JavaJava Sound, An Introduction

Java Sound, An Introduction

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Java Sound, An Introduction

Baldwin presents the first lesson in a new miniseries that will teach you how
to use the Java Sound API.

Published:  January 7, 2003
By Richard G. Baldwin

Java Programming Notes # 2004


Preface

What is sound?

From a human perspective, sound is the sensation that we experience when
pressure waves impinge upon the small parts contained within our ears. 
Normally, this is the result of pressure waves being transmitted in air. 
However, sound pressure waves are not limited to air.  For example, if you
are an underwater swimmer, sound pressure waves may reach your ear by way of
water.

From the perspective of the Java Sound API, the word Sound takes on a somewhat
different meaning.  However, it is probably fair to say that the ultimate purpose of
the Sound API is to assist you in writing programs that will cause sound pressure
waves impinge upon the ears of targeted individuals
at specific times.

What does Sun have to say about
the API?

Here is what Sun has to say about the Java Sound API:

"The Java Sound API is a low-level API for effecting and controlling input
and output of audio media. It provides explicit control over the capabilities
commonly required for audio input and output in a framework that promotes
extensibility and flexibility."

Sun also tells us:

"Java Sound provides the lowest level of audio support on the Java
platform. It provides a high degree of control over audio-specific
functionality. … It does not include sophisticated sound editors and GUI
tools; rather, it provides a set of capabilities upon which such applications
can be built. It emphasizes low-level control beyond that commonly expected by
the end user, who benefits from higher-level interfaces built on top of Java
Sound."

Thus, your mission as a Java programmer is to use the Sound API to produce

higher-level user interfaces built on top of Java Sound.

Not a trivial API

There are a number of
fairly complex issues involved in the use of the Sound API.  This tutorial
lesson will provide a very brief introduction to some of those issues.  Future lessons will
explore many of them in detail.

Viewing tip

You may find it useful to open another copy of this lesson in a separate
browser window.  That will make it easier for you to scroll back and
forth among the different listings and figures while you are reading about
them.

Supplementary material

I recommend that you also study the other lessons in my extensive collection
of online Java tutorials.  You will find those lessons published at
Gamelan.com
However, as of the date of this writing, Gamelan doesn’t maintain a consolidated
index of my Java tutorial lessons, and sometimes they are difficult to
locate there.  You will find a consolidated index at
www.DickBaldwin.com.

Preview

This lesson provides a description of sound from both a physical and a
programming viewpoint.

The lesson introduces the Java Sound API, which
provides a high degree of control over audio-specific functionality in Java
programs.

It identifies the important packages incorporated in the Sound API
and explains the difference between the sampled packages and the MIDI
packages.

The lesson provides a description of sampled audio, and
explains the typical steps used to capture sampled audio.  It also explains
the typical steps used to render sampled audio.

Finally, the lesson provides a
program that you can use to first capture and then to play back audio sound.

Discussion
and Sample Code

Packages

Two significantly different
types of audio (or sound) data are supported by the API:

  • Sampled audio data
  • Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data

Sampled audio data

Sampled audio data can be thought of as a series of digital values that
represent the amplitude or intensity of sound pressure waves.  This will
be the primary topic of the first several lessons in this miniseries. 
This type of audio data is supported by the following two Java packages:

  • javax.sound.sampled
  • javax.sound.sampled.spi

According to Sun, the first of these two packages "specifies
interfaces for capture, mixing, and playback of digital (sampled) audio." 

I will have more to say about the second (spi) package shortly.

MIDI data

MIDI data can be thought of as sound (usually musical sound or special
sound effects)
created
from a recipe.  This type of audio data is covered by the following two
Java packages:

  • javax.sound.midi
  • javax.sound.midi.spi

According to Sun, the first of these two packages "provides
interfaces for MIDI synthesis, sequencing, and event transport."

What about the spi packages?

According to Sun, each of the spi packages "permits service providers
(as opposed to application developers) to create custom components that
can be installed on the system"

Because the two types of audio data
are so significantly different, I will defer any detailed discussion of
MIDI audio data until later.

What is sampled
data?

