PPAD / RPAD

Play a clip and read its stamp, or record yourself and take the file home.

PPAD - PLAY

No archive clips here: upload a file.

RPAD - RECORD

The microphone of this computer stands in for the card's input (RPAD's own "-m" switch). The file is made in memory and offered as a download; nothing is uploaded. Maximum record time here: 60 seconds.

The first six header bytes hold the stamp: flag (1 = uncompressed), three digits for the recording user and two for the access level - here 0 and 0, what the family's recorder wrote when it was never told who was speaking. The other 34 header bytes stay zero. A PU file loses its first sample, as in VCON.

ABOUT THIS TOOL

Recreates
PPAD.EXE "playing utility 3.01" and RPAD.EXE "recording utility version 3", Talking Technology, Inc.
Date
RPAD 23 Jul 1991; PPAD 21 Aug 1991
Who likely wrote it
Talking Technology, Inc. The FUUULL stamp (flag, 3-digit user, 2-digit level) is the BBS family's own addition, written by their recorder (SERP/SE), not by RPAD, which writes 40 zero bytes.
What changed in the web version
  • No voice card, no phone line, no keyboard stop conditions: the browser plays the decoded sound and the microphone replaces the card's input.
  • Recording makes a PU or PC file in memory with the stamp "user 0, level 0" (the stamp the family's recorder writes when nothing else is set) and offers it as a download. Nothing is uploaded.
  • The screens are the originals' texts ("Playing...", "%ld Bytes read from %s", "Seconds available to record = %ld", "Recording..."); the usage text is shown when you ask for it.
Kept on purpose (the original's bugs and habits)
  • PPAD never looks at the 40-byte header: it assumes every file is 4-bit ADPCM, so a PU (uncompressed) file would play as noise. The web player shows what the header says and lets you choose.
  • RPAD itself writes an all-zero header; the stamp is added the way SERP does, over the first six bytes.
  • The record time limit follows the original formula for the free memory (about 7950 samples per second, 4 bits each).
  • PPAD adds ".PAD" to a name without an extension; a key that stops the play is swallowed; the exit code is the stop reason.
Ground truth
inventory/exe_c/vendor_tools/PPAD, RPAD, PPAD_RPAD_SHARED.md; knowledge/formats/audio-formats.md