I made an abstraction that writes multiple output files with a maximum size setable by the user. Only stereo output files are supported, and the control is via multiple messages so it isn't a straight drop-in replacement. The patch uses two [writesf~] objects for double buffering as the help file says there must be a delay between a "stop" and the next "open".

Attached are the patch and help patch. It is advisable to send the messages to the writesafe2~ in the order given in the help patch, I haven't tested other orderings.

Still in the patch are [print]s to show what the [writesf~]s are receiving, example output from the help patch, playing with the start and stop controls towards the end:

=== writesafe2~-0: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0003.wav writesafe2~-0: start writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-1: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0004.wav writesafe2~-1: start writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-0: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0005.wav writesafe2~-0: start writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-1: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0006.wav writesafe2~-1: start writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-0: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0007.wav writesafe2~-0: start writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-1: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0008.wav writesafe2~-1: start writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-0: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0009.wav writesafe2~-0: start writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-1: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0010.wav writesafe2~-1: start writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-0: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0011.wav writesafe2~-0: start writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-1: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0012.wav writesafe2~-1: start writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-0: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0013.wav writesafe2~-0: start writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-1: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0014.wav writesafe2~-1: start writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-1: stop writesafe2~-0: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0015.wav writesafe2~-0: start writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-0: stop writesafe2~-1: open -bytes 4 -wave -rate 44100 /home/claude/tmp/test0016.wav writesafe2~-1: start writesafe2~-1: stop ===

And the resulting files:

=== $ ls ~/tmp/ -l -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 799788 Oct 29 09:51 test0003.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 799788 Oct 29 09:51 test0004.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 800300 Oct 29 09:51 test0005.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 799788 Oct 29 09:51 test0006.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 800300 Oct 29 09:51 test0007.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 799788 Oct 29 09:51 test0008.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 800300 Oct 29 09:51 test0009.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 799788 Oct 29 09:51 test0010.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 800300 Oct 29 09:52 test0011.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 498732 Oct 29 09:52 test0012.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 799788 Oct 29 09:52 test0013.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 655916 Oct 29 09:52 test0014.wav -rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 179756 Oct 29 09:52 test0015.wav

-rw-rw-r-- 1 claude claude 145452 Oct 29 09:52 test0016.wav

I hope this is useful for some of you :-)

#N canvas 75 83 489 521 10; #X obj 15 121 osc~ 440; #X obj 15 161 writesafe2~; #X msg 95 121 start; #X msg 145 121 stop; #X msg 87 79 samples 100000 , bytes 4 , format wave , rate 44100 , open /home/claude/tmp/test%04d.wav , index 3; #X text 15 4 writesafe2~.pd and writesafe2~-help.pd (c) 2004 ClaudiusMaximus , licensed to you under GPL; #X text 24 243 bytes <float> -- sample format: 2 (integer PCM) or 3 (integer PCM) or 4 (float); #X text 24 275 format wave , format aiff -- choice of file format , default is wave; #X text 24 211 samples <float> -- approximate maximum number of samples in each output file; #X text 24 307 rate <float> -- sets file header , does NOT resample ; #X text 24 326 open <symbol> -- set pattern for filenames , should include one %d or variant; #X text 24 358 index <integer> -- set starting file index number; #X obj 38 469 writesf~; #X text 24 447 SEE ALSO:; #X text 24 377 start -- when not recording = start recording ; when recording = skip to the next index; #X text 24 409 stop -- stop recording; #X text 86 61 click this one first; #X text 185 122 then control recording with these; #X connect 0 0 1 0; #X connect 0 0 1 1; #X connect 2 0 1 2; #X connect 3 0 1 2; #X connect 4 0 1 2;

