What is it? This application Ulaw converts mac sampled sounds to Sun Ulaw format sounds and vice versa. In one direction Ulaw extracts the sounds from the 'snd ' resources of any Mac file. Then it interpolates to the Sun audio 8kHz sampling rate and applies the standard Ulaw quantization characteristic. In the other direction it reads a Sun Ulaw Format Sound File and creates a double clickable Mac sound file (sfil) at any desird sampling rate.
Any number of mac files can be dragged and dropped onto the Ulaw application icon and Ulaw will extract, play and store every 'snd ' resource in the resource fork of each file automatically. The names of the Sun files created will take the name of the 'snd ' resources with the extension ".au" appended. Similiarly when converting Sun Ulaw files the Mac sound file generated takes the name of the Sun Ulaw file header information field. A mixture of Sun and Mac files can be dragged in this way and the application automatically determines what to do. The application attempts to neatly save the sound files in folders.
The second way to use Ulaw is to use the menus within the Ulaw application in which case more control over processing is possible. Then you have more control over where to place the output files, etc. In this mode you can also play the 'snd ' resources before deciding to store them or, in the other direction, play the Sun Ulaw file. When the input is a Sun Ulaw sound file the user can select the desired sampling rate for the mac sfil file. This permits storing the sound at one of the preferred mac sampling rates or a user defined non-standard sampling rate, rather than the Sun Ulaw 8kHz
rate. There is little point in resampling the 8kHz Ulaw file to any thing higher
than 11kHz on the mac side. Contrarywise, one can lower the resampling rate to save disk space with some loss in fidelity.
Note some Format 1 and Format 2 sounds are difficult to translate to Ulaw files since they are not purely sampled sounds. For these files the progress dialog indicate no output file will be created. Currently compressed format sounds are not supported and similarly do not generate an output.
The program is primarily intended for drag and drop processing. A less well developed
System 6.0.7 version is available on request (there was a small bug in Ulaw 1.1).
The menu driven interface is essentially intuitive.
Abuseware but use at your own risk. All rights reserved.
The size of the sounds that the application can take are limited by the memory
of the application (at this stage).
Let me know if you find it useful or find any bugs. Abuse welcome even if I deserve
it. :-)
Rod Kennedy
rod@faceng.anu.edu.au
Engineering Program
Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200
Australia
Version History
1.0 Needed System 7, color Quickdraw and help manager and did only Mac to Sun Ulaw conversions.
1.1 Bidirectional, new (original) application ICONS, works with at least 6.0.7, and
color Quickdraw is no longer needed. Small bit of additional Balloon help. Bug fixed when translating tiny sound files (divide by zero error).
1.2 Hierachical menus for selecting sampling rate and volume. Can convert Format 2 (hypercard) sounds to Ulaw format now. Note some Format 1 sounds; specifically those not based on sampled sound, are virtually impossible to translate. (Ditto with complicated Format 1 sounds which, for example, utilize multiple sound commands in the header.) Not released to archive due to subtle intermittant bug.
1.3 Apple Events support and now requires System 7 exclusively. Arbitrary resampling rates (billions of choices) now possible. Output sounds when used in drag and drop mode automatically go to folders. In menu driven mode it is possible to create a new folder through the standard file selection interface. Much faster processing even in resampling mode. sfil names derived primarily from information in the Ulaw sound
file header. Updated icons. Can shut up the sounds during processing. If the selected mac sampling rate is 8kHz the processing is essentially instantaneous.
1.4 Selecting the sound volume only affects the application locally. Bug fixed whereby if the first sound could not be translated then application prematurely terminated. Better feedback regarding sounds that don't generate output.
