Version 0.3 fixes some serious bugs in version 0.2.
This is a bare-bones, nearly plain-vanilla Mac program which converts ulaw encoded audio files in the Sun standard format to Mac files of 'sfil' type with creator 'movr'. For each audio file selected an 'snd ' resource is added to the output file. The snd is an 11 kHz translation of the original 8 kHz Sun sound. Under system 7 the files can be played by double-clicking but only the first snd in the file is played this way. The file can be copied into the System file where individual snds become visible. Likewise
ResEdit will reveal individual snds. (Do one file at a time if you want single snd files directly.)
There are no menus or help windows. There is a console window that shows some messages about the conversions. Version 0.3 adds appropriate alert dialog windows to inform you that there is insufficient memory or that an invalid input file has been
chosen. The program still aborts on errors rather abruptly but should not hang the system as the previous version did.
Each time the program is run you are presented with a standard file opening dialog repeatedly until Cancel is selected. Currently a maximum of 20 audio files can be added to the list. A standard file save dialog then lets you select a single file to contain all snds for the files in the list. The program assigns a "ulaw" type to the
input files during the conversion. Thereafter, double-clicking on these will start the program in a play mode without conversion to snd resource files. This operation is faster but the sound quality is worse. (I haven't figured out why the sound gets distorted.)
If the program fails for a large sound, try choosing Get Info under the File menu and increase memory in the "Current size" box. It defaults to 500K, which seems to be fine for short sound files up to about 70K. I had to bump "Current size" up to nearly 2400K in order to convert a 400K sound.
I program as a hobby. This is my first attempt at writing a program with a Mac user interface. "What user-interface?", you ask. Because of this version's short-comings in this respect, I don't have the nerve to ask for a shareware fee but at least send me comments and suggestions for improvements. (Or send me your old copies of Inside Macintosh. I'm working from Vols I and II and chapter 27 of Vol V only and I'm amazed that this program actually works as well as it does.)
Send comments to vic:wbst128@xerox.com
Victor J. Heintz
10 Hidden Creek Circle
Pittsford, NY 14534 (716) 248-9321
Future plans for a real shareware release:
- Menus
- Help window
- a decent icon
- bidirectionality (snd to ulaw conversion)
- more efficient memory management to avoid problems with large files
