Songs Recording Applet SDK v.1.0

  1. Introduction
  2. Songs Recording Applet SDK package
  3. Target platforms
  4. Installation
  5. Songs Recording Applet functionality
  6. Songs Recording Applet GUI
  7. How to record a song
  8. 7.1. Music file opening
    7.2. Music file playback
    7.3. Recording of song with musical accompaniment
    7.4. Recorded song playback
    7.5. Song uploading on the web server or saving it on your computer
  9. Songs Recording Applet parameters
  10. How to translate applet messages on the national languages
  11. How to register the applet
  12. Troubleshooting

 

1. Introduction

 

Many people, who like to sing, want to share their singing with others. For this purpose they search for web sites, where they can upload their songs and any visitor of the web site can listen to them. To record a song special software has to be used. But the lack of knowledge about the necessary recording software and the absence of accompaniment can hinder the music lovers from reaching their goal.

We designed a special applet, which can be easily integrated into a web site and allows to record singing with musical accompaniment directly onto the web site! Also, you can solve the problem of finding accompaniment by removing the vocals from your favorite song from your CD with the help of our applet. After the record being done, you can easily upload it onto the server, and few seconds later it will be available for the listening pleasure of other site visitors.

How it works

The applet allows recording the singing with musical accompaniment in mp3, MIDI and WAV formats. Music files can be opened by the applet from the local computer or from the web server. After opening the music file, the applet creates a music track. Then, while recording, applet playbacks the music track and records the voice track. These two tracks can be played back, amplified and mixed. If the user likes the recorded song, he/she can save it on the web server or the client computer in the mp3 format.

The applet can also read tracks from audio CDs and remove the vocals from the songs, so web site visitors can use the instrumental versions as accompaniment.

Note! Vocals can be removed from songs only if they were recorded in stereo mode without any special audio effects applied to them. Therefore, sometimes voice removing doesn't work well or does not work at all.

The song recording applet uses native methods to capture/playback sound and encode/decode LAME MP3 in the DLL, which will be installed on the computer after the first use of the applet. The song recording applet is digitally signed.

 

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2. Songs Recording Applet SDK package

  1. Songs recording applet - SongApplet.jar.
  2. DLLs - SongWin.tar for Windows and SongMac.tar lib for Mac.
  3. Server script in PHP - retrive_db.php, filelist.php.
  4. Example - song_recorder.html.
  5. User's Guide .
  6. License agreement.

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3. Target platforms

Target OS Platform: Windows 98/NT/2000/ME/XP/2003, Mac OS 10.3 and up..

Target browsers:

- on the Windows : Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and up, Netscape 7, FireFox, Mozilla, Opera.

- on the Mac : Safari, Opera.

Java versions: Sun Java plug-in 1.3 -1.6.

Web Servers: Any web server with PHP 4.x support.

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4. Installation

  1. Create the directory /voicefiles and /recorder on the server in the root of the web server. For example: www.vimas.com/recorder/ and www.vimas.com/songfiles/ . Please for a start create these folders in the root of web server! When the applet works properly, you can change the folders location. Note! It may require changes in the server script.
  2. Make changes in the song_recorder.html. parameter. You will have to indicate your web domain in the "ServerScript" instead of www.vimas.com .
  3. Put the following files into the /recorder folder:
    • song_recorder.html - example page which call the applet.
    • SongApplet.jar– recording applet.
    • SongWin.tar, SongMac.tar- dlls.
    • help.html - file with help.
    • localization_en.xml - xml file with all text messages and text on the applet GUI. If this file is absent, the applet uses default hardcoded messages in English.
    • retrive_db.php - server script for receiving of song files and saving them onto the server. The server script will create a subfolder in the /voicefile folder with name which is defined in the UserServerFolder applet parameter and save the song file there. If the subfolder with the UserServerFolder name already exists, the voice file will be saved there.
    • filelist.php - server script which create the list of music files on the server. It 's necessary for opening music files from the server.
  4. Create /MIDI, /Mp3 and /WAV subfolders in the /recorder folder. Put musical accompaniment in MID format into the /MIDI subfolder, Mp3 files into the Mp3 subfolder, WAV files into the /WAV subfolder.
  5. The server script must have a permission to save the song files on the server. Please check it. To set permissions use chmod 755 instruction. Your web server administrator can do it.
  6. To test the song recording applet, open the song_recorder.html on the client computer.

