Can Flash play back synced audio clips?

December 21, 2006 1:46 PM

Can Flash/ActionScript play multiple audio clips simultaneously, while maintaining sync, over a timespan of, say, 4-7 minutes? Preferably while presenting only one set of playback controls (stop, play, pause, and maybe positioning) to the user?

In a previous AskMe, what it turned out I was looking for was a way to use Flash to package up multiple audio clips (and maybe some MIDI) into a single SWF file which people could play online or download.

Weston pointed out MediaRain, which the LDS Church uses for their online hymnal, but the fact that they target music publishers, combined with the fact that they don't quote pricing, suggests that my fledgling chorus can't afford them.

My artistic director would rather we do something of our own, anyway...

From searching after posting the original question, I know we have some people around here who sound like they have some Flash creation experience (paging Grumblebee :-); anyone ever done this?

Secondarily, *can* I bundle all the media files inside the SWF? The portability aspect is just as important as the sync issues, for my target audience.

posted by baylink to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Yes, put each one in a separate layer, with the sound sync set to "stream". Use one set of playback controls for the whole timeline, voila.
posted by signal at 1:53 PM on December 21, 2006

Yes, you can bundle all the media files inside the SWF, this is the default, actually.
posted by signal at 1:53 PM on December 21, 2006

Outstanding. Thanks.

Self-hijack: given that, is there anyway to build a packager of some kind such that someone without an installed ActionScript IDE could take the Mostly Complete SWF and add in audio clips (1.mp3, 2.mp, 3.mp3, etc) and create the SWF?

Or is that going to require having Flash MX installed?
posted by baylink at 1:59 PM on December 21, 2006

Hmm, you could write a script that allows people to select files, and the load these files into the movie, but I don't think you'd be able to export this as a complete package. It would only work for the specific person using it that specific time.
posted by signal at 2:05 PM on December 21, 2006