Trying to convert a .wav to a .cas

[+Allan]

I'm trying to covert the .wav below to a .cas. It converts it but I get an error 146. Can somebody look at it and see what's going on?

 

Allan

 

Sound Editor2.wav.zip

[russg]

I'm trying to covert the .wav below to a .cas. It converts it but I get an error 146. Can somebody look at it and see what's going on?

 

Allan

 

I tried E. Schreurs wav2cas.exe, a PC utility. It doesn't recognize the sound....wav file. What are you using to convert the .wav to a .cas? I don't see such a utility in A800Winplus or Altirra.

Can't try it. Playing the .wav file with Windows Media Player, it is a weak recording.

error 146 means you're trying to output to the keyboard or input from the screen or such.

Edited June 3, 2014 by russg

[low.blow]

I'm trying to covert the .wav below to a .cas. It converts it but I get an error 146. Can somebody look at it and see what's going on?

 

Allan

 

 

Looking at the .wav in audacity, the audio looks like it was recorded extremely low volume. I used audacity to amplify it, then ran wav2cas, which seemed to work - but I still can't get the .cas file to run in altirra...

 

edit: actually messing around I got it to load in altirra. I used hardware 400/800, rom os-b, 48k ram(800), sio patch on. Had to boot basic, then cload.

 

 

SE2B.rar

Edited June 3, 2014 by low.blow

[Kr0tki]

low.blow, your CAS file contains one superfluous byte in the last block. Doesn't break loading process, but oh well. Here's the correct CAS file.

Atari 800 Noise Creation v2.0 (Atari)(1981)CLOAD+RUNBASIC.cas.zip

[+Allan]

Amazing guys.

 

Thank you russg, low.blow and KrOtki,

 

Another Atari program saved.

 

So in your opinions what volume level should I record at not only on my cassette deck but also in Audacity. On my cassette deck I have it at 5 (from 1 through 10) and in Audacity I have input Volume at 0.54 (or about half way) and output Volume the same as Input Volume.

 

This is the program for anybody interested. I will post it on Atarimania today.

 

http://www.atariarchives.org/APX/showinfo.php?cat=20018

 

Allan

[Rybags]

In my experience, usually have both around 7 (normal audio type stuff, not data).

 

Too low, you get what you had plus the precision will be lower if you boost the amplitude later.

Too high and you get clipping and distortion.

[+Allan]

Using Rybags suggestion I just made another .CAS image of another APX program called Counter. I know the ATR is available but for the sake of completeness I wanted to do a .CAS image. This one looks like it is a multi-boot program. Unfortunetely it is over the 25meg limit on Atariage so I had to put it on Atarimania's FTP server for those who have access to it. When I try to load it I get an Error 21 which I assume is because of the multi-boot process. Any help would be greatly apprieciated. The wav file is 'Counter.wav.zip'

 

Allan

[+Allan]

I have one that I could never get to load on a real Atari. Maybe it could be fixed.

 

Allan

 

impact.wav.zip

[russg]

Using Rybags suggestion I just made another .CAS image of another APX program called Counter. I know the ATR is available but for the sake of completeness I wanted to do a .CAS image. This one looks like it is a multi-boot program. Unfortunetely it is over the 25meg limit on Atariage so I had to put it on Atarimania's FTP server for those who have access to it. When I try to load it I get an Error 21 which I assume is because of the multi-boot process. Any help would be greatly apprieciated. The wav file is 'Counter.wav.zip'

 

Allan

I can't get at Counter.wav.zip.

However, error 21 means the file is a LIST file and you have to ENTER "D:FILE.LST" if it is on a .ATR. Or ENTER "C:" may work..

[charliecron]

I did a cas of Counter a while back.. here it is. Should work..

 

Charlie

 

 

[Kr0tki]

charliecron, your CAS file contains superfluous "fsk" blocks that represent no meaningful data, and should be removed, or else the file won't load on some emulators.

 

Here's the correct image for Counter. It's a bootable tape, but needs to be loaded with BASIC.

 

And a CAS for Impact, which converted just fine. It's a bootable tape, that requires a machine with four joystick ports.

Counter (1982)(APX).zip

Impact (1983)(APX).zip

[Kr0tki]

So in your opinions what volume level should I record at not only on my cassette deck but also in Audacity. On my cassette deck I have it at 5 (from 1 through 10) and in Audacity I have input Volume at 0.54 (or about half way) and output Volume the same as Input Volume.

