• CAUTION - READ THIS PARAGRAPH CAREFULLY BEFORE USE! •
I'm afraid I cannot guarantee that using SndControl will never cause your Macintosh to display the dreaded bomb alert. Lots of users have reported satisfaction from around the world and I have never lost any data because of it. However, please test SndControl carefully on your own system and with your usual set of Control Panels and Extensions (aka INITs), before using it while doing productive work and of course, do save your documents as often as possible (but you do that anyway, don't you?).
SndControl REQUIRES that you run your Mac under System 6.0.4 or higher. If you attempt to launch it under an older system, it will display a cross on its icon at startup. Version 2.1 was developed and extensively tested on a PowerBook 170 running System 7.0.1, so I know it works fine under that environment. Balloon Help and aliases are supported.
• What is SndControl?
SndControl is designed to replace the Sound cdev (control panel device) distributed with Apple's System Software. Unless you use Apple's cdev to record sounds with the built in microphone now standard on many Mac models, there is no good reason to keep it in your system folder, since SndControl will take precedence over it.
SndControl allows you to associate a different sound to well over 30 distinct actions or events, instead of just the beep. Most of the actions can be assigned a sound by using the Control Panel, while one (having a specific sound be played whenever a given application is launched) requires using Sound Mover, the companion program to SndControl in the Sound Manager Package.
Please note that SndControl is NOT free. Try it out and make sure it works on your system. If you decide to keep it for longer than a fair trial period of a couple of weeks, you must send in the registration fee to become a licensed user. Otherwise, just give away or delete all copies in your possession and you'll owe me nothing.
Please remember that no matter how much you may have spent to actually get into possession of this program (download time, PD disks, CD-ROM collection of shareware or what-have-you), I will not earn a single cent, unless YOU send money directly to ME, i.e.:
Riccardo Ettore
67 rue de la limite
1970 W-Oppem, BELGIUM
This system of software distribution (known as "shareware") has advantages for both the author (me) and the user (you). You get to try the program(s) on your own system and make sure they work as advertized before you lay out any money, I potentially reach more people than by (expensive) advertising. Also, it's nice to be able to actually share the joy of your discovery by giving copies to your friends and acquaintances without feeling guilty that you are "pirating" software. In fact, I not only welcome you, but encourage you to give copies of this program to all your friends. Just make sure you don't charge them anything for it and that this document is included UNMODIFIED with the actual program.
Ultimately, YOU determine the viability of shareware distribution. If you procrastinate payment, you'll discourage me from writing and distributing more programs in this fashion.
So, if you think my programs are useful and/or entertaining, please take the time to send in the requested fee.
• But enough of the "commercial" stuff, how does SndControl work?
Every time you restart your Mac, SndControl installs code in system memory to patch several Toolbox calls. This allows SndControl to "know" when a certain event has occurred and to play the sound of your choice.
The Control Panel interface allows you to make changes to the various settings, such as which sound should be played when the Trash Can is emptied, whether it should be picked at random from a sound suitcase containing several sounds, what volume it should play at, etcetera.
The choices you make are saved in a file called "SndControl Prefs", stored in the Preferences folder within your System Folder. This file is automatically created by SndControl and will reappear (if you trash it or rename it) the next time you use the SndControl cdev.
• Using SndControl
Put SndControl in your System Folder, restart the Mac and call up the Control Panel. You'll be confronted with a number of radio buttons and check boxes, plus a list of sounds and a volume control slider. Relax, SndControl is much easier to use than it may appear to be at first sight.
By default, the Beep radio button is selected and the setting of the Volume slider will match that of the slider in Apple's General and/or Sound cdev's, that is, it will correspond to the actual volume setting stored in the battery backed "parameter ram".
Note that changing the volume setting with SndControl when the Beep radio button is on is equivalent to changing it with either of the aforementioned devices.
The list of sounds will show any sounds (that is, resources of type 'snd ') contained in the System file plus those that you may have put in a sound suitcase file named "snd" (created using Sound Mover, more on this later) plus those found in any sound suitcases or other files that you have opened with Suitcase ™ or Master Juggler™. Note that for SndControl to find it, the "snd" file must reside directly in the System Folder, rather than in a folder within the system folder.
The sound currently associated with the action you select by pushing one of the radio buttons will be highlighted in the list.
The first time you use SndControl (or any time you trash its Prefs file), the Beep sound will be set to Simple Beep (actually, to the 'snd ' with a resource id of 1, assuming there is one) and all other sound actions will be set to the line at the top of the list of sounds that says "No sound", i.e. to silence.
