Audio Trace
Audio Trace - oscilloscope style sound trace application.
Index
Download
Click to install Audio Trace.
About
Description
Audio Trace shows an oscilloscope or lissajous style trace of the sounds currently playing through your computer.
A variety of scroll, zoom and fade effects can be applied to the trace for visual interest.
Help
Trace Options
The View|Options menu item, provides access to the
main configuration for the trace.
Each option has pop-up help, so here we will just explain some of the terms.
Audio Sources - Line. Each PC has a number of 'audio lines' that may have different sound coming through them - much like phone lines carrying a number of calls. One (or perhaps more) of those lines will carry the music that is currently playing - select that line.
Sample Size. This determines the length of the 'chunk' in time that is displayed on each rendering. Short samples are better at displaying higher frequencies, while long time samples are better for showing the overall 'shape' of a sound (similar to the ADSR envelope of musical instrument sounds) or the rhythm and beat of music.
Visual Gain. Some systems have a very low sound throughput (not very loud), this slider can be used to increase the (visual) size of the signal.
Trace Style. Provides a choice between the standard 'height v. time' oscilloscope style plot and a lissajous ('height v. gradient/rate of change) plot. The slider to the right of the checkbox allows the visual gain of the gradient to be amplified.
To the right of those is a checkbox that forces a single trace (looks like 'mono') for the audio input lines - even if they are stereo.
Old Traces. What happens to old traces, is where this program becomes very pretty. Keep a low 'Fade Rate' setting to retain earlier traces longer. Then a 'Scroll Step' or 'Zoom Step' can be alloted to cause the older traces to gradually 'slide' or 'expand' off the screen.
Signal Levels. Displays the average signal strength for the last sampled chunk as either a meter (in lower right of screen, and or numeric form (upper right of screen). If the signal strength drops low, the output color turns yellow to mean a weak or soft signal - while even lower, it turns red to indicate 'no signal detected'.
Line Information
The View|Line Info. menu item produces
a dialog containing information on the sound lines found on this PC.
Other
The main trace of Audio Trace can be 'sent to full screen', or returned back to the normal window, by clicking anywhere in the trace area.
To exit Audio Trace, select the File|Exit menu item,
or click the 'x' box in the upper right of the main window.
Flat-Line
A 'flat-line' or 'single point' trace might occur for two basic reasons:
- The program is displaying an audio line in the PC that is not being actively used. Audio Trace defaults to displaying 'Line 1', but if line 1 has no signal, you might show 'all lines' then select the most active Line No. from those displayed.
- There is no audio-loopback installed or configured for the target PC. Check your OS/hardware documentation for further details.
System Requirements
Fos successful installation and use, this application requires:
- The Java Plug-In*, version 1.3+.
- For installation, it requires that the user can install/enable trusted applications.
* The Java Plug-In is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux/Unix based PC's.
Licence
The Audio Trace software is offered to the general public under a Freeware licence.
Version History
Audio Trace is currently at version 1.0.
- 1.0 - First release to the general public, as freeware with web start installation.
- 0.2 - Bytecode manipulation refined for finer plots.
- 0.1 - First release (source to usenet).
Security
Audio Trace requires 'full permissions' in order to access the audio system of your PC (the program needs to 'eavesdrop' on the sound, so it can render the trace!).
This software contains no viruses, spyware, adware or malware of any kind. In addition, the Audio Trace binaries, or program executables, are digitally signed by the author (Andrew Thompson), for your greater security.
