From: walsh@roads.sa.gov.au
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: VAXstation 4000 sound port ?? (again)
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:21:52 GMT
Organization: DEPARTMENT of ROAD TRANSPORT

Hi, does anyone know how to produce sound out of the headphone/telephone
    socket of a VAXstation VLC or model 60 ? Does anyone know of any demo
    files for this equipment (do they come with VMS 5.5 ?) ?  Maybe a DIGIT
    could offer some advice/demofiles ?

    We just received a few of these boxes and don't know how to work that bit.
    The news group alt.binaries.sounds.d yielded the FAQ advice below which
    didn't work at all for us (no sound came out the telephone headset that
    we plugged in).

    Also, a file we sourced from a.b.s.misc and UUDECODEd gave us an error
    something like `record size too big' when we tried to copy it to the
    device mentioned below. Is that due to the file type created by the 'C'
    version of UUDECODE that we have ? Does anyone have any clues as how we
    could we convert that type of decoded file into something we could use ?

						Ta in advance, Dave.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VAXstation 4000     U-LAW           8k                   1

The new VAXstation 4000 series lets you PLAY audio (.au) files, and
the as-of-yet-unreleased package, DECsound, will let you do the
recording.

- Work is currently in progress to get SOX ported to VMS (watch
  comp.os.vms for announcements).

SOX usage hints:

- When converting linear samples to U-LAW using the .au type for the
  output file, you must specify "-U" for the output file, otherwise
  you will end up with a file containing a NeXT/Sun header but linear
  samples -- only the NeXT will play such files correctly.  Also, you
  must explicitly specify an output sampling rate with "-r 8000".
  (This may seem fixed for most cases in version 5, but it is still
  occasionally necessary, so I'm keeping this warning in.)

        Vaxstation 4000
        ---------------

".au" files can be played by COPYING them to device "SOA0:".  This
device is set up by enabling the driver SODRIVER, as described below:

DEC's sound stuff is like most other new toy.  Hardware first, THEN the
software.   DEC will soon be releasing a layered product called DECsound,
which will let you record, play, and (possibly) manipulate sound files.
Third party product(s) have ALREADY hit the market.

Enabling SODRIVER:   (you can use the following command file)

$!---------------- cut here -------------------------------
$! sound_setup.com    enable SOUND driver
$ run sys$system:sysgen
connect soa0 /adapter=0 /csr=%x0e00 /vector=%o304 /driver=sodriver
exit
$ exit
$!----------------- cut here ------------------------------------

The external audio port comes with a telephone-jack-like port.   For
starters, you can plug a telephone RECEIVER right into this port to
hear your first sound files.   After that, you can use the adapter
(that came with the VaxStation), and plug in a small set of stereo
speakers (the kind you'd plug into a WALKMAN, for example), for more
volume.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------------------------------------------------+
|  Dave Walsh, Dept. of Road Transport, South Australia.  |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Email: walsh@sysdev.roads.sa.gov.au                     |
| Post : Dept. of Road Transport, Information Technology, |
|        PO Box 1, Walkerville, South Australia, 5081.    |
| Phone: +61 8 343 2559               Fax: +61 8 343 2768 |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms