First AudioTool live recorded, Vorbis encoded session

July 23rd, 2008

We were not sure if this ever gonna work. In about 4 days we ported more than 30.000 lines code of a Java Vorbis Encoder to AS3. We came across several issues when AS3 code is behaving completely different from Java code. Debugging code, you cannot understand is a pain in the ass! However, we optimized the horrible Java code quite a bit. The encoding takes now twice the time of the audio duration and it doesn't take that much memory as before.

Why Audio Encoding?
We would like give the Hobnox AudioTool users the option to stream a live-session to their Hobnox Library. Unfortunately the Flashplayer doesn't allow streaming data to the hard-drive and we didn't wanted to fill the memory with uncompressed audio material (~10mb/min). We manage streaming by using (a lot of) SharedObjects, slicing the audio data into several packages, which are later transferred to the encoder for uploading.

Why Vorbis?
Vorbis has a better file reduction ratio AND sounds much better than MP3 files. I cannot hear any difference against the uncompressed audio data at Vorbis rate of 128kb/sec. Filesize was the reason in the first place, cause we cannot upload uncompressed audio data. It would take too long. Naturally in the end the server converts the audio file to MP3 that the Flashplayer is able to play it. I would love to see the Flashplayer playing back Vorbis in future releases. It sounds better and it is also able to loop. You know that MP3 is not loopable trouble-free.

Entirely in Flash (No Java anymore):
I admit: My session is actually boring. I quickly setup some beats and just one 303 without any effects to test the Streaming and Encoding. Download the OGG-file here. The next update is scheduled for September, 1st. This may shift as we need to wait for FlashPlayer 10. The current version of the AudioTool works with a Java applet to stream the AS3 generated audio to the sound card. We are looking forward to get rid of it.

Share:
I pretty sure we will share the encoder in time. It still needs some tweaking and optimizations.

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15 Responses to “First AudioTool live recorded, Vorbis encoded session”

  1. Steven Kruyswijk Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    Pretty cool! Pretty many cool! :-)

  2. Benjamin Dobler Says:
    July 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 pm

    sounds amazing! If you get bored how about an flv encoder ;-)

  3. James Lewin Says:
    July 24th, 2008 at 8:34 am

    Thanks for sharing – this is very cool. I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops!

    FYI – I posted a note about this at Synthtopia

  4. Mem's Says:
    July 24th, 2008 at 11:29 am

    Using OGG is a great idea. But with flash, the only OGG decoder i found is not open source:
    http://flash.j-ogg.de/test_app.swf

  5. ActionScript 3 Vorbis Encoder at blog.je2050.de - Blog of Joa Ebert Says:
    July 24th, 2008 at 12:20 pm

    [...] André already mentioned we have finally got an Ogg Vorbis Encoder in ActionScript 3. André wrote a lot about the benefits [...]

  6. Adriaan Says:
    July 24th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

    I can’t imagine that you can get enough of hearing this, so here it is: damn it dude, making this possible is so valuable to future flash-based projects. You rock!

  7. Nicolas Says:
    July 26th, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    THAT is geek work ! Congratulation, I love it :)

  8. Willem Says:
    July 29th, 2008 at 2:23 am

    really superb, guys!

  9. Andre Michelle » Blog Archive » AudioTool Win Flashforward Award 2008 Says:
    August 28th, 2008 at 4:47 pm

    [...] AudioTool win the Flashforward Award in the Sound category. Meanwhile we are quite busy on our next update. Stay [...]

  10. Jonas Nyström Says:
    October 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am

    Things are moving on the Ogg Vorbis decoder area: http://barelyfocused.net/blog/2008/10/03/flash-vorbis-player/#comment-23629

    The possibility to load ogg from the server, and decode it into popforge sample data, would be a dream come true!

    Jonas

  11. Jonas Nyström Says:
    October 20th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

    Hi!

    I found Tor-Einar Jarnbjos Ogg Vorbis decoding solution at the Vorbis-
    dev group:
    http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/vorbis-dev/2008-October/019587.html

    It relies on the PCMAudioLibrary created by Spender:
    http://svn1.cvsdude.com/osflash/drummachine/PCMAudioLibrary/

    Any braveheart out there who could try to combine this solution with popforge, making it possible to load ogg
    and decode instead of wav files?

    Jonas

  12. Websites tagged "vorbis" on Postsaver Says:
    April 15th, 2009 at 12:02 pm

    [...] – BonkEnc – Free cd ripper and audio MP3 encoder saved by KiwieQ2009-04-09 – First AudioTool live recorded, Vorbis encoded session saved by cjcdoomed2009-03-30 – Sansa Clip: mobile Ogg Vorbis goodness saved by mixedman2009-03-14 – [...]

  13. David Says:
    April 22nd, 2009 at 6:14 am

    Great work!!

    Any chance we can use this famous Ogg Encoder yet??

    Do you have any plans on when you would want to share the code, or sell it?

  14. Recent Faves Tagged With "audiotool" : MyNetFaves Says:
    May 10th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    [...] public links >> audiotool First AudioTool live recorded, Vorbis encoded session First saved by SWorthan | 8 days ago Hobnox Audio Tool First saved by esparta | 22 days ago [...]

  15. Ole Jak Says:
    November 12th, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    So sorry, but would you mind sharing source? Please at least in private?

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