SoundApp is FreeWare. You may use it at no cost. However, SoundApp is still Copyright © 1993, Norman Franke. All rights reserved. SoundApp may not be included in any for-profit software compilation or bundled with any other for-profit package, except without prior written consent of the author, Norman Franke. SoundApp may be distributed freely on online services and by user's groups, except where noted above, provided it is distributed unmodified.
You expressly acknowledge and agree that use of SoundApp is at your exclusive risk. SoundApp, any related files and documentation are provided ΓÇ£AS ISΓÇ¥ and without any warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
SoundApp will attempt to play sound files dropped onto it. Currently it can play the following sound formats: SoundCapΓäó, SoundEditΓäó, AIFF, System 7 Sound, Sun Sparc Audio (AU), WindowsΓäó WAVE, Sound BlasterΓäó VOC, Amiga MOD, Amiga IFF (8SVX), DVI ADPCM, and any 'snd' resource file. I will optionally search through folders dropped into it looking for sounds to play nested inside. Files can be played directly or added to a Play List and played in any order. SoundApp also allows the conversion of these sound formats to System 7 double-clickable sound files. Balloon Help is available to provide more information about the various preferences and buttons in SoundApp.
If files are added to the Play List, by holding down the key specified in the Preferences dialog box, all the sounds dropped onto SoundApp appear in it. Files can be re-arranged by option dragging them around. Only contiguous file selections can be moved at one time. Double clicking on a selection (or pressing the space bar) will play the currently selected files. The Play All button will play all sound files in the list in the order they appear. Future versions of SoundApp will allow saving and loading of Play Lists.
Based on the settings in the Preferences dialog box, double buffering can be enabled. This will allow SoundApp to play sound files larger than the available memory, proveded the file system on which the sound file resides is fast enough to keep SoundApp's buffers full. All file types can be double buffered except compressed SoundCap files. The "Smart" Sun conversion factor will scan the file looking for the loudest passage and then set the conversion factor to prevent most clipping. This feature, while providing the best playback quality, is fairly slow. Preset conversion factors can be set to eliminate preprocessing and thus provide immediate playback. These conversions are necessary because AU files encode a larger dynamic range than the normal Macintosh 8 bit samples. 16 bit sound files are played by throwing out the least significant byte. Later versions of SoundApp may utilize the new Sound Manager for better playback of these files, especially on Macs with additional sound hardware. [So if anyone has an AV Mac they have no use for… :-) ]
SoundApp tries to allocate the memory for playback from it's partition first. If it can't, it then tries the MultiFinder temporary memory allocation facilities. However, due to the way MOD files are played by Frank's code, the application must have enough RAM to hold the MOD file, because it cannot use MultiFinder temporary memory. If it cannot get enough memory, the file will be skipped and noted in an Error List along with any other files which SoundApp could not play.
Please note the following:
ΓÇó Compressed WAVE, 8SVX and AU are not supported.
ΓÇó Looping segments in VOC files will be ignored.
ΓÇó AIFF-C and AIFF 16 Bit files cannot be converted.
ΓÇó MOD conversion only extracts the instrument samples.
ΓÇó ADPCM playback is not compatible with G72X compression.
I'd like to thank:
Paul Hoffman for Dragonsmith,
Edward Sabol for testing and ideas,
Frank Seide; Koolbarg 39d; D-2000 Hamburg 74; Germany for the MOD routines,
Craig Marciniak for elucidating WAVE conversion, and
