soundplayer(1)soundplayer(1)NAMEsoundplayer - sound playback application
SYNOPSISsoundplayer [ -nofork ] [ -nodisplay ] [ -nopocket ] [ -nounique ] [
-noauto ] [ -nogm ] [ -audiodev <device name> ] [filename]
DESCRIPTIONsoundplayer is a simple-to-use application which plays sound files using
the built-in audio hardware. soundplayer also plays Standard MIDI Files
to an external MIDI sound module or the Silicon Graphics MIDI synthesis
software (see midisynth(1)).
The following sound/MIDI file formats are supported:
AIFF (.aiff) and AIFF-C (.aifc)
Sun/NeXT (.au, .snd)
Microsoft RIFF WAVE (.wav)
MPEG-1 layer I, II, III audio bitstreams (.mpa, .mpg, .mp2, .mp3) *
Sound Designer II
BICSF (IRCAM)
Audio Visual Research (.avr)
Amiga IFF/8SVX (.iff)
SampleVision (.smp)
Creative Labs, Inc. Creative Voice (.voc)
Standard MIDI File (.mid)
RIFF MIDI File (.rmi)
* MPEG Layer-3 audio decoding technology licensed from Fraunhofer IIS
and Thomson.
The graphical user interface provides "Play", "Stop", and "Rewind to
start" buttons. If the program is invoked without the filename argument,
the user may open an input file using the "File Open" menu.
The play position in the file is controlled with a position slider
presented at the bottom of the user interface. The play position is
changed when the mouse button is released after moving the slider, not
while the slider is being moved.
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The user interface also provides control of audio level independent of
the audio hardware levels controlled by apanel(1). Level controls are not
supported for Standard MIDI files. Instead, tempo control is provided for
MIDI playback. This control changes the playback speed of the MIDI file
without changing the instrument sounds.
More behavior and features of soundplayer are explained in the on-line
help provided via the "Help" menu.
OPTIONS-nofork
Do not fork soundplayer into background. By default, soundplayer
forks itself in order to return control to the shell process.
-nodisplay
Play sound file without displaying user interface. File will be
played from beginning to end and cannot be stopped. Soundplayer
does not background itself when used in the nodisplay mode.
-nopocket
Remove the drop pocket widget from the user interface. This option
is obsolete and will not be supported in the future.
-nounique
Allow more than one instance of soundplayer to run at a given time.
-noauto
Do not play sound file automatically when launched with a file
name.
-nogm Do not force General MIDI. By default, soundplayer instructs the
MIDI device to enable General MIDI when loading a MIDI file. This
option should be used when playing back files that are not General
MIDI compliant.
-audiodev <device name>
Play sound through the specified audio output device. Default is
"Default Output".
NOTES
To use soundplayer as a helper application with a World Wide Web browser
such as Netscape Navigator, the command line options -nofork and
-nounique must be used in combination. Below is an example mailcap entry
for AIFF files:
audio/x-aiff; soundplayer-nofork -nounique %s;
Soundplayer is the default audio and MIDI file player used by the
IndigoMagic desktop. Double-clicking on a sound file on the desktop will
launch soundplayer. Holding the `Alt' key while double-clicking on a
sound file will launch another instance of soundplayer, the equivalent of
invoking soundplayer with the -nounique option.
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In order for soundplayer to play MIDI files via the internal software
synthesizer midisynth(1), you must install the dmedia_eoe.sw.synth and
dmedia_eoe.data.synth subsystems from the IRIX CDROMs which came with
your system. This software is not installed by default, but is bundled
with the release. Once this is installed, the "MIDI Devices" submenu
under "Utilities" will show a port labled "Software Synth". Selecting
this port will allow soundplayer to play all MIDI files via midisynth.
To configure your workstation for MIDI playback via an external
synthesizer, use a Macintosh-compatible serial port to MIDI adaptor to
connect an external MIDI sound module to one of the serial ports. This
procedure varies with machine type. Use the Port Setup system
administration tool to configure the serial port for MIDI operation. To
launch the Port Setup tool, select the System Manager tool from the
System menu on the Toolchest. Then select "System Admin Tools" on the
System Manager "Tools" menu. The Port Setup icon will appear in the
Administration Tools window.
To verify that the serial port is now configured for MIDI, launch
soundplayer and select "MIDI Devices" from the "Utilities" menu to view a
list of active MIDI outputs. The serial port configured for MIDI should
now appear in the list.
BUGS
Unless the -nounique option is used, multiple instances of soundplayer
will not run on a single display, even when run from different hosts.
SEE ALSOaudio(1), afintro(3dm), midi(3dm), audiopanel(1), midisynth(1)
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