Audio Recording Software. What Do You Recommend?

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crossfire291

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Hey everyone.

I want to start recording audio from my scanner, and was wondering what everyone uses to record, and what you might recommend. I just downloaded Audacity, and it's crap! I need something that I can clip portions of the audio into different segments, so I don't have 3 hours worth of audio to listen to just to hear a single event.

Thanks in advance.
 

Saint

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recorders

Hey everyone.

I want to start recording audio from my scanner, and was wondering what everyone uses to record, and what you might recommend. I just downloaded Audacity, and it's crap! I need something that I can clip portions of the audio into different segments, so I don't have 3 hours worth of audio to listen to just to hear a single event.

Thanks in advance.
Scanner Recorder Home Page
and
do a search for vox recorder with google

Steve
 

torontokris

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depending on the model soem of the software packages for that model maybe able to record audio (ARC etc)

I know its a strech but also look into buying a HomePatrol.. it will record the audio and ONLY capture the voice / breaks in squelch so you can review the whole nights events in about 30 minutes and play iy back right on the unit... no need for a PC connection etc
 

Command30

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I found Audacity to be OK. Any specific problems you encountered? It does have Sound Activated Recording so you don't record dead air.
 
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crossfire291

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I found Audacity to be OK. Any specific problems you encountered? It does have Sound Activated Recording so you don't record dead air.

I actually just found out how to split the audio, and delete a portion of audio. I actually had to highlight the entire segment of audio I want to get rid of. Since discovering that one must highlight to do certain tasks, Audacity seems to be decent.

I'm still going to look into other software and freeware, and see what I like best though. Thanks so far guys.

One thing I still can't figure out, is how to get rid of all the silent bits in the audio I have already recorded. Any insight?
 
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ak4fn

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If you want Auacity to take your previous recordings and remove the silence just go to Effect/Truncate Silence then hit ok. It will remove all the dead air. Also a nice feature is Normalize (under effects as well) which will help the offset the volume between all your recordings.
 

crossfire291

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If you want Auacity to take your previous recordings and remove the silence just go to Effect/Truncate Silence then hit ok. It will remove all the dead air. Also a nice feature is Normalize (under effects as well) which will help the offset the volume between all your recordings.

Thanks. I'll try this next time I start recording. It sounds like it should help out a great deal.
 

scanningdude

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I've been using ARC-XT to record my BCD396XT, it's worked really well so far. I like it mainly for the logging if I have an idea of when a major call came out it's just a matter of finding the file created around that time and start listening back. I was looking for some freeware for a while to but gave up and went with ARC.
 

itstaff

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What are the settings you use for Audacity to delete the dead air space. I did was talked about going to effects and truncate and no luck its all still there. I did find that the website listed in this thread worked but it take much longer to do this method than just to use the software. Any help would be great. Thanks
 

putterizer

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What are the settings you use for Audacity to delete the dead air space. I did was talked about going to effects and truncate and no luck its all still there. I did find that the website listed in this thread worked but it take much longer to do this method than just to use the software. Any help would be great. Thanks

I use the Truncate Silence for deleting dead air space and it works just fine. Have you attempted to change the db settings for the "Threshold for Silence" dropdown option in the Truncate Silence options menu?
 

socoscanner

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xcorder worked okay for me for a while...it is a vox recorder, so it wont record the silence. In terms of files, you can only have is set to start a new recording hourly or have it all be one long audio file. One good thing is that there is also a log created with it so you can see when each segment was recorded. You can also set it to auto record on startup (good if the power goes out)and program the hours that it records.
 

teufler

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Freescan is not bad too. You activate logging and recording. Each transmission is a separate mp3 file. It was mentioned earlier but you can look at the logging, find the time then review your recordings for that activity. If the tranmission was lengthy, thats where I look first.
 

socoscanner

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well it wasnt exactly what I was looking for originally but I got tired of spending hours looking for a free program and finally settled on it...my needs have changed and now i need a program that will record a new file for each transmission so that I can go back to the last transmission without having to stop the recording.
That statement implies that XCorder worked OK and then stopped working for you. Are you having any issues with XCorder?

I wish I was able to use Scan Recorder Pro as I have heard great things about it...too bad about Davee..
Yes Scan Recorder Pro is what I have been using for a few years now. Wish Davee was still around to support it. Seems to have gone away a couple of years ago. Hope he is OK.


At the moment I have a very old Pro-2004 and only am able to connect via 3.5 mm audio cable...does anyone know if that will work with the recording function of FreeScan? I briefly skimmed their website and only mentioned support for some more modern (COM supported) scanners I am also looking to buy a used BC346XT from craigslist so that may solve my dilemma with FreeScan
 

socoscanner

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Freescan is not bad too. You activate logging and recording. Each transmission is a separate mp3 file. It was mentioned earlier but you can look at the logging, find the time then review your recordings for that activity. If the tranmission was lengthy, thats where I look first.

i downloaded freescan and it is a no go for my old scanner with only a 3.5mm audio connection...unless I am missing something...
 

mibzzer15

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For my 996xt and my 396xt, I used to use BcTool+ to record everything, it recorded only the time when there was someone talking on the radio. Worked very well when I had my computer on. I have since built a low power "server" computer that I leave running 24/7 in my bedroom and I now run Proscan for my 996XT, Proscan allows me to record the scanner with alpha tags along with using it for a web stream/server and remote control of the scanner over IP. I used proscan for the first 30 day trial to see how it works out and I just bought it for $50 this weekend. It works VERY well and worth the $50 for all of the features it has.
 
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