Well, at long last, after many months of agonizing delays and cost overruns (buying my girlfriend ice cream to make up for all the time I spent in front of the computer), its finally finished. Ribbit is a sound input driver that allows serially connected microphones to be used from the Macintosh in a transparent fashion from all applications that use the sound input manager that was introduced in system 6.07.
To install it, just drop it in your system folder (when using System 7, it should be rerouted to the Extensions folder) and restart. Then, presto, you've got sound input! You can then record from the sound control panel, just as if you had one of those fancy new macs with built-in microphones. Something you will have that they don't: an options screen (complete with balloon help) that lets you choose which port to use and whether your digitizer's LED can change colors (like the CEDAR sound digitizer).
Since it requires the new sound manager, Ribbit requires 6.07 or later. Ribbit is 7.0 friendly (it uses help windows) and 32bit clean. So far, it's been tested on a virtually every type of Mac from a Plus to an IIfx(in compatibility mode), using systems 6.0.7 and 7.0.
For those in the know: Ribbit is a synchronous driver. Therefore, it can't accept interrupt routines or do its own compression. This also makes the pause and stop buttons on the standard sound input dialog useless. (To stop recording, just move the mouse.) I'm currently working on a asynchronous driver based on interrupts from the SCC, but timing becomes critical (even on a II). Otherwise, the driver accepts all the usual info selectors described in IM6.
Ribbit is shareware. If you use it, send me $10 and I'll love you. (More importantly, I'll send you an upgraded asynchronous version when I finish it.) You may freely distribute Ribbit as long as this document is distributed with it. However, do not include it on disks sold for a profit or bundle it with sound input hardware without obtaining my express written permission.
Some tips:
Be sure to setup the options before doing any recording. (The options are saved, so this
only need be done once.)
If you don't have a CEDAR sound digitizer, the Cool LED? option should probably not be used. If you're hardware is incompatible with this option, the status will switch between Ready and Not responding repeatedly.
There is no real reason to turn off the filtering. It does very simple filtering for anti-aliasing for digitization rates less than 22kHz.
Sometimes after installation, the Sound CDEV may act strangely and either not show the frog icon or the options button. By reinstalling the control panel this problem is usually
alleviated.
Special thanks to Bill Johnston, Bruce Barnett, Juri Munkki, Jim Elliott, and Mike Ciholas (maker of the CEDAR sound digitizer, an excellent "shareware" microphone) for there help testing the beta versions on various platforms.
If you find any bugs (god forbid) or have any other comments, suggestions or questions, feel free to contact me. Also, remember to send in your shareware fee!
