Mike Hirst - Digital Audio: Tools
The process of audio digitisation demands a unique set of tools. I use the WinXP Command Line or MS Dos for batch file processing. I also have a small set of GUI aplications that I use for awkward jobs, creative work and analysis. Listed below are some of the tools that I could not be without.
Command Line Tools
-
CDburn
ISO CD-ROM Burner Tool included in The Microsoft WindowsServer 2003 Resource Kit Tools
-
CDR.exe
Chris Sebrell has written an excellent program, cdr.exe, together with source code, for opening/closing a CD drive tray. The complete package is just a 32KB download.
http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/W-P/system/cd-rom/article.php/c5775
-
DVDburn
ISO DVD Burner Tool included in The Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools
-
HTML Tidy
HTML Tidy is a tool that was originally written by Dave Raggett of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It is designed to fix mistakes in HTML, tidy up the layout (hence the name), assist with web accessibility, convert HTML to XHTML and many other things. The software is now maintained by a group of volunteers working as an Open Source Community at Source Forge.
-
normalize v0.253
For many tasks involving audio (e.g. compressing WAV files to MP3), it's nice to have a utility which can normalize audio files. The purpose of this is to make all audio files sound equally loud. I used to use CoolEdit (now Adobe Audition) to do this task, but since this audio editor is capable of doing much more than just normalizing waves, it's a bit slow for this task. Besides, it cannot be easily called from a batch file.
Normalize v0.253 is a small Win32 console mode application written by Manuel Kasper mk@neon1.net. It can handle 8-bit and 16-bit PCM WAV files of up to 4 GBs (larger WAV files are not possible anyway), and it is fast.
-
SED
SED is a stream editor. Originally written and designed for Unix, sed has been ported to MS-DOS, Windows, OS/2, and other operating systems. A stream editor is used to perform basic text transformations on an input stream (a file or input from a pipeline). While in some ways similar to an editor which permits scripted edits (such as ED), SED works by making only one pass over the input(s), and is consequently more efficient. But it is SED's ability to filter text in a pipeline which particularly distinguishes it from other types of editors.
-
SkimID3
SkimID3.EXE is a Win32 console utility which reads metadata from sound files in formats MP3, Ogg, WMA, ASF, WAV. Information is written on standard output in the format AttributeName=Attribute value. Output format changes to SET AttributeName=Attribute value when parameter /S (alias /SET) is used.
-
SoX
SoX is a command line utility that can convert various formats of computer audio files in to other formats. It can also apply various effects to these sound files during the conversion. As an added bonus, SoX can play and record audio files on several unix-style platforms.
-
The LAME Project
LAME is an LGPL MP3 encoder. The Open source development model allowed to improve its quality and speed since 1999. It is now an highly evolved MP3 encoder, with quality and speed able to rival state of the art commercial encoders.
-
XMLStarlet
XMLStarlet is a set of command line utilities (tools) which can be used to transform, query, validate, and edit XML documents and files using simple set of shell commands in similar way it is done for plain text files using UNIX grep, sed, awk, diff, patch, join, etc commands.
-
XXCOPY
XXCOPY is simply a logical extension to XCOPY. It remains faithfully compatible with XCOPY in the invocation syntax, yet, adds many innovative features to be a very serious utility for anyone who feels comfortable in managing files in command line mode (DOS Box). XXCOPY has grown to be not just a file copy program but also file removal, search and list utility. Its short-name preserving capability makes it ideal to clone a system disk which can be made bootable. XXCOPY runs under Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP and comes with a 16-bit version XXCOPY16 which allows copying files in DOS environment using short name only (to be later expanded to long name). You may also use it for synchronizing systems. In short, it is an industrial strength utility for anyone who is serious about file manipulation.
-
ZCdda2wav
Cdda2wav is a free compact disc digital audio CDDA grabber originally written for MSDOS, and later ported to Linux. It is distributed under the terms of the GNU GPL. The copyright is held by Heiko Eißfeldt. Cdda2wav has been developed with portability in mind. It runs on a variety of operating systems.
-
Zip 2.31
Zip is useful for packaging a set of files for distribution, for archiving files, and for saving disk space by temporarily compressing unused files or directories. Zip puts one or more compressed files into a single ZIP archive, along with information about the files (name, path, date, time of last modification, protection, and check information to verify file integrity). An entire directory structure can be packed into a ZIP archive with a single command.
GUI
-
Audacity
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.
-
Adobe Audition
Record, mix, edit, and master digital audio files with powerful tools that bring flexibility and control to your desktop studio. Easily create music, produce radio spots, and restore imperfect recordings. Bring audio and video together using smart integration with Adobe video applications. Get professional results in real time with Adobe Audition 2.0 software.
-
CSVed
CSVed is an easy and powerful CSV file editor, you can manipulate any CSV file, separated with any separator.
-
GSpot
GSpot is a video codec identification utility - identifies which video codec and audio compression method is used on .avi files, whether the matching codec is installed, and more.
- Establishes what video codecs (audio and video) are required to play an AVI file.
- Determines whether these codecs are installed on your system.
- Isolates problems associated with these codecs.
- Simple operation - Basic use: "File > Open", then read results.
- Identifies download induced problems (truncated files, "cooked" files, etc.)
- Shows framerate, duration, aspect ratio, bitrates, AVI structure info, and more.
- Displays and allows editing of RIFF info (title, etc); displays "hidden" ASCII info.
- Drag and Drop and "Send To" support, multi-file (batch) processing support.
- Copy/Paste or text export GSpot information - format is user configurable.
- Built-in database of 350 video and 150 audio codec types.
- Advanced UI including "dual-mode" and hyperlinked "persistent" tool tips.
- Full support for OGG media files as well as AVI stream formats.
- Identification (only) of non-AVI files (.mpg, .mov, .qt, .rm, .swf, .wmv, .asf, etc.)
- Supports VFW, ACM, DirectShow and DMO codec types (audio and video)
- Win95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP
- No Install (optional), No spyware, No advertising, No registration
- Free
-
Mp3 Tag-Studio
The complete suite for managing your Mp3s! You will never again need to keep track of that bunch of small utils to solve your mp3 problems and general managing, this is an all-in-one program and also better and easier to use than practically every separate util that you will ever find! Well, you be the judge.
-
CD Wave
CD Wave is a program designed to aid in CD-Recordable mastering. It was built for splitting WAV files from any source, like LP, tape or even CD. After recording, you can let CD Wave automatically calculate split points, or you can manually add and delete split points. After this, you can write out the tracks as individual wave files and use any CDR mastering program to write a disc that has no clicks or pops in between tracks. Also supports 24-bit and surround audio.
CD Wave can also act as a simple audio recorder and editor, allowing you to record and playback audio, and cut out parts that you want to keep.
Since CD Wave can read and write CUE sheets, you can also use it as a CUE sheet editor for CDRWin.
CD Wave (1.92) can write files in OGG Vorbis format, in FLAC (lossless compression) audio and in MP3 format (if you have the LAME encoder) directly.