Downloads of the Month: Audiocorder and Sound Byte

Nov 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Len Sasso

           
 

You'll find some handy Mac audio utilities at Black Cat Systems (www.blackcatsystems.com). Among its offerings are amateur radio software, diet and health programs, an interactive atomic table, and radiation detectors for both the Mac and PC.

Audiocorder 4.0.2 (shareware) is a Mac OS 9- and OS X-compatible stereo recorder with four recording modes: Manual, Timed, Scheduled, and Voice-Activated (Vox). In Manual and Timed modes, you start recording manually; in timed mode, however, recording is terminated after a user-specified period. Scheduled mode works like a VCR: you can set as many as 50 start and stop times. In Vox mode, recording starts and stops when incoming audio rises above or falls below a specified level for a specified amount of time.

Audiocorder supports 11.025, 22.050, and 44.1 kHz recording at 8- or 16-bit resolution in stereo or mono AIFF or WAV formats. A convenient iTunes mode automatically places recorded files in the iTunes Library and converts them to MP3 format. The Scissors button, another handy feature, simultaneously closes the current recording file and begins another. The OS 9 version can even record phone calls using your computer's internal modem.

Sound Byte 2.2.0 is an OS X software emulation of the cart machines used in radio stations to hold clips, typically commercials, for instant playback. It comes in three versions: Sound Byte Lite (with one rack, $24), Sound Byte (with 5 racks, $49), and Sound Byte Pro (with 50 racks, $99). The application automatically loads and saves racks. Each rack can hold 70 audio files that you can trigger with a mouse-click or with a user-assigned hotkey. Any number of clips can play simultaneously, even from different racks. Sound Byte plays sound files in any format supported by QuickTime, including WAV, AIFF, SD2, and MP3.

Sound Byte's clip slots, called Buttons, give you several options. At minimum, they display each clip's name, length, and current playback position (if the clip is playing), as well as a button for triggering the clip. Buttons can optionally display a playback-volume slider or a fuel-gauge-style playback-position indicator. You can assign each button its own color and specify looped playback. You can also set individual Buttons to terminate playback from all other clips when the clip is triggered. In addition, Sound Byte has a global volume slider and key commands for fading out or pausing all clips currently playing.