Dealing with SUD audio files on a non-Windows platform

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neb

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#292987 17-Dec-2021 22:35

Not quite sure where the best place for this is, but here goes: Friend of mine has been sent some extremely large SUD audio files, named after a toxic swamp in South Sudan full of snakes and crocodiles. It's a proprietary format created by some proprietary Windows software because the eight million existing formats for this stuff apparently weren't suitable and they had to invent another one. Problem is that they can't be processed on a Mac (preferred platform, although Linux would also do), and Wine isn't proving terribly useful. Does anyone know of anything on a non-Windows system that can work with these files?

alexx

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#2835224 18-Dec-2021 09:52

Searching for "SUD audio files" finds nothing. Are you sure this isn't some sort of hoax?

Mediainfo is a useful tool for inspecting audio files, but it might not know SUD audio files. Borrow a windows machine and convert them into something useful. Since you said they are huge, how big are we talking about? Lossless FLAC files (CD quality) seem to be about 30MB per track and I've got some 48k/24bit WAV files which are about twice that size.

If they are much bigger than that, then perhaps could they be some sort of Digital audio workstation (DAW) session file or something weird like that.

You might find that inside the SUD extension there is something that we have seen before, for example a VMware OVA file is just a tar archive, so perhaps some common archive extraction tools can find what is inside. Perhaps the file header gives a clue.

#include <standard.disclaimer>

Behodar

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#2835229 18-Dec-2021 10:37

What does "file" report on a Mac? For example, if you enter "file audio1.sud" in Terminal, what does it return?

djtOtago

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#2835230 18-Dec-2021 10:42

What is the name of the software that produced these SUD files?

I do a bit of work with video and audio formats, but I have not come across a SUD format. But as you say new formats appear all the time.

neb

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#2835248 18-Dec-2021 13:16

djtOtago:
What is the name of the software that produced these SUD files?

I do a bit of work with video and audio formats, but I have not come across a SUD format. But as you say new formats appear all the time.

It's produced by these things. I'll get them to try the file command and see if it's another format in disguise...

alexx

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#2835252 18-Dec-2021 13:34

neb:
djtOtago:

What is the name of the software that produced these SUD files?

I do a bit of work with video and audio formats, but I have not come across a SUD format. But as you say new formats appear all the time.

It's produced by these things. I'll get them to try the file command and see if it's another format in disguise...

So in the case "audio" means audio plus ultrasonic.

20Hz to 60kHz or 20Hz to 150kHz
Using a 16-bit SAR ADC with a range of sampling rates from 24kHz to 576kHz depending on the model.

This might explain why they didn't use a standard audio format.

From the user guide:

Data Files
Downloads produce several types of files:
* ‘sud’ files which are the raw downloaded file. This is a compressed file and therefore ideal for storing or sending of complete recordings. It can then be decompressed at a later time into the following constituent file formats.
*‘wav’ files containing the audio. This is a Microsoft WAV format file that can be opened by any media player, matlab, raven etc.
*‘xml’ files which contain metadata such as date recorded, gain setting, etc. o‘csv’ files containing ancillary sensor data (e.g. temperature)

Might need to find out how to get the WAV file out of the compressed SUD file.

#include <standard.disclaimer>

neb

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#2835258 18-Dec-2021 14:06

alexx:
Might need to find out how to get the WAV file out of the compressed SUD file.

That's what the Windows only software does, it rewrites the SUD as a WAV.

neb

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#2835292 18-Dec-2021 15:46

Behodar:
What does "file" report on a Mac? For example, if you enter "file audio1.sud" in Terminal, what does it return?

Walked the person through it (they're not a CLI user) and got the OS X "Operation not permitted" problem, just trying to walk them through dealing with this. Stupid default to have, the point-and-drool desktop user can do anything they want but the CLI power user is blocked.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

Lias

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#2835500 19-Dec-2021 12:05

neb:

Stupid default to have, the point-and-drool desktop user can do anything they want but the CLI power user is blocked.

All OS's should only let users access a GUI after they've successfully used a CLI for a year or two :-P

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

neb

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#2835513 19-Dec-2021 13:02

Lias:
All OS's should only let users access a GUI after they've successfully used a CLI for a year or two :-P

And they only get access to the CLI after they've entered the appropriate sudo command from the front panel toggle switches.

Youth of today, mumble mutter.

Behodar

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#2835514 19-Dec-2021 13:06

If you don't know how to LOAD "*",8,1 then you're doing it wrong!