Thanks for contributing to the wiki! I personally would give it a 
, since you can still use the phone and the impact is relatively low since not many people use this (I suppose). I get it impacts your use case alot, but the wiki is more to give an objective overview of issues. But I’ll leave it up to you to implement that change or not.
Thank you for your response. I compared the issue with the other yellow ones and each is kind of – you can still use the phone. That’s why for me it is a huge impact. Right now it means I have to take two smartphones with me to get the job done. So for me
:orange_circle:Medium impact - I can only partially use the phone
fits very well.
But for the objective overview I will change it to green.
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Oh boy, at first I used the integrated audio recorder and Rehearsal Assistant (f-droid). The latter always gave me excellent results on my old phone and the linked audio file in the first post is an example of that quality.
After reading a lot about sound issues on this forum I tried a third app for audio recordings called Audio Recorder (available via F-Droid or Google Play Store).
And the result is 
drumroll good audio quality.
Maybe Rehearsal Assistant is using the fairphone’s integrated recorder and that one is really really bad.
So this #issue is solved for me.
But the integrated audio recorder is definitely an issue.
I do recommend Audio Recorder (link above).
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That’s great to hear! But it sounds then also a non Fairphone issue, right? Since switching from app fixed it for you. What do you think? I’m asking in the context of the wiki. We should make sure it’s a collection of well tested issues that are really FP specific issues. This may sound like the app you used may have a bug. Because if it was e.g. a FP driver or hardware issue, any app would have the same behavior. Unless it’s indeed using the native recording app from FP, which is unusable. But that has to be confirmed then.
It seems that Fairphone’s audio recorder is the real issue. But you need to know that this might influence other audio apps. Because the other app I use still works perfectly fine on other phones – so this is definitely a Fairphone issue in some way.
That’s why I would keep the issue in the Wiki. Maybe under another Title? But it should be mentioned there somehow, right?
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I think this might be related:
Audio processing is definitely an issue on FP4. Unless you choose raw/unprocessed audio stream, it’s full of these artifacts.
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Can you explain how the native recording app somehow is used by other apps? Do you have a source for that? I don’t think they can be related. Sure, the native recording app is horrible. But have you really confirmed that this is the cause? Maybe reach out to the developers of the app first to check if they have to do something to make it work better. I prefer to have really confirmed and reproducible issues in that wiki and not every issue someone comes across that may or may not have to do with other things outside of FP’s control. Only things that FP can fix should be in that list to keep it also relevant to FP support.
I’m not saying it’s impossible what you’re saying. Like @Razem points out, there are more issues. But if we as a community can pinpoint the cause on a low level, it will help FP to fix them better as wel. And if it’s something they can’t fix, but the app developer should, then FP was wasting time investigating something. I would suggest to reach out to the app developers and see if you can find out more with them. Because another app seems to work fine, right?
I don’t think it uses the stock audio recording app. But it uses the same processed audio stream that the stock app uses. Both Audio Recorder and Open Camera let you select the raw audio input. So I’d argue the problem is on both sides. Fairphone’s audio processing pipeline is messed up, but on the other hand, any recording app (especially those focused on music recording) should give you the option to not use the processed audio and record the raw input instead.
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Sorry I can’t. Maybe it is a native recording setting that can be used by apps and this setting is miserable on the fairphone 4 (speculations). I only know that I never had any issues with the other app except on the Fairphone 4. Fairphone 1, Huawei Nova, Fire Tablet – all good. So I expect it to be something special with the Fairphone 4. This should be reproducible for everyone who has another android device at hand.
Of course you can delete the issue in the wiki.
No problem for me, do as you please.
If anyone is searching for something related they will probably end up here and find the info they need.
@Razem Sorry I didn’t see your last post before writing this.
My point is not to delete it, but to make sure the list of issues are truly FP issues. Maybe reach out to the devs of the app to verify your assumptions, via a bug report for example. It will make the conclusions more solid if they can confirm this.
Unfortunately Rehearsal Assistant is too old for that.
You won’t reach the developer.
As I previously mentioned I think the issue with the integrated recorder should be mentioned in the wiki – that would be sufficient. This app is definitely an issue, because if you use an audio recorder you normally expect it to be able to record in the quality the microphones are able to deliver. If I had known that, this whole thread wouldn’t exist. And I could have saved myself some time.
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I see indeed that that app you were using at first is indeed almost 10 years without new updates. This adds to my point. If Audio Recorder | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository does work fine, but you haven’t pinpointed the root cause problem, I personally find it too soon to jump to conclusions. Since it is listed in the wiki I suppose you already reported the issue to FP support (that’s in the wiki as a requirement, just as proving it is reproducible), did FP support already replied?
Just to make this clear: the wiki isnt anything official, and a wiki can be updated by everyone as they wish. There is nothing like a requirement, its just what you would like to see.
