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Download
SoundCopy (for Windows 98, 2000, NT, XP)
Alternative
link
Download VB 6.0 Runtime
Electrojunky
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SoundCopy is a Windows
audio recorder and sound file compression utility.
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| Selected for review by Lockergnome. Recommended by Deccan
Herald Online - the largest English News Daily of Karnataka, India. Reviewed by Soundara Rajan - e-news and e-utilities columnist.
Recommended in the 'Amazing Downloads You Must Have' section of AMF
e-Zine. Recommended by 'ComputerLady'. |
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Installation: If you do not already have the
VB 6.0 Runtime installed in your system, download the VB 6.0 Runtime, save
it to a temporary directory, double-click the icon and follow the instructions. Then, download the
SoundCopy application installation file, unzip it (using eg. FreeZip, WinZip), and
save the individual extracted files to a temporary directory. From this
directory, select and double-click the file named 'Setup' and follow the
instructions.
SoundCopy
PAD file: 'Portable Application Description' files are datasets which allow software authors to communicate specific and most often requested information
about their products to online communities in a concise and standard way. Click
here for SoundCopy PAD file which can be opened in a standard browser. Click
here for SoundCopy PAD file in XML format (data can be extracted and
parsed using standard XML toolkits).
 SoundCopy enables you to record, save, playback and compress voice, music
and other sound. Recording time is limited only by the amount of hard disk space
available. SoundCopy can receive input from CD, the Internet (audio files you've
downloaded or streaming audio), microphone, cassette player or any other line-in
source. You can use SoundCopy for recording meetings, conversations and
dictation. You can use it to make digital back-ups of your audio tapes. You can
set it to automatically record a radio program when you're not there - the
possibilities are endless.
I was prompted to create SoundCopy upon a visitor's lament that he could
not find a free audio recorder with an in-built scheduler and mp3 conversion
capability. He asked whether I happened to have such a utility, or could make
one, and said he was happy to do away with options for selecting different
sample sizes and sampling frequencies, as long as the resulting recordings were
a good compromise between sound quality and file size, and the recorder had the
basic auto-record and sound file compression features he was after. After
receiving this request, I performed my own web search for such a program, but
uncovered nothing - confirming my visitor's frustration - and I also found he
was not the only one with these requirements. So I set about creating an
application to fill the gap, and am proud to announce SoundCopy - a free,
handsome, no-nonsense, easy-to-use audio recorder with the ability to record
on demand or to a schedule, and convert recorded WAV files to mp3.
Detailed Features List
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SoundCopy physically consists of two parts - 1. the rectangular 'base'
which carries the 'Record' bar, 'Miminize' and 'Close' buttons, and a
display area down the left side of the 'base' for display of file
particulars, recording time and recording schedule. 2. a large 'disc' which
carries the 'Stop Recording', 'Play File', 'Set Schedule' and 'Convert Wav
to mp3' buttons: |
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Stop
Recording|Play File
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Set
Schedule|Convert Wav to mp3
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Soundcopy makes it very to start, stop and save
recordings: |
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Pressing the 'Record' bar or Ctrl+Alt+R initiates recording.
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The
caption of the bar changes from 'Record' to 'Recording...'
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Once the 'Record' bar is pressed, the 'Stop Recording' button becomes
enabled and pressing that or Ctrl+Alt+S terminates the recording session.
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A dialog box pops up asking you to name the WAV file, and specify
where it should be saved. |
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Once the recording is saved as a WAV file, you can play it by
pressing the 'Play File' button.
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If you hover the mouse away from the
'Play File' button whilst it is playing, you will notice the details of
the WAV file displayed in SoundCopy's display area (size of WAV file in KB
and length in seconds). Note 1: pressing 'Play File'
at any stage plays the most recently recorded and saved WAV file -
irrespective
of whether the recording was done manually or automatically. Note 2: you
can stop file play prematurely by using this little trick - press the
'Record' bar, and while the mouse button is still down, drag the mouse
pointer away from the 'Record' bar and release (this immediately stops
file play, but at the same time doesn't initiate Recording). Without use
of the mouse, you can also stop file play by pressing Ctrl+Alt+R. Pressing
Ctrl+Alt+R again initiates recording. |
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The 'Set Schedule' button pops up a window entitled 'Record Panel',
where you set up the schedule for auto-recording.
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In the Record Panel, you enter the time of
day you want recording to occur, the duration of the recording and the
file name and path you wish the resulting WAV file to be saved to. You
must tick the AutoRecord 'Activate' checkbox for auto-recording to be
enabled. |
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Once you have set
auto-recording, SoundCopy's display area shows the time when
auto-recording will occur. When the scheduled auto-recording moment
arrives, the 'Record' bar automatically depresses to 'Recording...', sound
recording initiates, continues for set duration, and then the 'Record' bar
returns to its normal state and the recording is saved to the path
specified (if you did not specify a path, then by default the recording is
saved as 'AutoRec' in the program directory). The auto-recording time
shown in SoundCopy's display area then disappears, and the process is
complete. |
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Note 1: if while SoundCopy is
auto-recording, you wish to terminate the recording session prematurely (ie
before the scheduled recording duration has elapsed), you can do so by
pressing the 'Stop Recording' button or Ctrl+Alt+S. Note 2: if, when auto-recording is
scheduled to start, SoundCopy already happens to be recording, the
scheduled auto-recording will not begin, and you will be alerted to this
fact. |
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Regardless of whatever else SoundCopy is doing at
the time, you can press the 'Convert WAV to mp3' button to convert a chosen WAV file to mp3.
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After
conversion, the source WAV file is left intact, and the mp3 is given the
same name as the source WAV file (except with a '.mp3' extension), and is
saved in the same directory as the source WAV file. Note: you shouldn't have
any problems with mp3 conversions from WAV files made by SoundCopy, but I
cannot guarantee the results of conversions from WAV files created by other
applications, or those you may have sourced from elsewhere. I've noticed the
LAME encoder used by SoundCopy has 'issues' with some WAV files I have
archived on my HD. |
Windows Sound Settings
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For SoundCopy to function as expected, you need to ensure correct
playback and record settings in the Windows Control Panel. Bring up Windows
Control Panel by pressing 'Start' at the bottom left of your screen, and
then choosing 'Settings'>'Control Panel'. 1. Playback settings: In
Control Panel, go to 'Sounds and Multimedia'>'Audio'>'Sound
Playback'>'Volume', and ensure at least the Master volume control 'mute'
checkbox is not ticked, and that playback of WAV is not muted either. 2.
Record settings: In Control Panel, go to 'Sounds and
Multimedia'>'Audio'>'Sound Recording'>'Volume', whereupon you'll be
presented with a Record Control dialog similar to the one shown below (you
may have some other columns such as 'Stereo Out', 'Mono+mic' etc). Choose
your record source by ticking the relevant 'Select' checkbox. Only audio
from selected source(s) will be recorded: |
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You can see I've chosen to record
'What U Hear' - ie the complete sound mix through my PC's speakers will be
recorded (regardless of origin of each sound in the mix), when I press
SoundCopy's 'Record' bar. Set the Volume slider(s) to approximately the
middle in the first instance.
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