SoundIn problems: "Unable to find sound capture device"

[Nick F]

Hi David,

Sorry I'm slow replying. It turns out the solution is quite simple: in
order to enable sound recording (and use the SoundIn object) in E-
Prime, you need to enable the SoundCapture device in the experiment
(Experiment -> Devices -> Add -> SoundCapture). I'd managed to miss
this when I looked through the New Features guide - thought I'd post
this here in case anyone else has the same problem.

While I'm here, I might as well clarify another quirk of the SoundIn
object. It turns out that regardless of when you stop the SoundIn
object, the WAV file it writes will always be the full length of the
SoundIn object's buffer (the remaining duration will be silent). I
asked PST Web Support about this and they say that at the moment there
is no way round this. Not necessarily a huge problem, but it does mean
that response data can end up taking up vastly more disk space than is
really necessary. I got round this problem by converting everything to
mp3 (since, as I understand it, silences - however long - should make
a negligible difference to file size when encoded to mp3). Since the
SoundIn object also currently always writes in stereo (even from a
mono input), I also converted back to mono when encoding to mp3, which
should halve file sizes as well. For anyone who wants to do this, I
recommend LamedropXPD - a very small, easy-to-use batch mp3 encoder,
which has a 'Mono encode' checkbox. This allowed me to reduce 128MB of
sound recordings to 4MB, with no audible loss of quality (I encoded at
192 kbps). Of course, anyone trying this would be wise to make sure
that all the resulting mp3s are useable before they delete the
original WAVs...

Anyway, just thought I'd post all that in case anyone else is having
any of the same problems I had - hope it's of some use to someone.

Thanks again,
Nick


On Feb 4, 7:02 pm, David McFarlane <mcfar... at msu.edu> wrote:
> Nick,
>
> Please submit this to PST Web Support athttp://support.pstnet.com/e%2Dprime/support/login.asp, they strive
> to respond to all requests in 24-48 hours.  Then please do us a favor
> and post back here with the result.
>
> Also, you might try upgrading to EP2.0.8.73 (Pro), any registered
> user can download that for free from the PST web site.  Glad to see
> that you are still on XP, many of us have had trouble running EP2
> under Vista, and I have not gotten any confirmed reports yet on
> whether 2.0.8.73 or Win7 fix that.
>
> Thanks,
> -- David McFarlane, Professional Faultfinder
>
>
>
> >I'm trying to set up an experiment using the SoundIn object to record
> >participants' responses. The problem I'm having is that every time I
> >try to run or generate, I receive the following error message:
>
> >"A Fatal Error occurred while generating the initialization code for
> >the E-Object named 'SoundIn1'
> >Error Message: Unable to find sound capture device. Ensure that a
> >sound capture device is available."
>
> >I've tried with both an external USB audio-recording soundcard and the
> >computer's internal soundcard, and I get the same error with both.
> >There doesn't seem to be any problem with the soundcards: E-Prime's
> >SoundOut object will play without complaint using either card, and I'm
> >able to record audio input in software other than E-Prime.
>
> >If anyone has any experience of getting E-Prime to work with audio
> >input, I'd be very grateful for any suggestions as to what might work.
>
> >Here is my set-up:
>
> >E-Prime 2.0.8.22 Professional / Windows XP
> >Edirol UA-25 USB soundcard
>
> >Many Thanks,
>
> >Nick

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