test_libpulse
Uses libpulse-simple to record a few samples from default device and then stop.
Outputs results to test_libpulse.ogg file encoding on the fly with libvorbis
and to test_libpulse.wav as raw PCM signed 16-bit data.
Vorbis encoding example took from https://svn.xiph.org/trunk/vorbis/examples/encoder_example.c but loop was modified.
Pulseaudio simple lib record example took from http://freedesktop.org/software/pulseaudio/doxygen/parec-simple_8c-example.html almost with no changes, except for explicit buffer_attr request, as described in "Latency Control" document: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/Developer/Clients/LatencyControl/
Compile with pkg-config --cflags --libs libpulse-simple ogg vorbis vorbisenc
You can use mixer app (like pavucontrol) to tweak recording source and/or recording volume level.