read_sound_input(3)

💖 read_sound_input — the "gimme the tape" function 💖

okay so this is a page from the Allegro manual, aka the Allegro game programming library — and bestie, this one's all about grabbing the audio you just recorded. 🎙️✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <allegro.h>

int read_sound_input(void *buffer);

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

So here's the tea: read_sound_input() retrieves the most recently recorded audio buffer and drops it into the location you point at with buffer. That's it, that's the job. 💅

Wanna know how big that buffer actually is? Check the return value from start_sound_input() — it tells you. iykyk. 🫶

Now the part that lowkey matters most: you MUST call this function at regular intervals while you're recording. Like, typically around 100 times a second. If you don't? Some data will be lost. fr fr, it just evaporates. 😭

And if your mainline code literally cannot keep up with that pace (no shame, it happens), the move is to use the digi_recorder() callback instead — that lets you stash the waveform into a bigger buffer of your very own. main character problem-solving energy. 👑

⚠️ Note, bestie: many cards produce a click or popping sound when switching between record and playback modes. So it's often a good idea to discard the first buffer after you start a recording. Toss it. Don't even look at it. 🗑️✨

Oh and also — the waveform is always stored in unsigned format, with stereo data consisting of alternate left/right samples. So like, L, R, L, R, L, R… you get it. 🦋

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

• non-zero → a buffer has been copied, slay, you got data 💖
• zero → no new data is available yet — you were too fast checking the input, bestie, chill for a sec 😭

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• start_sound_input(3) — the one that kicks the whole recording thing off in the first place 🎀

and that's the whole page, no cap. this icon of a manpage is from Allegro, version 4.4.3 — mwah, obsessed, periodt. 💜🦋✨