SoundSpigot Reference

Options

To see the command line options, run:

soundspigot -h

SoundSpigot reads in a file soundspigot.conf in the directory specified with -d, or in the current directory if none is specified. The file contains two kinds of entries: settings and tracks.

Values

There are several types of user-supplied values in the config file:

Type	Example	Comments
NUM	5	Positive integer
REAL, SECONDS	5.7	Real numbers; must have a decimal point and fractional part.
FILE	bang.sw	The name of a file in the show directory

Settings

A setting is a keyword followed by a value.

samplerate NUM - Sample frequency in hz of the audio files.
port-poll-freq NUM - Check the parallel port for triggers NUM times per second. Suggestion: 20 to 30.
buffer-size NUM - Set the output buffer to 2^NUM bytes. Set to 8 if you want a 256 byte buffer. Can range from 4 to 16. Too high a setting causes excessive latency; too low causes dropouts.
channels NUM - Configure for NUM output channels. Currently, should be 2.

Tracks

Each track consists of: track { [track-settings] } The following track-settings are available:

channel NUM - Play this track through hardware channel NUM. Normally 0 (left) or 1 (right).
trigger NUM - Bit NUM of the parallel port will trigger the sound. Normally 5-8. Omit for untriggered sounds.
attenuation REAL - Expressed in decibels. 0.0 means unity gain; -20.0 means 1/10th the voltage; -40.0 means 1/100th the voltage.
loop 1 - Make a sound loop forever.
file FILE - Name of file. Must be a 16-bit signed PCM file, no header. Must be in the directory specified with -d.
rand-min SECONDS - Sets random mode; wait at least SECONDS seconds before repeating the track.
rand-max SECONDS - Sets random mode; wait no more than SECONDS seconds before repeating the track.
period SECONDS - Sets periodic mode; repeat track every SECONDS seconds. SECONDS must be greater than the track length.
period-offset SECONDS - Sets periodic mode; First play track SECONDS seconds after startup.

Each track must have a triggering mode. This determines when the track is played:

Triggering Mode	track-settings	Result
Triggered	trigger	Sound starts when the appropriate pin on the parallel port is connected to ground.
Loop	loop 1	Sound starts when program starts. When sound ends, it immediately restarts at the beginning.
Random	rand-min, rand-max	Sound starts at random intervals. The gap between the sound ending and starting again will be at least rand-min seconds and up to rand-max seconds.
Periodic	period, period-offset	Sound starts at regular intervals, every period seconds. However, the sound initially plays period-offset seconds after startup. This lets you stagger multiple sounds with the same period.
Spigtrig	trigger 200	Can be triggered with spigtrig -h HOST -p PORT TRACKNO where TRACKNO is the number of the track in soundspigot.conf, starting at 0. The 200 is just a high number to remove the trigger from the parallel port range. It is not the TRACKNO.

Parallel Port

Warning: you may damage your computer.
The parallel port has a 25-pin connector. The pins are numbered 1-25; if you shine a light on the plastic of the connector, you can see the numbers.
Currently, soundspigot supports four triggers from the parallel port. You trigger the sound by briefly connecting the + pin to the - pin.

Trigger	+ Pin	- Pin
4	13	18
5	12	19
6	10	20
7	11	21

Pins 18-25 are all connected to ground in the computer, so it doesn't matter which you use as ground. If you are connecting simple mechanical switches (microswitches or magnetic reed switches) the polarity (+/-) doesn't matter.

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