capture_audio(3)

💖 capture_audio(3) — the Arcan Lua API giveth a mic 💖

okay so this is a page from the Arcan Lua API, and honestly? it's kind of a slay little function. let's get into it 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

capture_audio — setup an audio device capture stream 🎤✨

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

AID or NIL
capture_audio( devstr )

so yeah, you hand it a device string and you get back either an AID or NIL. that's the whole vibe check 🦋

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

bestie, listen. capture_audio is the function you call when you want to map an external capture device — think a microphone, like a literal actual mic 🎙️ — onto an AID. and what's an AID for? monitoring, bb. like forwarding it to a recordtarget, or to a frameserver that does audio processing for voice recognition and similar features. it's giving "your computer finally hears you" energy fr fr 👑

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🫶 NOTES 🫶

1. okay so the device must be supported by the underlying sound support system — and it has to emit audio data that matches the compile-time defined format, e.g. 44100/16bit/2ch LE 16 samples. also it must match a valid entry as provided by list_audio_inputs. no cap, if it doesn't line up with one of those, it's not gonna work 😭

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🧚 EXAMPLE 🧚

look at her go:

function capture_audio0()
      a = list_audio_inputs();
      b = capture_audio(a[1]);
end

you list the inputs, you grab the first one, you capture it. iconic. ate and left no crumbs 💅✨

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💀 MISUSE 💀

do not do this. i'm literally begging:

function capture_audio0()
      b = capture_audio(-1);
end

-1 is not a device string, bestie. this is the "why would you do that" section 🙈

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• list_audio_inputs(3) — go check that one out, it's how you get the valid device entries in the first place 👀

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heads up: that format thing in NOTES is a must, not a suggestion. if your device doesn't match the compile-time defined format and a valid list_audio_inputs entry, it's a no from the sound system 🌈

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and that's the page!! 🎀 written under the audio corner of the docs, with a date of October 2026 — see you in the group chat, mwah 💖🦋✨