Like the "beep" command, but uses arbitrary playback program instead of the PC speaker.

Because on many computers, the PC speaker is nonexistent or has been disabled by the OS.

• Python 3
• A command-line .wav player, such as ALSA's "aplay"

Run tests.sh to generate a bunch of example sounds. Use tests.sh -v to see the commands used to generate each one.

Compared to "beep", there are several new features:

• Can adjust the volume.

• Can play sawtooth and triangle waves, not just square waves.

• Can specify tones by note name, not just frequency.

• Can save .wav files for later use.

• Can play sounds via the sound card instead of PC speaker. Uses whatever media player command you specify.

• Supports floating-point values for frequency, length, and volume.

• Several parameters are available per note:

  • Frequency
  • Length
  • Volume
  • Wave shape

A few options are implicit and don't need a "-a / --arg" before them:

* Frequency (-f)
* Note name (-n)
* Wave shape (-w)

... and other options generally carry forward and affect everything after them, with no need to repeat the option. So instead of this...

./beeper.py -n C5 -w square -l 100 -n E5 -w tri -l 100 -n G5 -w tri -l 100 -n C6 -w tri -l 100

... it also works to do this:

./beeper.py -l 100 C5 square E5 tri G5 C6

It can figure out octaves automatically too, in many cases... so the note name doesn't need an octave. For example, to do arpeggios which include notes from more than one octave...

./beeper.py -l 80 c e g c g e c  # down and then up
./beeper.py -l 80 c g e c e g c  # up and then down

If the octave number is omitted, it will simply use the nearest note of the given name. So "C5 D" goes up to D5, while "C5 B" goes down to B4.

To make the X11 Bell work, install the xkbevd program and give it a simple config file:

~/.xkb/xkbevd.cf

soundDirectory = "/home/myuser/.sounds/"
soundCmd = "aplay -q"

Bell() "x11-bell.wav"

Make sure you have a ".sounds" directory, of course... with a "x11-bell.wav" file in it. Try playing with "beeper.py" to generate a sound you like, then copy it there. Personally, I find the "kick-1" style from the "tests.sh" script works well.

Once the sound and config are in place, start xkbevd in your .Xsession or similar session file:

xkbevd -bg

It may be a little laggy compared to the native X11 beep.

This program can mostly be used in place of "beep", but it has a few differences to keep in mind when updating scripts:

• Don't use "-n" or "--new" between tones. Remove all those "-n" parameters your script was sending to "beep". The "beeper.py" program starts a new tone automatically every time it detects a new frequency or note. It doesn't even need "-f" first. Just specify the frequency or the note name, and it'll start a new tone.

• Many of "beep"'s parameters can be removed without consequence. For example, if you play several tones of the same length, "beep" required specifying the length with "-l" each time. However, "beeper.py" only needs it specified once and that length will be applied to every tone from then on.

• The "-n" option is used to specify notes by name, like "C5" or "F+4", so it is important to remove the "-n" options from old scripts. That option does something else now.

• The "-r REPEATS" option isn't supported.

• The input processing mode ("-s" and "-c") is not supported.

• The "-p" or "--print-conversions" option may be useful for porting old scripts, since it shows the note name for each frequency, and the frequency for each note.

Download the source. Run "beeper.py".

Optionally put "beeper.py" somewhere in your $PATH. For example:

cd ~/bin/
ln -s ~/src/beeper/beeper.py beeper