Turnbull China Bikeride/Turnbull China Bikeride - Disc 2.iso/STUTTGART/SOUND/SOUNDCON00/!SoundCon/!Help

Text File | 1995-04-22 | 15KB | 344 lines

                                  S o u n d C o n
                                 =================
                              version 1.42,  2-04-95
                                  by Rick Hudson


This software is FreeWare. It must only be distrubuted in its original form.
The PlaySample module is also FreeWare and can be used in other applications
but you must obtain my permission if you wish to distribute it separately
from SoundCon.



Summary
=======

SoundCon is an application for basic sound sample format conversion on the
Archimedes. It can read and write samples in a variety of formats common on
various computer platforms and can directly playback most the formats it can
read (without converting it first). An important feature of SoundCon is that
all processing and playback is done from disc meaning that the only memory
required is for the application itself and there is no limit to the sample
size.

As of version 1.40 SoundCon can respond to render requests from ArcWeb so
that WWW sounds can be played by just clicking on them.


Other documentation
===================

The Docs directory within !SoundCon conatins further information on the
PlaySample module and the various sound formats supported. The latter
contains format descriptions, what sub-formats are and aren't supported and
which ones can be played without conversion.

Interactive help is supported. Theoretically, you should be able to stop
reading this now and use that.


Supported formats
=================

   Major formats       sub-formats

   Audio IFF           8/16 bit, mono/stereo
   Armadeus            n/a
   ARMovie (read only) 8/16 bit, (un)signed linear, VIDC, mono/stereo
   Sun Audio           8 bit µ-law, 8 bit lin, 16 bit lin, mono/stereo
   AudioWorks          8/16 bit (un)signed, µ-law, VIDC, mono/stereo
   IFF/8SVX            n/a
   VOC                 n/a
   Voice modules       4 volume modes, fixed/var frequency, voice/transient
   RIFF WAVE           8/16 bit PCM, µ-law, MS ADPCM, DVI ADPCM, mono/stereo
   Raw data            8/16 bit, (un)signed linear, µ-law, VIDC, mono/stereo

For more information on these formats see the file Docs.Formats which
describes in more details what the formats can support and what the menu
sub-options do.


                               ==============
                               Using SoundCon
                               ==============

Loading a sample:
================

SoundCon is sample converter so it can't do anything until you give a
sample. Drag a file onto the icon bar icon or any of it's windows to 'open'
the sample. The settings of the preferences may cause some actions to happen
automatically at this point (see later) but the default is not do anything
except open the sample information window (click select on the icon bar icon
to open it if you need to). This window displays information about the file
loaded. If the format is not recognised (or a recognisable format is
unsupported - WAVEs have several such formats) then an error message is
reported and sample is loaded as raw data.


Changing the interpretation:
===========================

Recognised formats will not usually have to be fiddled with but raw data
will probably have to have the interpretation of the data changed to make
it sound right - this is largely a trial and error process.

At the bottom of the sample info window (click on Toggle Size or scroll
down) there is the interpretation format and frequency - use the pop-up
menus to change these. The format selections are summarised by interactive
help (if your version of RISC OS isn't too old) and described in more detail
in the file docs.Formats.

The interpretation frequency set how many sample frames per second to
assume. A sample frame is the samples on all channels at any given point and
so frames per second means samples per channel per second. The menu provides
a list of common frequencies as well as a writable entry for other
frequencies.


Listening to the sample
=======================

The playback control window can be opened by clicking Adjust on the icon bar
icon, clicking Adjust in the sample info window or by selecting the menu
item in the sample info window or icon bar menus. The sample will be played
based on the format and frequency set in the Interpret As section of the
sample info window. An exception to this are samples that cannot be
interpreted as raw data by SoundCon (ADPCM and Audioworks formats) which can
only be played in their original format.

The CD-style buttons control the playback and their use should be obvious.
The slider marking the sample progress can be dragged around as an
alternative to setting the sample position with the cue and rewind buttons.

