Re: Observation about group

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Jay Edwards wrote:

>Michael, have you forgotten that you were one of the first people to help me
>on
>the web?  With the help of Tony Cianfaglione, Tom Turley and yourself I first
>learned how to download (and I could still use some help converting disk
>images
>to real disks--but that' another thread)!

Actually, Jay, it had slipped my mind, since you're such a regular on csa2!

>The only problems that I've had with your program has been finding/creating
>enough sounds and (drum roll, please) that it annoyed the Mac users of my
>computer club.

You can get 11KHz sounds from almost everywhere.  Practically all
Mac sounds are 11KHz (or can easily be resampled to 11KHz).  The
trick is extracting the bits from their cozy little resource forks.

For PC sounds, you have two ways to go: use a PC sound editor to
trim .wav's to get what you want (and less than 18KB), then save as
an 8-bit 11KHz .wav file for export to the Apple II.  Or you can just
transfer the whole PC .wav file to the Apple II, assuming it's 8-bit 11KHz,
and use the "chunk" method below to isolate the pieces of it that you
want to use.  Of course, any method for getting files from the PC to the
Apple will work fine:  serial link, diskette through Mac, email, etc.

I use HFSLink on a //e to copy the resource fork of Mac programs with
some neat sounds.  Then I patch the Applesoft (!) of Sound Editor to read
in the file in 16KB chunks (using the L and B parameters in the statement
that BLOADS uncompressed sound files).  Then I listen to them with the
Editor and cut and paste pieces that I want to keep.  Some formats, like
.wav files, contain header info that is not part of the sound, which will play
as noise, but you can just trim it off with the Editor, then save it (usually
compressed) for later use.

(I probably should have distributed a "scavenging" version of the Editor
so patching is not required, but once you patch it (maybe together with
a patch to make a key "advance" the B parameter to the next chunk)
you can save it under a new name and use it again later.)

Sometimes my "random" method of chunking the file in 16KB parts
winds up splitting a sound I want.  Then I save the beginning from the
first chunk, the end from the second, and use the Editor's cut and paste
to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.  If a sound is a little too long
to fit in the buffer, I'll trim its silent parts or, occasionally, resample it
to
shrink it a bit to get it to fit.  This shifts the pitch up a little, but a few
percent is not usually noticeable, even with music.

-michael

 Email:  mjmahon@aol.com
 Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/