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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"
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<TITLE>MPEG 4 Structured Audio -- Developer Tools</TITLE>
<META name="keywords" content="John Lazzaro, John Lazaro, Jon Lazzaro,
Jon Lazaro, John Lazarro, Jon Lazarro, John Lazzarro, Jon Lazzarro,
John Lazzarow, John Wawrzynek, MPEG, MPEG 4, MPEG-4, MP4, MPEG-4
Structured Audio, MP4, SA, MP4-SA, MP4/SA, computational audio,
structured audio, MIDI files, audio compression, music synthesis,
computer music, DSP, digital signal processing, audio scripting, audio
signal processing, sound signal processing, digital audio workstation,
digital audio, physical models, WAV, AIFF, audio signal processing,
digital signal processing, reverb, chorus, flange, sampling, hip-hop,
tracker, mod tracker, content creation">
<META name="description" content="MPEG-4 Structured Audio tools and
documentation for content creators and application developers, featuring
the Sfront MP4-to-C translator. Tools for audio scripting, audio signal
processing, digital signal processing, DSP, DSP education.">
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<FONT FACE="Verdana, Lucida Sans, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva,
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<H1>MPEG-4 Structured Audio: Developer Tools</H1>
<H3>By <A HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro/index.html">
John Lazzaro</A> and <A HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~johnw">
John Wawrzynek</A>, <A HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/">
CS Division</A>, <A HREF="http://www.berkeley.edu/">UC Berkeley.</A></H3>
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<TD WIDTH="45%" VALIGN=top BGCOLOR="#FFCCCC">
<H2><TT>sfront</TT></H2>
<P>
<B>sfront</B> is a translator that converts MP4-SA files into
efficient C programs that generate audio.
<P>
The sfront <A HREF="sfman/index.html">reference manual</A> describes
how to <A HREF="sfman/user/install/index.html">install</A> the
program, and how to use it for <A
HREF="sfman/user/use/index.html">rendering</A>, <A
HREF="sfman/user/rtime/index.html">interactive</A>, and
<A HREF="sfman/user/rtime/index.html#plug-in">plug-in</A>
<!--
and <A HREF="sfman/user/network/index.html">network</A>
-->
applications. It also shows how to add <A
HREF="sfman/devel/cdriver/intro/index.html">control</A> and <A
HREF="sfman/devel/adriver/index.html">audio</A> drivers to sfront.
<P>
Sfront is freely redistributable under the terms of the <A
HREF="copyright/bsd.html">BSD license</A> (without advertising
clause). The sfront reference manual is freely redistributable under
the terms of the <A HREF="copyright/gfdl.html">GNU Free Documentation
License</A>.
<P>
The webpage you are reading resides on your local hard disk, along
with the sfront reference manual. <A
HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro/sa">Visit</A> our website
for the latest Structured Audio news, and to
<A
HREF="sfman/user/install/index.html#download">download</A> the latest
sfront version.
<H2>The MP4-SA Book</H2>
<P>
We wrote an <A HREF="book/index.html">book</A> to show how to create
audio content for MPEG 4 Structured Audio. It resides on your
hard disk, and is freely redistributable under the terms of the <A
HREF="copyright/gfdl.html">GNU Free Documentation
License</A>.
<P>
The book includes a <A HREF="book/tut/index.html">tutorial
introduction</A> and sections on the <A
HREF="book/saol/index.html">SAOL language</A>, SASL and MIDI <A
HREF="book/control/index.html">instrument control</A>, and <A
HREF="book/opcodes/index.html">advanced opcodes</A>.
<P>
Book <A HREF="book/append/index.html">appendices</A> list the core
opcodes (<A HREF="book/append/corea/index.html">alphabetically</A> and
by <A HREF="book/append/coref/index.html">functional type</A>), <A
HREF="book/append/stnames/index.html">standard names</A>, <A
HREF="book/append/wave/index.html">wavetable generators</A>, <A
HREF="book/append/lang/index.html">language elements</A> and <A
HREF="book/append/rules/index.html">language semantic rules</A>.
<H2>Additional Resources</H2>
<P>
<A HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro/sa/video/index.html">View</A>
our multimedia presentation on Structured Audio, <A
HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro/sa/pubs/index.html">read</A>
our papers on the topic, and see related work on <A
HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro/nmp/"> Network Musical
Performance</A>.
</TD>
<TD WIDTH="45%" VALIGN=top BGCOLOR="#CCFFCC">
<H2>What is MPEG-4 Structured Audio?</H2>
<P>
MPEG-4 Structured Audio (MP4-SA) is an ISO/IEC standard (edited by
Eric Scheirer) that specifies sound not as sampled data, but as a
computer program that generates audio when run. Computer scientists
call this approach Kolmogorov encoding.
<P>
MP4-SA combines a powerful language for computing audio (SAOL,
pronounced "sail") and a musical score language (SASL, pronounced
"sassil") with legacy support for the MIDI format. MP4-SA also defines
an efficient encoding of these elements into a binary file
format (MP4-SA) suitable for transmission and storage.
<P>
MP4-SA is different from standards like the MIDI File Format, because it
includes not only the notes to play, but the method for turning
notes into sound. As a result, MP4-SA is normative -- an MP4-SA file
will sound identical when converted by any compliant decoder.
<P>
If the instrument models use algorithmic synthesis instead of
wavetables, an MP4-SA file can describe realistic musical performances
without using any audio data -- just score data, mixdown cues, and DSP
algorithms. In this case, the MP4-SA file is about the same size as a
MIDI File, but is a lossless encoding of the audio heard at
mixdown. Just like a WAV file -- but 50 to 1000 times smaller!
<H2>An Example</H2>
<P>
This <A HREF="book/simple/index.html">example</A> shows how to create
audio content in MPEG-4 Structured Audio. It shows a SAOL and a SASL
program that generates a tone burst sound. Audio output for the
example was created using sfront, a translator that converts MP4-SA
files into efficient C programs that generate audio.
</TD>
<TD WIDTH="10%" VALIGN=top BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC">
<P>
<H2><center>Links</center></H2>
<center><A HREF="book/simple/index.html">Introductory Example</A></center><br>
<H3><center>*</center></H3>
<P>
<center><A HREF="sfman/index.html">sfront Reference Manual</A></center><br>
<P>
<H3><center>*</center></H3>
<P>
<H4><center><A HREF="book/index.html">The MP4-SA Book</A></center></H4>
<center><A HREF="book/tut/index.html">Tutorial Introduction</A></center><br>
<center><A HREF="book/saol/index.html">The SAOL Language</A></center><br>
<center><A HREF="book/control/index.html">SASL and MIDI</A></center><br>
<center><A HREF="book/opcodes/index.html">Advanced Opcodes</A></center><br>
<center><A HREF="book/special/index.html">Special Topics</A></center><br>
<center><A HREF="book/append/index.html">Appendices</A></center><br>
<P>
<H3><center>*</center></H3>
<P>
<center><A HREF="http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lazzaro/sa/sfman/user/install/index.html#download">Download
most recent sfront</center></A>
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<A HREF="copyright/index.html">Copyright 2000 John Lazzaro and John
Wawrzynek.</A>
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