[LAU] [OT] Open Source Portable Recorder?

[Johannes Kroll]

Ok, if there were such a project already I guess one of you would
know. I also found nothing on the web so there probably is none. But
it's nice to see that I am not the only one who wants this :) You all
had some nice ideas and suggestions. The timemachine-style recording is
one thing I would definately want to have.

As to the hardware, I think the single-board computers would be a bit
overkill. It would make things a bit expensive, and it's really more
than is needed. I think one of the 32-bit ARM chips should have enough
processing power for an audio recorder.

A development board like the stellaris launchpad could be a good
starting point for a prototype. It has an 80 MHz ARM CPU with floating
point, a few KB of RAM, some flash storage for code, and the ADCs
should be perfectly ok for audio. It's only 13 US$, and I have a
couple of them here.
http://www.ti.com/ww/en/launchpad/stellaris_head.html?DCMP=stellaris-launchpad&HQS=stellaris-launchpad

Obviously, for things like the timemachine recording, more RAM would
have to be added. I don't know how hard that would be. Interfacing with
SD cards for mass storage is relatively easy.

The DSO nano quad is an open source oscilloscope with 2 analog inputs
with more bandwidth than any audio recorder would need:
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/dso-quad-4-channel-digital-storage-oscilloscope-p-736.html

It has a display, buttons and everything built in. Maybe this would be
a good base, too.

Mind you, I mainly wanted to know if such a thing already exists, and
now I'm just throwing ideas around. Not sure how much time and effort I
really want to put into this - I'm an OK programmer but I'm not too
good at the more advanced electronics stuff (though I know some people
who are).

It would be a very cool project though, and there seems to be some
demand for it :-)
 

On Sun, 6 Jan 2013 14:57:52 +0100
Johannes Kroll <jkroll at lavabit.com> wrote:

> Hi all!
> 
> This is kind of off-topic here but I thought if there is such a thing,
> some of you guys might know.
> 
> I'm looking for an audio recorder where the firmware and/or the
> hardware is hackable. Ideally, this would be similar to the Tascam
> DR-05 in price and features, but with free/libre firmware and hardware.
> Maybe someone knows of such a project?
> 
> Alternatively, is any of the "closed" devices such as the Tascam DR-XX
> known to have modifiable firmware?
> 
> Thanks for any pointers!
> Johannes
> 
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