And even if this app is no prove there are other indicators there might be issues as far as I understand.
As I mentioned in the second post, I requested support, but no response yet. I also updated it with my new findings yesterday.
The root cause problem for me is…
if you use an audio recorder you normally expect it to be able to record in the quality the microphones are able to deliver.
Unfortunately the Fairphone Recorder can’t do that.
It’s described in the wiki with that requirement, it’s a special subset of issues. Yes, it’s community based and anyone may add stuff. But to make sure the list is of quality it should be reproducible, as the title says of the wiki. It should also be reported to support, because of the reasons explained in the text on the wiki. And yes, it’s nothing official.
To avoid a long discussion, yes, there may be very well something here to dive in deeper. But this topic is already marked as solved when using another recording app that’s not unmaintained for almost 10 years.
If there is an issue that more clearly can describe the root cause based on fair troubleshooting and communication with FP support and in this case the app developers, then that sounds like a great addition to the wiki. I’m doubting now if this particular topic meets the criteria.
But this report wasn’t about the native FP recorder, right? You used 2 apps, one worked, and the very old one didn’t. Why that is is very important. Is it because that old app simply doesn’t include proper support? Because that’s not something FP can or should fix.
The native FP recorder is indeed useless. And it indeed doesn’t have the option to use other recording devices, but the issue you report here isn’t about that.
I don’t want to sound like “that guy”, I know I do. But in the scope of what you reported the issue seems fixed. Is it an issue FP can fix for more similar issues? That’s also unclear.
I’ll leave the issue in the wiki. It’s a community effort. I personally see it as unfit to be on the list, as defined in the wiki itself.
The report wasn’t about a specific recorder, it was about getting bad audio quality when recording with an USB device.
That’s why I marked it as fixed in the wiki yesterday.
And if you look at the title and the first post, this is still a reproducible issue. When using an USB device to record audio and you use the native recorder app you get bad quality. Solution: use another recording app (but not Rehearsal Assistant).
So from my standpoint the issue…
-
is a Fairphone App
-
was reported
-
is reproducible
And please, if this is upsetting to you just edit/delete the wiki.
I am absolutely ok with that.
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With reproducible it’s meant that the issue persists and is clearly defined on how to reproduce it. You are reporting that one app didn’t work, and another one did. How can FP improve that? Besides advising what you already did, which is to install another app. In that sense we can add any app related issue to that list of issues and when another app does better we can mark it as solved. The wiki will then lose its meaning and value.
You now have shifted your argument towards the native FP app. Which everyone can agree is useless. But it cannot even select its input device. Not from Bluetooth, let alone from USB. It can only accept audio from it’s builtin mics. So I don’t see why you mention that app. Does it need improvement? Yes. But then the report should be that it lacks support for input channel selection and that the quality is too low. That’s not your topic here.
I won’t delete it. I would’ve expected from you to understand the reasoning behind it and you would remove it yourself as you also added it. I won’t put myself in the position of dictating what should be on there or not. The wiki itself and the title clearly define what should be included, such a community effort only works with a community that can maintain it. If anyone in the future agrees, then they may delete it. Which likely won’t happen. I hope it won’t set the trend of adding these kind of issues to the list. Because like I said, it has then lost its meaning and value.
Fairphone can improve the situation by providing a decent native recording app.
It is clearly defined how to reproduce the issue: Use an USB device with an audio input and Fairphone 4’s native recording app and you get bad audio. That’s exactly what I encountered. To doublecheck the issue I tried another recording app that always had worked perfectly for me so I didn’t expect it to be bad on the Fairphone. I mentioned this other app for the first time in this thread in my sixth post – because unfortunately I deemed it unimportant. I am definitely not shifting my argument.
For me the argument has always been: record something via usb and you get bad audio. Solution: Don’t use the native recorder – try different other recording apps. If it is so commonly known that the native recorder is that bad, someone could have mentioned it here.
Here you are assuming something – it is wrong. I thoroughly tested this. If I use an USB device to record with the native app it definitely switches to the external input. The internal mic is then not picking up any sound.
Here in Germany we have a saying: Der Klügere gibt nach 
I delete the issue in the wiki because it now is explained and discussed in detail here. If anyone searches for similar issues they will find the solution easily.
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But the point is, that your topic and marked solution are not about the native recording app. That’s why I have to put myself in this position of a difficult person, which I really don’t like. If you created an issue about something that FP can really fix, then by all means it has it’s place in wiki if it’s reproducible and reported to FP support. And then of course, wait for FP to solve it. Don’t mark it as solved by going into a direction that doesn’t affect FPs sphere of influence by going for a 3rd party app.
I don’t know any German, but since we both know English I will bring up the Internet meme culture saying of “hold my beer”. I’ll create a specific issue about the native recorder app. In that sense, it’s really something FP can work with.