Important: Inside Macintosh: Sound is deprecated as of Mac OS X v10.5. For new audio development in Mac OS X, use Core Audio. See the Audio page in the ADC Reference Library.
Preface - About This Book
This book, Inside Macintosh: Sound, describes the parts of the Macintosh system software that allow you to manage sounds. It describes the services provided by the three principal sound-related system software managers (the Sound Manager, the Sound Input Manager, and the Speech Manager) and shows in detail how your application can record and play back sounds, compress and expand audio data, convert text to speech, and perform other similar operations.If you are not yet experienced with playing or recording sounds on Macintosh computers, you should begin with the chapter "Introduction to Sound on the Macintosh." That chapter describes the services provided by the system software and shows how to use the most basic sound-related capabilities of Macintosh computers. It provides complete source code examples illustrating how to record sounds into resources and files, how to play sounds stored in resources and files, and how to convert written text into spoken words. It's possible that this introductory chapter contains all the information you need to successfully integrate sound into your application.
Once you are familiar with basic sound recording and production on Macintosh computers, you might want to read other chapters in this book. The chapter "Sound Manager" provides complete information about sound output. It shows how to control sound production at a very low level, how to produce sound asynchronously (that is, while other operations in the computer take place), and how to compress and expand audio data. This chapter also provides complete details about the structure of the two main sound storage formats, sound resources and sound files.
If you need more control over the sound recording process than is offered by the basic recording functions described in the chapter "Introduction to Sound on the Macintosh," you need to read the chapter "Sound Input Manager." That chapter shows how to record sound without displaying the sound recording dialog box or to interact directly with a sound input device driver.
The chapter "Speech Manager" shows how you can convert written text into speech. You'll need to read this chapter if you want to convert arbitrary blocks of text (such as very large buffers of text) into spoken words, or if you need to gain very fine control over speech production (for example, to synchronize speech production with other activities, or to use customized pronunciation dictionaries).
The chapter "Sound Components" describes how to write sound components. The Sound Manager uses sound components to manipulate audio data or to communicate with sound output devices. You need to read this chapter only if you are developing a new sound output device or want to use a custom audio data compression and expansion scheme.
The chapter "Audio Components" describes how to write audio components. The Sound Manager uses audio components to adjust volumes or other settings of a sound output device when the device contains multiple output ports that can be independently controlled by software. You need to read this chapter only if you are developing a new sound output device that contains several sound-producing ports (such as both speakers and headphones).
Preface Contents
- Format of a Typical Chapter
- Conventions Used in This Book
- Special Fonts
- Types of Notes
- Assembly-Language Information
- Development Environment
- For More Information