Reaper + Wine = easy audio editing on Ubuntu

I took a break today from playing with Linux on my Eee PC to play with Linux on my Toshiba A135-4527 laptop. I don't know if it was a recent Windows update or what, but for the past few days I've been getting horrible glitches whenever I try to play or record audio. At first I though Skype was the problem, so I downgraded Skype. But it turns out the errors are just as bad when I'm using my favorite audio editing software like Cool Edit or Reaper.

When I reinstalled Vista the other day, I made sure to set aside a partition for Linux, and so I went and reloaded Ubuntu. It's amazing how responsive and zippy it is compared to Vista. If I didn't need certain Windows-only programs I'd seriously consider switching.

Anyway, I had a lot of audio recording and editing to do today and yesterday. And while I really hate using Audacity for complicated editing tasks, the open source audio editor works as well as anything for recording tracks. So I loaded up Audacity, hit record, and went into my voice booth (err, closet). Everything worked perfectly, and I did some basic editing, saved my files to my Windows partition, rebooted, and did my editing in Windows while fighting with playback glitches.

And then I started to wonder. I know that Cool Edit and WINE don't play nice together. But what about Reaper? So after I finished my editing tasks, I booted Ubuntu again, installed WINE, and downloaded Reaper. And wouldn't you know it? It works like a charm.

I know Ardour is probably a better long term solution, because it's a digital audio workstation built for Linux. But I've had a pretty hard time in the past getting Jack configured. And Ubuntu just barely recognizes the sound drivers on my PC. So the fact that Reaper and WINE recognize my USB mixer makes me pretty giddy. And it also makes me one step closer to dropping Windows altogether. If I can just figure out how to synchronize my Windows Mobile 2003SE PDA with Sunbird, I think I'd be pretty much set.

Of course, if another Windows update make my audio drivers start working again I'll probably forget all about this.

Oh yeah, I tried loading Reaper on my Eee PC using WINE, and it didn't take quite as well. The application installed, and even seemed like it was going to run. But it froze on startup.

Update: I spoke too soon. It turns out Reaper does run on my Eee PC. It's a bit slow and glitchy when making recordings, but it seems up to basic editing tasks. The program is obviously meant for a larger screen, because there's no way to resize the mixer window, meaning you can only view one track at a time unless you just hide the mixer, which is what I've done below.

Installing Audacity on the Eee PC take 2: The easy way

OK, it turns out there's an easy way to install Audacity, and there's an easy way. I showed you the hard way already. Now let's take a look at the easy way.

1. Go ahead and open a terminal by starting the file manager (located under the Work tab) and selecting "Open Console Window" from the Tools menu.
2. Now type "konqueror" to bring up the KDE file manager/web browser. If you want to avoid entering your password down the line, try typing "sudo konqueror."
3. Select Applications
4. Select System
5. Select Synaptic Package Manager
6. Under Settings, select Repositories
7. Click add and enter "deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main"
8. Click the Search button and enter Audacity, GIMP, or any other program you're looking for.
9. Click on the check box next to the program you want to install and select Mark for installation
10. Click Apply and you're all set.

Related Posts:

• Installing Audacity on the Eee PC
• Unboxing the Eee PC
• Photos of the Eee PC next to other stuff

Zoom H4 2.0 firmware update fixes almost everything

There's a new firmware update for the Zoom H4 Handy Recorder, and boy is it a doozy. In fact, Zoom seems to have addressed almost every single complaint anyone's ever had with the Zoom software. Version 2.0 includes:

• Larger fonts making the tiny display easier to read
• Battery meter shows how much juice you've got left when recording in stereo mode
• Specify whether you're using alkaline or Ni-MH batteries for a more accurate battery reading
• There's a remaining time meter in stereo mode
• Mono mix recording in stereo mode (In other words, you'll still be recording on two tracks, but the output will be dual mono instead of true stereo. This doesn't save you any space on your memory card, but it does make voice recordings more accurate).
• Low cut filter with 10 presets for reducing background sound
• Auto recording mode starts up a recording when there's sound above a certain threshold and pauses when it gets quiet
• Support for SDHC cards up to 4GB (Previously you could only use SD cards up to 2GB)
• Convert WAV files to MP3 directly on the unit to save space
• Divide large files
• Normalize files to bring up the volume on the recorder (Depending on the card you're using, this could reportedly take almost as long as recording a new track, so you might be better off waiting until you get to a PC to do this).
• You can now turn off the input signal when using the USB interface mode. In other words, you don't have to hear the mic or line input sound all the time
  