I am going to refer you to another publication of mine
entitled Digital
Signal Processing (DSP) in Java, Sampled Time Series
for a discussion
of sampled data in general.  Because DSP techniques are often used in
the processing of sampled audio data, you may also be interested in my
other publications on DSP
as well.

What is sampled audio data?

Sampled audio data is a special case of sampled data in general.  For
sampled audio data, a series of
digital numeric values is used to represent the intensity of a sound
pressure wave.  In other words, a set of numeric values is used to
represent the actual waveform of a sound pressure wave.  Typically,
the sound pressure wave (or an electronic representation thereof)
is sampled at a
uniform series of points in time.

An example

For example, the graph in Figure 1 might represent a set of sampled audio
data values produced by a wide-band noise generator, such as the noise
at an airport.

Figure 1 Sampled audio data

You can think of Figure 1 as the result of connecting a series of dots
with short straight lines.  The vertical position of each dot
relative to the red horizontal axis would represent the intensity of a
sound wave at a particular point in time.  The location of each dot along the horizontal axis would
represent the point in time at which the measurement of intensity was
made.

An audio compact disk (CD)

As another example, the data on an audio CD is sampled audio
data.  As I understand it, an electronic representation of the sound pressure waves produced by the
artist is sampled 44,100 times per second.  Each sample is
represented as a 16-bit signed integer value.

Other sources of sampled audio data

Although sampled audio data most commonly results from actually sampling
sound pressure waves, such data could be synthetically generated by a
computer.

For example, computerized speech synthesizers can be used to produce
sampled audio data.  When that data is converted to sound pressure
waves (rendered), which impinge on a human ear, the human
experiences the sensation of sound representing human speech.

According to Sun:

"The term "sampled audio" refers to the type of data, not its origin.
Sampled audio can be thought of as the sound itself, whereas MIDI data can
be thought of as a recipe for creating musical sound.) "

Capturing sampled audio

Typically sampled audio data is captured in two steps:

  • Use a microphone to convert the sound pressure waves to electrical voltages that
    mimic the waveform of the sound pressure wave.
  • Use an analog-to-digital converter to measure the voltage at specific
    points in time and to convert that measurement to a digital value.

Rendering sampled audio

The rendering of sampled audio data is also typically accomplished
in two steps:

  • Use a digital-to-analog converter to convert a series of digital values
    into an analog voltage whose amplitude waveform reflects the digital values.
  • Apply this voltage to a speaker, a set of headphones, or some other
    similar device that converts the analog voltage to sound pressure waves that mimic the waveform
    of the voltage.

Run the Program

At this point, you may find it useful to compile and run the program in
Listing 1 near the end of the lesson.

(I have provided this sample program with very little in the way of an
explanation as to how the program works.  I wanted to give you some
code to get you started using the API.
  I will explain this
program, or other very similar programs in future lessons.)

Capture and playback audio data

This program demonstrates the ability to capture audio data from a
microphone and to play it back through the speakers on your computer.  The usage
instructions are simple:

  • Start the program running.  A simple GUI will appear on the screen.
  • Click the Capture button and speak into the microphone.
  • Click the Stop button to terminate capturing data.
  • Click the Playback button to play your captured voice back through
    the system speakers.

If you don’t hear anything during playback, you may need to increase your speaker volume.

This program saves the data that it captures in memory, so be careful. 
If you attempt to save too much data, you may run out of memory.

Summary

In this lesson, I provided a description of sound from both a physical
and a programming viewpoint.

I introduced the Java Sound API, which
provides a high degree of control over audio-specific functionality in Java
programs.

I identified the important packages incorporated in the Sound API,
and explained the difference between the sampled packages and the MIDI
packages.

I provided a description of sampled audio, and explained the
typical steps used to capture sampled audio.  I also explained the typical
steps used to render sampled audio into sound pressure waves.

Finally, I
provided a relatively simple program that you can use to first capture and then
to playback audio sound.

What’s Next?

In the next lesson, I will explain the overall architecture of the Sound
API, introducing such terms and concepts as:

  • Lines
  • TargetDataLine
  • SourceDataLine
  • Mixers
  • Ports
  • Audio format
  • File format
  • Audio stream
  • Clip
  • Controls

Complete Program Listing


A complete listing of the program is shown in Listing 1.
 

