sfplay(1)                                                            sfplay(1)


NAME
     sfplay - play soundfile


SYNOPSIS
     sfplay [ options ... ] soundfiles ...

     where options are:
        -printinfo
        -reporterror
        -inputraw [ input keywords ... ] end
        -nice
        -device <device>
        -transpose <rate>
        -gain <gain>


DESCRIPTION
     sfplay plays the given soundfile(s).  It will play files in many formats
     not supported by the audio hardware, by automatically converting the data
     as it is played.

     If invoked with no arguments, sfplay will display help.

     By default, sfplay ignores any file specified that is not a valid
     soundfile, reporting no error.  The -reporterror (-r) option tells sfplay
     to report an error in this case.

     It is often useful to see information about soundfiles as they are
     played.  The -printinfo option prints this information in "sfinfo -s"-
     format.

     By default, sfplay will set the hardware sampling rate to the rate of the
     file(s) being played.  If the specified audio hardware is being used
     (that is, another application has an output port open, or monitoring is
     enabled) at the time a given file is played, sfplay will rate-convert the
     sound to match the current output port setting.

     Since rate-conversion will consume processor cycles, the -nice option can
     be specified so that sfplay will not change the hardware sampling rate or
     rate-convert.  This will result in the file sounding incorrect, but the
     application using the audio device previously will not be disturbed, and
     rate-conversion overhead will be spared.  The -rude option can also be
     specified, in which case sfplay will force the current audio hardware
     sampling rate to the rate of the file(s) being played.  In this case, the
     application using the audio device previously will be disturbed by the
     rate change.  Finally, the -match option can be specified, which will
     always rate-convert the sound to the current audio hardware sampling
     rate, regardless of whether the audio hardware is being used by another
     application.


     sfplay will also rate-convert the sound to match the current output port
     setting when the audio device specified does not support the native
     sampling rate of the file(s) being played.  The -nice option can be used
     to override the default in this case as well.

     This program will play audio files in any recognized audio format (i.e.,
     any sample width, byte order, sample type, channel count) including all
     supported compression types.  It will play sounds with any number of
     channels (mixing them down as is appropriate), will play at any of the
     standard sampling rates appearing on the Audio Control Panel, and will
     convert any other rates to match.  As a special case it will play codec-
     rate (8012.8210513 Hz) files at 8000.00 Hz, and issue a warning to this
     effect.  The -transpose option tells sfplay to play a soundfile at an
     alternate sampling rate, as set by <rate>.  The -gain option tells sfplay
     to apply anywhere from 30dB of attenuation (-30dB) to 6dB of gain (+6dB)
     to the audio output.  The gain value should be specified in a floating
     point format (-30.0 to 6.0).


RAW DATA
     sfplay can also play soundfiles which contain raw (headerless) data.  In
     this case the data format must be specified, using the appropriate
     keywords with the -inputraw (-i) option.

     For example, many Macintosh and PC soundfiles are actually raw data files
     containing 8-bit unsigned mono or interleaved stereo samples.  For these
     files, the sampling rate is generally 8 kHz or 22.05 kHz.  So this
     statement,

        sfplay -i integer 8 unsigned chan 2 rate 8000 end raw.mac
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

     will play such a raw data file at 8 kHz.

     The keywords are underlined.  Don't forget the 'end' !  It tells sfplay
     when the keywords end and the other options and filenames begin.

     See sfkeywords(1) for a complete description of the keywords used to
     describe soundfile formats.

     It is also possible, and perhaps preferable, to first convert the raw
     data to a soundfile such as an aiff file with sfconvert(1), and then
     simply say "sfplay file.aif" .


HARDWARE
     sfplay works only on systems  with  Iris Audio Processor.


BUGS
     sfplay will not play 4-channel files.  It currently assumes the hardware
     can only play mono and stereo files.  This will be amended in a future
     release.  You can use playaifc to play 4-channel AIFF/AIFF-C files.


AUTHOR
     Silicon Graphics Inc.; Apple Computer, Inc. for AIFF code.


SEE ALSO
     intro(3a) for more about the  audio  library.  sfinfo(1), sfconvert(1),
     sfkeywords(1), dmconvert(1).


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