home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
TPUG - Toronto PET Users Group
/
TPUG Users Group CD
/
TPUG Users Group CD.iso
/
AMIGA
/
(A)TB
/
(A)TBY.ADF
/
Soundzap
/
SoundZAP.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-03-20
|
7KB
|
146 lines
SoundZAP v2.3:
Description:
SoundZAP is a program for converting sound files of various formats
into IFF 8SVX files or RAW sample data.
Background:
One of the amazing things about the Amiga is its incredible sound
support. Its BUILT-IN sound hardware is capable of playing sound of
higher quality than most of the add-on sound hardware for other
platforms. So when I got access to InterNet earlier this year I was
amazed that most of the sound files posted in the
alt.binaries.sounds.* newsgroups were NOT posted by Amiga users, and
therefore were not in the Amiga standard IFF 8SVX format.
I then looked around for a program that would convert these files
into a format that I can use easily (i.e. 8SVX). The largest help
came from Dave Champion (dgc3@midway.uchicago.edu) who gave me a copy
of a program he wrote called "mac2raw". But, that program still only
gave RAW signed data.
I wanted 8SVX files. So we hacked around a while working on writing
a multi-format sound convertor. Dave and I worked for a few weeks on
it but finally we both got too busy to give it much more thought.
Then two months or so later I got inspiration! I found ulaw28svx, by
Michael Boehnisch (billy@uni-paderborn.de) somewhere. It worked great
for converting ulawed files and it gave me the output I wanted, so I
sat down and re-wrote the program we had been working on before from
scratch. I got the ULAW and RAW convertors to work, and before I knew
it I had what you now have before you!
Capabilities:
This program converts sound files of the following formats: RAW
(signed, unsigned, and ulaw-ed), .AU files, .VOC files, .WAV,
Macintosh, and IFF 8SVX sounds. It outputs either IFF 8SVX files or
RAW data. It auto detects the .VOC, .AU, .WAV, Macintosh, and 8SVX
headers, converting them appropriately. You can force the program
into using a certian sample rate for the output file. You can also
force it ignore any headers and convert the file as if it were just
RAW data. It can use a variable buffer size and convert samples of
any length. There are a few other command line options that will be
discussed later.
Command Line Options:
All options are a minus sign followed by a letter. Some have
numerical arguments which should follow the letter (no space between
the letter and the number).
-w : Output RAW data, not 8SVX
-s : Toggle signed/unsigned. This only needs to be used if
the program makes a mistake and assumes signed data
is unsigned or vice versa.
-n : This will cause the program to only output the VHDR
and BODY chunks, and not the AUTH and ANNO chunks. If
a sample player seems to choke on a converted sample
try using this option.
-f : Force the program to assume the input data is RAW.
Use this if the header of a file is corrupted and
SoundZAP is choking on it. You may then have to edit
the sample to get rid of any headers or other
non-sample data that doesn't get stripped.
-b<n> : This will change the size of the buffer the program
uses while converting the sample. If you have only a
small amount of memory you may have to use this
switch, but remember: the larger the buffer the
faster the conversion. The default is 50K and n is in
K, so "-b1024" would create a 1024 kilobyte (or 1
Megabyte) buffer. If n is 0 then the program will try
to allocate a buffer that is the same size as the
sample. This can speed up the conversion of samples
quite a bit...if you have enough memory.
-r<n> : This changes the sample rate for the output data.
This switch overrides any headers in the source file.
Possible values for n are the following:
5 = 5696 samples/sec
7 = 7596 samples/sec
8 = 8000 samples/sec
1 = 11395 samples/sec
2 = 22790 samples/sec
This switch will also accept explicit declarations of
the sample rate, not just the above abbreviations.
Just enter the sample rate right after the '-r' on
the command line.
Example: "-r2203" would set the sample rate to 2203
samples per second.
The default is 11395 samples/sec for RAW data.
Registration:
I am not asking for any money for this program. It was not that
difficult to write and I enjoyed doing it. If YOU feel obligated
to send something what you could do is send me any information on
sound formats that you think would be useful for future versions.
That would probably be the most helpful thing you could do.
Updates:
I will try to keep the most up-to-date versions on FTP sites for
people with FTP access. Since ab20 went down, I will keep new
versions on amiga.physik.unizh.ch. If you don't have FTP access I
can send you the latest version via Internet E-Mail. Finally, I
can Snail-Mail you the latest version if you have no other way of
finding it, but you'll have to send me enough money to cover the
price of a disk and postage. When you get a new version PASS IT
AROUND! Upload it to BBS's and other FTP sites so people can find
it!
Thanks:
Thanks to Guido, Michael, Brian Foley. See source for why! And I
especially want to thank Dave who helped TREMENDOUSLY with the
first attempt, which was the basis for this version. Also thanks
to everyone who sent me mail and tested the new versions of this
program.
Author:
Michael Cramer (mrc113@psuvm.psu.edu | mrc@ecl.psu.edu)
You can contact me at the above E-Mail address from September to
November and from January to April. You can also Snail-Mail me
anytime at the following address: 1015 Lindbergh Ave.
Stroudsburg, PA 18360
Use E-Mail if you can, becasue it's MUCH faster for me.
If you find ANY bugs or things you think should be changed contact me
and I'll to my best to fix them. I would especially like someone to
check out the .VOC conversion stuff because it was basically a stab
in the dark! Please don't make any changes to my source, mail me and
I'll release a fixed version.
If you have the specifications and/or a sample of another storage
format please mail it to me. I can only support formats that I have
access to, and I don't have time to look all over the place for
different formats. Thanks!
See the file "history" for release history and future plans.
This version of SoundZAP was compiled with DICE version 2.06.40 in
April of 1992.