/*File AudioCapture01.java
This program demonstrates the capture
and subsequent playback of audio data.

A GUI appears on the screen containing
the following buttons:
Capture
Stop
Playback

Input data from a microphone is
captured and saved in a
ByteArrayOutputStream object when the
user clicks the Capture button.

Data capture stops when the user clicks
the Stop button.

Playback begins when the user clicks
the Playback button.

Tested using SDK 1.4.0 under Win2000
**************************************/

import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.io.*;
import javax.sound.sampled.*;

public class AudioCapture01
                        extends JFrame{

  boolean stopCapture = false;
  ByteArrayOutputStream
                 byteArrayOutputStream;
  AudioFormat audioFormat;
  TargetDataLine targetDataLine;
  AudioInputStream audioInputStream;
  SourceDataLine sourceDataLine;

  public static void main(
                        String args[]){
    new AudioCapture01();
  }//end main

  public AudioCapture01(){//constructor
    final JButton captureBtn =
                new JButton("Capture");
    final JButton stopBtn =
                   new JButton("Stop");
    final JButton playBtn =
               new JButton("Playback");

    captureBtn.setEnabled(true);
    stopBtn.setEnabled(false);
    playBtn.setEnabled(false);

    //Register anonymous listeners
    captureBtn.addActionListener(
      new ActionListener(){
        public void actionPerformed(
                        ActionEvent e){
          captureBtn.setEnabled(false);
          stopBtn.setEnabled(true);
          playBtn.setEnabled(false);
          //Capture input data from the
          // microphone until the Stop
          // button is clicked.
          captureAudio();
        }//end actionPerformed
      }//end ActionListener
    );//end addActionListener()
    getContentPane().add(captureBtn);

    stopBtn.addActionListener(
      new ActionListener(){
        public void actionPerformed(
                        ActionEvent e){
          captureBtn.setEnabled(true);
          stopBtn.setEnabled(false);
          playBtn.setEnabled(true);
          //Terminate the capturing of
          // input data from the
          // microphone.
          stopCapture = true;
        }//end actionPerformed
      }//end ActionListener
    );//end addActionListener()
    getContentPane().add(stopBtn);

    playBtn.addActionListener(
      new ActionListener(){
        public void actionPerformed(
                        ActionEvent e){
          //Play back all of the data
          // that was saved during
          // capture.
          playAudio();
        }//end actionPerformed
      }//end ActionListener
    );//end addActionListener()
    getContentPane().add(playBtn);

    getContentPane().setLayout(
                     new FlowLayout());
    setTitle("Capture/Playback Demo");
    setDefaultCloseOperation(
                        EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    setSize(250,70);
    setVisible(true);
  }//end constructor

  //This method captures audio input
  // from a microphone and saves it in
  // a ByteArrayOutputStream object.
  private void captureAudio(){
    try{
      //Get everything set up for
      // capture
      audioFormat = getAudioFormat();
      DataLine.Info dataLineInfo =
                new DataLine.Info(
                  TargetDataLine.class,
                   audioFormat);
      targetDataLine = (TargetDataLine)
                   AudioSystem.getLine(
                         dataLineInfo);
      targetDataLine.open(audioFormat);
      targetDataLine.start();

      //Create a thread to capture the
      // microphone data and start it
      // running.  It will run until
      // the Stop button is clicked.
      Thread captureThread =
                new Thread(
                  new CaptureThread());
      captureThread.start();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println(e);
      System.exit(0);
    }//end catch
  }//end captureAudio method

  //This method plays back the audio
  // data that has been saved in the
  // ByteArrayOutputStream
  private void playAudio() {
    try{
      //Get everything set up for
      // playback.
      //Get the previously-saved data
      // into a byte array object.
      byte audioData[] =
                 byteArrayOutputStream.
                         toByteArray();
      //Get an input stream on the
      // byte array containing the data
      InputStream byteArrayInputStream
            = new ByteArrayInputStream(
                            audioData);
      AudioFormat audioFormat =
                      getAudioFormat();
      audioInputStream =
        new AudioInputStream(
          byteArrayInputStream,
          audioFormat,
          audioData.length/audioFormat.
                       getFrameSize());
      DataLine.Info dataLineInfo =
                new DataLine.Info(
                  SourceDataLine.class,
                          audioFormat);
      sourceDataLine = (SourceDataLine)
                   AudioSystem.getLine(
                         dataLineInfo);
      sourceDataLine.open(audioFormat);
      sourceDataLine.start();

