AudaRecorder -- automate Audacity sound recorder

AudaRecorder is a tool to automate the sound recording function in Audacity. It can save your time to record and save recorded files in Audacity.
AudaRecorder runs on Windows. It doesn't support Linux or Mac.
AudaRecorder doesn't do any audio recording, it controls Audacity to record. AudaRecorder automates the steps to record a audio file, such as click the "Record" button in Audacity, then click the "Stop" button, then save or export the recorded file.
I created AudaRecorder for my personal usage. I share it because I think it may be useful for some users.

Features

• System wide hotkeys to start recording, stop recording, pause and resume recording.
• Automatically save the recorded file after finishing the recording. The file name is auto generated.
• Free to use. No Ads, no any limitations.
• Green software. No need to install. AudaRecorder doesn't write any data on your system. It only saves the configuration file to its own folder, and it stores recorded sound files to your specified folder.

Version

1.0.1

Please report bugs and let me know your opinions.
The program is tested and it works for Audacity 2.4.2 and 3.0.2. It should work on all Audacity version 2 and 3.

Download and installation

Download the latest Windows version 1.0.1

After download finishes, unzip the archive to the disk.
To run the program, execute AudaRecorder.exe
Before running AudaRecorder, Audacity must be running. To avoid interfering the normal Audacity operations, there shouldn't be any openning documents in Audacity.

How to use

Recorder page

On the recorder page, you can start/stop, pause/resume recording, or clear all content by clicking the buttons. Each action also supports hotkey. For example, the default hotkey for start/stop recording is F9. That's to say, no matter which window you are work in (such as Word, email client, browser), you can press F9 to start/stop the recording.
"Clear All" is used to clear the recorded track in Audacity. This is useful if the recorded file is not automatically saved.
If the check box "Always On Top" is checked, AudaRecorder keeps showing above all other windows.

Settings page

Save recorded file: if this is checked, after a recording is stopped, the recording is saved to a sound file automatically, the file name is generated from the "Record file name format". After the recording is saved, the current sound document in Audacity is closed, so it's ready to start next recording.

Record file storage folder: specify where to save the sound file.

Record file name format: specify the file name format of the sound file. The format can includes tags or texts.
The tags are replaced with corresponding date/time component. The other texts are remained.
The format is for the file name, don't specify the file extension. The extension is created automatically according to the file type.

• <yyyy> - Year in 4 digits, e.g, 2021
• <yy> - Year in 2 digits, e.g, 21
• <mm> - Month with leading zeros (01 to 12)
• <m> - Month without leading zeros (1 to 12)
• <dd> - The day of the month with leading zeros (01 to 31)
• <d> - The day of the month without leading zeros (1 to 31)
• <HH> - 24-hour format of an hour with leading zeros (00 to 23)
• <H> - 24-hour format of an hour without leading zeros (0 to 23)
• <hh> - 12-hour format of an hour with leading zeros (01 to 12)
• <h> - 12-hour format of an hour without leading zeros (1 to 12)
• <ii> - Minutes with leading zeros (00 to 59)
• <i> - Minutes without leading zeros (0 to 59)
• <ss> - Seconds with leading zeros (00 to 59)
• <s> - Seconds without leading zeros (0 to 59)
• <TT> - Uppercase AM or PM
• <tt> - Lowercase am or pm

Record file type: select the audio type to save the recorded file as. The type can be Audacity project .aup3 file, or export as MP3, WAV, or OGG.

HotKey start/stop recording: specify the hotkey to start/stop recording.

HotKey pause/resume recording: specify the hotkey to pause/resume recording.

About page

Here display the copyright and the software webpage url.

Sound file playback and management features?

There are no functions to playback the recorded sound file, or delete the file. It's possible to add them, but I hesitate to do it because there is probbably better alternative method.
One method is to use the sound player Foobar2000, use its autoplaylist feature to monitor the new recorded files. Here is a quick instruction. Also you can assign keyboard shortcut to delete a file. That should be enough for file management.

When to or not to use AudaRecorder

AudaRecorder is helpful if you want to record for practice purpose. For example, if you are practicing playing an instrument, or practicing singing, and want to record the sound so you can playback to see what to improve, then you may need to record a lot of times and AudaRecorder will help much.
If you want to record a sound seriously, then do some post editing after the recording, you may use the built-in Audacity recording, and AudaRecorder may be not that useful.

Bug report and feedback

Please report bugs and send your feedback in comments on this page.

Motivation

I create this software to satisfy my requirements. I practice playing instrument a lot, I want to record what I play so that I can review to see what to improve. I tried several Windows sound recording software, some has limitations such as the recorded sound quality is low, and some is buggy. Audacity is a great and free software for not only audio editing but also audio recording. However, the recording feature in Audacity lacks several functions that I definitely need. The first function is that I want to press a hotkey to operate the recording, so I don't need to use the mouse to click several times to start a recording. The second function is that when the recording finishes, I need it be saved to file automatically. To save the file in Audacity, I need to use the mouse to switch to Audacity from the PDF reader (I use PDF for the music score), then click the save menu, then type the file name and save it. That's quite cumbersome when I play a Ukulele and can only have one free hand to do it. Lacking those two functions make it quite inefficient to do the recording, especial if I need to record many audios during a practice session.
That's why I create AudaRecorder. It increases productivity for Audacity recording significantly.

Change log

Version 1.0.1 2021-05-30

• Added "Clear All" function.
• Added "Always On Top" function.
• Fixed a bug that if "Save recorded file" is unchecked, it still save the recorded file unless the pages on the interface are switched.

Version 1.0.0 2021-05-06 First release