Node.js Audio Recorder

3.0.0 · active · verified Tue Apr 21

node-audiorecorder is a Node.js module designed for recording audio, delivering a 16-bit signed-integer linear pulse modulation WAV stream. It acts as a wrapper around external system utilities like SoX ('rec' or 'sox' commands) or ALSA's 'arecord' utility, which must be installed and available in the system's PATH. This package is currently at version 3.0.0 and offers robust control over recording parameters such as sample rate, bit depth, channels, encoding, and silence detection. Its primary differentiator is providing a programmatic interface to common command-line audio recording tools, making it suitable for applications requiring real-time audio input processing or storage. While its release cadence appears sporadic based on recent releases, the latest major version indicates ongoing maintenance and improvements.

Common errors

```
Error: spawn sox ENOENT
```
cause The 'sox' command (or 'rec' which is part of SoX) is not found in the system's PATH.

fix Ensure SoX is installed on your operating system and its executable directory is included in your system's PATH environment variable.
```
Error: spawn arecord ENOENT
```
cause The 'arecord' command is not found in the system's PATH, or ALSA utilities are not installed.

fix Ensure ALSA utilities are installed (e.g., `sudo apt-get install alsa-utils` on Debian/Ubuntu) and 'arecord' is available in your PATH. Consider using `program: 'rec'` if SoX is installed.
```
Warning: 'silence' ignored for program 'arecord'.
```
cause The `silence`, `thresholdStart`, `thresholdStop`, and `keepSilence` options are only available when using `rec` or `sox` programs, not `arecord`.

fix Switch `options.program` to `rec` or `sox` if you require silence detection features. If using `arecord`, you will need to implement silence detection logic separately.

Warnings

breaking This module is a wrapper around system utilities (SoX/arecord). These external tools are not bundled and must be manually installed and present in the system's PATH for node-audiorecorder to function.
Fix: Install SoX (sudo apt-get install sox libsox-fmt-all on Linux, brew install sox on macOS, download binaries for Windows) or ensure 'arecord' is available on Linux systems.
gotcha On Windows 10, using SoX version 14.4.2 or later can lead to issues with continuous recording that does not stop correctly.
Fix: For Windows users, downgrade SoX to version 14.4.1 to avoid continuous recording issues. This is a known compatibility problem with specific SoX versions.
gotcha Incorrect or unavailable audio device selection can prevent recording or result in silence. The `device` option might need to be explicitly set.
Fix: For `arecord`, run `arecord -l` to list available devices and specify the correct device string (e.g., `hw:1,0`) in the `options.device` parameter. Consult SoX/arecord documentation for device enumeration.

Install

npm install node-audiorecorder npm
yarn add node-audiorecorder yarn
pnpm add node-audiorecorder pnpm

Imports

AudioRecorder
wrong:
```
import AudioRecorder from 'node-audiorecorder'
```
correct:
```
const AudioRecorder = require('node-audiorecorder')
```
The README and examples primarily show CommonJS `require`. While ESM might be supported, CommonJS is the demonstrated approach for direct instantiation.
options object
wrong:
```
import { options } from 'node-audiorecorder'
```
correct:
```
const options = { /* ... */ }
```
Configuration options are passed directly to the constructor as an object, not imported as named exports from the module.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to initialize the AudioRecorder, start a recording session, and pipe the output stream to a WAV file. It includes necessary external dependency setup comments and error handling.

const AudioRecorder = require('node-audiorecorder');
const fs = require('fs');
const path = require('path');

// IMPORTANT: Ensure SoX or Arecord is installed on your system
// For Linux: sudo apt-get install sox libsox-fmt-all
// For MacOS: brew install sox
// For Windows: Download binaries from sox.sourceforge.net

const outputFilePath = path.join(__dirname, 'output.wav');

const options = {
  program: `rec`, // Try `arecord` if on Linux and `rec` doesn't work
  device: null,   // Set e.g. `hw:1,0` if you have multiple devices
  bits: 16,
  channels: 1,
  encoding: `signed-integer`,
  format: `S16_LE`,
  rate: 16000,
  type: `wav`,
  silence: 5, // Stop recording after 5 seconds of silence
  thresholdStart: 0.5,
  thresholdStop: 0.5,
  keepSilence: true
};

const logger = console; // Optional: for debugging

const audioRecorder = new AudioRecorder(options, logger);

// Create a write stream to save the audio to a file
const fileStream = fs.createWriteStream(outputFilePath, { encoding: 'binary' });

// Pipe the audio stream to the file
audioRecorder.stream().pipe(fileStream);

console.log('Starting audio recording... (will stop after 10 seconds or 5s silence)');

audioRecorder.start();

// Stop recording after 10 seconds for demonstration
setTimeout(() => {
  audioRecorder.stop();
  console.log(`Recording stopped. Audio saved to ${outputFilePath}`);
  fileStream.end();
}, 10000);

// Handle errors from the recording process
audioRecorder.on('error', (err) => {
  console.error('Recording error:', err);
});

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