Below the eight radio buttons on the left, you'll see a two-headed arrow: clicking its left or right head will cause the radio buttons to be renamed to correspond to a different set of actions. Currently, there are five sets, but there may be more in future.
• Assigning a sound to an action
Let's say that the list of sounds included the one where Basil Fawlty alias John Cleese says "It's in the bin" and that you would like to hear it whenever you make the trash can go fat by putting something in it. You would:
1) click on Full Trash
2) select the "It's in the bin" sound from the list
and optionally
3) select the volume at which you want this particular sound to be played.
Repeat steps 1) to 3) for each action that you wish to have a sound played for, clicking on the little arrows to switch to more actions as needed.
To disengage a sound from an action, select the action's radio button and click on the "No sound" line at the top of the sounds list.
If you wish to hear a sound from the list before assigning it, select it by typing its name or using the up/down arrow keys, then press the right arrow key. Pressing Enter will assign the sound to the currently selected action, just as if you clicked on it.
• The Use CP volume check box
If you skip step 3), the sound will be played at the same level as the one of the Beep, which then acts as a "master" control. I called this the Control Panel volume or CP volume for short, because under system 6.0.x you can also set it with the General Control Panel device.
Please note that if you do adjust the volume with the slider in SndControl, the check in the Use CP volume box will disappear, indicating that this particular sound will be played at its own, independent volume.
To force the sound to be played at whatever volume is set for the Beep, simply re-check the Use CP volume box.
Also note that whenever the Beep or CP volume is set to zero, SndControl will respect your wish and your Mac will remain totally silent, no matter what volume the various sounds are set to play at. This is especially convenient late into the night or when your boss is around...
Naturally, whenever the Beep radio button is on, the Use CP volume check box will be checked and you won't be able to change it, since that is the CP volume setting.
Thanks are due to Denis Figeys for suggesting this feature.
• The Randomize check box
Having the same sound played every time a given action occurs can and often does become very boring or even irritating at times.
SndControl provides you with an easy way to fix that: Any action can be assigned a randomly selected sound by simply checking the Randomize check box. When you do, the list of sounds will be replaced by a list of sound suitcases present in your System Folder (if any).
NB: If you press the option key as you check Randomize, you'll get a dialog allowing you to select a sound suitcase in any folder on your hard disk. The location of this folder will be stored in the prefs file and remembered. Any sound suitcases you place in that folder will appear in the list when you check the Randomize box.
Selecting a suitcase's name tells SndControl to pick a sound at random from those contained in that suitcase. This way, you can create thematic suitcases to be assigned to a particular type of event (such as one containing 23 different kinds of laughter for when you insert a bad (i.e. unformatted) disk, or ten different appreciative phrases to thank you for inserting a good disk and so on).
Selecting the line at the top of the list means that the sound will be picked at random amongst those available in the system file (plus those in any suitcases opened with Suitcase or Master Juggler).
To revert to having a fixed sound played, simply uncheck the Randomize box.
• The Keep In RAM check box
By default the sound to be played for a given action will be fetched from disk when needed and purged from internal RAM memory when it's finished playing.
This works fine most of the time and avoids using up memory for nothing. The penalty for doing so is that there will be a noticeable delay as the sound is read in from disk. If the delay bothers you, check this box and the sound will be kept in RAM.
Please note that if there is insufficient memory any time a sound needs to be loaded from disk, the Mac will simply remain silent.
When Randomize is on, the Keep in RAM check box will be unselectable, since it makes no sense to try and keep a randomly selected sound in memory (only to be discarded when the next random selection is made). Setting the key strokes to play random sounds can be fun, but you'll have to put up with the time it takes to fetch each new sound from disk, I'm afraid!
• The Show Icon check box
This is normally checked. Uncheck it if you do not wish to see the SndControl icon displayed at the bottom of the screen during startup.
• The Don't load check box
This is normally not checked. Put a check in it if you want to disable SndControl from the next time you restart, yet leave it in the System Folder.
• The Size information
The number displayed is the size in bytes of the sound you have selected for an action. It's there purely for information and you'll probably wish to ignore it anyway.
• A word on IdleTalk (patent pending! grin, grin!)
This feature was suggested to me by my son Guy, who was trying to find new uses for the sounds he sampled over the Christmas holidays.
What it does, is play the sound of your choice whenever a predefined period of inactivity has elapsed.
