---
name: "ecasignalview"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "ecasound"
version: "2.9.3-19"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ecasignalview"
---

# ecasignalview(1)

audio processing utils based on ecasound

## NAME

ecatools - audio processing utils based on ecasound

## SYNOPSIS

**ecaconvert** .extension file1 \[ file2 ... fileN \]

**ecafixdc** file1 \[ file2 ... fileN \]

**ecalength** file1 \[ file2 ... fileN \]

**ecamonitor** \[host\]\[:port\]

**ecanormalize** file1 \[ file2 ... fileN \]

**ecaplay** \[-dfhklopq\] \[ file1 file2 ... fileN \]

**ecasignalview** \[ options \] \[ input \] \[ output \]

## DESCRIPTION

Ecatools are simple command line utils for audio file processing. Each tool is designed to perform one specific operation. Most of  the tools also support batch processing.

**ECACONVERT**

A tool for converting a set of files to a common target format. This target format is given as the first command line argument, and its syntax is *.ext*.

**ECAFIXDC**

A simple command-line tool for fixing DC-offset.

**ECALENGTH**

See the separate [ecalength(1)](/ecalength/1.md) man page.

**ECAMONITOR**

Ecamonitor is a util program that can be used  to monitor an active ecasound session. Ecamonitor  is able to show information about the current  chainsetup such as list of inputs, outputs,  current position, effects, the engine status  and numerous other things.

By default ecamonitor will try to connect  to IP4 address "localhost", to port "2868".  A different address can be specified when  starting ecamonitor, for example  "ecamonitor foo.mynetwork.com" or "ecamonitor foo.mynetwork.com:4500".

To enable inbound connections, ecasound has to be  started with the *--daemon* option. Ecamonitor is  implemented in Python using the NetECI API.

**ECANORMALIZE**

Ecanormalize is a command-line tool for normalizing audio files to utilize the full available sample resolution. Ecanormalize first finds out how much the input file can be amplified without  clipping and if there is room for increase, a static gain will  be applied to the file.

**ECAPLAY**

Ecaplay is a command-line tool for playing audio files. Ecaplay  uses the libecasound engine and is thus able to handle all audio formats supported by the library.

Files can be selected for playback either by specifying the  filenames on the command-line, or by using the playlist  mechanism. In playlist mode, files can be added to the playlist using the *-q* option. The *-p* option can then be used to play all tracks on the playlist. Ecaplay will repeat the playlist tracks until explicitly stopped (with double Ctrl-C). Playlist can be flushed with *-f* and its contents listed with *-l* option.

If not otherwise specified, ecaplay will use the audio output device  specified in *~/.ecasound/ecasoundrc* for playback. A different  output device can be selected with *ECAPLAY\_OUTPUT\_DEVICE* shell  environment variable or with the *-o:output\_device* command-line option.

Playback can be stopped at any time with Ctrl-C. If multiple files are played, first Ctrl-C will stop the current file and move on to play the next one. Issuing Ctrl-C twice (within one second),  will cause ecaplay to exit.

- \-d:debuglevel

  Set libecasound debug level. See [ecasound(1)](/ecasound/1.md).

-

  - \-f

  Flush the playlist contents. See also  options *-l, -p and -q*.

-

  - \-h

  Print usage information and exit.

-

  - \-k:number

  Skip ’number’ of files.

-

  - \-l

  List the current playlist contents to stdout. See also  options *-f, -p and -q*.

-

  - \-o:output\_device

  Use ’output\_device’ instead of the default output device  (as specified in *~/.ecasound/ecasoundrc*). Syntax is same as used by "-o" ecasound option (see [ecasound(1)](/ecasound/1.md) man page). This option overrides the *ECAPLAY\_OUTPUT\_DEVICE* environment variable (more info below).

-

  - \-p

  Play tracks in the playlist (in looped mode). See also  options *-f, -l and -q*.

-

  - \-q

  Queue new tracks to the playlist. All filenames given on the command-line will be added to the the playlist. It is  possible to queue new tracks while another instance of  ecaplay is using the playlist. See also options *-f, -l*  *and -p*.

-

  **ECASIGNALVIEW**

Ecasignalview is meant for monitoring signal amplitude and peak  statistics. It accepts the following options:

- input

  The first option not starting with a ’-’ is interpreted  as an input string. This can be a device or a filename. All formats supported by libecasound are accepted. Defaults to ’/dev/dsp’.

-

  - output

  Similarly to input, second option not starting with a ’-’ is interpreted as output. Defaults to ’null’.

-

  - \-b:buffersize

  Buffersize in sample frames. Defaults to 128.

-

  - \-c

  Enable cumulative mode. Counters are not reseted after refresh. *\*deprecated\**

-

  - \-d

  Enable debug mode.

-

  - \-f:format\_string

  Specify default audio format. See [ecasound(1)](/ecasound/1.md) for details.

-

  - \-r:rate\_msec

  Specify screen refresh rate in milliseconds.

-

  - \-I

  Use linear scale for showing audio sample amplitude.

-

  - \-L

  Use logarithmic scale for showing audio sample amplitude.

-

  - \-G, -B, -M\*, -r, -z

  Ecasound options use to modify the engine behaviour, see  [ecasound(1)](/ecasound/1.md) manpage for details.

-

  When ecasignalview is running, the following keyboard  commands can be used to control the operation (requires  system support for UNIX terminal interface control):

- spacebar

  Reset statistics (max-peak, avg-amplitude and clipped samples count).

-

  - q or Q or Esc

  Quit ecasignalview.

-

  It is also possible to reset the max-peak and clipped-samples  counters by sending a SIGHUP signal to the process (i.e. from another console: "killall -v -HUP ecasignalview").

More complete documentation for ecasignalview can be found  from "Ecasound User’s Guide" (see ’’http://nosignal.fi/ecasound  -\> Documentation’’).

## ENVIRONMENT

*ECASOUND* Path to the ecasound executable. Used by many ecatools.

*ECAPLAY\_OUTPUT\_DEVICE* Device ecaplay should use for audio output. Same syntax as for ecaplay/ecasound "-o" option.

## FILES

*~/.ecasound/ecasoundrc* The default ecasound resource file. See [ecasoundrc(5)](/ecasoundrc/5.md) for details.

*~/.ecasound/ecaplay\_queue* File used to store the ecaplay playlist (one track per line with full path).

## SEE ALSO

ecasound (1), [ecalength(1)](/ecalength/1.md), "HTML docs in the Documentation subdirectory"

## AUTHOR

Kai Vehmanen, \<kvehmanen -at- eca -dot- cx \<kvehmanen -at- eca -dot- cx\>\>
