- a technical note explaining some of the new features
Available since the introduction of the Macintosh II in 1987, the Sound Manager is Apple's digital audio software solution that allows any application to play and record sounds using the built-in sound hardware found on Macintosh computers.
Sound Manager 3.0 is the latest version of this software. It adds support for 16-bit CD-quality audio, redirection of sound to third-party hardware cards, and plug-in audio compression/decompression software (codecs). It is completely backwards compatible with previous versions of the Sound Manager.
INSTALLING SOUND MANAGER 3.0
To install Sound Manager 3.0:
1. If you received a floppy disk labeled "Sound Manager", insert it into your computer and open it. If you downloaded Sound Manager 3.0 electronically, make sure the Sound Manager files you downloaded are visible.
2. Drag the Sound Manager and Sound control panel icons from the Sound Manager disk onto your System Folder icon (not into the open folder).
3. Click OK in the dialog box that appears.
4. Restart your Macintosh.
NEW FEATURES OF SOUND MANAGER 3.0
• Support for 16-bit audio samples
Previous versions of the Sound Manager could only support stereo 8-bit audio samples with sample rates up to 22 kHz. Sound Manager 3.0 removes this limitation by allowing stereo 16-bit audio samples with sample rates up to 65 kHz, providing CD-quality audio in QuickTime movies and other audio applications. Sound Manager 3.0 will also automatically convert 16-bit sounds into 8-bit sounds on Apple personal computers that do not have 16-bit audio hardware.
• Support for third-party audio hardware
Third-party sound cards can be installed in your Macintosh to allow playback and recording of CD-quality audio. Sound Manager 3.0 makes this possible by providing a driver mechanism and a new Sound control panel that allows the user to redirect sound to any available audio device. Audio card developers can license the Sound Manager 3.0 extension and bundle it for distribution with their product.
•Support for plug-in audio codecs
The Sound Manager previously supported only MACE audio compression at ratios of 3:1 and 6:1. Sound Manager 3.0 goes beyond MACE to support any compressed audio format with the use of plug-in audio compression/decompression software (codecs). These are simply extension files placed in the System Folder that the Sound Manager recognizes and uses when it needs to play a compressed sound. In this way, applications can play compressed sounds seamlessly without being aware of the compressed format.
• Better performance and quality
Sound Manager 3.0 is much faster --in many cases 2-3 times more efficient than previous versions. This means that your application can do more while sound is playing. Sound Manager 3.0 is also more robust: many bugs have been fixed and a number of commonly requested features have been added. Refer to the Technical Note for more information.
