<p>Ok,</p>
<p>I maintain a piece of software called <a href="https://github.com/QutEcoacoustics/emu" rel="nofollow noreferrer">EMU</a> - the <strong>E</strong>coacoustics <strong>M</strong>etadata <strong>U</strong>tility.</p>
<p>I didn't have support for reading CUE points from WAVE files but I thought it was worthwhile adding in.</p>
<p>A caveat: EMU is a command line utility. It is not graphical and it is designed to be used from a shell like cmd/PowerShell/BaSH etc...
This might make my solution not suitable for you, however, it still does work.</p>
<p>One other advantage over Python is you don't need to install anything to run EMU. Just <a href="https://github.com/QutEcoacoustics/emu/releases/tag/4.0.0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">download</a> and unzip (maybe unblock) and you should be good to go.</p>
<p>Using the two sample files you gave me, the command:</p>
<pre><code>emu.exe cues **/*.wav
</code></pre>
<p>Finds all WAVE files in all sub-folders and reads their CUE points. It outputs:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/zNVKO.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/zNVKO.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>Adding in the <code>--export</code> option, we'll save a simple text file next to each file that has CUE points</p>
<pre><code>emu.exe cues --export **/*.wav
</code></pre>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/YUfSX.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/YUfSX.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>The contents of those files, for the Sony and Tascam respectively are:</p>
<pre><code>9.642000    &lt;no label&gt;
12.928000   &lt;no label&gt;
16.768000   &lt;no label&gt;
20.224000   &lt;no label&gt;
</code></pre>
<p>and</p>
<pre><code>11.346000   MARK_01
16.122000   MARK_02
16.386000   MARK_03
19.770000   MARK_04
23.802000   MARK_05
</code></pre>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p><strong>EDITS</strong></p>
<p>To run a command line program first open a shell like CMD or PowerShell (or Bash if you're on Linux). If you're on Windows I'd suggest installing <a href="https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/windows-terminal/9N0DX20HK701?hl=en-us&amp;gl=US" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Windows Terminal</a></p>
<p>Then <a href="https://www.thewindowsclub.com/path-copy-copy-lets-you-copy-file-paths" rel="nofollow noreferrer">copy the path</a> to the program and the directory you want to work on and paste them in the relevant spots.</p>
<p>Here's an example:</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/yaG9lcnQleE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/yaG9lcnQleE</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-08T07:20:13.283Z
When I run emu.exe, an MS-DOS window briefly opens and I can for a blink of an eye make out the text "EMU" in graphical form, then the window shuts.
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-08T07:31:43.077Z
The emu.exe code is found in win-x64 after unzipping win-x64.zip. The computer initially refused to run the code, but I overruled that ('unblocking' it?).  I use Windows 10 Pro ver 21H2 with Windows Feature Experience Pack.
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-08T07:35:02.100Z
Your results look exactly like what I want, though! Never mind the MS-DOS aspect, I'd be more than happy to live with that.
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-09T10:24:41.793Z
Oh right, let me edit my answer to be more clear.
Anthony Truskinger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-09T12:51:54.000Z
I ran it in the Windows Power Shell and it works like a charm! Great! Thank you so much!
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-09T12:56:25.780Z
Obviously, I've long since forgot the MS-DOS lingua, so I simply copied both emu.exe and the .wav files to the current location. Don't even know where on the keyboard to find backslash....but shifting all the files solved that problem!
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-13T16:34:32.803Z
I'm trying to run EMU on a MacBook M1 Pro. How do I even launch it. When I try to run it via terminal I get "sudo: ./emu: command not found" What am I doing wrong? sry if this is a noob-question...
Benjamin Serdani
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-26T17:06:49.500Z
Hi Benjamin, welcome to Bioacoustics SE. You should post your question on a new thread [here](https://bioacoustics.stackexchange.com/questions/ask)
Noil
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-30T23:06:10.423Z
@BenjaminSerdani I'll need more information to help, but as pointed out, asking this question in its own question would be preferable :-)
Anthony Truskinger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-08-01T08:21:56.977Z
2022-08-09T10:48:28.140Z
2022-08-09T10:48:28.140Z
Anthony Truskinger
<p>Tascam and Zoom recorders create cuepoints that ffmpeg recognizes as chapters , e.g.  <code>ffmpeg -i your_file.wav</code> . More info in these answers : <a href="https://superuser.com/questions/795373/split-mkv-based-on-chapters">https://superuser.com/questions/795373/split-mkv-based-on-chapters</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-11-05T23:03:31.550Z
2023-11-05T23:03:31.550Z
fenugrec
<p>'Whispering bats' are bat species that either use low volume echo location calls or use passive hearing for prey detection, so producing no echo location calls at all. Detecting and identifying whispering bats is therefore difficult, and a combination of visual observation and sound recording has to be used. To be able to tell that a visually observed bat didn't produce echo location calls, the recordings should be associated with precisely timed cues, indicating visual observations at these times, that can then be correlated against presence or absence of recorded ultrasonic calls at these times.</p>
<p>My Tascam dr-100 mk3 has a function denoted &quot;MARK&quot; and my Sony pcm-m10 seems to have a similar function denoted &quot;T-MARK&quot;. Using these would be a convenient way of adding a timed reference to when something occurs during a recording, corresponding to saying 'now I saw it' out loud during the recording, but without making a vocal comment, negatively affecting the recording.</p>
<p>Apparently the &quot;MARK&quot; or &quot;T-MARK&quot; data is found in the Cue chunk of bwf sound files. The bwf (Broadcast Wave Format) is an extension of the wav format and the file name extension of bwf files is often .wav, so it’s not apparent to the user that any such cue data is avaliable.</p>
<p>I normally use the freeware Audacity, but Audacity doesn't seem to be able to recognize or present cue chunk data. My Sony pcm-m10 came with a copy of Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0 and it is able to read and present cue data. Unfortunately Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0 doesn’t accept sample rates above 96ksps, so not useful for my bat recordings. Buying a licence for a brand new sound editing software for the sole purpose of reading cue data seems over the top.</p>
<p>Audacity can instead read label track files, and someone has written code which can read cue chunk data from a sound file and store it as a label track file, see <a href="https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Importing_Timestamp_Information" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Importing_Timestamp_Information</a>.</p>
<p>It's a piece of code written in Python, which runs from the &quot;shell command line&quot;.</p>
<p>It seems I need to download a Python compiler, compile the code and then enter some ancient MS-DOS remnant to run the compiled code. Just too much for a non software engineer, sigh...</p>
<p><strong>My question is thus: Which software can read bwf file cue chunk data and present it in an easily accessible format, such as a .txt file?</strong> What I'd like is a Windows style box that I can click on which says &quot;Which input sound file?&quot; and &quot;Where to put the output label track file?&quot;. An alternative would be code similar to Mp3tag, that could read cue chunk data and present it as a list that I can copy and paste into a label track file. Perhaps Mp3tag can already do this, but I haven’t managed to find where, if so, it is presented.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-27T13:20:51.940Z
This seems to be a wish list, but not a Q&A. Maybe OP can be reformulated to include more specific questions?
WMXZ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-27T13:37:20.273Z
Which software can read bwf file cue chunk data and present it in an easily accessible format, such as a .txt file?
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-27T15:40:34.130Z
Hi @UlfElman, you could already edit the original question to include the new changes itself :)!
Thejasvi
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-28T09:25:48.093Z
I don't know of any software but I've written software that reads and writes WAVE files a fair bit... I'd love to see an example file?
Anthony Truskinger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-28T10:38:24.243Z
I could easily make recordings and press the "MARK"/"T-MARK" buttons a couple of times while recording, but as I have no means of read this cue data, I wouldn't know if it's there. How would I then make these recordings available to you?
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-28T11:15:58.403Z
leave a dropbox/gdrive/onedrive link here or email a dot truskinger at qut dot edu dot au
Anthony Truskinger
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-28T16:13:53.577Z
I've mailed you a first file but the second was too large for your email, so I've sent it by Wetransfer, https://we.tl/t-3qxP3fYT2f
Ulf Elman
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-07-28T17:50:34.870Z
Interesting question. It would be helpful to write a title that summarizes the specific problem. May I suggest replacing the main title with the bold text question you include in the body?
ASimonis
<recording><annotations><ultrasonic>
Which software can read bwf file cue chunk data and present it in an easily accessible format, such as a .txt file?
# Which software can read bwf file cue chunk data and present it in an easily accessible format, such as a .txt file?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-07-27)

