Explanation of Musical Atlas: Project 1| Project 2 | Listening to the Musical Atlas

Listening to the files on the Musical Atlas

The most important requirement to listening to these files is having hardware that can listen to .au, .wav, and .mid files. Then, the appropriate software is needed. Finally, your WWW browser should be set up so that the MIME type description is set to be handled by the appropriate player.

A note about audio files (.au and .wav formats)

Project 1 uses .au and .wav files.

Unlike MIDI files, audio files are actual sound recordings. These recordings are offered in two formats (.au and .wav) to accommodate different systems. Except for the format type, these files are identical. To hear these files, be sure that your browser matches the appropriate software with the MIME type for .au and .wav files.

A note about MIDI files

Project 2 uses .mid files.

The MIME type of the .mid files on this Atlas is audio/midi . If you are having trouble playing these files (e.g. your screen is filled with nonsense text) then you need to do one of the following:

• make sure you have selected a player/helper application in your options menu which can be called up to play the MIDI files

• download a player

• download the files and listen to them using your own computer's applications.

Selecting a player/helper application

Go to the general preferences (under Options) and look at Helpers. Make sure that a suitable application is chosen for MIME type audio/midi. This will enable your browser to call on a MIDI player when listening to a .mid file.

Downloading a player/helper

If you are using Netscape or Internet Explorer, Crescendo is an appropriate application for Macintosh or Windows. Quicktime is also available for these systems. After downloading a player, make sure you have selected it for audio/midi in the Helpers section of General Preferences.

Downloading the .mid files

If you prefer listening to the files on an external sound module this can be done by downloading the files and saving them as text or source files with the proper extension (i.e. .mid or .midi files). The instruments have been assigned general midi settings (GM) and should correspond to similar instruments universally.