Category Archives: Software

shntool ~ WAVE Processing & Reporting Utility

Posted by tom2tec on

shntool is a multi-purpose WAVE data processing and reporting utility. File formats are abstracted from its core, so it can process any file that contains WAVE data, compressed or not – provided there exists a format module to handle that particular file type.

shntool has native support for .wav files. If you want it to work with other lossless audio formats, you must have the appropriate helper program installed. The “Helper programs” section below contains links to helper programs for each format that shntool supports.

shnutils.freeshell.org/shntool
github.com/bayun/shntool

foo_scrobbler_mac ~ Foo Scrobbler For Macs

Posted by tom2tec on

Foo Scrobbler (foo_scrobbler_mac) is a native Last.fm scrobbling plugin for foobar2000 on macOS. Submits tracks based on precise playback rules, caches scrobbles when offline, and operates silently after one-time authentication. Built using the official foobar2000 plugin API, it focuses on reliability, low overhead, and correct metadata handling. Fully open-source under GPLv3.

Supports macOS ≥ 11.5 on both Intel and ARM.

github.com/zfoxer/foo_scrobbler_mac

caudec ~ Multiprocess Audio Converter

Posted by tom2tec on

caudec is a command-line utility that transcodes (converts) audio files from one format (codec) to another, among other things.

It leverages multi-core CPUs and runs multiple processes concurrently (one per file and per codec, and more than one thread per codec when it supports it). The objective is to hog the CPU as much and as long as possible. One strategy is to sort input files by size, so that the largest files potentially get more threads towards the end of the job.

Features:

  • Supported input formats / codecs: WAV, AIFF, CAF, FLAC, WavPack, Monkey’s Audio, ALAC.
  • Supported output formats / codecs: all of the above, as well as LossyWAV / LossyFLAC, MP3, AAC (.m4a), Ogg Vorbis, Opus.
  • Supported platforms: macOS, Linux.
  • Transcoding to several different codecs at once is possible. In that case, decoding of input files is done only once.
  • Metadata is preserved (as much as possible) from one codec to another.
  • Artwork can be embedded into each file, and / or copied to the output directory. It can be done selectively (e.g. embed and / or copy one image for lossless files, and another image for lossy files).
  • Audio can be resampled (e.g. 48kHz to 44.1kHz) and downmixed (e.g. 6 channels to stereo). A profile can be provided to set a maximum value for the number of channels, bit depth and sampling rate. When a profile is provided, the source will only be altered after decoding and before encoding, if some metric of the source is above the given profile.
  • Multiprocess ReplayGain scanner for FLAC, WavPack, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Opus.
  • Ability to hard link lossy files to a different directory when encoding to WavPack Hybrid. The point is to have two libraries that takes the storage of just one, with a lossy collection that has its own root directory and that’s easy to drag and drop to a device such as a smartphone or a Digital Audio Player (DAP).
  • Ability to touch files and album directories using metadata to reflect the music’s release date and duration (see example below).

github.com/gcocatre/caudec

Drops ~ Single Sample Player

Posted by tom2tec on

Drops is a single audio file sample player plugin in lv2 and vst format for linux.

Load an audio file, play it, loop it, pitch shift it, and make it into something entirely new.

github.com/clearly-broken-software/drops

Buzz ~ Audio Transcription & Translation

Posted by tom2tec on

Buzz transcribes and translates audio to text offline using OpenAI’s Whisper. Import audio and video files into Buzz and export them as TXT, SRT, or VTT files. Buzz supports Whisper, Whisper.cpp, Faster Whisper, Whisper-compatible models from the Hugging Face repository, and the OpenAI Whisper API.

