New csa2 FAQs: F002s2SOUND (Part 2 of 2)

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

From: Rubywand

010- How do I get my MockingBoard to work on my GS?

     You need to go to the GS Control Panel and change the Slots setting
for the Slot your MB card is in to "Your Card".

     The 'standard' place for a MockingBoard is Slot 4. A few early
programs require that the board be there in order to work; but, most
programs which use MB will let you specify the Slot. A few games and
other wares require modifications or interface software to work with MB
on a GS.

---------------------------


011- I have a Mockingboard Sound II board installed in my GS but
     cannot get it to work with Ultima IV and Ultima V. How can
     I play these games with MockingBoard music and sound effects?

     U4MOCKV2.SHK is a collection of programs which will let you play
Ultima IV on your GS with MockingBoard sound. You can also set game
speed and border color.

     For playing Ultima V with MB sound, check out U5MBONGS.SHK.

     Both of these wares take care of activating the MockingBoard Slot
without changing Control Panel settings. You can find them on Ground in
the AOL area:

ground.isca.uiowa.edu/2/apple2/Collections/AOL/Games/Adv./Roleplay

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From: Rick Diffley

012- How can get more System Sounds for my GS?
 
IF you have HCGS (HyperCard GS) then, one way to get System Sounds is to
place a HCGS stack with rSounds in the Sound folder. You'll have plenty
of new sounds to use with the Sound CDev.

Making a new stack and moving sounds into it works fine, but so does
making a COMPLETELY EMPTY file of type $55/$0001 (HyperCard Stack -- you
can save an empty text file and then change its file type to do it) and
then moving the sounds into THAT.  Afterwards, you can change the file
type of that file to $D8/$0003 (Sound Resource) so HyperCard won't try
to actually open it as a stack. This saves about 7K of space.

Also, sound files that are placed in the */System/Sounds folder can be
directly used by HCGS v1.1!  You don't need to install those sounds into
a stack! There's a smaller and much more manageable hammer.  All that's
required is HyperCard GS and some utility to change file types.

To get sounds out of a HCGS stack and into a system sounds file, with NO
OVERHEAD whatsoever, do the following:

 1) Create an empty text (or binary, or whatever) file on disk.
 2) Change the file type of that file to $55/$0001 (HyperCard
    GS stack).
 3) Use HyperCard's XCMDs (or Hang's sound stacks) to copy sounds
    into that file that used to be a text file.
 4) Change the file type of that file to $D8/$0003 (Sound resource).
 5) Throw that file into your system Sounds folder.
 
You could also just create a new stack from within HCGS and do the same
thing, but it'll be about 7K larger, due to the information HCGS puts in
a stack's data fork when it's created.

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From: Mitchell Spector

013- Are there any GS programs that will let me play
     MIDI files that I get from the web?

     The best one out there is MIDISurgeon 2.0, formely available from
EGO Systems. It lets you convert and tweak (very finely if need be) MIDI
files into MIDIsynth format, what most people heavily associate with
synthLAB. MIDIsynth is really the best way to hear MIDI sequences,
though it is very limited these days: 7 voices and 64K worth of patches
maximum (choosen from a small number of instrument banks out there, with
a sparse selection). If you have MIDI files that are under 7 voices and
only use a couple of instruments it is passable.

     There is also the freeware MIDIConvert program, but it isn't very
flexible.

     WaveLAB (another program by Dave Tribby) is also worth downloading,
it allows you to create new instrument banks.

     You should be able to get MIDIConvert from the Caltech and Ground
FTP sites. SynthLAB/MIDIsynth is part of System 6, downloadable from
Apple's FTP site. As for MIDISurgeon, you'll have to contact Dave Tribby
to find out its status.

     I personally just use a MIDI connection between my Apple IIgs and
PC with one end running synthLAB and the other CakeWalk Express, then
have one side "play" the other and I record that. Makes editing much
easier and faster.

----------------------------


From: Edhel Iaur, Esq.

Apple's SynthLAB may be necessary for many solutions. If you go to

http://liquefy.isca.uiowa.edu/8/ground

and search for "midi", you find several utils that may help.

---------------------------


From: Clayburn Juniel/Effective Software Solutions

     Hey, what about Music Composer?  It's much better than synthLAB for
doing MIDI playback.

     Just a note. Music Composer* does use the MIDIsynth tool to play
the music, and to do some editing.  MIDIsynth does a lot that synthLAB
doesn't use. It was always my impression the that synthLAB was never
finished.

*ESS web site: http://www.primenet.com/~clay1/

_______________________


014- Would FExt.NDA let you play thru Synthinit if you
     placed Synthinit in the System.Setup folder?

     OK, I guess it's shameless plug time :)  FExtNDA will allow you to
use SynthInit from any desktop program. Place SynthInit in your
System.Setup folder, and FExtNDA in your Desk.Accs folder (of course :).
Then, in FExtNDA's preferences, check 'Send finderSaysIdle'. If you want
to be able to use keypresses to change songs, also check 'Send
finderSaysKeyHit'. For more useful information on using the two
together, check the docs in FExtNDA.

PS: SynthInit isn't the only Finder Extension that will work: IR,
DeskTracker, FinderView, FinderSounder, TeacherReader, EGOed, etc. etc.
etc. all work.

________________________________


From: Charles T. Turley

015- Can I play .WAV files on my GS?

     Yes. Download and check out 'Universal Sound Edit'. It's a GS sound
editor that handles virtually every type of sound format from just about
all computer platforms.

     You can read the documentation file and download the program
archive-- USE.SHK -- from the following url:

http://liquefy.isca.uiowa.edu/8/ground/apple2/1WSW/GS.WorldView/GS.AUDIOWARES