Killer Game Programming in Java

Chapter 7. Introducing Java Sound

This chapter talks about three different approaches to sound in Java: the basic Applet play() method, the more sophisticated AudioClip class, and the Java Sound API, which supports the recording, playback, and synthesis of sampled audio and Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) sequences.

Due to its great flexibility (and complexity), most of this chapter and the next three focus on the Java Sound API. Its overview in this chapter is illustrated with small examples showing the playback of clips, streamed audio, and MIDI sequences. I'll compare the Sound API with the Java Media Framework (JMF) and Java OpenAL (JOAL), a Java binding to OpenGL's audio API.

Tip

One large topic missing from my coverage is audio capture, which seems less important for games. Good web resources on this topic (and others related to the Java Sound API) are listed at the end of this chapter.

Chapter 8 considers a single large application, LoadersTests, which demonstrates my Java Sound API-based ClipsLoader and MidisLoader classes for loading, playing, pausing, resuming, stopping, and looping clips and sequences. These loader classes will be used in later chapters when audio is required.

Chapters 9 and 10 examine less commonly needed Sound API capabilities for producing audio effects (e.g., echoes, dynamic volume changes) and runtime audio synthesis/generation.

Applet Playing

The Applet play() method loads a sound (perhaps from across the network) and plays it once. play() ...