'Whispering bats' are bat species that either use low volume echo location calls or use passive hearing for prey detection, so producing no echo location calls at all. Detecting and identifying whispering bats is therefore difficult, and a combination of visual observation and sound recording has to be used. To be able to tell that a visually observed bat didn't produce echo location calls, the recordings should be associated with precisely timed cues, indicating visual observations at these times, that can then be correlated against presence or absence of recorded ultrasonic calls at these times.

My Tascam dr-100 mk3 has a function denoted "MARK" and my Sony pcm-m10 seems to have a similar function denoted "T-MARK". Using these would be a convenient way of adding a timed reference to when something occurs during a recording, corresponding to saying 'now I saw it' out loud during the recording, but without making a vocal comment, negatively affecting the recording.

Apparently the "MARK" or "T-MARK" data is found in the Cue chunk of bwf sound files. The bwf (Broadcast Wave Format) is an extension of the wav format and the file name extension of bwf files is often .wav, so it’s not apparent to the user that any such cue data is avaliable.

I normally use the freeware Audacity, but Audacity doesn't seem to be able to recognize or present cue chunk data. My Sony pcm-m10 came with a copy of Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0 and it is able to read and present cue data. Unfortunately Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0 doesn’t accept sample rates above 96ksps, so not useful for my bat recordings. Buying a licence for a brand new sound editing software for the sole purpose of reading cue data seems over the top.

Audacity can instead read label track files, and someone has written code which can read cue chunk data from a sound file and store it as a label track file, see <https://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Importing_Timestamp_Information>.

It's a piece of code written in Python, which runs from the "shell command line".

It seems I need to download a Python compiler, compile the code and then enter some ancient MS-DOS remnant to run the compiled code. Just too much for a non software engineer, sigh...

