Re: Speaker-test improvements

Re: Speaker-test improvements

[Tom Watson]

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Måns Rullgård <mru@inprovide.com> Writes:


> Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> writes:
>
>> At Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:02:31 +0100,
>> James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
>>> I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
>>> it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
>>> it useful for some things.
>>> 
>>> The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
>>> Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
>>> get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?
>>
>> That's great.  (Is the voice female or male?  We might need both to be
>> PC ;)
>
>Not to mention all the languages of the world.
>
>-- 
>Måns Rullgård
>mru@inprovide.com


I made up a sound file similar to this and it was quite helpful.  One of the
files had individual voices (one at a time) to identify the speakers, and being
with the proper 4-channel specifications for broadcast they were identified as
"left front", "right front", "left BACK" and "right BACK".  In doing so it
eliminated the abbreviation of "R" being both "rear" and "right" (not very
clear).

Another test was having all of the channels identified "simultaneously",
usually in a loop.  This allowed me to play with mixer controls which always
get mixed up and get the correct things in the correct places.  When you hook
up sound cards and amplifiers and other external gear, it helps to have the
channel identified.  Some mixer controls on some cards fold the "back" channels
into the "front" channels, and then you need to poke around in your mixer
program ('alsamixer' is but one) to turn on/off "mutes" to get it right. 
Having the speaker test "loop" with spoken words was VERY helpful to me.

The only "problem" I see is having the samples at one speed.  Sometimes it is
helpful to have the program send the sounds out at a specific speed to the ALSA
api, where it does further operations (another re-sampling).

Another useful option on a sequential test would be to have the channel
identified on standard output at the beginning of the spoken words.

I really don't see a problem with the "voice" being male and English.  I
suspect that since it is ONLY A TEST, we don't need to be PC at all.

Perhaps the sound files for the sounds (mono for each, merged in the program)
can be put in such a place that they can be altered to suit the user.  It may
be that "LFE" may not be the desired name for the particular output.  There may
be 8 or more channels to identify, and maybe having them labeled "one"... would
be "better".  Given that more than one sound card might be used, and all slaved
thru plugins, it could go higher.  Who knows.

Just some thoughts...

-- 
Tom Watson
tsw@johana.com


		
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Re: Re: Speaker-test improvements

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 14 Apr 2005 13:41:47 -0700 (PDT),
Tom Watson wrote:
> 
> Måns Rullgård <mru@inprovide.com> Writes:
> 
> 
> > Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> writes:
> >
> >> At Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:02:31 +0100,
> >> James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> >>> 
> >>> Hi,
> >>> 
> >>> I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
> >>> I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
> >>> it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
> >>> it useful for some things.
> >>> 
> >>> The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
> >>> Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
> >>> get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?
> >>
> >> That's great.  (Is the voice female or male?  We might need both to be
> >> PC ;)
> >
> >Not to mention all the languages of the world.
> >
> >-- 
> >Måns Rullgård
> >mru@inprovide.com
> 
> 
> I made up a sound file similar to this and it was quite helpful.  One of the
> files had individual voices (one at a time) to identify the speakers, and being
> with the proper 4-channel specifications for broadcast they were identified as
> "left front", "right front", "left BACK" and "right BACK".  In doing so it
> eliminated the abbreviation of "R" being both "rear" and "right" (not very
> clear).
> 
> Another test was having all of the channels identified "simultaneously",
> usually in a loop.  This allowed me to play with mixer controls which always
> get mixed up and get the correct things in the correct places.  When you hook
> up sound cards and amplifiers and other external gear, it helps to have the
> channel identified.  Some mixer controls on some cards fold the "back" channels
> into the "front" channels, and then you need to poke around in your mixer
> program ('alsamixer' is but one) to turn on/off "mutes" to get it right. 

This sounds like a good idea.