 

Note! You can put the applet and the DLL files into other folders, than mentioned above, but please keep in mind the following:

  • The applet file SongApplet.jar must be on the server in the same folder, as the web page which calls the applet. If they're in different folders – the full path to the applet must be indicated in the CODEBASE applet parameter.
  • SongWin.tar, SongMac.tar must be in the same directory as the applet.
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5. Songs Recording Applet functionality

1. Opening musical accompaniment audio files in MIDI , Mp3, and WAV formats. These files can be opened from the web server or from the local computer.

2. Opening audio CD tracks. Removing vocals from songs. Note! Vocals can be removed from songs only if they were recorded in stereo mode without any special audio effects applied to them. Therefore, sometimes voice removing doesn't work well or does not work at all.

3. Musical accompaniment playback.

4. Song recording with musical accompaniment.

5. Playback of recorded song for evaluation.

6. Uploading songs on the web server or saving them on the local computer in mp3 audio format.

The demo version allows to record 20 sec only.

The songs recording applet is developed in Java 2. and works with Java plug-in 1.3-1.6. The applet uses native methods to capture/playback sound and to encode/decode LAME Mp3. They are developed in C++ and implemented as DLLs (SongWin.tar and SongMac.tar). The DLLs will be installed on the client computer during the first use of the applet. The recording applet is digitally signed. For digitally signing the Thawte certificate is used.

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6. Song Recording Applet GUI

 

Fig.1

1. Menu "File". Here you can open the musical accompaniment and save the recorded song. It contains 2 items: "Open song" - to open musical accompaniment and "Save song" to save the recorded song. "Open song" contains "Open from disk" and "Open from server" items. "Save song" contains "Save to disc" and "Save on the server" items.

2. Menu "Effects". Here you can remove the voice if you opened music a file with vocals. Note! a) Vocals can be removed from music only if the audio file was recorded in the stereo mode! b) Even if the audio file was recorded in the stereo mode, it doesn't guarantee a successful voice removing.

3. Menu "Help". It contains 2 items - "Help" and "About". The Help content is in the help.html file. You may edit this file. The "About" item can be removed for additional payment.

4. Chooser of tracks for playback. You can playback music or voice track only or both.

5. Music track amplifier.

6. Voice track amplifier.

7. Graphical input level indicator. If your voice level is correct - the indicator is green. If voice level is high - it is red. If voice level is low - it is blue.

8. Microphone level tuner. It is synchronized with Windows microphone level tuner.

9. Time, left until the end of the track (musical accompaniment, voice track or both).

10. Indicator of audio buffer filling. Geometrical size of indicators corresponds the length of track which is playing. In case of playback both tracks, it corresponds with the length of the voice track.

11. Stop button.

12. Pause button.

13. Play button.

14. Status bar.

15. Record button.

16. Elapsed time.

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7. How to record a song

To record your own song, please do the following steps:

  1. Open a music file for accompaniment
  2. Playback the music file to be sure that it sounds properly. Remove the vocals from the music if needed
  3. Record the song
  4. Playback the recorded song to evaluation
  5. Upload the song on the web server or save it on your computer

7.1. Music file opening

You can open music files for accompaniment from the local computer or from the web server. Music files can be used in mp3, MIDI and WAV format or audio tracks from the audio CD. You can open music files in the menu “File”->”Open File”-> ”Open from disk”/”Open from server”. The music file will be saved in the music track in the applet.

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7.2. Music file playback

Click the Play button to playback the music accompaniment. If you want to use the music from your favourite song on a CD, you can remove the vocals and use its instrumental version. To remove vocals go to “Effects”-> ”Remove voice” menu.

Note! Vocals can be removed from songs only if they were recorded in stereo mode without any special audio effects applied to them. Therefore, sometimes voice removing doesn't work well or does not work at all.

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7.3. Recording of song with musical accompaniment

Click the Record button. The playback of the music accompaniment and recording of your voice will start. To stop the recording, click the Stop button. The recording will stop automatically if the music file playback will be finished.

