sound files cutting off

[bpeskin]

we're having a recurring but hard to pinpoint when and why --

embedded imported audio recordings will work fine repeatedly, but at some pont you'll go to play and unfortunately the audio wlil cut off after about 3 seconds. Once it gets cutoff we can't get the full audio to play again.

[tomerf]

I have also had this happen occaisionally with "longer" sounds played through the count down clock. I just tested it now, though, and it worked fine. At one point I thought it might have somthing to do with the file type (wav, mp3, aiff) but tech support assured me that, because AS uses the computer's sound player, anything that can be played on the computer should be playable through AS. It's been a little while since that call, but I'm pretty sure that's what he said.

Tom

[jepatton]

This has happened to me too, but not consistently, even with the same file. Sometimes restarting the computer will fix the problem.

[cvj]

This happens to me often. I have a computer technician right now examining my sound files to see if it could possibly have anything to do with if/how they are compacted/extracted. I have sound files in charts that will work for a while, then not work for a while, then will work again. Very frustrating.

[ictfacilitator]

Have you tried going to preferences... linked file hosting and untick the sound boxes to allow the macosX sound system to take over direct control. This may help.

[cvj]

I have unchecked the sound box in linked file hosting which can get the whole sound file to play. So far, however, I either get the file playing in Quicktime which mean the little Quicktime play bar comes up and I have to click on the playbar to get the sound to play. Also the playbar has the name of the file at the top, and I don't always want my students to see the name of the file as they are trying to listen and identify a sound. I have also had the sound linked to iTunes, and then the whole iTunes window comes up. I'd like to just click on an object and have a sound play. Any ideas?

[saha]

The issue here is "memory".
This happens on the PC platform too.
The sound player inside ActivStudio was designed to play short bursts of sounds and not extended play of audio.
Hence the chopping off and erratic behaviour.
The only resolution is to play longer sound files with other apps dedicated for this.

[ictfacilitator]

Go to Quicktime preferences and tick the box "automatically play". Apple (Command)+H hides the windows instantly or Command+F plays it full screen instantly with no title bar, remember to use spacebar to pause and play as needed. Will see about turning off the title bar for you.

[ictfacilitator]

Also you can open the file in quicktime and go to the window menu and ask for movie properties... here you can tick two boxes... play automatically (this means you do not have to have all movies doing this via the Quicktimes preferences as above) AND play full screen - which will not show the controllers but still allow you to pause and play via shortcut keys. Note that I find I jump between these two settings depending on what needs to be done.. i.e. the Promethean sound controller handles multiple short sounds on one page better ..... hope this helps.

[bpeskin]

If the problem is the length of the audio which sounds right -- (I've had 60 second audio clips cutoff after 3 seconds and could be saved as .wav or .mov and could have worked many times then not work unless I rembed.) does setting Quicktime automatic play help?

I do have sound unchecked in Linked File Hosting Preference and Quicktime is handling my audio but the problem still happens.

I am able with iMovie to make an audio a true video by putting even one image on the video track along with the audio track, exporting to .mov, then making the video invisible which results in only the sound controller showing -- is this a solution because video is allocated more memory?

Thanks.

[cvj]

I'm trying all these suggestions...thanks so much for them!

I find it interesting, though, that the sound clip I really want to play all the way through is only 5 seconds (it's thunder on a decibel scale) long...and sometimes it will play all the way through and sometimes it won't. I keep thinking that it must be something I am doing that causes it to work, then not work, then work again...

Again, thanks for sticking with me on this.

~Carrie