R – in flex, dynamically load Sound object from encoded bytes

actionscript-3apache-flexflash

I have a legacy file format that contains sounds embedded in it (in various encodings). I would like to be able to play these sounds in Flash (Air?) by reading the sound bytes out of the file and instantiating a Sound object with them.

If the sound is unencoded (e.g., raw pcm), I've found that I can use the new flex 4 SampleDataEvent.SAMPLE_DATA event to play the sound.

However, if the sound is encoded (e.g., mp3), then I'm at a loss. The sound expected by SampleDataEvent.SAMPLE_DATA has to be raw pcm. From what I've seen, encoded Sounds can only be instantiated by [Embed]ing them, or by using a URLRequest with Sound.load().

Surely there's a third way? AMF or e4x?

Best Answer

There are really only two routes for you to go. The first is to write a decoder in ActionScript. You may be able to use Alchemy to port over some C/C++ code to make this job significantly easier (and possibly more performant). This is exactly how I got Ogg Vorbis playback to work with Flash.

The other option is to dynamically create a valid SWF inside of a ByteArray. That SWF could contain an embedded sound object that was made up of your sound data. A number of folks have pulled off similar hacks in the past before Flash Player 10 was available. I believe you can find a good place to start in Andre Michelle's and Joa Ebert's PopForge codebase.

Related Solutions

Latency in playing short sounds in Flash 9, Actionscript 3

It's a little thing but:

function playSound( name:String ):void
{
   for( var nameSrc:String in soundArray )
   {
      if( name == nameSrc )
      {
         var channel:SoundChannel = soundArray[ name ].play();
         return;
      }
   }
}

Should be:

function playSound(name:String):void
{
    if(soundArray[name])
    {
        soundArray[name].play();
    }
}

There is no need for a loop look up since that is what the hash table is for. Also, you shouldn't use an Array at all for that since an Array is an ordered set which is indexed using integers. You want to use an Object (or Dictionary) in this case and name it soundMap (since it maps sound names to sound objects).

As for sound latency -- there should be none. I've done quite a bit of sound in Flash (including tons of one off rollover and rollout sounds) and it has never been an issue. However Flash Player 10 has a new low-level sound API which is described by one of the Adobe engineers in that article. A solution involving that is a bit of a sledge hammer but perhaps you are looking for millisecond accuracy.

The advice fenomas gives is wise: check the mp3 file for deadspace at the start and end and trim it as close as possible. Also - what is the path from the event handler to your play statement? Are there any possible blocks there? What is the format of the mp3? Flash works best with specific encodings (44.1 hHz and 128 bit I believe).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Latency in playing short sounds in Flash 9, Actionscript 3

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