Please pay attention to the input level indicator. It should be green while you sing. If it is red – decrease the microphone sensitivity or sing more softly, or increase the distance between the microphone and you mouth. If it is blue - increase the microphone sensitivity or sing louder, or hold microphone closer to your mouth. You can tune the microphone sensitivity on the applet control panel or in the Windows sound mixer.

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7.4. Recorded song playback

To playback the vocals with music accompaniment, choose “Both” option on the control panel and click the Play button. To playback your voice without music, choose “Voice” on the control panel and click the Play button.

In case your voice sounds too loud or to softly, you can amplify it or enfeeble it on the control panel. You can do the same with music track.

Note! You can amplify or enfeeble full track only, but not some fragments of it.

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7.5. Song uploading on the web server or saving it on your computer

If you like the song quality, you can save it on the web server or on your computer.

Go to “File”->”Save song”->”Save to disk”/”Upload”. Before saving the song, music and voice tracks will be mixed and encoded to mp3 format. You can choose the bit rate before encoding. The 96kbps or 128kbps bitrates are recommended.

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7. Songs Recording Applet parameters

Applet parameter name
Parameter value
Parameter description
"ServerScript" e.g. "http://www.vimas.com/recorder/retrive_db.php" dataBase_vretrive_db.php server script URL .
"FileListScriptUrl" e.g. "http://www.vimas.com/recorder/filelist.php" filelist.php server script URL.
"SongsServerFolder" e.g. "http://www.vimas.com/songfiles/" Folder on the server to save recorded songs.
"UserServerFolder" e.g. "Sergey" Sub folder for specified user. This folder is in the SongsServerFolder.
"BlockSize" e.g. 10240 Applet uploads audio file portion by portion. This parameter defines the size of portion in bytes.
"Registration" a) “Demo”
b) Name of file with registration key. E.g. “RegKey.txt”
a) The applet works as demo, the maximal recording time is 20 sec. If Registration parameter is absent, applet works as demo, too.
b) The registration key file you will receive after licensing. File must be located on the server in the same directory with applet.
"LocalizationFile" e.g. "http://vimas.com/recorder/localization_en.xml" xml file with all text messages. They can be edited or translated on any national language.
"UserPostVariables" e.g. "name,country" Defines the post variables. No limitation for number of variables.
"name" e.g. "VIMAS Technologies" e.g. company name.
"country" e.g. "Ukraine" e.g. country

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8. How to translate applet messages into national languages

All applet text messages and text on the GUI are collected in the localization.xml file. You can translate them into any language.

The localization_en.xml file has to be located on the server. The path to this file has to be defined in the "LocalizationFile" applet parameter. For example:

<PARAM NAME = "LocalizationFile" VALUE = "http://vimas.com/recorder/localization_en.xml">

If this applet parameter is absent, English text messages will be used. They are hardcoded in the applet.

The Help is in the help.htm file. So, you can create your own help.htm file in your national language.

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9. How to register the applet

The songs recording applet works in demo or full functional modes. To use the applet as a demo applet, you have to add to applet parameters the following parameter:

<PARAM NAME = "Registration" VALUE = "Demo">

Applet also works as demo if "Registration" parameter is absent.

In the demo mode the applet will work with limited to 20 sec recording (playback) time.

It is single difference between demo and full functional applet mode.

To use applet as full functional you have to:

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10. Troubleshooting

1.Applet does not appear in the browser.

a) Check if Java plug-in is installed on your computer.

b) Check, if applet using in the browser is permitted.

c) Check if the applet file SongApplet.jar is located on the server in the same folder as the web page, which calls the applet.

2. Can't load audio module.

a) Check if SongWin.tar and SongMac.tar are on the server in the same folder as the SongApplet.jar applet file.

b) Check if it is possible to download SongWin.tar and SongMac.tar from server via browser. Enter the URL of jvideoWin.tar to the address field of the browser. For example:

http://www.vimas.com/recorder/SongWin.tar. If the browser cannot download that file, the applet cannot do it either. Find out the reason, why SongWin.tar cannot be downloaded.

3. Song file can not be loaded.

a) Check if the correct path to retrive_db.php in the "ServerScript" applet parameter is defined.

b) Check if it's permitted to save files into the folder and the subfolder which are defined in the "SongsServerFolder" and "UserServerFolder".

c) Server script retrive_db.php is developed in PHP. So, check if the server supports PHP.

 

For support: info@vimas.com