A Freeware MacOS sound player and conversion utility.
Release Notes
April 16, 1998
What Is It?
Ever download a sound file from the Internet and not know what to do with it? Want to create a sound file for your WWW site or to give to your PC friend? SoundApp is the solution you have been looking for!
SoundApp can play and convert sound files from a variety of computer platforms and in many different formats. It can be used with WWW browsers to play sounds as SoundApp supports many more formats than any browser or other sound players.
SoundApp can play and convert from the following sound formats:
• SoundCap (including Huffman-compressed) and Studio Session Instruments
• SoundEdit (including stereo, MACE-3 and MACE-6),
• AIFF and AIFF-C (8-, 16-, 24- and 32-bit, MACE-3, MACE-6, IMA 4:1 and µ-law),
• System 7 sound and 'snd ' resource (including MACE-3, MACE-6, IMA 4:1 and µ-law),
• QuickTime MooV (soundtracks only, including MIDI movies),
• Sun Audio .au and NeXT .snd (including µ-law, a-law, 8-, 16-, 24- and 32-bit linear, 32- and 64-bit floating point, G.721 ADPCM and G.723 ADPCM),
• Windows WAVE (including GSM-, IMA- and MS ADPCM-compressed, µ-law and a-law, 8-, 16- and 32-bit linear),
• MPEG audio (layers I, II and III, requires a PowerPC processor for playback),
• Sound Blaster VOC,
• Atari AVR (including stereo and 8- and 16-bit),
• Many varieties of MODs, ScreamTracker 3 module (S3M), Multitracker module (MTM),
• MIDI (type 0, 1 and 2, including GS and XG; playback only),
• Amiga IFF/8SVX (including stereo and compressed),
• Sound Designer and Sound Designer II,
• IRCAM (8-, 16-bit and 32-bit floating point), and
• Psion Series 3 and EPOC 32 (Psion Series 5) sounds.
Don’t know what those are? SoundApp does and will play them without you having to know!
What Does It Need?
SoundApp requires at least System 7.0 and Sound Manager 3.1 or greater (part of System 7.5.3). In addition, QuickTime features require QuickTime 2.0 or greater; however, QuickTime 2.5 or greater is recommended. Playback of MIDI files using GS instruments with QuickTime requires QuickTime 3.0 or later. If you wish to play MIDI files using an external MIDI synthesizer, then Opcode Systems’ Open Music System (OMS) MIDI driver version 2.1 or greater is required.
What Else Does It Do?
In addition to playing, it can convert sound files to the following formats: System 7 sound and sound suitcase (linear, µ-law, MACE-3, MACE-6 and IMA encodings), AIFF (linear, µ-law, MACE-3, MACE-6 and IMA encodings), WAVE (linear, µ-law, a-law and IMA encodings), Sun Audio and NeXT (linear, µ-law and a-law encodings), Sound Designer II, QuickTime (linear, µ-law, MACE-3, MACE-6 and IMA encodings), Psion Series 3 and EPOC 32 (Psion Series 5) formats. It also allows sample rate conversion, translation between mono and stereo and changing the bit-depth of samples. You can also group a set of conversion parameters and select them all at once from a menu. SoundApp comes with a setting to convert to the popular “.au” format used on the WWW.
SoundApp offers Play Lists which allow you to group a set of sounds together for playback or batch processing. Play Lists can be played in random order using the shuffle mode and/or can be set to repeat. Using the Get Info window, you can learn lots of technical information about a sound file.
SoundApp has extensive AppleScript support to allow you to use SoundApp as part of a custom solution. A feature only available to AppleScripters is the ability to play or convert portions of a sound file by defining start and end points. For more information on SoundApp's AppleScript support, see the AppleScript topic in the Help window.
Playback is done smoothly in the background and you can pause and stop playback. By clicking in or dragging the progress bar, you can jump around in a sound file to skip over boring parts or listen to a portion again. SoundApp can also play MIDI files to your external OMS-compatible synthesizer or via QuickTime’s Musical Instrument facility.
How Do I Use It?
Launch SoundApp by double-clicking on it in the Finder. Then, select the "SoundApp Help" menu item from the Help menu and read the documentation that is displayed. The Help window has multiple topics which you can view by selecting them from the pop-up menu. You will also find extensive balloon help available throughout the application.
What’s It Cost To Use It?
Nothing! See below for distribution restrictions.
Translations
SoundApp is available in a Japanese version, which can be obtained from http://www.naotaka.com/SoundApp/
What's New?
The following is a list of changes for this version:
2.5, April 9, 1998.
• Added support for the following formats:
◊ MPEG-2.5 Layer III files, including WAVE MP3 files,
◊ MPEG-2 Layer I and II files,
◊ EPOC 32 (Psion Series 5) sound files (a-law only),
◊ Atari AVR, and
◊ arbitrary QuickTime compression formats.
• Also added conversion to EPOC 32 (Psion Series 5) sound files (a-law only),
• Conversion on PowerPC-based computers should now be faster,
• Enhanced looping in the following ways:
◊ Now reads and writes looping information to and from Sound Designer II and WAVE files,
◊ Single-file looping from a Play List now honors the looping parameters in the file,
◊ Single-file looping from a Play List using the ZSS driver is now done smoothly, and
◊ Conversion of looping points is now scaled properly during conversion.
• Enhanced the Play Lists in the following ways:
◊ Added an indicator which displays the processing status for the files, for example whether it has already been processed or is currently being processed,
◊ The Play List save-file alert now has command-key equivalents, and
◊ Opening a Play List that’s already open no longer creates a new window.
• Added support for GS instruments when playing MIDI files using QuickTime 3.0,
• Added another value to the current file AppleScript property which is the entry in a Play List being processed,
• Pressing the left arrow while playing a file will now go to the previous file if less than one second has elapsed; otherwise, it will restart playback from the beginning of the current file (like most CD players),
• The “Stop Processing After the Current File Has Finished” button in the Controls palette now highlights when clicked and it can be turned off by clicking it again or by clicking the Play button,
• Added a slider to the playback Status window for formats which support random access,
• MPEG decoding on 680x0 Macs with an FPU is now much faster,
• Now uses the Mac OS 8 floating window for the Status and Control windows if using Mac OS 8 or higher,
• Getting information on a file for which a Get Info window already exists will now bring that window to the front,
• Average data rate for conversion to IMA WAVE is now calculated correctly,
• Conversion of MPEG files no longer produces extra silence at the end of the output file,
• Tempo calculation for MIDI files on 680x0 Macs is now correct,
• Removed the “Resolution” preference on the Play pane.
You expressly acknowledge and agree that use of SoundApp is at your exclusive risk. SoundApp, any related files and documentation are provided “AS IS” and without any warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
If you wish to include SoundApp on a CD-ROM as part of a freeware/shareware collection, Web browser or book, I ask that you send me a complimentary copy of the product to the address in the Notes topic of the About window. Also, if you are interested in licensing all of or part of the SoundApp playback and conversion routines see the “Licensing” section of the Notes topic.
