................................. To leave Commie, hyper to http://commie.oy.com/commie_leaving.html ................................. >Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 20:58:28 -0700 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: Brett Stewart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: SWA Xtra (WAS: Save as MP3???) > > >Hey All, > >In reference to the SWA discussion, a bit of history..... > >I was the original lead QA Engineer on the Macromedia Sound Team >when Shockwave Audio was developed. > >The whole idea for Shockwave Audio came from Mats, a true genius >when it comes to DSP. He brought the idea to management and convinced >them to licence the Fraunhofer codec in such a way that he was allowed >to improve the perceptual encoding algorythms to make it work even >better. > >I still think it sounds better than the rest of the MP3 codecs, over all. > >When we first started work on this, we were still finishing up DECK II >v2.5 and testing the Korg 1212 card, which was also a brainchild of Mats >and his partners in crime at OSC. The Korg 1212 I/0 was suppposed to >be the I/O solution primarily for DECK II at the time, as the OSC guys >were dedicated from th begining to providing an affordable alternative >to th Pro Tools hegemony. The OSC guys had designed the original >Pro Tools app and were subsequently ... err... in conflict with Digi.... >but that's a whole other story.... > >We spent a LOT of time listening and tweaking the codec. Almost everybody >on the team at Macromedia was an experienced musician. I must have made >10,000 MP3 files during that period, using SoundEdit 16's batch converter >and some proprietary applets written by Mats. > >Unfortunately, the press and general community seem to have forgotten >that Shockwave Audio was the FIRST commercially released MP3 tool for >the consumer and web designer. I will never forget the first time, >back in 1996, that I streamed some audio from the Macromedia servers >to my Mac at home. WOOF - a new era dawns! At the time, Macromedia >wouldn't even let us tell anyone that Shockwave audio was MP3. Imagine >MP3 as a trade secret these days! Well, this is one reason the press >ignores Shockwave Audio when reviewing the history of streamed audio >on the web. > >BTW, I was the guy who put together the Macromedia SWA Export Xtra >package on their site. This was something I did after hours on my >own time because the management couldn't see why it made sense. >They simply had no idea what they had! The more recent package was >updated by Macromedia's Buzz Kettles, the current and past sound >guru on the Director team. > >At any rate, a bit of history for you. > >All the best, > >Brett Stewart >Rocket Network Beta Coordinator -- ---> jab | commie commie radio: listen at http://166.90.148.110:6136, set up at http://commie.oy.com/radio.html
