Audio Tracks Project

[Michael]

Hi guys,

I am wanting to build a project with 14 audio tracks that can be played simultaneously or any number between one and 14 at the same time. Actually, these are separate tracks in a tune that I want the user to control. Start with any one track and add as many other tracks as needed and switching them on and off and controlling the volume of each.

Similar to audio software, Acid, etc. but with only one- 14 track tune. Given the 6? audio channels, is there a way to accomplish this in AMS?

This is a new one for me and I would appreciate any advice or direction.

Thanks,
M.

[Corey]

Well et's see. It's definitely do-able but if you want them to be able to play more than 6 tracks simultaneously you will have to use Flash to create it and then embed it in AMS as a Flash object.

There are other workarounds but for truly seamless *music quality* audio for the end user experience I think this would be the only performance proven method. Hope that helps.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[JimS]

I’m sure that Corey is correct and Flash is the best way to go, but let’s assume for a moment that you are like me, you don’t have or know Flash, and you want to do it all in AMS.
The way it stands now, your disk will have to contain 14 audio files, using my solution, the disk would have to contain 31 audio files, but if your files are recorded in the .ogg format, this probably won’t be too big of a thing. The real problem is getting all combinations of your 14 audio tracks to play through the 6 audio channels that are available in AMS. My solution lets you do it with 5 of the available channels.


My Conventions:
S1 - S14 : Are your audio tracks 1-14
A1- A5 : Are the AMS audio channels 1-5
T, U, V, W, X : Are internal variables, and used in the naming of your files on the disk.

File Name: 1T.ogg Plays on: A1 Track: S1
File Name: 2T.ogg Plays on: A1 Track: S2
File Name: 4T.ogg Plays on: A1 Track: S3
File Name: 3T.ogg Plays on: A1 Track: (S1+S2)
File Name: 5T.ogg Plays on: A1 Track: (S1+S3)
File Name: 6T.ogg Plays on: A1 Track: (S2+S3)
File Name: 7T.ogg Plays on: A1 Track: (S1+S2+S3)

File Name: 1U.ogg Plays on: A2 Track: S4
File Name: 2U.ogg Plays on: A2 Track: S5
File Name: 4U.ogg Plays on: A2 Track: S6
File Name: 3U.ogg Plays on: A2 Track: (S4+S5)
File Name: 5U.ogg Plays on: A2 Track: (S4+S6)
File Name: 6U.ogg Plays on: A2 Track: (S5+S6)
File Name: 7U.ogg Plays on: A2 Track: (S4+S5+S6)

File Name: 1V.ogg Plays on: A3 Track: S7
File Name: 2V.ogg Plays on: A3 Track: S8
File Name: 4V.ogg Plays on: A3 Track: S9
File Name: 3V.ogg Plays on: A3 Track: (S7+S8)
File Name: 5V.ogg Plays on: A3 Track: (S7+S9)
File Name: 6V.ogg Plays on: A3 Track: (S8+S9)
File Name: 7V.ogg Plays on: A3 Track: (S7+S8+S9)

File Name: 1W.ogg Plays on: A4 Track: S10
File Name: 2W.ogg Plays on: A4 Track: S11
File Name: 4W.ogg Plays on: A4 Track: S12
File Name: 3W.ogg Plays on: A4 Track: (S10+S11)
File Name: 5W.ogg Plays on: A4 Track: (S10+S12)
File Name: 6W.ogg Plays on: A4 Track: (S11+S12)
File Name: 7W.ogg Plays on: A4 Track: (S10+S11+S12)

File Name: 1V.ogg Plays on: A5 Track: S13
File Name: 2V.ogg Plays on: A5 Track: S14
File Name: 3V.ogg Plays on: A5 Track: (S13+S14)


To make this work, you will need to create a number of new mixes, all that appear in parentheses. So you will need to make a recording of the mix of Track 1 + Track 2 and call it 3T.ogg, and so forth. That’s why I say the disk will contain a total of 31 audio files instead of just 14.

There is a reason behind the track names that I have laid out. They work as internal variables so that you know which sound file for an audio channel to play.

If a user clicks on track 1, it plays 1T.ogg
If a user clicks on track 2, it plays 2T.ogg
If a user clicks on track 3, it plays 4T.ogg

If a user clicks on track 1 and on track 2, it plays 3T.ogg (1T+2T=3T)
If a user clicks on track 1 and on track 3, it plays 5T.ogg (1T+4T=5T)
If a user clicks on track 2 and on track 3, it plays 6T.ogg (2T+4T=6T)
If a user clicks on track 1 and on track 2 and on track 3, it plays 7T.ogg (1T+2T+4T=7T)

I hope that my explanation is clear enough to follow. Good luck!

Oops! After posting my solution, I reread your question and noticed that you wanted to be able to adjust the volumes of each of the 14 tracks independently, my solution doesn’t really offer that. Sorry, it was close, and it provided me with a fun little puzzle to get my mind working today. I just wish that my solution would have been all that you wanted. My brain is tapped out, looks like Flash might be the only solution. It sounds like a fun project, I’d like to see it when you are done. Good luck!

[Corey]

Flash also gives you access to panning, fades, etc.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[Michael]

Great responses and I appreciate your time. I'm somewhat of a novice at Flash, but I'm going to give it some time now that our Spring Break is about to occur....Yea!...to play with the controls for audio files.

And Jim, I really like the artful combining of the tracks into new tracks. That does cover the main struggle I was having and I plan to build a prototype using your suggestion.

It's simply amazing what this software and the imagination of creative folk can do.

Thanks much!!
M.

[JimS]

Yea, I never doubted that Flash was the best way to go, I just wanted to take the challenge to see if I could come up with a way to do it in pure AMS. AMS is such a strong platform that most things can be accomplished with a little forethought. I was wrong about this one, unless I’m missing something, and someone with a sharper mind can figure it out. I’m just starting my day, so for me it provided a little mental calisthenics to get my brain up and running for the day. I won’t be too surprised if some sharp 14 year old, or someone with a brain like Worm’s, can figure out a pure AMS solution, but I know when I’m beat, and this puzzle is too hard for me. Oh well, it was worth a try.

[Corey]

Yes Jim is indeed a very creative problem solver, definitely an artist in his own right.

Corey Milner
Creative Director, Indigo Rose Software

[JimS]

Thanks Corey, but I’m probably more of an art lover than a bonified artist, even figuratively speaking. Of course, that’s never stopped me from giving it a go. Sometimes I get lucky and my twisted little brain provides an insight that is overlooked by others.

I do appreciate your use of the word ‘creative’ rather than ‘odd and freakish’, the synonyms that are most commonly used to describe my mental perspective. Yet, even that beats being called ‘normal’ or ‘common’.