> Having the speaker test "loop" with spoken words was VERY helpful to me.
> 
> The only "problem" I see is having the samples at one speed.  Sometimes it is
> helpful to have the program send the sounds out at a specific speed to the ALSA
> api, where it does further operations (another re-sampling).

It should be fine when you specify the PCM with "plug" layer, e.g.

	% speaker-test -Dplug:surround51 -c6

> Another useful option on a sequential test would be to have the channel
> identified on standard output at the beginning of the spoken words.
> 
> I really don't see a problem with the "voice" being male and English.  I
> suspect that since it is ONLY A TEST, we don't need to be PC at all.

Don't take my comment with a smiley so serious :)

> Perhaps the sound files for the sounds (mono for each, merged in the program)
> can be put in such a place that they can be altered to suit the user.  It may
> be that "LFE" may not be the desired name for the particular output.  There may
> be 8 or more channels to identify, and maybe having them labeled "one"... would
> be "better".  Given that more than one sound card might be used, and all slaved
> thru plugins, it could go higher.  Who knows.

Yes, that would be helpful, too.


Takahsi


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Re: Speaker-test improvements

[Raymond]

>>>Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> writes:
>>>
>>>
>>>>At Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:02:31 +0100,
>>>>James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>>I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
>>>>>I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
>>>>>it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
>>>>>it useful for some things.
>>>>>
>>>>>The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
>>>>>Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
>>>>>get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?
>>>>

It seem most onboard audio (intel8x0,hda) have ".channels_min = 2".

You may need to merge the mono "Left" and "Right" wav to a stereo
left_right.wav


static snd_pcm_hardware_t snd_intel8x0_stream =
{
     .channels_min =        2,
     .channels_max =        2,
}


aplay -D hw:1,0 speaker-test/samples/*.wav
Playing WAVE 'speaker-test/samples/Front_Center.wav' : Signed 16 bit
Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono
aplay: set_params:887: Channels count non available


aplay -Dplughw:1,0 speaker-test/samples/*.wav
Playing WAVE 'speaker-test/samples/Front_Left.wav' : Signed 16 bit
Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono
Playing WAVE 'speaker-test/samples/Front_Right.wav' : Signed 16 bit
Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono


>>
>>
>>I made up a sound file similar to this and it was quite helpful.  One of the
>>files had individual voices (one at a time) to identify the speakers, and being
>>with the proper 4-channel specifications for broadcast they were identified as
>>"left front", "right front", "left BACK" and "right BACK".  In doing so it
>>eliminated the abbreviation of "R" being both "rear" and "right" (not very
>>clear).
>>
>>Another test was having all of the channels identified "simultaneously",
>>usually in a loop.  This allowed me to play with mixer controls which always
>>get mixed up and get the correct things in the correct places.  When you hook
>>up sound cards and amplifiers and other external gear, it helps to have the
>>channel identified.  Some mixer controls on some cards fold the "back" channels
>>into the "front" channels, and then you need to poke around in your mixer
>>program ('alsamixer' is but one) to turn on/off "mutes" to get it right. 
> 
> 
> This sounds like a good idea.
> 
> 
>>Having the speaker test "loop" with spoken words was VERY helpful to me.
>>
>>The only "problem" I see is having the samples at one speed.  Sometimes it is
>>helpful to have the program send the sounds out at a specific speed to the ALSA
>>api, where it does further operations (another re-sampling).
> 
> 
> It should be fine when you specify the PCM with "plug" layer, e.g.
> 
> 	% speaker-test -Dplug:surround51 -c6
> 


# speaker-test -D hw:1,0

speaker-test 0.0.8

Playback device is hw:1,0
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Channels count (1) not available for playbacks: Invalid argument
Setting of hwparams failed: Invalid argument


