A Programmer's Guide to Sound: Amazon.co.uk: Tim Kientzle: Books

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"I just wish this book had been available years ago." -Bobby Prince, composer and sound designer for computer games including Doom and Duke Nukem 3D "This is the kind of book that will stand as one of the defining works in the specialization of audio programming." -Gene Turnbow, senior programmer and game designer for Sound Source Interactive, Inc. "I'm amazed at the breadth and depth of Tim's coverage." -George Wright Information Systems, Loyola College, Maryland

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Author appearance "I just wish this book had been available years ago." -Bobby Prince, composer and sound designer for computer games including Doom and Duke Nukem 3D "This is the kind of book that will stand as one of the defining works in the specialization of audio programming." -Gene Turnbow, senior programmer and game designer for Sound Source Interactive, Inc. "I'm amazed at the breadth and depth of Tim's coverage." -George Wright Information Systems, Loyola College, Maryland A Programmer's Guide To Sound provides detailed technical information about audio storage, processing, and compression, and includes tested C++ source code. Developers who want to add sound technology to their applications will find all the details they need to: *access low-level sound services on Win32, Mac OS, and UNIX *decompress MPEG, IMA ADPCM, and A A -Law data *read from WAVE, VOC, AIFF, and AU file formats *play MIDI and MOD music files. This book also includes accessible introductions to related topics, such as instrument synthesis, musical tuning, human sound perception, digital filtering, and Fourier Transforms.Developers will especially appreciate the emphasis placed on practical details. For every topic, the author provides complete source code to demonstrate the principles involved. The source code from the book compiles into a sample program that reads and plays a wide variety of different sound files on Win32, Mac OS, and UNIX. The CD-ROM includes all 40,000 lines of source code from the book, in addition to project files for popular compilers, sample sound files, and contributed software and related information. Whether you are an audio professional who wants to learn more about programming or a computer programmer who wants to know more about implementing audio, this comprehensive resource will be an invaluable reference for years to come. 0201419726B04062001

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Not of much use 19 Aug 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book is a reasonable reference for audio file formats. I would not recommend it for much more than that. There's also a feel to the text that implies it was written to supliment the sample code rather than the code suplimenting the text.

I much prefer the Sine Wave code from Charles Petzold's 5th edition of "Programming Windows" to the code found here. There is much more clarity in the Petzold code (a simple function that can be compiled in C or C++) than the Kientzle code (too much emphasis in doing everything with classes).

I would not recommend this to someone wanting to learn how to do more than write a file player.

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Disappointed that recording is not covered! 29 Jun 1999

I am SO disappointed in this book! I am a programmer who wants to record .wav files, and from the title you would think this would get at least cursory coverage! But be warned, this book has NOTHING, absolutely zero, about recording!

I am keeping the book because of its information on Fourier Transforms, but am back to square one in search of a true programmer's reference book on sound!!

Amazon, warn your potential buyers, please!

Not a bad beginners book but..... 13 Feb 1999

...beware of bugs in the code. This is a good book for an intro to digital sound and sound file formats but the code (at least the stuff involving the windows multimedia API) is rather buggy. Hopefully the 2nd edition will be better.

Great C++ resource. Not a good academic resource.

The CD included with this book will get you started programming *fast*. But be forewarned, the style of C++ used is written using the latest standard which includes namespaces and... Read more

Published on 26 Nov 1998

Good sound format information and overview,

I used this book as the basis for a real time speech program and I found that although the book gave a good overview of the way that Win95 uses sound playback, the code was too... Read more

Published on 22 Oct 1998

This book is an excellent reference for sound formats

I have spent a lot of time trying to find information on many of the topics covered and to find 1 resource that has all information and is well tested is a gold mine. Read more

Published on 12 Oct 1998

An introduction with a good c++ framework

WHAT THIS BOOK DOES WELL:

* Explains audio signals, frequency, pitch, and Fourier transforms at a level suitable for anyone who understands trig, and in a highly readable way

*... Read more

Published on 7 Aug 1998

Excellent audio intro

Covers basics of the generation and perception of sound, then shifts into discussion of the various formats in common use by software engineers and hackers. Read more

Published on 18 Jun 1998

Good on theory, lousy on practice

IMHO the only useful stuff in this book are the various file descriptions for different audio formats (which can, of course, be downloaded from various ftp sites all over the net). Read more

Published on 18 May 1998

A Programmer's Guide to Sound [Paperback]

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