Remixology column to focus on Flash Remixers

[hp3]

For those of you with an interest in developing interactive sound applications with Flash, you might be interested in the Remixology Column at http://www.sonify.org (see sig for link).

We are doing a long series on Flash remixers, starting with the basics of the sound object all the way up through track expansion techniques and database recordable remixers.

[GMF ™]

Great

[hp3]

GMF,

should I post weekly Remixology topics here, or do you think that is inappropriate? (I dont want to seem like I'm selling something)

Hayden

[GMF ™]

Hayden.

I think you should post weekly, it about flash and its a new tool. I know you from Were-here and you have 100 % quality posts from what i have seen , post away and thanks for asking. Have a nice weekend too

[SubKloda]

Hi Hayden,
from what i've read it looks as though it'll be a great collection of articles ..

see-yah,
andy

p.s. when i eventually get round to finishing the audiomeister 2 tutorial i'll let you know.

[hp3]

Hi Andy,

I may need some help with the knob user interface element problem. In about 3 weeks I'll be going through toggle buttons and sliders. I'd like to wrap up the UI series with knob.

I'll try my hand at it first but will probably be seeking folks like you for additional help.

[hp3]

The key to maintaining sync in Flash is precisely measuring and setting the lengths of each track. Accurate track lengths determine whether or not the Flash player can synchronize multiple sounds over a period of time.

[SubKloda]

Originally posted by hp3
Hi Andy,

I may need some help with the knob user interface element problem. In about 3 weeks I'll be going through toggle buttons and sliders. I'd like to wrap up the UI series with knob.

I'll try my hand at it first but will probably be seeking folks like you for additional help.

Hi Hayden,
if you want i can extract the dial component from AM2 & try and explain how it works (if i can remember )..

regards,
Andy

[SubKloda]

Originally posted by SubKloda

Originally posted by hp3
Hi Andy,

I may need some help with the knob user interface element problem. In about 3 weeks I'll be going through toggle buttons and sliders. I'd like to wrap up the UI series with knob.

I'll try my hand at it first but will probably be seeking folks like you for additional help.

Hi Hayden,
if you want i can extract the dial component from AM2 & try and explain how it works (if i can remember )..

regards,
Andy

Hayden,
i've emailled you the dial element and i've tried to explain how it works... (hopefully you'll finish the tutorial b4 i finish AM2 so i'll have summat to work with ).

cheers,
Andy

[hp3]

Even though Flash does not have a built in method for sound synchronization, we can work around this by using an ActionScript for loop to trigger our sounds to start almost simultaneously. Ideally, Flash ActionScript can execute a loop so quickly that all sounds start within milliseconds of each other which is good enough synchronization for the human ear.

[hp3]

Sound is often the largest asset of a movie and takes the longest time to download, especially in a remixer application where we have multiple sounds. Consequently, we need to inform our users of the load status so they wont be confused by blank screens or user interfaces that seem to do nothing while the sound loads. The Flash developer community often refers to these messages as "preloaders" because they display before (pre) the assets finish loading.

[Pipper]

Hey Hayden,
Great stuff. Thank you so much for this information. I look foward in watching this progress and myself learning.

[hp3]

The next few editions of Remixology focus on creating user interface elements for Remixers. These include sliders or knobs for interactively controlling volume and pan, and toggle buttons for muting and soloing tracks. These sorts of interface elements resemble the controls on an audio mixer, which is the paradigm for remixer applications. This week we focus on creating sliders.

see sig for link.

[hp3]

We continue our series on building remixer user interface elements, this time with audio channel mute and solo functions. Mute and solo are standard functions on most mixers and offer creative control over mixing. They can be just as useful in a remixer, allowing a user to turn audio channels on and off, or solo one channel from a simple switch instead of relying upon a slider.

http://sonify.org/home/feature/remix...solofunctions/

[monkii]

hey, great site, great resource... - good luck!
m

[hp3]

This time we look at building a channel solo function into a simple remixer. As we learned previously, the solo function mutes all other channels except the one selected for solo and those channels already in a solo'd state. Unlike the mute function which effects only one channel, the solo function is a more complex user interface element because its state effects all other channels. We build on the toggle switch technique to support mute and solo button user interface elements that interact with each other depending upon their state.

http://www.sonify.org/home/feature/r...9_solobuttons/

[hp3]

In this issue we discuss our final user interface element, the knob. Knobs are a commonly used interface element in real world audio devices. They are a nice alternative to sliders in Flash remixers because they are more compact, have a different look and offer the same type of real time control over a parameter. Special thanks to Andrew Lavelle (aka subkolda) for sharing his ActionScript approach to creating knobs for inclusion in this issue.

http://www.sonify.org/home/feature/r...ogy/010_knobs/

[hp3]

This week's issue is a short one but deserves some attention. As flash becomes a more established web multimedia standard, there will be increasing numbers of trouble makers and lazy people who want to claim your creations as their own. This seems especially problematic for flash audio projects because it is quite easy to for someone to take a sound only swf from your site or out of their browser cache after viewing your site. Consequently we should consider ways to minimize unauthorized use of our flash creations.

http://www.sonify.org/home/feature/r...11_protectswf/

[hp3]

An audio mixer channel strip usually has three user interface elements that control volume; one continuous volume control such as a slider or knob, and two switches to control mute and solo functions. There is also a standard way that these elements interact offering flexible control over real time mixing. By modeling on this standard interaction we can offer more flexibility in our own Flash remixers. In addition we can create a "reusable" channel strip symbol to make our code modular and easy to maintain.

http://www.sonify.org/home/feature/r...meinteraction/

[hp3]

In this issue, we start a new series exploring the arcane world of the setTransform object. This is the least used and most abstract part of the Sound object api. However, it offers advanced audio functionality not otherwise possible, such as working around the 8 track limitation of the Flash player and creating more bandwidth friendly audio presentations.

http://www.sonify.org/home/feature/r..._settransform/