**My question is thus: Which software can read bwf file cue chunk data and present it in an easily accessible format, such as a .txt file?** What I'd like is a Windows style box that I can click on which says "Which input sound file?" and "Where to put the output label track file?". An alternative would be code similar to Mp3tag, that could read cue chunk data and present it as a list that I can copy and paste into a label track file. Perhaps Mp3tag can already do this, but I haven’t managed to find where, if so, it is presented.

**Tags:** recording, annotations, ultrasonic

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This seems to be a wish list, but not a Q&A. Maybe OP can be reformulated to include more specific questions?  
> **username_0**: Which software can read bwf file cue chunk data and present it in an easily accessible format, such as a .txt file?  
> **username_2**: Hi @username_0, you could already edit the original question to include the new changes itself :)!  
> **username_3**: I don't know of any software but I've written software that reads and writes WAVE files a fair bit... I'd love to see an example file?  
> **username_0**: I could easily make recordings and press the "MARK"/"T-MARK" buttons a couple of times while recording, but as I have no means of read this cue data, I wouldn't know if it's there. How would I then make these recordings available to you?  
> **username_3**: leave a dropbox/gdrive/onedrive link here or email a dot username_3 at qut dot edu dot au  
> **username_0**: I've mailed you a first file but the second was too large for your email, so I've sent it by Wetransfer, https://we.tl/t-3qxP3fYT2f  
> **username_4**: Interesting question. It would be helpful to write a title that summarizes the specific problem. May I suggest replacing the main title with the bold text question you include in the body?  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2022-08-01. Score: 2

Ok,

I maintain a piece of software called [EMU](https://github.com/QutEcoacoustics/emu) - the **E**coacoustics **M**etadata **U**tility.

I didn't have support for reading CUE points from WAVE files but I thought it was worthwhile adding in.

A caveat: EMU is a command line utility. It is not graphical and it is designed to be used from a shell like cmd/PowerShell/BaSH etc...
This might make my solution not suitable for you, however, it still does work.

One other advantage over Python is you don't need to install anything to run EMU. Just [download](https://github.com/QutEcoacoustics/emu/releases/tag/4.0.0) and unzip (maybe unblock) and you should be good to go.

Using the two sample files you gave me, the command:

```
emu.exe cues **/*.wav

```

Finds all WAVE files in all sub-folders and reads their CUE points. It outputs:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/zNVKO.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/zNVKO.png)

Adding in the `--export` option, we'll save a simple text file next to each file that has CUE points

```
emu.exe cues --export **/*.wav

```

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/YUfSX.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/YUfSX.png)

The contents of those files, for the Sony and Tascam respectively are:

```
9.642000    <no label>
12.928000   <no label>
16.768000   <no label>
20.224000   <no label>

```

and

```
11.346000   MARK_01
16.122000   MARK_02
16.386000   MARK_03
19.770000   MARK_04
23.802000   MARK_05

```

Hope that helps!

**EDITS**

To run a command line program first open a shell like CMD or PowerShell (or Bash if you're on Linux). If you're on Windows I'd suggest installing [Windows Terminal](https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/windows-terminal/9N0DX20HK701?hl=en-us&gl=US)

Then [copy the path](https://www.thewindowsclub.com/path-copy-copy-lets-you-copy-file-paths) to the program and the directory you want to work on and paste them in the relevant spots.

Here's an example:

<https://youtu.be/yaG9lcnQleE>

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: When I run emu.exe, an MS-DOS window briefly opens and I can for a blink of an eye make out the text "EMU" in graphical form, then the window shuts.  
> **username_0**: The emu.exe code is found in win-x64 after unzipping win-x64.zip. The computer initially refused to run the code, but I overruled that ('unblocking' it?).  I use Windows 10 Pro ver 21H2 with Windows Feature Experience Pack.  
> **username_0**: Your results look exactly like what I want, though! Never mind the MS-DOS aspect, I'd be more than happy to live with that.  
> **username_3**: Oh right, let me edit my answer to be more clear.  
> **username_0**: I ran it in the Windows Power Shell and it works like a charm! Great! Thank you so much!  
> **username_0**: Obviously, I've long since forgot the MS-DOS lingua, so I simply copied both emu.exe and the .wav files to the current location. Don't even know where on the keyboard to find backslash....but shifting all the files solved that problem!  
> **username_5**: I'm trying to run EMU on a MacBook M1 Pro. How do I even launch it. When I try to run it via terminal I get "sudo: ./emu: command not found" What am I doing wrong? sry if this is a noob-question...  
> **username_6**: Hi username_5, welcome to Bioacoustics SE. You should post your question on a new thread [here](https://bioacoustics.stackexchange.com/questions/ask)  
> **username_3**: @username_5 I'll need more information to help, but as pointed out, asking this question in its own question would be preferable :-)  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2023-11-05. Score: 2

Tascam and Zoom recorders create cuepoints that ffmpeg recognizes as chapters , e.g. `ffmpeg -i your_file.wav` . More info in these answers : <https://superuser.com/questions/795373/split-mkv-based-on-chapters>


---

