Duration 1 days

Objectives
Flash MX has sophisticated sound capabilities which, if understood properly and used correctly, can significantly enhance the user experience of a web site. After completing this short course, you will be able import and then play multi-channel audio from the Flash library using sophisticated Actionscript code. In addition, you will learn techniques for streaming MP3 from a web site, and you will build a sound mixer. Finally, you will pull all the learning together in an online jukebox project to complete the course.

Requirements
Good working knowledge of the Flash MX environment and workspace; ability to animate with the timeline and use symbols, buttons, text and movie clips within Flash. Entry-level knowledge of Action script, or basic programming knowledge in any other OOPs programming language.


Course Outline

Sound - an Overview
• What exactly is sound?
• Waveforms
• Frequency and Amplitude

Digital Audio
• Sample Rate and Bit Resolution
• Compression Formats

The Flash Sound Object
• Attaching Sound
• Starting and Stopping Playback
• Volume and Pan
• Building a Volume and Pan Slider

Sound Events
• What is Asynchronous Sound?
• Reacting to events with Sound

Controlling Multiple Sounds
• The Flash Sound Object and Nesting Concepts
• Actionscript Control of Multiple Sounds

Building A Sound Mixer
• Using onClipEvent (Load) to initialise a channel
• Coding a sound Fade loop
• Coding a Master Sound Control

Synchronising Sound
• Synching streaming audio in the timeline
• Synching audio in Actionscript
• Emulating a sound buffer
• Using synched audio in groups

Alternative Sound Control Approaches
• Using a Co-ordinate system
• Using Spatial Relationships

Sound Preloader
• Manging Multpile Sounds
• Preloading Strategies
• Testing Scenarios

Tips for Using Sound in Flash
• Source Files
• Sound Sample Rate Multiples
• Individual Sound Compression
• Bandwidth Considerations
• System Requirements and RAM
• Sound Card Limitations