SNDFILE-WAVEFORM(1)

📦 version 1.5, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 sndfile-waveform — a manual page, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, so this is the manual page for sndfile-waveform, version 1.5 — it's a User Command, it lives in section 1 of the manual, and it is literally about to become your new favorite little utility. buckle up. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

sndfile-waveform — the manual page for sndfile-waveform 1.5. that's it. that's the name. iconic behavior honestly. 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

sndfile-waveform [OPTION]  <sound-file> <png-file>

like… you give it a sound file, it gives you a png. the exchange rate is unmatched. 🦋

🫶 DESCRIPTION 🫶

so sndfile-waveform is a waveform image generator. that's the whole job. it's giving "i do one thing and i do it flawlessly."

It creates a PNG image depicting the wave-form of an audio file. no cap. and get this — Peak-signal and RMS values can both be displayed in the same plot, where the horizontal axis always represents time. always. it's not negotiable, bestie.

The vertical axis can be plotted logarithmically, and the signal can optionally be rectified. so you've got options. we love options.

The Time-axis annotation unit is either:

  • seconds,
  • audio-frames, or
  • timecode using broadcast-wave time reference meta-data.

(that last one is very fancy of it, ngl.)

The tool can plot individual channels, reduce the file to mono, or plot all channels in vertically arrangement. multi-tasking queen. 👑

Colours (ARGB) and image- or waveform geometry can be freely specified. go feral. customize everything. ✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -A, --textcolour <COL> — specify text and border colour; default 0xffffffff. all colours are given as hexadecimal AA RR GG BB values. 🎨
  • -b, --border — display a border with annotations. frame it like the masterpiece it is. 🖼️
  • -B, --background <COL> — specify background colour; default 0x8099999f.
  • -c, --channel — choose channel(s) to plot. 0: merge to mono; < 0: render all channels vertically separated; > 0: render only the specified channel. (default: 0). pick your fighter. ✨
  • -C, --centerline <COL> — set the colour of the zero/center line (default 0x4cffffff).
  • -F, --foreground <COL> — specify foreground colour; default 0xff333333.
  • -g <w>x<h>, --geometry <w>x<h> — specify the size of the image to create. default: 800x192.
  • -G, --borderbg <COL> — specify border/annotation background colour; default 0xb3ffffff.
  • -h, --help — display this help and exit. the classic escape hatch, we stan. 🚪
  • -l, --logscale — use logarithmic scale. math but make it aesthetic. 📈
  • --no-peak — only draw the RMS signal using the foreground colour.
  • --no-rms — only draw signal peaks (exclusive with --no-peak). > it's one or the other, bestie — these two are not friends, don't try to make them share a room. 😭
  • -r, --rectified — rectify waveform.
  • -R, --rmscolour <COL> — specify RMS colour; default 0xffb3b3b3.
  • -s, --gainscale — zoom into the y-axis, map max signal to height. it's giving close-up. 🔍
  • -S, --separator <px> — vertically separate channels by N pixels (default: 12) — only used with -c -1.
  • -t <NUM>[/<DEN>], --timecode <NUM>[/<DEN>] — use timecode instead of seconds for the x-axis. The numerator must be set; the denominator defaults to 1 if omitted. If the value is negative, audio-frames are used. ⏱️
  • -T <offset> — override the BWF time-reference (if any); the offset is specified in audio-frames and only used with timecode (-t) annotation.
  • -O, --border-width — change the outer border width. default: 1.0.
  • -V, --version — output version information and exit.
  • -W, --wavesize — given geometry applies to the plain wave-form. image height depends on number of channels. border-sizes are added to width and height.

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

found something cursed? tell the devs, they want to know, fr fr:

Copyright © 2007-2012 Erik de Castro Lopo <erikd@mega-nerd.com> Written 2011,2012 by Robin Gareus <robin@gareus.org>

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

like… no warranty AT ALL. not even the merchantability one. not even the fitness-for-a-particular-purpose one. it said what it said and it meant it. 💀

and that's the whole page bestie, you ate it up. 🍓

this was sndfile-waveform 1.5, from January 2021, out here living its best life in the SNDFILE-WAVEFORM(1) section of the manual. go make some beautiful waveforms. mwah. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶

📦 where this page comes from