      //Create a thread to play back
      // the data and start it
      // running.  It will run until
      // all the data has been played
      // back.
      Thread playThread =
          new Thread(new PlayThread());
      playThread.start();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println(e);
      System.exit(0);
    }//end catch
  }//end playAudio

  //This method creates and returns an
  // AudioFormat object for a given set
  // of format parameters.  If these
  // parameters don't work well for
  // you, try some of the other
  // allowable parameter values, which
  // are shown in comments following
  // the declarations.
  private AudioFormat getAudioFormat(){
    float sampleRate = 8000.0F;
    //8000,11025,16000,22050,44100
    int sampleSizeInBits = 16;
    //8,16
    int channels = 1;
    //1,2
    boolean signed = true;
    //true,false
    boolean bigEndian = false;
    //true,false
    return new AudioFormat(
                      sampleRate,
                      sampleSizeInBits,
                      channels,
                      signed,
                      bigEndian);
  }//end getAudioFormat
//===================================//

//Inner class to capture data from
// microphone
class CaptureThread extends Thread{
  //An arbitrary-size temporary holding
  // buffer
  byte tempBuffer[] = new byte[10000];
  public void run(){
    byteArrayOutputStream =
           new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    stopCapture = false;
    try{//Loop until stopCapture is set
        // by another thread that
        // services the Stop button.
      while(!stopCapture){
        //Read data from the internal
        // buffer of the data line.
        int cnt = targetDataLine.read(
                    tempBuffer,
                    0,
                    tempBuffer.length);
        if(cnt > 0){
          //Save data in output stream
          // object.
          byteArrayOutputStream.write(
                   tempBuffer, 0, cnt);
        }//end if
      }//end while
      byteArrayOutputStream.close();
    }catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println(e);
      System.exit(0);
    }//end catch
  }//end run
}//end inner class CaptureThread
//===================================//
//Inner class to play back the data
// that was saved.
class PlayThread extends Thread{
  byte tempBuffer[] = new byte[10000];

  public void run(){
    try{
      int cnt;
      //Keep looping until the input
      // read method returns -1 for
      // empty stream.
      while((cnt = audioInputStream.
        read(tempBuffer, 0,
            tempBuffer.length)) != -1){
        if(cnt > 0){
          //Write data to the internal
          // buffer of the data line
          // where it will be delivered
          // to the speaker.
          sourceDataLine.write(
                   tempBuffer, 0, cnt);
        }//end if
      }//end while
      //Block and wait for internal
      // buffer of the data line to
      // empty.
      sourceDataLine.drain();
      sourceDataLine.close();
    }catch (Exception e) {
      System.out.println(e);
      System.exit(0);
    }//end catch
  }//end run
}//end inner class PlayThread
//===================================//

}//end outer class AudioCapture01.java

Listing 1


Copyright 2002, Richard G. Baldwin.  Reproduction in whole or in
part in any form or medium without express written permission from Richard
Baldwin is prohibited.

About the author

Richard Baldwin is a college professor (at Austin Community College in Austin, TX) and private consultant whose primary focus is a combination of Java, C#, and XML. In addition to the many platform and/or language independent benefits of Java and C# applications, he believes that a combination of Java, C#, and XML will become the primary driving force in the delivery of structured information on the Web.

Richard has participated in numerous consulting projects and he
frequently provides onsite training at the high-tech companies located
in and around Austin, Texas.  He is the author of Baldwin’s Programming Tutorials,
which has gained a worldwide following among experienced and aspiring programmers.
He has also published articles in JavaPro magazine.

Richard holds an MSEE degree from Southern Methodist University and
has many years of experience in the application of computer technology
to real-world problems.

Baldwin@DickBaldwin.com

-end-

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