The answer is, choose the volume that fills the Audacity's audio track view to about 50% and you'll be fine. 100% fill means there is clipping, which is undesirable.

 

Audacity's Output volume has no impact on recording, it's just playback volume so you can hear what's currently being recorded.

 

Anyway, decoding Atari tapes is not really susceptible to volume. Your Sound Editor and Impact recordings were quite silent in comparison to a typical Atari tape, but as you can see, they have been converted flawlessly.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Kr0tki

[+Allan]

I did a cas of Counter a while back.. here it is. Should work..

 

Charlie

 

 

Thanks, Charlie.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

The answer is, choose the volume that fills the Audacity's audio track view to about 50% and you'll be fine. 100% fill means there is clipping, which is undesirable.

 

Audacity's Output volume has no impact on recording, it's just playback volume so you can hear what's currently being recorded.

 

Anyway, decoding Atari tapes is not really susceptible to volume. Your Sound Editor and Impact recordings were quite silent in comparison to a typical Atari tape, but as you can see, they have been converted flawlessly.

Thanks for converting them, Kr0tki,

 

I'll play around with the volume to see what WAV2CAS likes or dislikes. I'm guessing with the Impact program, WAV2CAS didn't like the multi-boot part?

 

Allan

[Kr0tki]

Don't use WAV2CAS, it's an old and unsophisticated tool, fails on less-than-high quality recordings. There exist better tools today, such as the one thorfdbg posted a few months ago, or the one from my sig.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Kr0tki

[+Allan]

I have a question about cassettes that have multiple programs on one side. Is it possible to turn these into .CAS files as one file, or do you have to split each program up into seperate >CAS files? For example the cassette that comes with the 1020 printer has a couple of programs on side two of the disk. I want to archive this but I'm not sure what to do. Separate them, keep them as one, etc.?

 

Allan

[Kr0tki]

It's OK to have a CAS image containing multiple programs - although when using such an image you'd need to "fast-forward" it to an appropriate position before loading, just as with the real tape.

 

There are two ways to create such an image.

1. Record the whole tape to a single WAV file, then convert it to CAS as a whole. The resulting CAS image might contain a some unwanted crap data resulting from gaps between programs on the original tape - those crap should then be edited out manually.

2. Record each program as separate WAV, then convert all of them, and finally join the resulting CAS files. To join two CAS files, I would:

a. first convert the files to HEX format,

b. then join data from the HEX files to a single HEX file using a text editor,

c. convert the file back to CAS.

 

EDIT: I'd go with making one CAS image per side. Software preservation also includes preserving the original structure of the medium, right?

Edited June 7, 2014 by Kr0tki

[+Allan]

Thanks, Kr0tki,

I agree about having them in the form they were sold. As for the multi-program tape sides I may just put both the original whole tape image for preservation and a disk image of all the programs for ease of use.

 

Allan

[fujidude]

So in your opinions what volume level should I record at not only on my cassette deck but also in Audacity. On my cassette deck I have it at 5 (from 1 through 10) and in Audacity I have input Volume at 0.54 (or about half way) and output Volume the same as Input Volume.

 

Here is my process for setting up recording levels:

 

1. Adjust output levels on source/playback device as high as you can without distortion occurring. Basically, monitor the playback on a device that you have turned down low (so that it cannot be a source of distortion itself). Crank up the output level until distortion is heard, then back it down some. Use the loudest sounds to do this if the sound level varies throughout. If the playback device does not have an adjustment for setting output levels (common on line level outs of cassette decks for instance), just skip this step. I should point out, if the output device has an output level meter, rely on that instead of your ears. Turn up the output levels so that they come close, but to not exceed ZERO db.
2. Adjust the input levels on the recording (or sampling) device, so that the peaks are just bumping up close to the ZERO on the db level indicator. Any time you have sound going past 0, into the positive dbs, it represents going past maximum and is subject to clipping and distortion, so don't let it happen. With music you can allow a little of it in the name of having most of the non peak music at a sufficient volume level, but even then it is advisable to not allow much of it. With recording cassettes with data on them, you should allow no possibility of clipping as it can corrupt the data representation. Besides, when recording data cassettes, the peaks aren't too much more than the rest of the sounds. Get as close as you can comfortably get to ZERO db without going past.

These two basic steps will ensure you have the best signal to noise ratio that you can obtain, and that's a good thing.

Edited August 20, 2015 by fujidude