Java Notes

Audio

Warning: I don't work with audio, so this is mostly a summary of where I would start looking when (if) I ever get around to working with sound.

Java supports the both PCM sampled sound (eg, WAV, AIFF, AU, ..., but not MP3) and synthesized sound (eg, MIDI). My impression is that Java's support for sound is not a simple story, but there are continual improvements, including additions in Java 5. I've see the following libraries recommended

• Java Sound API
• Java Media Framework (JMF)
• Java OpenAL (JOAL) for "3D" spacialised sound.

Where to learn about Java audio

• One source of information is the "sound" section of the Java Tutorial. It is written assuming you have some knowledge about this area.
• Killer Game Programming in Java by Andrew Davison (O'Reilly, 2005) has a good section on sound.
• Java Sound, An Introduction by James Baldwin is OK, but it's a little old (2003).
• Audio file format at Wikipedia is a good place to start to find more about audio formats.
• Java Sound Resources: Links at jsresources (Java Sound Resources) has a lot of interesting links and sample source code, altho it hasn't been updated since 2004.