Audio files overview

You can add an Audio writing system. You use it to record and play audio files (*.wav files only). In fields that show the Audio writing system, the empty symbol () appears. For a field with an audio file, the play button appears gray (). When you move the mouse pointer over one of them, they change to the record button () or play button (), respectively. Because these are typically very short recordings, there is neither a pause or stop button.

Reasons for the Audio variant

If you will import LIFT lexical data, such as from WeSay, you need to add matching writing systems. This includes an Audio variant for writing systems with audio files.
If you want to record and play audio files in fields other than the Media File field, then add an Audio variant to an appropriate writing system.

Record audio

In a field that shows the audio field as empty (), click and hold the left mouse button on the record button () while you record the audio through your microphone. The file name is as follows: <number><headword>.wav.

Link to an existing *.wav file

In a field that shows the audio field as empty (), press and hold the Shift key down while you click the record button (). The Open dialog box appears. Click the audio file, and then click Open.

See Important below.

Play audio

Click the field that had the audio file, and then click the play button ().

Delete an audio file

Click the field that has the audio file, and then click the delete button () that appears in the field (not on the toolbar). The audio file is deleted from the project folder, and the empty symbol () appears in the field.

The full path to the file appears if you hold your mouse pointer over the delete button ().

Important

If you generated audio files outside of this FLEx project, we recommend that you do not copy those files into the AudioVisual folder for the current project. Instead, store them in a separate folder on your computer and link to them from there as described above.
The reason is that when you link to an audio file, a copy is added to the AudioVisual folder. This allows you to use the same audio recording multiple times without the risk of breaking all of the links if you delete one instance.
However, if you copy them into the AudioVisual folder and then link to them a copy is made in that folder, but a numerical value is appended to the file name and that copy is used. The original is not used. If you use the same file multiple times, there can be confusion about which copy or copies of the file are being used.
If you add an Audio variant for a vernacular writing system, you can add an audio file to fields that use the vernacular writing system, such as Lexeme Form, Citation Form, and Example.
See Correct sound quality problems (Windows®10) if you have poor sound quality.