Appendix -- Modifying the sounds

You can modify the sounds in the Spanish sounds file (Abecedario) or the English sounds file (Letters) directly from Hypercard if you have a microphone that you can attach to your Mac.  (If you have older hardware you can still do it,  you need to read the instructions that come with whatever 3rd party recording add-ons and sound software you have.) We recommend that if you modify the sounds, you do all of them, as it is distracting for the user to hear a variety of voices recorded at different times under different conditions.  That is, unless you want to make a point of the novelty of different voices saying the letters.

How to Modify the sounds

As with any editing, make sure you make a safe back up copy, just in the unlikely case that something unforseen happens and you trash the stack.   

Open the stack whose sounds you wish to modify directly by double-clicking it.  A tiny window will open up.  You can basically ignore it, as it contains nothing of interest.  Select Audio from the Edit menu.  Select the sound you wish to modify from the pulldown menu in the Audio palette.   Click the record button (red on color machines) and say your sound into the microphone.  Click the stop button when done.  Play your sound (by clicking the Play button) to make sure that it sounds OK.  We recommend that you clip the silences, as it will result in a tremendous savings in space, and will also make the program appear to have a snappier response.   To clip, click-drag the mouse over the silent portion of the sound.  It will invert, showing that it is selected.  If you need to be reassured that it is really silence, click the Play button, and only the selection will play.  When you are satisfied that it is not of any interest, do a Command-X (Cut), or a Delete to get rid of it.  When your sound is short and snappy and clear, click the Save button on the Audio palette.  It will confirm that you wish to replace the existing data.  

Do not change the names of any of the sounds.  The Easy Writer program locates them by name.  Likewise, it does no good to create sounds with new names, as Easy Writer will not do anything with them.