Features:

  • Transcribe audio and video files or Youtube links
  • Live realtime audio transcription from microphone
    • Presentation window for easy accessibility during events and presentations
  • Speech separation before transcription for better accuracy on noisy audio
  • Speaker identification in transcribed media
  • Multiple whisper backend support
    • CUDA acceleration support for Nvidia GPUs
    • Apple Silicon support for Macs
    • Vulkan acceleration support for Whisper.cpp on most GPUs, including integrated GPUs
  • Export transcripts to TXT, SRT, and VTT
  • Advanced Transcription Viewer with search, playback controls, and speed adjustment
  • Keyboard shortcuts for efficient navigation
  • Watch folder for automatic transcription of new files
  • Command-Line Interface for scripting and automation

github.com/chidiwilliams/buzz
sourceforge.net/projects/buzz-captions

ZuseMe ~ Last.fm Client

Posted by tom2tec on

ZuseMe allows you to scrobble songs to Last.fm from players like Groove Music, Media Player (Windows 11) and more.

github.com/dumbie/ZuseMe

MODICIA OS ~ Multimedia Digital Workstation

Posted by tom2tec on

MODICIA O.S. is a complete multimedia workstation for creatives, professionals, and curious users. Runs live from USB with no installation required. Stable, multilingual, and packed with ready-to-use tools.

✨ Key Features

🔃 Live system — boot from USB without modifying your PC

🎥 Multimedia suite — video, audio, graphics, photography

🗂 Office suite — documents and business tools

🧰 Curated software — no duplicates, no broken tools

🖥 Optimized interface — compact layout with visual alerts

🌍 Multilingual — over 30 languages supported

🛡 Invisible fallback logic — safety and stability

🔗 Clickable license buttons — semitransparent, linking to local control files

🎯 Ideal Users

🎬 Filmmakers, editors, streamers

🎧 Musicians, podcasters, sound designers

🎨 Designers, illustrators, photographers

🧑‍🏫 Teachers, writers, office professionals

🧑‍💻 Students and beginners

🐧 Open source users seeking localization and compliance

📦 Included Applications (Examples)

Category Applications

🎞 Video Kdenlive, Shotcut, OBS Studio

🎚 Audio Audacity, Ardour, LMMS

🖌 Graphics GIMP, Inkscape, Krita

📷 Photo Darktable, RawTherapee

📝 Office LibreOffice, PDF Studio

🌐 Web Firefox ESR, Thunderbird, FileZilla

🧹 Utilities GParted, Timeshift, BleachBit

🚀 How to Use

📥 Download the ISO from modiciaos.cloud

🔧 Write it to USB using Rufus or Balena Etcher

💻 Boot the live system on any compatible PC

🎉 Start creating — no installation, no subscriptions, no limits

www.modiciaos.cloud
sourceforge.net/projects/modicia-o-s

It’s MyTabs ~ Tablature Viewer & Player

Posted by tom2tec on

Open source, web based, self hostable guitar/bass tab viewer and player, similar to Songsterr.

github.com/louislam/its-mytabs
sourceforge.net/projects/it-s-mytabs.mirror

foo_truepeak ~ True Peak Scanner

Posted by tom2tec on

foo_truepeak is a ITU-R BS.1770-5 compliant True Peak scanner. It can also scan ReplayGain, Loudness Range (LRA), Dynamic Range (DR), show the amount of clipping samples and report the position of highest peak.

www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_truepeak

For users primarily concerned with playback quality and simplicity, foo_truepeak can replace foobar2000’s ReplayGain and DR scanners. It uses modern loudness standards, detects true peaks and can write all relevant tags in a single pass. While its ReplayGain and DR values may not exactly match legacy scanners, they are more appropriate for real-world playback on modern systems.

1. Download and install foo_truepeak

  1. Download foo_truepeak.fb2k-component from the official component page.
  2. In foobar2000, open File → Preferences → Components.
  3. Click Install…, select the foo_truepeak.fb2k-component file.
  4. Restart foobar2000 when prompted.

2. Disabling legacy scanners (optional but recommended)

To avoid confusion or duplicate workflows:

  1. Don’t try removing the ReplayGain scanner as it’s built in.
  2. You can uninstall foo_dr_meter and or foo_dynamic_meter.

This keeps foo_truepeak as your single analysis tool.

3. Open foo_truepeak preferences

Go to File → Preferences → Advanced → Tools → True Peak Scanner

4. Ensure the following is enabled

✔ Scan True Peak Values

True peak scanning accounts for inter-sample peaks created during digital-to-analog conversion, ensuring that peak levels reflect what a real DAC actually outputs, not just what is stored in the file.

5. Enable ReplayGain scanning

✔ Scan ReplayGain values

Notes:
  • Gains are derived from EBU R128 loudness, but written as ReplayGain tags.
  • Peaks are true peaks, not simple sample peaks.
  • Playback normalization works normally in foobar2000.

