Make your own Morse Code APP with REAPER

[Chuck aa0hw]

Reaper, already installs with all the plugins you will need to create a customized and high quality sounding morse code practice oscillator.  Here is a short video showing the plugins in action.

(REAPER is available for all operating systems)  Here is a short video with an overview of this:

Reaper, has everything you need to make your own morse code app. Using the plugins that already install with REAPER, you can customize your own code practice oscillator. This video is a short live demo that will show you these plugins "in action" and how it sounds.

Instead of creating in hardware a 'clean" and well shaped CPO, we use a harsh square wave from a 555 to send the morse tones into the MIC JACK. From there the first plugin, REAGATE, converts the ON // OFF time of the cw notes into midi messages, that are used to key the next plugin - SINE WAVE SYNTHESIZER. We filter the SINE WAVE SYNTHESIZER and hear the tones in the sound card.

(you can also send this high quality morse code audio over the internet for an online qso using WebRTC or many other voip(s))

Here are the plugins used:
1. REAGATE: takes any kind of morse code audio tone cw signal coming into the MIC IN or LINE INPUT of your sound card and converts it to a MIDI MESSAGE output.
2. REASYNTH: takes the MIDI MESSAGE from REAGATE and creates an exact duplicate of the original cw note as provided by your morse code tones inputting via the MIC IN or LINE IN jack.
3. APPLE 12-POLE BANDPASS FILTER: cleans up the edge noise from the generated morse code audio tones from REASYNTH.
4. AUDIO SPECTRUM ANALYZER
5.. OSCILLOSCOPE called ( SKOPE ) 3rd party, from :
http://jsplugins.supermaailma.net/

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here are a few screenshots of the REAPER SETTINGS for morse code generation:

[Chuck aa0hw]

HERE ARE A COUPLE OF PICTURES of what the 555 input waveform looks like into the MIC JACK

I set the filter on REAGATE's settings to include all of these peaks coming from the 555 cw audio input

 HERE IS THE WAVEFORM of a single DIT, as measured by the oscilloscope [ @10 khz tone ]

 HERE IS ANOTHER VIEW of the SPECTRUM of the incoming CW NOTEs measured by Audacity

HERE IS A PICTURE OF THE ORIGINAL 555 SENDING A STREAM OF DITS into the MIC JACK - @133 wpm

NOTE: this dit stream above is from a k1el k40 keying the 555 chip,  at max speed,  9 milliseconds each, which calculates out to be around 133 words per minute.   Every dit shown above is exactly the same length - 9 ms.

The 555 keying circuit is very accurate at taking the k1el's keying output to the 555 's input and sending those high pitched square wave dits into the MIC JACK of the computer.

HERE shown just below,  IS A SIDE by SIDE comparison close up of the original dits from the 555(bottom) and the regenerated dits output,  created by the inclusive vst plugins of REAPER(top)

Every dit is exactly the same length on both the dits from the 555 and the regenerated dits by REAPER.

all of the 555 dits are 9 ms each and all of the REGENERATED DITS by REAPER measure to be 13 ms each (the extra few milliseconds of the regenerated tones are due to the RISE/FALL time settings of the REASYNTH sine wave synthesizer and the following REAPER plugin - bandpass filter)

- At 133 wpm - the accuracy of these REAPER software plugins at reproducing the exact timing of the original dits and dashes is impressive - REAPER's REAGATE VST PLUGIN is the secret weapon - on achieving accurate REGENERATED cw notes that precisely follow the original lengths of the incoming cw tones from the 555 chip connected to the MIC INPUT.  This AUDIO to MIDI technique proves to be very accurate at qrq cw timing as well as being able to use paddles or keys or keyboards at NEAR ZERO LATENCY,  so that you can key your paddles, keys, or cw keyboard,  without noticing any delay in the timing of paddle press, or key strike, until hearing the tone.

NOTE:  there are many ways to bring a cw sidetone into your MIC JACK INPUT or LINE INPUT JACK of your soundcard and it does not matter how good the sidetone sounds...the sidetone that goes to the MIC INPUT or LINE INPUT is just there to trigger(by a volume threshold setting)  the REAGATE PLUGIN which upon being triggered then keys the next plugin - REASYNTH, a software sine wave synthesizer.  

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is a short video showing you how to use REAPER to have a morse code qso over the internet just using REAPER and its own plugins.

This short video is a follow up to the video "Make your own morse code app with REAPER" https://youtu.be/kEUWjUel1OE

In this video we show a short demo of morse code over the internet using REAPER's own plugin, called reaNINJAM. It is already contained in the REAPER PROGRAM, once you have downloaded and installed it.

reaNINJAM is used in "VOICE CHAT" mode instead of normal ninjam mode. This short test, shows a Desktop reaNINJAM transmitting cw to one of the NINJAM SERVERs, and then a Laptop reaNINJAM receiver, is shown and recorded in this video using the same USA NINJAM server to show you the setup and how it sounds.

