Here is an example of the problem I'm trying to solve I get a buffer from the microphone and try and process it content. as kindly guided from this question Im trying to convert a char* to float*
the logic I declare a vector to hold my desired float then resize it to that of ArBuffer() and then copy to the vector.
ArBuffer() is a void gonna have to cast this to memcpy?
#include "Lib_api.h"
#include <alsa/asoundlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "audiorecorder.h"
#include "Globals.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <inttypes.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <vector>
#include <cstring>
using namespace std;
//Declare Creation
void* mCore;
int main(void)
{
    // recorder
    int rc;
    int mode = 3;
    const float sampleRate = 44100; //max 22Hz
    int bufferSize = 1024; //Check this should be good 1024
    //initialise
    mCore = OXY_Create();
    //initialise audio recorder
    rc = arInitialise();
    OXY_Configure(mode, sampleRate, bufferSize, mCore);
    //initialise check hardware
    if(rc)
    {
        std::cerr << "Fatal error: Audio could not be initialised" << rc << std::endl <<std::endl;
        arFree();
        exit(1);
    }
    //start recording
    rc = arStartRecording();
    //application loop
    while(arIsRunning())
    {
        //declare vector
        std::vector<float> values;
        //resize values to size of arbuffersize
        values.resize(arBufferSize(), sizeof(float));
        //arBufferSize()/sizeof(float);
       //need to cast this arBuffer() to memcpy?
        std::memcpy(arBuffer(), &values[0], sizeof(values[0]));
        // values[0] this will hold the latest data from the microphone?
        int ret = OXY_DecodeAudioBuffer(&values[0], values.size(), mCore);
        if (ret == -2)
        {
        std::cerr << "FOUND_TOKEN ---> -2 " << std::endl << std::endl;
        }
            else if(ret>=0)
        {
        std::cerr << "Decode started ---> -2 " << ret << std::endl << std::endl;
        }
        else if (ret == -3)
        {
        //int sizeStringDecoded = OXY_GetDecodedData(mStringDecoded, mCore);
         std::cerr << "STRING DECODED ---> -2 " << std::endl << std::endl;
         // ...
        }
        else
        {
          std::cerr << "No data found in this buffer" << std::endl << std::endl;
            //no data found in this buffer
        }
    }
    //Clean up
    arFree();
  return 0;
}
I change the format to SND_PCM_FORMAT_FLOAT_LE from SND_PCM_FORMAT_S16_LE as kindly suggested from another SO question.
* Use the newer ALSA API */
#define ALSA_PCM_NEW_HW_PARAMS_API
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <alsa/asoundlib.h>
#include <pthread.h>
#include "settings.h"
#include "audiorecorder.h"
pthread_t thr;
pthread_mutex_t mutex;
snd_pcm_t *handle;
snd_pcm_uframes_t frames;
unsigned char* buffer;
BOOL running;
size_t buffersize;
BOOL arIsRunning(void)
{
    return running;
}
void arAcquireBuffer(void)
{
    //printf("Acquired buffer\n");
    pthread_mutex_lock(&mutex);
}
void arReleaseBuffer(void)
{
    //printf("Released buffer\n");
    pthread_mutex_unlock(&mutex);
}
const unsigned char* arBuffer(void)
{
    return buffer;
}
const size_t arBufferSize(void)
{
    return buffersize;
}
void* entry_point(void *arg)
{
    int rc;
    fprintf(stderr, "Listening...\n");
  while (running)
    {
        arAcquireBuffer();
    rc = snd_pcm_readi(handle, buffer, frames);
    //stream to stdout - useful for testing/debugging
    //write(1, buffer, buffersize);
        arReleaseBuffer();
    if (rc == -EPIPE) {
      /* EPIPE means overrun */
      fprintf(stderr, "overrun occurred\n");
      snd_pcm_prepare(handle);
    }
        else if (rc < 0) {
      fprintf(stderr, "error from read: %s\n", snd_strerror(rc));
            running = FALSE;
    }
        else if (rc != (int)frames) {
      fprintf(stderr, "short read, read %d frames\n", rc);
    }
 }
    return NULL;
}
int arInitialise(void)
{
  snd_pcm_hw_params_t *params;
  unsigned int val;
  int rc, dir;
    running = FALSE;
  /* Open PCM device for recording (capture). */
  rc = snd_pcm_open(&handle, RECORDER_DEVICE, SND_PCM_STREAM_CAPTURE, 0);
  if (rc < 0) {
    fprintf(stderr, "unable to open pcm device: %s\n", snd_strerror(rc));
    return rc;
  }
    else
    {
        fprintf(stderr, "Successfully opened default capture device.\n");
    }
  /* Allocate a hardware parameters object. */
  snd_pcm_hw_params_alloca(¶ms);
  /* Fill it in with default values. */
  snd_pcm_hw_params_any(handle, params);
  /* Set the desired hardware parameters. */
  /* Interleaved mode */
  snd_pcm_hw_params_set_access(handle, params, SND_PCM_ACCESS_RW_INTERLEAVED);
  /* Signed 16-bit little-endian format */
  snd_pcm_hw_params_set_format(handle, params, SND_PCM_FORMAT_FLOAT_LE)
  /* Channels */
  snd_pcm_hw_params_set_channels(handle, params, NUM_CHANNELS);
    fprintf(stderr, "Channels set to %d.\n", NUM_CHANNELS);
  /* sampling rate */
  val = SAMPLE_RATE;
  snd_pcm_hw_params_set_rate_near(handle, params, &val, &dir);
    fprintf(stderr, "Samplerate set to %d.\n", val);
  /* Set period to FRAMES_PER_BUFFER frames. */
  frames = FRAMES_PER_BUFFER;
  snd_pcm_hw_params_set_period_size_near(handle, params, &frames, &dir);
  /* Write the parameters to the driver */
  rc = snd_pcm_hw_params(handle, params);
  if (rc < 0) {
    fprintf(stderr, "unable to set hw parameters: %s\n", snd_strerror(rc));
    return rc;
  }
  /* Use a buffer large enough to hold one period */
  snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_size(params, &frames, &dir);
  buffersize = frames * 2 * NUM_CHANNELS; /* 2 bytes/sample * channels */
  buffer = (unsigned char*) malloc(buffersize);
  /* We want to loop forever */
  //snd_pcm_hw_params_get_period_time(params, &val, &dir);
  return 0;
}
int arStartRecording(void)
{
    if(running) return 1;
  if(pthread_mutex_init(&mutex, NULL))
  {
    printf("Unable to initialize mutex\n");
    return -1;
  }
  if(pthread_create(&thr, NULL, &entry_point, NULL))
  {
    fprintf(stderr, "Could not create recorder thread!\n");
        running = FALSE;
    return -1;
  }
    running = TRUE;
    return 0;
}
void arStopRecording(void)
{
    running = FALSE;
}
void arFree(void)
{
    running = FALSE;
    sleep(500);
  snd_pcm_drain(handle);
  snd_pcm_close(handle);
  pthread_mutex_destroy(&mutex);
  free(buffer);
}