6. Enable Dynamic Range scanning

✔ Scan Dynamic Range (DR) values

Notes:

  • These values are analytical, not official TT DR Meter values.
  • They are suitable for comparison within your library, not for DR Database submissions.

7. Choose tag writing behavior

✔ Use ReplayGain tag fields for peak and gain

8. Run a True Peak scan

  1. Select a track, tracks or albums in a playlist.
  2. Right-click → True Peak Scan.

You can also create custom buttons on the toolbar for Album or Track scans.

Download True Peak Toolbar Button Icons

9. Verify tags at first

After scanning, check the file(s) to ensure tagging happened correctly:

  • Open Properties > ReplayGain
  • Confirm presence of values for:
    • Track Gain
    • Album Gain
    • Total Peak
    • Lowest gain (loudest track)
    • Highest gain (quietist track)

10. Use ReplayGain during playback

  1. Enable ReplayGain in Preferences → Playback → ReplayGain.
  2. Choose your preferred mode, Track or Album.

foobar2000 will now use modern loudness analysis and playback without intersample clipping.

Summary:

  • One scan
  • One pass
  • Peak safe playback
  • Modern loudness normalization

This setup is ideal for users who prioritize listening quality and ease of use over legacy metric compatibility.

References:

www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_truepeak
foobar.hyv.fi/?view=foo_truepeak
wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/Foobar2000:Components/True_Peak_Scanner
hydrogenaudio.org/index.php/topic,125719.0
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amplitude
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_normalization
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_range
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReplayGain

Alternative DSP
www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_dsp_replaygain

foo_audio_wizard ~ Full-track Analysis & Real-time Monitoring

Posted by tom2tec on

Audio Wizard (foo_audio_wizard) is a fiery chapter of The Wizardium, granting foobar2000 audiophiles and engineers tools for full-track analysis and real-time monitoring. Harness Pure Dynamics for psychoacoustic clarity.

foo_audio_wizard panel interfaces

github.com/The-Wizardium/Audio-Wizard

Harmonoid ~ Play & Manage Music Library

Posted by tom2tec on

Plays & manages your music library. Looks beautiful & juicy.

Features:

  • Fluid animations & beautiful design, everywhere you navigate
  • It’ll find lyrics or give your own .LRC files
  • Closely paired to work together. Windows & Linux
  • Experience the consistent Material Design
  • Music library management based on metadata tags
  • Capable of indexing 30+ files/second & saves cache for future app start-ups
  • Very strictly follows Material Design guidelines for UI & animations
  • Taskbar & System Media Transport Controls for Windows
  • Small installer (≈ 35 MB) & low RAM usage (≈ 150 MB)
  • Discord RPC integration with album art support & “Find”/”Listen” buttons

harmonoid.com
github.com/harmonoid
sourceforge.net/projects/harmonoid.mirror
itsfoss.com/harmonoid

cdparanoia ~ Linux Digital Audio Extraction

Posted by tom2tec on

Cdparanoia is a Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA) Digital Audio Extraction (DAE) tool, commonly known on the net as a ‘ripper’. The application is built on top of the Paranoia library, which is doing the real work (the Paranoia source is included in the cdparanoia source distribution). Cdparanoia reads audio from the CDROM directly as data, with no analog step between, and writes the data to a file or pipe in WAV, AIFC or raw 16 bit linear PCM.

Cdparanoia is a bit different than most other CDDA extration tools. It contains few-to-no ‘extra’ features, concentrating only on the ripping process and knowing as much as possible about the hardware performing it. Cdparanoia will read correct, rock-solid audio data from inexpensive drives prone to misalignment, frame jitter and loss of streaming during atomic reads. Cdparanoia will also read and repair data from CDs that have been damaged in some way.

Cdparanoia is easy to use and administrate; It has no compile time configuration, happily autodetecting the CDROM, its type, its interface and other aspects of the ripping process at runtime. A single binary can serve the diverse hardware of the do-it-yourself computer laboratory from Hell.

www.xiph.org/paranoia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cdparanoia
wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Cdparanoia

Resources:

Documentation
man.archlinux.org/man/cd-paranoia.1.en

Command Line Music Metadata Manager
github.com/krateng/mumema