#N canvas 156 0 788 978 10; #X obj 20 927 writesf~ 2; #X obj 20 13 inlet~ audio-L; #X obj 124 13 inlet~ audio-R; #X obj 244 13 inlet control; #X msg 289 113 2; #X obj 214 209 min; #X obj 289 93 select 2 3 4; #X msg 315 113 3; #X msg 341 113 4; #X obj 368 113 print writesafe2~-error-bytes; #X obj 610 53 print writesafe2~-error; #X text 289 180 max number of samples in a 1GB file; #X msg 410 143 1e+09; #X obj 59 947 writesf~ 2; #X obj 263 797 + 1; #X obj 263 817 % 2; #X obj 169 847 demux 2; #X obj 506 286 samplerate~; #X obj 521 365 expr $f2 / $f1 * 1000; #X obj 462 256 t b b; #X obj 308 592 print writesafe2~-error-format; #X obj 289 143 t f f; #X obj 289 163 expr $f2 / $f1 / 2; #X msg 224 140 1e+08; #X obj 418 13 t b b b b b; #X msg 194 706 stop; #X obj 213 777 float; #X msg 243 757 0; #X msg 223 828 1; #X obj 350 13 loadbang; #X obj 169 519 makefilename; #X msg 169 449 set $1; #X obj 506 338 spigot; #X obj 521 236 t f b; #X msg 551 257 0; #X obj 214 163 max 10000; #X obj 226 479 float; #X msg 266 459 0; #X text 268 480 index; #X text 260 774 write select; #X obj 276 509 + 1; #X obj 462 408 metro; #X obj 213 927 print writesafe2~-1; #X obj 169 947 print writesafe2~-0; #X obj 201 572 select wave aiff; #X msg 582 256 1; #X msg 462 368 1; #X msg 478 388 0; #X obj 244 33 route samples bytes format rate open start stop index ; #X obj 462 428 t b b b; #X obj 169 429 messageprepend list; #X obj 201 552 messageprepend symbol; #X msg 254 612 symbol -aiff; #X obj 169 652 pack s s f f; #X obj 169 867 t a a; #X obj 213 867 t a a; #X msg 169 682 open -bytes $3 $2 -rate $4 $1 , start; #X msg 201 592 symbol -wave; #X text 418 770 writesafe2~.pd and writesafe2~-help.pd (c) 2004 ClaudiusMaximus , licensed to you under GPL; #X connect 1 0 0 0; #X connect 1 0 13 0; #X connect 2 0 0 1; #X connect 2 0 13 1; #X connect 3 0 48 0; #X connect 4 0 21 0; #X connect 5 0 18 1; #X connect 6 0 4 0; #X connect 6 1 7 0; #X connect 6 2 8 0; #X connect 6 3 9 0; #X connect 7 0 21 0; #X connect 8 0 21 0; #X connect 12 0 22 1; #X connect 14 0 15 0; #X connect 15 0 26 1; #X connect 16 0 54 0; #X connect 16 1 55 0; #X connect 17 0 32 0; #X connect 18 0 41 1; #X connect 19 0 46 0; #X connect 19 1 17 0; #X connect 21 0 22 0; #X connect 21 1 53 2; #X connect 22 0 5 1; #X connect 23 0 35 0; #X connect 24 0 12 0; #X connect 24 0 17 0; #X connect 24 1 4 0; #X connect 24 2 23 0; #X connect 24 3 45 0; #X connect 24 4 27 0; #X connect 25 0 16 0; #X connect 26 0 14 0; #X connect 26 0 16 1; #X connect 27 0 26 1; #X connect 28 0 16 1; #X connect 29 0 24 0; #X connect 30 0 53 0; #X connect 31 0 30 0; #X connect 32 0 18 0; #X connect 32 0 53 3; #X connect 33 0 18 0; #X connect 33 0 53 3; #X connect 33 1 34 0; #X connect 34 0 32 1; #X connect 35 0 5 0; #X connect 36 0 40 0; #X connect 36 0 30 0; #X connect 37 0 36 1; #X connect 40 0 36 1; #X connect 41 0 49 0; #X connect 44 0 57 0; #X connect 44 1 52 0; #X connect 44 2 20 0; #X connect 45 0 32 1; #X connect 46 0 41 0; #X connect 47 0 41 0; #X connect 48 0 35 0; #X connect 48 1 6 0; #X connect 48 2 51 0; #X connect 48 3 33 0; #X connect 48 4 50 0; #X connect 48 5 19 0; #X connect 48 6 47 0; #X connect 48 6 25 0; #X connect 48 7 36 1; #X connect 48 8 10 0; #X connect 49 0 36 0; #X connect 49 1 26 0; #X connect 49 2 25 0; #X connect 50 0 31 0; #X connect 51 0 44 0; #X connect 52 0 53 1; #X connect 53 0 56 0; #X connect 54 0 0 0; #X connect 54 1 43 0; #X connect 55 0 13 0; #X connect 55 1 42 0; #X connect 56 0 16 0; #X connect 57 0 53 1;