The Alternative Csound Reference Manual
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# soundin

soundin -- Reads audio data from an external device or stream.

## Description

Reads audio data from an external device or stream.

## Syntax

ar1 soundin ifilcod [, iskptim] [, iformat]

ar1, ar2 soundin ifilcod [, iskptim] [, iformat]

ar1, ar2, ar3 soundin ifilcod [, iskptim] [, iformat]

ar1, ar2, ar3, ar4 soundin ifilcod [, iskptim] [, iformat]

## Initialization

ifilcod -- integer or character-string denoting the source soundfile name. An integer denotes the file soundin.filcod ; a character-string (in double quotes, spaces permitted) gives the filename itself, optionally a full pathname. If not a full path, the named file is sought first in the current directory, then in that given by the environment variable SSDIR (if defined) then by SFDIR. See also GEN01.

iskptim (optional, default=0) -- time in seconds of input sound to be skipped. The default value is 0.

iformat (optional, default=0) -- specifies the audio data file format:

- 1 = 8-bit signed char (high-order 8 bits of a 16-bit integer)

- 2 = 8-bit A-law bytes

- 3 = 8-bit U-law bytes

- 4 = 16-bit short integers

- 5 = 32-bit long integers

- 6 = 32-bit floats

If iformat = 0 it is taken from the soundfile header, and if no header from the Csound -o command-line flag. The default value is 0.

## Performance

soundin is functionally an audio generator that derives its signal from a pre-existing file. The number of channels read in is controlled by the number of result cells, a1, a2, etc., which must match that of the input file. A soundin opcode opens this file whenever the host instrument is initialized, then closes it again each time the instrument is turned off.

There can be any number of soundin opcodes within a single instrument or orchestra. Two or more of them can read simultaneously from the same external file.

| Note to Windows users

Windows users typically use back-slashes, "\", when specifying the paths of their files. As an example, a Windows user might use the path "c:\music\samples\loop001.wav". This is problematic because back-slashes are normally used to specify special characters.

To correctly specify this path in Csound, one may alternately:

- Use forward slashes: c:/music/samples/loop001.wav

- Use back-slash special characters, "\\": c:\\music\\samples\\loop001.wav

## Examples

Here is an example of the soundin opcode. It uses the files soundin.orc, soundin.sco, beats.wav.

Example 1. Example of the soundin opcode.

    /* soundin.orc */
    ; Initialize the global variables.
    sr = 44100
    kr = 44100
    ksmps = 1
    nchnls = 1

    ; Instrument #1 - play an audio file.
    instr 1
      asig soundin "beats.wav"
      out asig
    endin
    /* soundin.orc */

    /* soundin.sco */
    ; Play Instrument #1, the audio file, for three seconds.
    i 1 0 3
    e
    /* soundin.sco */

## See Also

diskin, in, inh, ino, inq, ins

## Credits

Authors: Barry L. Vercoe, Matt Ingalls/Mike Berry
MIT, Mills College
1993-1997

Example written by Kevin Conder.

Warning to Windows users added by Kevin Conder, April 2002

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