I downloaded and installed the update, and so far I'm pretty impressed. I would have preferred a true mono recording option in the stereo mode, even if that sounds like a bit of a contradiction. Once you become comfortable recording in mono using the 4-track mode, it's not that hard to do. But since you don't get a battery meter or remaining record time display in 4-track mode, it would be nice if you could do make true mono recordings in the 2-track mode.

You can download the supplemental Zoom H4 manual (PDF link) and see in-depth descriptions of all the new features if you want to read up a bit before messing with your recorder's firmware.

The software update does nothing to solve the electric pulsing noise problem when you're running on battery power, so the best solution is still to build your own battery pack. And of course, the Zoom H4 still has a few hardware issues like noisy preamps when using external mics and loud handling noise when using the internal mics.

But this update is still pretty sweet. It certainly makes up for the last disappointing firmware upgrade.

Update: A couple of people have contacted me to let me know they were having problems installing the firmware. So here are three things to make sure you're doing:

1. Make sure you check to see what version of the Zoom firmware you're currently using and download the corresponding update file.
2. When Zoom says put the update file in the root directory of your SD card, this does not mean the Sys folder. Instead, the file should not go in any folder at all.
3. Make sure your Zoom is plugged in when performing the update.

Falling for Reaper

Reaper is a handy and affordable digital audio editing workstation from the developers who brought us Winamp. But I would like to say, it was with great effort that I refrained from titling this post "Don't fear the reaper."

I've been using Cool Edit to work with audio for more than 5 years now, and while there's a few things about it that bug me, I haven't found a cheap and reliable replacement. I tried Adobe Audition, which is essentially the upgraded version of Cool Edit, but didn't find enough features that suited my needs to justify the $350 price tag.

A year or two ago I had taken a look at a beta version of Reaper. But it crashed my computer. Repeatedly. So I moved in.

A few months ago I took Reaper for another spin for an article I was writing at Download Squad. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Probably my favorite feature was "ripple editing." Most good audio editors have a feature that lets you make remove a section from early on in the audio while automatically sliding the rest of the audio over to the left.

If you're planning on cutting a few seconds from a 4 minute song, this might not seem like a big deal. But if you're trying to whittle a 45 minute interview down to 3 minutes, this feature can be a life saver. And it's something that's missing from Cool Edit. I've found a few workarounds over the years, but nothing that works as well as ripple editing in Reaper.

So when I had an hour's worth of sound yesterday that I needed to edit down to 12 minutes, I pulled out Reaper and snipped away. A project that could have taken all day in Cool Edit took just an hour or two.

If anything, there are a few too many options in Reaper, since it's built for musicians and other audio producers who need more than voice and ambience editing. For example, calculating the best amplification settings in Cool Edit is a breeze. In Reaper it's a bit more complicated, and unless I'm missing something, requires effects plugins. But the result is much more control over the output.

I'll probably continue using Cool Edit as my primary audio workstation for a while, because it's what I'm used to and I just don't have time to learn all the ins and outs of another program right now. But I'll be keeping Reaper around and pulling it up when I have tasks to work on that are a bit much for Cool Edit. Reaper is far more powerful than Audacity. But at its most basic level it's pretty easy to use. And I figure the more I use it, the more familiar it will become until maybe one day I can make the switch.

Oh yeah, and best of all, there's a 30 day free trial. The license is $40 for non-commercial use, and $200 for commercial use. But if you don't register all you get is a note reminding you that you should probably pay up if you find the software useful.

Right now my only two complaints with Reaper are that updates are issued too often. Every time I open the application I get a note alerting me that a new version is available for download. And the second problem isn't their fault. But since an upcoming TV show also happens to be named Reaper, and since Reaper doesn't have an obvious domain name, it takes a bit of extra Googling to find the product's web site if you haven't bookmarked it.