Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!scdpyr!hpoppe
From: hpoppe@scdpyr.UUCP (Herb Poppe)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Sound Manager (was "sndplay in MPW C")
Message-ID: <290@scdpyr.UUCP>
Date: 9 Mar 88 19:47:14 GMT
References: <8399@reed.UUCP> <7435@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <21736@bbn.COM>
Organization: Natl Ctr Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO
Lines: 57

In article <21736@bbn.COM>, levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) writes:
>...
> IM V (final glossy version) says that the Sound Manager is in both the
> SE and the II.  I am using an SE and the System Release 5.0 stuff (w/o
> MultiFinder).  What goes on?
>...
I too just started working (playing :-)) with sound on the Mac this week
and was researching the Sound Driver (and Tech Note 19) vs. the Sound
Manager. There is no doubt that the Sound Manager is the method of choice.

I have the 17 AUG 87 final APDA draft of IM-V and though the Sound Manager
chapter does not say that the Sound Manager is only for the Mac II, and
though the warning [Macintosh II] does NOT appear next to the procedure
descriptions, the statement (on page 2): "In addition, the synthesizers
of the Sound Manager, utilizing the power of the new Apple Sound Chip,
use only a fraction of the processing time of the 68020" made me suspicious
that the Sound Manager would work only on the Mac II.

I wrote a simple program using NGetTrapAddress (see Tech Note 156) which
tested for the availability of the Sound Manager traps. They were present
on the Mac II, but were not patched in by either System 4.1 or 4.2 tailored
for the MacPlus or SE or the "universal" 4.2 system.

I then discovered the reference that Joel Levin mentions above. It appears
on page 2 of the Preface under "What's New?". "The Macintosh II and SE
computers both contain new capabilities not present in earlier Macintosh
models. They include: Sophisticated sound. Your application can now generate
sophisticated music and sound effects, using special resource types."

While this does not categorically say that the Sound Manager is present on
the SE, it sure sounds like it.

I hope that the next version of the System File will include patches that
will implement the Sound Manager on the SE, Plus, etc. (It certainly
wouldn't hurt to know in advance, hint, hint!) I appreciate that
because these machines don't have the Apple Sound Chip, certain capabilities
(like stereo) will be missing and that performance might be limited.

It would be a shame if developers writing to the installed base have to
forego the elegance of the Sound Manager for the travails of Tech Note 19.
I hope that all future Macs (not just the 020 based machines) have the sound
chip.

(Was the SE, I wonder, meant to have the new sound chip?)

IM-4 and other parts of IM-5 are similarly vague about what functionality
exists in the various models of the Mac ROM and what functionality has
been patched into the System for which Mac models with which System File
version. It would certainly contribute to well-behaved programs if
Apple Tech Support could come up with a (continuously updated) Tech Note
that gave a matrix of which traps (or other system components like the
LaserWriter drivers) were implemented on (or otherwise compatible with)
which systems on which machines.
-- 
Herb Poppe      NCAR                         INTERNET: hpoppe@scdpyr.UCAR.EDU
(303) 497-1296  P.O. Box 3000                   CSNET: hpoppe@ncar.CSNET
		Boulder, CO  80307               UUCP: hpoppe@scdpyr.UUCP