If you have any questions other than those below, feel free to contact me, and I'll be more than happy to answer them for you.
Alex Metcalf
Best Before Yesterday
Internet, AOL, BIX: alex@metcalf.demon.co.uk
AppleLink: alex@metcalf.demon.co.uk@internet#
CompuServe: INTERNET:alex@metcalf.demon.co.uk
Delphi: alex@metcalf.demon.co.uk@inet#
FirstClass: alex@metcalf.demon.co.uk,Internet
Fax (UK): (0570) 45636
Fax (US / Canada): 011 44 570 45636
Q. Can I still use HyperCard's "play" command if I've installed MusicBox? Will my old HyperCard sound stacks still work if I've installed MusicBox?
A. Of course: MusicBox is an external command, not a replacement, and all stacks that use the "play" command will have no compatiblity problems. However, I hope you find that you'll have more control over your sounds if you use MusicBox rather than "play" in stacks that you write.
Q. What are the two resources that come with MusicBox ("PSyn" and "STrI") ?
A. These resources are used by MusicBox when playing MOD files. However, you still need to have them in your stack, even if you're not playing MOD files. The "Install" button in the stack puts all the resources in your stack, ready for you to use.
Q. I type my MusicBox command into the message box. Because it doesn't work, I type "put the result", but there's no error message. Why not?
A. In order for "the result" to keep the MusicBox error message, you must use the MusicBox command in a script, such as:
on mouseUp
MusicBox "play", "one", "sample", "false"
put the result
end mouseUp
You'll then see the error message in the message box (if there's an error).
Q. When I'm playing a MOD file, there are occasional breaks in the music. In addition, sometimes the sounds don't all completely play. How can I fix this?
A. The breaks in the music are usually caused either by disk access, or by the Mac not being able to 'catch up' with all the work it has to do when playing the MOD file. The latter reason is why the sounds sometimes don't all play, usually when you're playing a MOD file in stereo. Try playing a MOD file in "mono", or using "good quality" instead of "best quality" for playback. LC owners (and those with Macs of a similar speed) may also wish to try "don't anti alias" instead of "anti alias", although this results in a greater loss of quality than the other two options.
I'm hoping to upgrade the MOD code in the near future which will improve playback, resulting in less speed problems and music discontinuity.
Q. When I try to play a MOD file, it says it can't load it, and gives me a '-43' in brackets. What does this mean?
A. '-43' means "I can't find the file!", and means that you incorrectly entered the pathname for the MOD file. Remember that it's a full path name, so you'll need the hard disk name and all the folder names, as well as the MOD file name. You can use the sample script in the examples section to be able to play a MOD file in the same folder as your stack.
Q. When I try and load a MOD file, it doesn't work, even though MusicBox doesn't give me the "Low on memory." warning. Why?
A. MusicBox (currently) has no way of knowing how big the MOD file is, so it just tries to load it and see what happens. Type the following into the message box:
put round(the heapspace/1024)&"k"
If the size of your MOD file is larger (or roughly equal to) the number you get from typing that line in, then you need to give Hypercard some more memory.
Q. I'm trying to open a stack when I've got my MOD file playing, but it crashes.
A. Read the instructions! You can't open stacks (or switch stacks) when a MOD file is playing, so you need to put some handlers into your stack script which stop the sound before you leave the stack. See the 'examples' section for the code you need.
Q. I'm trying to fade all open sound channels, but nothing happens: there's no error message. What's going on?
A. MusicBox starts the fade from the level of the first open sound channel. Therefore, if you have channels "one", "two", and "three" open, and the volume level of "one" is 0, then the fade down command will try and fade from 0 to 0, resulting in nothing happening.
Q. Can I play more sounds than just on the four MusicBox channels?
A. If you've got a disgustingly fast Mac, you can also use the Hypercard's "play" command, as well as the MusicBox MOD channel, for a total of six sounds (five sounds and the MOD file music) playing simultaneously. Whether you'll be able to distinguish them all is a different matter!
Q. I want to use the Inflate XCMD you have, which gives balloon help support to Hypercard. Where can I get it?
A. The Inflate XCMD, as well as the latest version of MusicBox, should always be available on the Internet, by anonymous FTP from the Info-mac archives. Other than that, you can contact me about sending a copy on disk through the mail.
Q. Does MusicBox affect the sound quality of the sounds I want to play, in comparison to the "play" command?
A. The sound quality with MusicBox is the same as with the play command: MusicBox is simply an enhancement which provides more control over the sounds you play.
Q. I've saved a sound file from SoundEdit, but MusicBox says it can't play the file. Why?
A. Make sure that you chose to save the sound file in the AIFF format.
Q. HyperCard has about 50k of free memory. However, when I try to play only a 10k sound file, it runs out of memory. Why?
A. When playing a sound file, MusicBox allocates a 128k memory buffer for playing the sound.
