SpeechRecorder is a platform independent audio recording software customized to the requirements of speech recordings. Its distinguishing features are:
This page was last updated September 17 2009
SpeechRecorder was developed at the Bavarian Archive for Speech Signals (BAS) of the Institute of Phonetics and Speech Processing at Ludwig-Maximlians-Universität München.
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
Contact: Christoph Draxler, Klaus Jänsch
| Operating system | Sun Microsystems Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version |
|---|---|
| Windows XP | at least Java SE 5.0 Update 7 |
| Linux | at least Java SE 5.0 |
| Mac OS X | at least Java SE 5.0 |
Most PC's already have JAVA installed. Otherwise you can download JAVA here.
The Java Webstart launch starts Speechrecorder only under appropriate versions.
Recording sound in principle requires some kind of real-time processing. The audio data generated from the Analog/Digital converter must be processed within a defined time-interval, otherwise data may be lost. Although most desktop PCs and Notebooks and their operating systems do not have real-time capabilities and therefore cannot guarantee that the audio stream is processed reliably, sound recording works properly if the PC is fast enough to process the data.
For programs written in Java (and probably C# respectively Managed Code) there is an additional issue, which makes it hard to achieve near real-time behaviour: the garbage collector. The garbage collector of the Java virtual machine frees memory of unreferenced objects in unregular time intervalls. The entire application is stopped during the cleanup. If the cleanup happens during a sound recording and takes too long it is possible that audio data is lost. Unlike buffer overruns it is not possible to detect this data loss.
To avoid data loss SpeechRecorder makes use of the incremental garbage collector, which reduces the duration of garbage collector pauses. To further minimize the risk of data loss, please use the fastest hardware available.
The following configuration is particularly prone to data loss:
For processing these items, the Java VM loads extensive image and text processing libraries which must then be cleaned by the garbage collector.
Practical test:
If you're not sure whether the recording works ok, you may record an entire recording session with a pure sine tone. Open the recorded files in Praat
and check the sonagram for irregularities.
The recommended way to install and run the program is using Java Webstart technology.
The application is self signed, so you will get a security warning, that the signature of the application could not be verified.
SpeechRecorder cannot run inside the security constraints of the Java sandbox, because audio recording would not be possible.
Documentation
Check Java installation !
Install and run !
Enables usage of soundcards with ASIO support. Required for multi-channel (more than 2 (stereo) channels).The ASIOJavaSound device must appear as Recording device under 'Settings->Project'
NOTE: This version will automatically update to the newest stable version (Using Java 5 it will update without user interaction ! Using Java 6 you will be prompted before new updates will be downloaded and installed)
Documentation
Check Java installation
Install and run
NOTE: This version will automatically update to the newest stable version without user interaction
Documentation
Check Java installation
Install and run
Enables usage of soundcards with ASIO support. Required for multi-channel (more than 2 (stereo) channels).The ASIOJavaSound device must appear as Recording device under 'Settings->Project'
List of older versions and downloads.
"ASIO is a trademark of Steinberg Soft- and Hardware GmbH"