what other options are there for recording audio and processing the raw signal integers in python besides pyaudio?
pyaudio is great, but I have found it too unstable for reliable use, especially on non-linux platforms. I don't really care too much about windows, but Mac OSX and other unix flavors I would like to support.
I think that snack can help you http://www.speech.kth.se/snack/
from Tkinter import *
import tkSnack
root = Tk()
tkSnack.initializeSnack(root)
c = tkSnack.Sound(file='test.wav')
c.record()
root.after(5000, c.stop)
root.mainloop()