All xs functionality
but in a much neater implementation is available in the new WaveSurfer
package. xs will continue to be a part of the Snack distribution
mostly as a testbench for new features. All users are strongly encouraged
to use the WaveSurfer instead.
About xs
xs is sound file viewer
built using the Tcl/Tk
scripting language and the Snack
Sound Extension. It runs on all platforms supported by Snack (Unix
and Windows).
xs is provided as an example (without any copyrights)
of how to use Snack to create cross-platform sound applications. It is
included in the Snack distribution, in the demos directory.
Features
Basic sound editing functions
Various signal display functions
File format conversion
Sound format conversion
Sound recording
Sound file labeling/transcription,
i.e., usable for manual text mark-up of sound files
Plug-in capability, using Tcl
scripts accessible from the Tools menu
Postscript printing
All source provided, no copyright
Included tools
Cutter. A tool to cut long files
into several shorter ones, with only three mouse clicks per file, including
listening check.
Beep generator
Simple pitch plotter
Some usage hints
For long files an overview of
the whole sound is shown at the top. You can start playback anywhere by
clicking the left mouse button with the pointer over the waveform.
If you want to open a raw audio
file, set the sampling frequency/number of channels first if known and
then load the file, this can save processing time.
If you press the right mouse
button a pop-up menu appears. Some additional menu entries (for label editing)
are shown if the mouse pointer is located in the label area below the time
axis.
If you want to assign labels
to an audio file, you may have to resize the window in order to use the
menu items for label editing (item above).
xs can read a sound file
from stdin if you specify "-" instead of a file when starting. Try "cat
ex1.wav | xs -". The sound is automatically played.
If you want to display long
files, try the option "Link to disk file". This prevents xs from
trying to load all sound data into memory.
Play
between first mark and mouse pointer position.
Control-o
Open file
Control-s
Save file
Control-p
Play whole file /
current label
Control-n
Open new xs window
Control-r
Refresh window
Control-l
Place cursor at leftmost
label in window
Using the audio server
By using the audio server, which
is included in the distribution, you can get xs to play audio using
the audio hardware on a different computer. Start the script aserver.tcl
on the desired computer and use the settings panel of xs to specify
this host. Do not forget to select the "Use audio server at" option.
