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At 09:36 PM 10/21/98 +0100, Alan Cartwright wrote (in response to my post): >>The trick is getting a computer to simulate the important features of a >>good transcription machine (e.g., auto-reverse, rate control, pitch >>control, etc.). > >The specification of the sound (wav) file format used on PCs does not allow >you to slow the file down. Oddly, you can slow video down but not audio. >When I wrote the Code-A-Text Transcription System, which simulates a >transcribing machine on the PC, I created a method by which the programme >"reads ahead" of the sound file and can therefore stop during silences to >allow the typist to catch up. This has the added advantage of giving >accurate measurement of pauses in the speech. The transcription is always >linked so you have access to text and sound similtaneously during the >coding process. >The numeric keypad is used to simulate the foot pedal giving the same >degree of control. My own expereince with the system is that an audio >typist can quickly learn these features and transcribe as quickly as with a >traditional system. As for myself I am much faster with this system but >unfortunately that is not necessarily a recommendation. I'm sure that this system is very useful for capturing a lot of what is done in conversations. Still, as someone interested in producing transcripts with a level of detail as that found in conversation analytic research, I wonder how well such a system would suit my purposes. It just seems to me that a fair amount of conversationally significant phenomena I'm able to hear in a tape when it is slowed down is stuff I would have missed otherwise. At the same time, I can see some great benefits to using a computer as a playback machine. So, I'm very interested in trying to ascertain if any slowed down audio of any kind is possible on a PC. For instance, while .wav files can't be slowed down, does the audio "track" of a slowed down PC video go as slow as the video? Does it play at all? Also, is there no way of rewriting a program to make .wav files playable at altered speeds (and pitchs, of course, given that voices become inaudibly low in pitch when slowed down signifintly). Thanks for your insights, Christian Nelson Dr. Christian K. Nelson Communication Department, Machmer Hall Box 34815 University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003-4815 USA 413/545-6345 [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%