I currently have a 772K sound suitcase filled with 36 very appropriate things to say, such as : "Don't pick your nose!" or "Oh my God, he's gone!" or "Type something, will you, we're paying for this" and so on (it fits on one disk and I'll send it to you if you add an extra $3 when you register). Having these sounds picked at random can be very hilarious, as they often seem very appropriate to what you are doing (or not doing as the case may be) at the time they're uttered.
By default, IdleTalk is off. Turn the IdleTalk radio button on and you'll see two little arrows appear. Click the up/down arrow to increase/decrease the amount of idle time (in minutes) that you want your Mac to wait for before throwing idle noises at you. Clicking the down arrow when the value is 1 (one) will turn IdleTalk off.
Just in case you're wondering, IdleTalk often utters abuse at me right in the middle of a Navigator connection to CompuServe or bang in the middle of DiskExpress II's optimization process and it causes no harm (on my own Mac, anyway).
Someone recently suggested using IdleTalk to put off burglars by recording voices and dog barks to play at random!!!
• A word on PhraseTalk
This feature was requested a long time ago by a user who wanted to reduce the number of Extensions in his system folder yet not give up the fun function of one called "I'm Batman" by Steve Riggins. It allows you to have a sound played whenever a given word or phrase is typed. You may change the phrase and its associated sound at any time, without the need to restart your Mac.
• The Copy Done sound
This is actually quite useful, since it will play a sound when the Finder has finished duplicating files or copying them from disk to disk.
If your System is not in English, you may change the word "Copy" to reflect the title of that window (under 7.0.x) in your own language. Also note that under System 6.0.x setting the title to "D" does the trick. (However, some 6.0.x users reported this does not work for them.)
• The Alarm sound will play whenever the alarm you set with Apple's Alarm Clock DA goes off.
• A word on LaunchSnd
If you want a sound to be played when a certain application is launched, use Sound Mover to copy the sound into the application itself (hold down the option key as you click Open in Sound Mover to see a list of all files on your disk, including applications) and rename the sound to "LaunchSnd".
That's it. The sound will be played every time you launch that application (unless you disable SndControl, that is). To silence it, either hold down the option key while you launch, turn the volume down to zero, rename the sound to something different from LaunchSnd or remove it from the application altogether.
Credit is due to Dennis Chesters for suggesting this feature.
Note that under System 6.0.x's MultiFinder it's recommendable to increase the amount of memory allotted to the application by an amount roughly equal to the size of the sound that will be played, since it will be loaded in the same memory partition. This restriction does not apply to System 7.0.x.
• A word on the special "snd" suitcase
In order to be available to SndControl, 'snd ' resources must reside in an open resource file. This is the same requirement that applies to Fonts and DAs. Unless you own either Suitcase or Master Juggler, the only resource file that is always open is the actual System File. This is where you'd normally have to install Fonts and DAs, using Font/DA Mover, and sounds, using Sound Mover, ResEdit or similar utility (or simply dropping them there under System 7.0.x). In order to avoid forcing you to alter the System File by installing snd's directly into it, SndControl will automatically open a resource file named "snd" if you place it in the System Folder. You may create this file with ResEdit and fill it with any 'snd 's you want to make available, but it's far easier to create it and edit it using Sound Mover, the companion to SndControl in the Sound Manager Package.
• A word on the Trash sounds
These sounds are played when the Trash Can icon first becomes either fat or thin. Occasionally, this may produce surprising results, such as being told "Erased from existence" when in fact you've emptied the can by pulling the document(s) it contained out to safety. Rest assured that nothing has been erased. It's just that computers (or rather, us human programmers) are occasionally dumber than you may think <grin>.
Also note that if you customize your trash can (e.g. to show a toilet seat or a black hole or something), SndControl will not play the sounds.
• About the Chimes
You can select a sound to be played on the hour, quarter past, half past and quarter to. You may also assign a sound to count the number of hours on the hour. Note that pressing the option key will allow the currently playing sound to finish, but stop all further sounds until you release it. Useful if you know it's midday and cannot be bothered listening to twelve dongs!
• Silence is golden
To avoid having the sound associated with a particular action played, simply set its volume to zero or click on the "No sound" line at the top of the list of available sounds. To silence the Mac completely, irrespective of the various sound settings, set the volume to zero in the Control Panel (or indeed in SndControl with the Beep radio button on).
To temporarily silence the Mac, hold down the option key just before and during the action that would trigger the sound (e.g. holding option down as you Empty Trash will prevent that sound from being played).
Pressing the Esc key will stop the currently playing sound.