# speaker-test -Dplughw:1,0

speaker-test 0.0.8

Playback device is plughw:1,0
Stream parameters are 48000Hz, S16_LE, 1 channels
Using 16 octaves of pink noise
Rate set to 48000Hz (requested 48000Hz)
Buffer size range from 8 to 16384
Period size range from 8 to 16384
Periods = 4
Buffer time size 2525
To choose buffer_size = 15052
To choose period_size = 3763
was set period_size = 3763
was set buffer_size = 15052
  0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.667026
  0 - Front Left
Time per period = 2.978708
  0 - Front Left




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Re: Re: Speaker-test improvements

[Takashi Iwai]

At Thu, 23 Jun 2005 18:20:59 +0800,
Raymond wrote:
> 
> 
> >>>Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> writes:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>>At Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:02:31 +0100,
> >>>>James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>Hi,
> >>>>>
> >>>>>I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
> >>>>>I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
> >>>>>it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
> >>>>>it useful for some things.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
> >>>>>Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
> >>>>>get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?
> >>>>
> 
> It seem most onboard audio (intel8x0,hda) have ".channels_min = 2".
> 
> You may need to merge the mono "Left" and "Right" wav to a stereo
> left_right.wav
> 
> 
> static snd_pcm_hardware_t snd_intel8x0_stream =
> {
>      .channels_min =        2,
>      .channels_max =        2,
> }
> 
> 
> aplay -D hw:1,0 speaker-test/samples/*.wav
> Playing WAVE 'speaker-test/samples/Front_Center.wav' : Signed 16 bit
> Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono
> aplay: set_params:887: Channels count non available
> 
> 
> aplay -Dplughw:1,0 speaker-test/samples/*.wav
> Playing WAVE 'speaker-test/samples/Front_Left.wav' : Signed 16 bit
> Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono
> Playing WAVE 'speaker-test/samples/Front_Right.wav' : Signed 16 bit
> Little Endian, Rate 48000 Hz, Mono

Hmm, I don't see the point.

If you have stereo output and output a mono stream, it's always split
to left and right.   The mono stream should be used together with -s
option.


Takashi


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Re: Speaker-test improvements

[James Courtier-Dutton]

Takashi Iwai wrote:
> At Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:02:31 +0100,
> James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> 
>>Hi,
>>
>>I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
>>I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
>>it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
>>it useful for some things.
>>
>>The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
>>Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
>>get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?
> 
> 
> That's great.  (Is the voice female or male?  We might need both to be
> PC ;)
> 
> The suitable location of such data files would be something like
> $(datadir)/sounds/alsa or $(datadir)/sounds/speaker-test. 
> 
> 
> Takashi
> 
> 

Thank you. The current samples are here:
http://www.alsa-project.org/~james/speaker-test/samples/

I will hopefully modify the speaker-test program to use them soon.

James




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Re: Speaker-test improvements

[Måns Rullgård]

Takashi Iwai <tiwai@suse.de> writes:

> At Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:02:31 +0100,
> James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
>> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
>> I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
>> it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
>> it useful for some things.
>> 
>> The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
>> Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
>> get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?
>
> That's great.  (Is the voice female or male?  We might need both to be
> PC ;)

Not to mention all the languages of the world.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
mru@inprovide.com



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Re: Speaker-test improvements

[Takashi Iwai]

At Wed, 13 Apr 2005 21:02:31 +0100,
James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
> I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
> it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
> it useful for some things.
> 
> The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
> Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
> get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?

That's great.  (Is the voice female or male?  We might need both to be
PC ;)

The suitable location of such data files would be something like
$(datadir)/sounds/alsa or $(datadir)/sounds/speaker-test. 


Takashi


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Speaker-test improvements

[James Courtier-Dutton]

Hi,

I have got some voice samples saying things like "Front Right" etc. that
I want the speaker-test program to output instead of the loud sine wave
it currently does. The sine wave will stay there as an option as I find
it useful for some things.

The samples are 10 .wav files in 48khz mono S16_LE format.
Where abouts should I put them in the CVS, and where abouts should they
get installed to, so that speaker-test can find them?

Cheers

James


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