The volume slider controls the volume and the speaker button toggles the
speaker on and off (as if that wasn't obvious). If the volume is changed or
the speaker toggled from another application then SoundCon updates the
volume slider and speaker button automatically. Note though that the volume
is independant of the normal system volume so other system-volume
controllers will have no effect.

Note that the ADPCM play routines are quite CPU intensive (since they
decompress on the fly) and the sound quality will probably suffer when
interrupts are used heavily (eg lots of disc activity).


Converting the sample to another format
=======================================

Open the conversion window from the info window or icon bar menus. The
current destination format is shown with the usual elements of a save box.
Change the format, sample rate and filename (if current settings are not
suitable) and drag the icon to where you want the new sample to be or click
OK/press Return if a complete path is already present. The conversion
progress window will open and the conversion will occur in the background.
The conversion can be paused if you need the computer to be more responsive
for a while or aborted by clicking the appropriate button.

The filename initially present in the convert window will depend on the
preferences (see Preferences for options).

The conversion produces a sample (in the specified format) so that playing
it at the speed set in the 'Rate' box will sound the same as the original
sample played at the speed set the 'Frequency' box of the 'Interpret As'
section. That is, the sample is resampled at the new frequency. If the
frequencies are different then new samples are generated by linearly
interpolating between the original samples.

See the file Docs.Formats for a description of the supported formats and
their sub formats.


Preferences
===========

Default Conversion format: This controls what output format will initially
be in the conversion save box when the program is loaded. This format may
also be set on loading a new sample (see Auto Load Actions below). The
effect of these settings is described in 'Converting a sample' above.

Interpret Unknown As: When an unrecogised sample is loaded, the data will be
initially interpreted according the settings in this box. The pop-up menus
are identical to those for the Interpret As part of the info window (see
'Changing The Interpretation' above).

Auto Actions On Load: Any combination (including none) of the following
actions are performed when a new sample is opened.

  - Open info window: The window displaying the information on the sample is
    opened.

  - Open convert window: The conversion/save window is opened.

  - Open play window: The play control window is opened.

  - Default format: The format and frequency used for the output sample is
    set from the Default Conversion Format part of the preferences.

  - Convert: The conversion process is started using the format and filename
    determined from other preference settings.

  - Play: The sample is played back.

If either convert or play (or both) are selected then the sample is cleared
after their respective operation has completed to allow the next queued
sample to be processed automatically. If convert AND play are selected then
the sample is cleared after both have finished.

Sound: This section specifies how to set up the sound system on loading
SoundCon:

  - Set volume: If this option is set then the playback volume is set
    according the slider below otherwise it is left unchanged. Note that
    this only affects the volume for the PlaySample module which is
    independant of the normal system volume.

  - Don't set speaker: The speaker is left in the current state (on or off).

  - Speaker off: The speaker is switched off.

  - Speaker on: The speaker is switched on.

File naming: These options control what filename will appear in the
conversion/save box when a new sample is opened:

  - Do not update name: The writable icon is left the same as when it was
    last used.

  - New leaf with previous path: Everything up to the last '.' is preserved
    and remainder (the leaf) is replaced with the leaf name of the source
    sample. This is the only useful file naming option for queue processing.

  - New leaf-only name: The filename is set to the leaf name of the source
    sample.

  - Add/change extentions: When this option is set an extension of the form
    '/XXX' is appended to the filename (after one is generated from the
    above options). XXX is an MS-DOS like abbreviation like WAV, AIF, RAW
    etc. The leaf is not truncated to 10 characters in case you want to copy
    it to a filing system supporting longer filenames.

General: Miscellaneous options

  - D-click load: SoundCon repsonds to the Dataload message allowing it to
    load samples by double clicking on them. It attempts to load any file
    that is 'launched'. If it recognises it loads it otherwise it is ignored
    so oher applications still get a look in.

  - ArcWeb render: When this option is set, SoundCon responds to rendering
    requests from ArcWeb. If the file to be rendered is a recognised sound
    format and SoundCon is idle then it will be loaded and played.

