Run pvconv (Qualcomm PureVoice Converter) on Ubuntu Karmic

A Tech article with View Comments posted 20 March 2010.
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So when I get a musical idea, I have to write it down or record it immediately or I’ll forget it. I’ve probably forgotten a hundred halfway decent ideas in the last year or so this way. Nowadays I’m using my netbook or my cell phone’s microphones to record ideas when I can, which helps a ton. Unfortunately, getting the music out of my phone has been a pain in the butt until now.

This post is really just a quick note to anyone looking to run the Qualcomm PureVoice Converter on Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10. The nasty, proprietary Qualcomm chip in my cheap cell phone records audio in a proprietary “.qcp” format. Fortunately, they do provide a closed source conversion program, but it is linked against libstdc++5 which is no longer shipped in Ubuntu.

The solution? Well, ideally Qualcomm would open source their format and it would be available as a library in every program on my computer, and it would Just Work. Better yet, they would just use open standards to begin with and stop making up unnecessary new audio formats. But barring that, you can follow these instructions to install a workable libstdc++5 from Jaunty. Then unpack the PureVoice Converter 3.1 for Linux as usual, and it should work as expected.

Song: You Are Beautiful, My Love

A Music article with View Comments posted 26 December 2009.
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I wrote this song in honor of my wife, Jennifer, on the occasion of our fifth wedding anniversary. It comes from my experience of realizing just how blessed I am to be married to such a good and faithful woman. It’s very easy to take the people we love for granted. Every once in a while, though, those scales fall from my eyes and I’m dumbstruck by the blessing I have in her.

I included You Are Beautiful, My Love in this video, but I also want to make it available for download. It is licensed CC-BY-SA (see below) so you can feel free to share it with others. I hope you enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Listen and Download

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Advent Waiting

A Church article with View Comments posted 1 December 2009.
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This article ran in the December 2009 issue of The Messenger, the newsletter of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Sterling, IL.

As you read this, we have entered the season of Advent and the time in the church year where we wait with expectation for the birth of Christ at Christmas. I don’t know about you, but waiting doesn’t come naturally to me. I want things done, done right, and done right now. The idea of waiting stirs up for me notions of impatient foot tapping and watch glancing. Most of us don’t wait because we want to wait, but instead because we have to wait. We don’t choose waiting, waiting is chosen for us.
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Morning Light

A Music article with View Comments posted 25 July 2009.
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A Setting of Morning Prayer for the season of Easter

Ted Carnahan
ted@tedcarnahan.com

In the Spring semester of 2009, I was invited by Thomas Schattauer, Dean of Loehe Chapel at Wartburg Theological Seminary, to work on a setting of matins (i.e. morning prayer) for the season of Easter. The result is Morning Light.

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