[Coco] Audio recording on CoCo

[Joel Ewy]

On 11/20/2011 09:57 PM, Brian G wrote:
> I would like some advice on how to transfer LP music to CD.
> What equipment, software is needed? I have a turntable that I have not 
> used in years, so starting from that, what do I need?

Computer with sound card.  Preamp to get the LP to line level audio.  
Cable from preamp to audio in jack on computer's sound card.  Some kind 
of recording software on the PC.  Audacity is Free / Open Source, and 
runs under Linux and I believe Windows and Mac.

With this you can digitize the audio and save it as a .wav file(s).

You will then need some software to record these audio tracks on the CD 
in CDDA (CD Digital Audio) format.  On Windows, something like Nero 
Burning ROM would do the trick, or maybe something from Sonic.  Windows 
Media player might also be capable of doing this.  Under Linux try 
Brasero or Gnomebaker.  I'm not as familiar with CD authoring software 
for the Mac, but I think there's a program called Alcohol 100 Proof, or 
something like that.

I'm assuming you want to make a regular audio CD instead of burning a 
data CD with a bunch of .MP3 encoded audio files, for example.
>
> Second question. Is it _possible_ to save music files on the CoCo and 
> play them back and sound decent?
> I would like to work on some software/hardware project on the Coco and 
> have the music play.
>  Any ideas?
>
You'll need a sound digitizer program for the CoCo.  Oblique Triad put 
one out called Studio Works that may have ended up on some collection of 
disk images floating around the Internet.  You'll also need to make a 
cable that connects your audio source to the CoCo's joystick port where 
it will be sampled.

Another possibility, I think, is to use the 'play' program in OS-9 to 
play audio files digitized on a modern PC.  The CoCo's built-in hardware 
will only do monophonic sound at 6 bits of resolution.  If you have an 
Orchestra 90 cartridge, it can play 8-bit samples in stereo.  Of course 
the sample size is limited by the memory of the CoCo.  Not sure if 
'play' can stream audio off a hard disk.  Not sure Drivewire or floppy 
disks could keep up with digitized audio.  That's about all I know about it.

JCE