Timer program that plays 4 sounds one after another for 30 seconds each

Question

Could someone help me. I need a bash script to play a short sound file, wait for 30 seconds, play another sound file, wait for another 30 seconds.

(I will use it as a reminder to spend 30 seconds on each quadrant of my teeth when using a electric toothbrush.)

mpg123 /usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3
sleep 30
mpg123 /usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm-sound-buzzer.mp3
sleep 30
mpg123 /usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/facility-alarm.mp3
sleep 30

But it only plays the first sound file. ??

what are the lengths of your Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3 file and other file? — PRATAP, Nov 25 '23 at 04:40
mpg123 has a --loop feature which allows you to repeat the play a specified number of times, ie. if the MP3 file you're using goes for 10 seconds, --loop 3 may have it play for 30 seconds. — guiverc, Nov 25 '23 at 05:51

Raffa · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-25T19:44:51.160

(I will use it as a reminder to brush each quadrant of my teeth when using a electric toothbrush.)

I have to say, this is one of the strangest reasons I have ever heard (electric toothbrushes have builtin timers these days) :D ... Probably, you'd prefer your computer to give you spoken instructions as well like so:

{
t=$(date +"%s")
while true
  do
    n=$(date +"%s")
    ((n<=(t+30))) && spd-say -w 'Brush Upper Left Quadrant'
    ((n>(t+30) && n<=(t+60))) && spd-say -w 'Brush Upper Right Quadrant'
    ((n>(t+60) && n<=(t+90))) && spd-say -w 'Brush Lower Left Quadrant'
    ((n>(t+90) && n<=(t+120))) && spd-say -w 'Brush Lower Right Quadrant'
    ((n>(t+120))) && break
    done
}

Or make it less chattering like so:

{
f=(
'Brush Upper Left Quadrant'
'Brush Upper Right Quadrant'
'Brush Lower Left Quadrant'
'Brush Lower Right Quadrant'
'Congratulations, mission accomplished'
)
for i in {0..4}
  do
    spd-say -w "${f[$i]}"
    [ "$i" -lt 4 ] && sleep 30
    done
}

Or use the timeout command with your player and audio files like so:

{
timeout 30 mpg123 --loop -1 /usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3
timeout 30 mpg123 --loop -1 /usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm-sound-buzzer.mp3
timeout 30 mpg123 --loop -1 /usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3
timeout 30 mpg123 --loop -1 /usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm-sound-buzzer.mp3
}

or with sleep and the Bash builtin kill like so:

{
f=(
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3'
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm-sound-buzzer.mp3'
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3'
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm-sound-buzzer.mp3'
)
for i in {0..3}
  do
    mpg123 --loop -1 "${f[$i]}" &> /dev/null & p="$!"
    sleep 30
    kill "$p"
    done
}

Or play each file once then wait 30 seconds and move on to the next file like so:

{
f=(
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3'
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm-sound-buzzer.mp3'
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm_Clock_Sound.mp3'
'/usr/share/sounds/My_Sounds/Alarm-sound-buzzer.mp3'
)
for i in {0..3}
  do
    mpg123 "${f[$i]}" &> /dev/null
    [ "$i" -lt 3 ] && sleep 30
    done
}

I do not need it to repeatedly say "Brush Upper etc." I will edit my post to make it more clear. — fixit7, Nov 25 '23 at 14:58
@fixit7 I see, then probably that’s an easy job for timeout … I'll edit my answer to include that in a while when I get infront of a PC. — Raffa, Nov 25 '23 at 15:10
@fixit7 I edited and added it from my phone anyway … I hope the formatting is OK — Raffa, Nov 25 '23 at 15:31
@fixit7 I get it that you’re trying to best explain your requirements, but every time you edit the question, it almost technically totally changes :-) … I have tried my best to keep up with the changes and I hope that I did well. — Raffa, Nov 25 '23 at 18:40
You did great. "The play each file once" worked perfectly. I will do some studying of some new things that I saw in your postings. — fixit7, Nov 25 '23 at 20:02

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 26 '23 at 03:55

A few years ago I posted a bash script here in Ask Ubuntu that addresses the multiple-timer issue:

Run set of alarms consecutively

However, it allows only one custom sound file used on all the alarms.

Since then I wrote a Javascript version that runs on the Chrome or Firefox browser on any device:

Tim-ta (Timed Tasks)

The advantage of this major rewrite is you can run the timers on your smartphone and bring it to your washroom. It runs on Ubuntu of course but dragging your computer to the sink to brush your teeth is not ideal.

The other advantage of Tim-ta is you can have unlimited custom sound files uploaded and pick from them for each timer.

Timer program that plays 4 sounds one after another for 30 seconds each

2 Answers2