To disable SndControl completely, you will need to restart the Mac. Before restarting, check the Don't load box in the cdev or remove the SndControl file from the System Folder altogether. Or you may hold down the shift key while restarting, just prior to when you expect its icon to appear. You'll know SndControl hasn't loaded if its icon has a cross on it.
To avoid having the startup sound played, press the Caps lock key during the startup (booting) process. SndControl will remind you of your decision to silence it by displaying an icon that says Shh and Caps!
NB: The icons mentioned above will only show if you leave the Show icon box checked in the cdev.
• Where can you get more sounds?
Now that you have SndControl to attach them to system events, you probably would like to have more sounds to play with.
If you are interested in copies of the sounds in my own ever growing collection, I've calculated an amount that is designed to cover the cost of disk(s), padded envelope, air mail postage, the wear and tear on my Mac and its disk drives and the pocket money my children demand for helping me out (ah, these greedy teen-agers!).
It's US$8 (hoping the dollar doesn't lose any more ground to the BF) for the first two disks (minimum), plus $3 per extra disk stuffed in the same envelope.
If, and only if, you agree with my judgement that my charging this amount does not constitute a for-profit deal and does not rob the utterers of the sounds of a potential source of income, then do tell me which titles you are interested in and I'll make copies for you. Lack of time prevents me from making partial copies and mixing the contents of the disks, so I'm afraid you're stuck with the way I've decided to organize them.
I currently have 26 full or nearly full 800K disks. The sounds are almost always sampled at 11K, which is the rate I consider to offer the best value/kilobyte of disk space. Admittedly, they would sound much nicer and crisper at 22K, but I'd personally rather have a greater variety (for random play with SndControl) than I could afford if they were taking up twice the disk space.
I haven't had time to draw up a detailed list of individual sounds, but here's an idea of what's available:
1-DarthVader Phrases
2-Monty Python
3-FawltyTowers Part 1
4-FawltyTowers Part 2
5-FawltyTowers Part 3
6-FawltyTowers Part 4
7-FawltyTowers Part 5
8-HolyGrail Part 1
9-HolyGrail Part 2
10-Beverly Hills Cop
11-Animal sounds/Stakeout (Phrases from the film. No connection between the two files.)
12-Screams/Beatles (no, there is no connection either)
13-Misc Phrases/Star Trek Phrases
14-HAL & SAL (from 2001 and 2010)
15-Life of Brian/Marylin Monroe
16-IdleTalk Sounds ("don't pick your nose", yawn, snore, "type something,will you, we're paying for this", etc.)
17-Clockwise (phrases from the film)
18-Back to the Future
19-A Fish Called Wanda-1
20-A Fish Called Wanda-2
21-A Fish Called Wanda-3
22-Monty Python 2
23-Assorted Laughter
24-Indiana Jones/DarthVader II
25-FawltyTowers Part 6/Manuel(from FT)/Robin Williams/Hitchhiker's Guide...
26-Goodbyes/Back to the future II/Car Crash
Be advised that not all the sounds necessarily make sense as beeps or to accompany specific events with SndControl. Some are simply fun to listen to but would make no sense in association with a Mac action. Most though are quite funny and to the point and some verge on the delirious, like the mad doctor from Back to the future saying "Erased from existence" when you empty the trash can or Basil Fawlty inviting you to "go off and enjoy yourself, don't you worry about me, you go and have a good time, I'll be alright" when you shutdown your Mac.
I suppose you also know by now that unless you have a hard disk with plenty of room to spare you're better off not collecting too many long sounds.
Anyway, if you want copies of any of the above disks, you now know what to do.
As a final note, I'd like to make it absolutely clear that I do not claim any copyright on these sounds and that you are free to give them away, upload them entirely or partially to BBS's and information services, feed them to your pets for lunch or whatever else you can think of. And if you happen to be or to represent the copyright owner of any of them and object to my offering to share your sounds in this fashion, please let me know and I'll immediately remove the offending items from the list.
When you first register, I can send you IdleTalk for an extra $3 and one more disk of your choice (please specify what number) for a further $2 (the lower prices are justified by my having to handle your envelope and put a minimum amount of stamps on it anyway).
Also read the attached text file for information on other sources of sounds.
• Disclaimers and known incompatibilities
Sorry, NO GUARANTEES:
I'm afraid I am in no position to guarantee that SndControl will work as advertized on your particular system: there are just too many hardware/software combinations out there for anyone to test them all.
