITING AUDEMO

236       Clicking on the Quit button will cause audemo  to  exit,  stopping  any
237       playing  or  recording  operations and destroying any buckets that were
238       created.
239

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

241       -audio servername
242               This option specifies the Network Audio System server to  which
243               audemo should connect.
244
245       directory
246               The  directory  name  that audemo will use to build the list of
247               selectable file names.  When directory is not specified on  the
248               command line, the current working directory is used.
249

EXAMPLES

251       In  the  following example, in a TCP/IP network, mcxterm is the name of
252       the desktop machine running the audio server.  The default port is 8000
253       and sound files are located in ~/snd:
254
255              audemo -audio tcp/mcxterm:8000 ~/snd
256
257       In  the  following example, the shortened form of the audio server name
258       is used and sound files from the  current  working  directory  will  be
259       used:
260
261              audemo -audio mcxterm:0
262

ENVIRONMENT

264       In  addition to the standard toolkit environment variables, the follow‐
265       ing environment variables are used by audemo:
266
267       AUDIOSERVER
268               This variable specifies the default audio server to contact  if
269               -audio  is not specified on the command line.  If this variable
270               is not set and the -audio is not specified on the command line,
271               audemo  will  attempt to connect to the audio server running on
272               the X Window System display.
273

BUGS

275       Warning: audemo is the xterm of the Network Audio System.  It was writ‐
276       ten  to  test features as the Network Audio System was being developed.
277       It was also the author's first Xt program.  Consequently,  it's  pretty
278       ugly and should be completely re-written from scratch.
279

SEE ALSO

281       nas(1), X(1)
282
284       Copyright 1993, 1994 Network Computing Devices, Inc.
285

AUTHOR

287       Greg Renda, Network Computing Devices, Inc.
288
289
290
291                                     1.9.1                           AUDEMO(1)
Impressum