Q: Hello-- I'm trying to use Raven Lite on a Mac mini, running OSX 10.4.6. I'm trying to record with an external device. I can open a new recording window. When I hit "record" Raven spontaneously disappears. I've tried this both with the internal mic and an external source with the same results. It works fine on a G4 Powerbook.

A: Apple has a bug in some of their software. There are two workarounds in Raven Lite to be able to record on an Intel Mac:

1. In the "Select Recording Device" dialog (File > Select Recording Device), select a device that is labeled "(JavaSound Audio Input)". This is likely not the first device in the list unless you've already performed the action in #2 below. This fix was introduces in Build 8 Update 5.
2. Put this line into a new file called RavenPreferences.txt in the /Applications/Raven Lite 1.0/ folder.

   raven.audioInput.native=false

   This will cause Raven to use Java Sound for input, which will bypass the bug in the Apple software. When you run Raven Lite with Mac native audio input, the devices show up as "Built-in Mic" or "Built-in Input" with "CoreAudio Input Device" in parentheses. When you run with non-native audio input (Java Sound), the device shows up as "Mac OS X, CoreAudio, Audio hardware (JavaSound Audio Input)". This fix will work with all build levels and update levels of Raven Lite but has been undocumented until now.

New Macs are built using the Intel processors, but older Macs (G4, G5, PowerBook) were built using PowerPC processors. To run a Java application like Raven Lite, the application needs a JavaApplicationStub to launch. With the introduction of the Intel platform, Apple introduced what's called a "universal binary" that is supposed to run on either hardware platform, but the universal binary version of JavaApplicationStub does not work with all older Macs because of its use of some libraries that do not exist on these older computers running early versions of Mac OS X. Refer to the thread below for a solution to this problem.

http://help.ravensoundsoftware.com/forum/showthread.php?t=155

Q: I received my registration number and pasted it in the registration dialog, but Raven Lite tells me that the serial number is "invalid". Please advise.

A: Please check these items:

1. Be sure you are running Raven Lite 1.0, not Raven 1.2.1 or Raven Pro 1.3 beta. The licenses are not compatible.


2. Be sure that you copied the entire line from the license email. The license includes your email address.


3. Be sure that you do not have any blanks in your license. Some people insert blanks, but there should be no blanks in the license.


4. If you still have problems, please send us a screen capture of the error that includes the title bar from Raven Lite in the background, or post the screen capture to the help forum.

With the new QuickTime7 from Apple, all of the necessary QuickTime for Java support is installed by default with QuickTime with additional custom install options having been removed in this release. Unfortunately, Apple has also moved the location of the QuickTime files so that the Raven Lite that worked with QuickTime 6.5 no longer works with QuickTime 7.

There is a complicated process for updated the necessary Raven Lite (or Raven) files to enable QuickTime 7, or you can just download the newest executables installer for Raven Lite (or Raven). There is no need to download the examples or documentation again, just the program itself, which is named the executables installer. Just download the newest installer, run it, and it will replace your original files. Note that the default presets (for Raven) and default window layouts (for Raven Lite) will be refreshed so if you saved your own presets, be sure to save them with a name other than Default.

Here are the more complicated instructions if you don't want to download the latest installer.

In order to update Raven Lite to find the new QuickTime, open the file RavenLiteLauncher.lax and update the lax.class.path line to look as it does below. You should be able to copy it and paste it into the file over the existing line.

The path that we added is:

c:\\Program Files\\QuickTime\\QTSystem\\QTJava.zip

New line in RavenLiteLauncher.lax (all on one line)

lax.class.path=RavenLite10Fixes.jar;RavenLite10Bas e.jar;mail.jar;activation.jar;jai_imageio.jar; c:\\Program Files\\QuickTime\\QtSystem\\QTJava.zip;QTJava.zip; c:\\windows\\system32\\QTJava.zip;c:\\windows\\system\\QTJava.zip;c:\\winnt\\system32\\QTJava.zip;;lax.jar

If you normally use the RavenLiteConsole.bat file to launch Raven Lite, then modify its contents to look like this (all as one line):

jre\bin\java -Xmx256M -Xbootclasspath/p:AiffFileWriter.jar -cp RavenLite10Fixes.jar;RavenLite10Base.jar;mail.jar; activation.jar;jai_imageio.jar;"c:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\QTJava.zip"; QTJava.zip;c:\windows\system32\QTJava.zip;c:\windows\system\QTJava.zip;c:\winnt\system32\QTJava.zip clo.brp.raven.Application

The new addition is in the -cp section, and it is the same path, but this time, the backslashes are single (\) not double (\\).

c:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\QTJava.zip

The Raven Lite and Raven installers will be updated in the near future to include this update so that manual updates of files by users are not necessary in the future.

To improve security QuickTime 7.2 limits access of its Java. Unfortunately this also prevents Raven from using QuickTime to open sound files. To correct this problem please change the Java Policy file in Raven’s Java Runtime Environment following the steps below:

1. In the Raven application directory (e.g. “C:\Program Files\Raven1.3\”) open the directory “jre/lib/security/”.
2. Open “java.policy” with Wordpad or a similar text editor
3. Add the following lines to the top of the file:


grant {
permission java.security.AllPermission "*.mp3", "all";
};

4. Save the “java.policy” file and relaunch Raven.

Mac versions of Raven are not affected by this problem.

If you're using Raven Lite to open MP3 files, then this will be important to you. Raven and Raven Lite both use QuickTime for Java to open MP3 files (and some other formats as well). Recently (15 October 2005), the QuickTime for Java code within QuickTime 7 started giving error stating that QuickTime had expired. Therefore, the Raven products are not able to use QuickTime to open MP3 files.

This is only a problem on Windows.

Apple is aware of the problem and has fixed it in the iTunes 6.0.1.3 installer. See our web site for a URL to the iTunes installer or for an alternative if you don't want to install iTunes.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/ravenlite/quicktimeinstall.html

or

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/raven/quicktimeinstall.html

1. One "kU" is one thousand Raven amplitude units ("U"'s). One "U" is the smallest amount of sound the digital recording can represent, the resolution of the recording (or one least significant bit). The resolution depends on the number of bits per sample, or bit depth, in the digital representation of the sound. An 8-bit sample can resolve 256(=2^8) different amplitude values; a 16-bit converter can resolve 65,536(=2^16) values. For an 8 bit signed recording, Raven's y-axis ranges from -128 U to +127 U (256 divisions). For an 16 bit signed recording, Raven's y-axis ranges from -32768 U to +32767 U (65,536 divisions). It is possible to calibrate your instrument chain to determine a multiplicative conversion factor between Raven's "U"'s and real would units such as volts or uPa.

2. Spectra power levels are referenced to unity power.