For what it's worth, the program was thoroughly tested both by myself and by a fair number of my friends in the European Community Computer Club (ECCC), whom I'd collectively like to thank for allowing very early beta versions of SndControl to enter their System Folders. It's now been widely distributed for over two years and I've heard of no major disasters due to its use, but I'd be either very arrogant or downright dishonest if I assured you that you won't have any problems at all. What I can assure you of is that I'll look very closely at all well documented bug reports and do my best to fix them.
If you can pinpoint a problem down to the use of SndControl, I'd really like to have details from you (what Mac model, how much memory, system version, what INITs and cdevs, what application(s) you were using, was it under MultiFinder, etc. Use MugShot, InitScope or similar utility to describe your system configuration, if you have it.).
•••Several users have reported a 41 error message when selecting shutdown. I'm currently trying to find a fix for this. Please report it if it hits you, too.•••
If you find any programs under which you think SndControl should be disabled, use the Exclude button and Add them to the list. The next time you run an application from this list, SndControl will be inactive. I recommend that you disable SndControl under Hypercard, Sound Mover, SoundEdit and any other programs that make heavy use of sound.
• SndControl and other INITs
Make sure SndControl loads after Suitcase if you've selected a startup sound that is contained in a suitcase compressed with Font & Sound Valet™. To accomplish this, simply rename one or the other in a way that changes their alphabetical order (e.g. aSuitcase or zSndControl).
Registered User Michael Ross says that "if SmartQuotes [INIT 1.2] loads BEFORE SndControl, it will pretty randomly bomb a Mac SE (especially in CE Software's Disktop)." So make sure it loads AFTER SndControl by renaming it zSmartQuotes.
Beta tester and ECCC member André "if it's an INIT, I have it" Brugmans reports that although SndControl seems to live peacefully with a whole bunch of INITs on both his SE/30 and PB140, it must not be renamed to load before CEToolbox or Restart and Shutdown will be silent.
MultiFinder note (for System 6.0.x users only):
When using MultiFinder, each application (including the Finder itself) is allotted a certain amount of memory, called a "partition". If you get messages telling you that the application doesn't have enough memory to do this or that (e.g. Finder can't open any more windows, or something), you can increase the amount of memory assigned to that application.
For example, Finder comes preset with a 160 K partition size. I have increased that number to 220 K to give it a bit more breathing space and to allow even large sounds to be read in from disk and played. To do this, you click on the application once to select it, then you do a Get Info and change the number that appears in the lower right of the Get Info window. (Refer to your Macintosh system manuals, if in doubt.)
If you notice that some sounds are not played even though they should be, under a particular application, that's a sure sign that you should increase the memory partition allotted to it. If you don't, there'll be no damage done, but larger sounds will simply not be loaded and played.
When you put a LaunchSnd into an application, it's probably advisable to immediately increase its MultiFinder partition by the size of the LaunchSnd to compensate. Experimentation will tell you what the best amount is for each case.
(Note that the above does not apply to System 7.0, since the system heap will automatically expand and shrink as needed.)
• Conclusion
Thank you in advance for trying out SndControl. I really do hope you'll like it enough to keep it in your System Folder (and buy a licence for it). If you have any problems with it, I would greatly appreciate your taking the time to send me a bug report, rather than immediately giving up on it. I would also appreciate any suggestions for improvement you might make.
By preference you should contact me via EMail on Compuserve 72277,1344.
I also have accounts on AppleLink:BEL0128 and America Online: REttore but I don't check them as often.
If you really must, then call me on +322.7679217 at reasonable times (never after 9 PM CET which is 8 PM GMT or 3 PM EST or midday in San Francisco,CA).
************************* CUT HERE *******************************
Air Mail this form to: Riccardo Ettore, 67 rue de la limite, 1970 W-Oppem, Belgium
(make cheques and Money Orders payable to Riccardo Ettore)
Sound Manager Package Registration Form
_ I wish to keep your sound programs and become a licensed user, so here's US$20
_ I also wish to receive the printed manual and latest version of the Package on two 800K disks filled with lots of sounds and other shareware/freeware programs, so here's an extra $5 (= $25 in total)
_ While you're at it, please send me the "IdleTalk" collection of sounds for an extra $3, so here's $28
_ I also wish to receive disk number ____ from your collection of sounds, so here's a grand total of $30
_ I'm enclosing a cheque/Amexco Money Order/InternationalPostalOrder/cash
(European users, please convert the amount to Belgian Francs when paying by Eurocheque)
_ Charge the amount to my VISA/MasterCard/AmericanExpress