If the auto-convert option and 'New leaf with previous path' is not selected
then a warning is displayed when you exit the preferences window because
queue processing can only be done with that option set. (no update can be
used but all the samples will overwrite each other!)


Queue processing
================

SoundCon can process a queue of samples as well as single samples; this is
so that a whole bunch of samples can be converted without user intervention.
The restrictions are that all the samples in the batch will be converted to
the same format and will all be placed in the same directory.

A sample may be explicitly loaded into the queue by dragging one into the
queue window (opened from the icon bar menu). If more than one sample is
dragged to into SoundCon then the first will be dealt with normally (ie as
if it was a single file) and the rest will be queued automatically.

The queue works on the principle that when there is no sample open the one
at the front of the queue is opened (and removed from the queue). The
current sample will be cleared (and the first one queued opened) when:

  - You clear it manually from the menu in the Sample Info window.
  - A sample has finished converting and the 'Auto Actions on Load/Convert'
    option is set from the preferences.
  - A sample has finished playing and the 'Auto Actions on Load/Play' option
    is set from the preferences.

The last two (auto-clear) instances do not occur if the queue is empty so
that the last sample in the queue remains the current sample.

This means all the files in the queue can be converted or played (or both)
automatically.

So if SoundCon is set to auto-convert on load, all the files in the queue
will convert automatically. Note however that when the first file is opened
the warning message 'To save, drag the file to a directory display' is
displayed. The first file needs to be dragged manually to determine where to
save the samples. You should also select what you want them all converted
to at this point. A result of this is that conversion can only progress
automatically if the file naming method is set to 'New leaf with previous
path' otherwise the warning will be given for every file or the files will
all have the same name and overwrite each other. If you select auto-convert
and the file naming is set to something inappopriate, you are warned.

You will need to change the format and output path (if necessary) before you
load the queue a second time because there will now be suitable defaults to
begin conversion immediately. Alternatively, clear the filename or the entire
sample to set things up after the queue is loaded.


Using SoundCon with ArcWeb
==========================

From version 1.40 SoundCon can play samples for ArcWeb by responding to its
rendering requests. The 'ArcWeb render' preference must be set and SoundCon
must be idle (ie not converting or playing another sample) to repsond to
ArcWeb requests because it 'loads' the sound as its current sound which would
mean halting any previous activity. While the sound is 'loaded' it can be
converted/saved or played again until a new sound is loaded or it disappears
from the ArcWeb cache.


History
=======

1.30 - First release

1.40 - Cleaner logarithmic sound conversion
     - Cleaned up glitches on standard-res monitors
     - Added read-only ARMovie format
     - Added ArcWeb sound playing
     - Sun Audio files with zero data length can now be loaded
     - Lowered lower frequency limit after discovering some 5Khz samples
     - First button in preference window now works. (how'd that happen?!)
     - Mouse is now constrained when dragging sliders
     - Doesn't crash if sample disappears between loading and converting

1.41 - Made Arcweb rendering optional
     - Dataload option added to allow loading by double-clicking
     - Made preference window resizable

1.42 - Fixed bug re dragging play slider on 16-bit samples
     - Dragging to playback window when already playing now plays
     - Changing format with 'extensions' on now works


Problems?
=========

I have tried to ensure that SoundCon can process a wide variety of sample
formats and sub-formats and because of this it has been hard to find original
files to test them all with. Please let me know if you encounter a sample
that SoundCon doesn't process correctly; several small bugs have been fixed
between versions 1.30 and 1.40 because of this kind of feedback. I'd also be
interested to hear if there are any other unsupported formats that could be
included in SoundCon's repertoire; bearing in mind that I need some
information about the format before I can implement it.



Thanks to Andrew ([e-mail]) for testing and help with the
logarithmic formats.

Thanks also to Stewart Brodie ([e-mail]) for suggesting the
ArcWeb addition and supplying the code outline to do it with.


Rick Hudson,
[e-mail]