REAPER has all the plugins you need to filter the morse code audio tones that go to a ninjam server and back. Otherwise the unfiltered audio will have some audio artifacts and other qrn types of noises on the signal, but is totally eliminated by using the same plugins as shown in the first video(see link above), especially the REAGATE vst plugin, which has multiple settings for getting rid of audio spikes, clicks and pops etc...

NOTE: the ninjam servers that show up in the reaNINJAM plugin on REAPER are mostly used for online jamming from musicians that gather in one of the ninjam rooms from all over the world.

This was a short test just to test the ability of ninjam to handle morse code audio tones for a similar purpose. It is easy to setup your own ninjam server and use that instead of the public free servers that are listed so that we don't interfere with the musicians and their playing and creating music online that need those servers to perform together.

One of the advantages of morse code over the internet using this method, is that you only need one program - REAPER - Reaper has everything we need to have high quality audio morse code qso's over the internet with as many people as your own ninjam server can handle in bandwidth.

FROM:  http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/

"NINJAM uses OGG Vorbis audio compression to compress audio, then streams it to a NINJAM server, which can then stream it to the other people in your jam. This architecture requires a server with adequate bandwidth, but has no firewall or NAT issues. OGG Vorbis is utilized for its great low bitrate characteristics and performance. Each user receives a copy of other users audio streams, allowing for each user to adjust the mix to their liking..."

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is a good audio file example that demo's what morse code audio tones sound like over ninJAM, first by itself with no filtering, and then the 2nd half is using filtering using the CW REGENERATION method previously described. The filtering really helps to get rid of all the audio qrn that you usually get with over AUDIO OVER IP.

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is Reaper(beta5) using WASAPI Exclusive Mode, on windows 7 64 bit machine

The CW paddle tap test was given,  for a low latency timing test,  measured to be only 25 milliseconds from the time your cw paddle contacts close and create a dit, until the time you actually hear the tone being sent by the sound card, (with the Reaper settings above)  At 25 milliseconds, which is classified as NEAR ZERO LATENCY,  by the PROFESSIONAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE community, it is so tiny of a delay, that you should not even notice any difference when sending cw with your cw paddles or key.

One advantage of using this WASAPI EXCLUSIVE mode is, that you only need REAPER, one single program to get your morse code sinewave audio tones created and sent out over the internet using reaNINJAM to your friend(s) for your online morse code audio tone qso or net.  You don't have to download ASIO4ALL or any other programs for this to work well.  Reaper works on MAC, LINUX and WINDOWS.

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is a step by step tutorial for Making your own morse code cw keyer oscillator using Reaper:

This video shows each step in creating a professional sounding , audiophile quality, morse code cw keyer CPO with Reaper. This is a follow up video to the first video on this subject which was just an overview. https://youtu.be/kEUWjUel1OE

CONCEPT: take a harsh square wave sidetone output from your keyer, RIG, or some other hardware CPO, and connect that audio to the MIC JACK INPUT or LINE INPUT of your sound card. Convert that audio into a professional sounding code practice oscillator cw keyer using just the REAPER PLUGINS. You can hear the new morse code audio in your sound card to monitor your own sidetone, in NEAR ZERO LATENCY and you can also have an online qso with another REAPER CW OP using reaper's own reaNINJAM plugin. - all of this with just one program - REAPER !

Here are the links mentioned in the show notes:
1. beta5 version download for Reaper 
http://www.landoleet.org/
2. Stable versions of Reaper
http://www.reaper.fm/download.php
3. SKOPE JS REAPER PLUGIN
http://jsplugins.supermaailma.net/


NOTE: a 2nd reaper using WASAPI EXCLUSIVE mode was used to bring my USB MIC audio into this video by using REAPER's REASTREAM vst plugin, which sends the audio from the USB MIC REAPER over to the MORSE CODE REAPER.

[Chuck aa0hw]

Here is a step by step video tutorial on how to send morse code over the internet using Reaper and reaNINJAM

This is a follow up video to the previous overview video on using reaNINJAM to have a morse code qso over the internet with other cw ops that are also using ninJAM. Depending on the bandwidth of the ninjam server you choose, you can have up to 8 cw ops or more, on at the same time, with full duplex, full qsk break-in, morse code audio tones - cw net or just a one on one qso etc...
https://youtu.be/clVzRtRtqjY and https://youtu.be/jBMNR1qr65I

In this video, once you have put together your Reaper morse code plugin setup, as described in the 2 video links above, and would like to have a morse code qso over the internet with one or more other cw ops using reaNINJAM, you are only a few steps away from doing so....

NOTE: for more information on the NINJAM server see here:

http://www.freewebs.com/arxeia/Ninjam_User_Guide.pdf

http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/server-guide.php