[linux-audio-user] Converting Unsigned Byte Audio to 2-Channel WAV with SOX

[Martin McCormick]

	I was once able to convert a 8K samples per second unsigned
audio file gotten by sending /dev/dsp >thefile to a 44,100 samples per
second stereo .wav file suitable for burning on to an audio CD.  I
found what I believe to have been the command I used in the form of a
shell script but I get the following errors:

sox: Do not support unsigned with 16-bit data.  Forcing to Signed.
sox: Invalid options specified to avg for this channel combination

	The script is:

#! /bin/sh
sox -r8000 -t ub cdda.ub -t wav -c 2 -w -r44100 output.wav resample .95 avg 1,1

	Just for laughs, I removed the avg flag and actually got a
.wav file which was the correct pitch and all, but which was full of
clicks and missing pieces of sound, obviously not usable.

	According to the sox manual, the -r8000 isn't actually
necessary since sox defaults to a 8-K sample rate.

	The only thing I can think of is that I have forgotten some
step that I put in to the script originally or that sox has tightened
up some of the syntax in the last couple of years.  All I remember was
that the resulting CD worked and didn't sound any worse than the
original file gotten from /dev/dsp.

	The avg flag makes the levels correct for both channels which,
in this case, are the same.

	Thanks for any help.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Network Operations Group