public interface

Soundbank

javax.sound.midi.Soundbank
Known Indirect Subclasses

Class Overview

A Soundbank contains a set of Instruments that can be loaded into a Synthesizer. Note that a Java Sound Soundbank is different from a MIDI bank. MIDI permits up to 16383 banks, each containing up to 128 instruments (also sometimes called programs, patches, or timbres). However, a Soundbank can contain 16383 times 128 instruments, because the instruments within a Soundbank are indexed by both a MIDI program number and a MIDI bank number (via a Patch object). Thus, a Soundbank can be thought of as a collection of MIDI banks.

Soundbank includes methods that return String objects containing the sound bank's name, manufacturer, version number, and description. The precise content and format of these strings is left to the implementor.

Different synthesizers use a variety of synthesis techniques. A common one is wavetable synthesis, in which a segment of recorded sound is played back, often with looping and pitch change. The Downloadable Sound (DLS) format uses segments of recorded sound, as does the Headspace Engine. Soundbanks and Instruments that are based on wavetable synthesis (or other uses of stored sound recordings) should typically implement the getResources() method to provide access to these recorded segments. This is optional, however; the method can return an zero-length array if the synthesis technique doesn't use sampled sound (FM synthesis and physical modeling are examples of such techniques), or if it does but the implementor chooses not to make the samples accessible.

Summary

Public Methods
abstract String getDescription()
Obtains a textual description of the sound bank, suitable for display.
abstract Instrument getInstrument(Patch patch)
Obtains an Instrument from the given Patch.
abstract Instrument[] getInstruments()
Obtains a list of instruments contained in this sound bank.
abstract String getName()
Obtains the name of the sound bank.
abstract SoundbankResource[] getResources()
Extracts a list of non-Instrument resources contained in the sound bank.
abstract String getVendor()
Obtains a string naming the company that provides the sound bank
abstract String getVersion()
Obtains the version string for the sound bank.

Public Methods

public abstract String getDescription ()

Obtains a textual description of the sound bank, suitable for display.

Returns
  • a String that describes the sound bank

public abstract Instrument getInstrument (Patch patch)

Obtains an Instrument from the given Patch.

Parameters
patch a Patch object specifying the bank index and program change number
Returns
  • the requested instrument, or null if the sound bank doesn't contain that instrument

public abstract Instrument[] getInstruments ()

Obtains a list of instruments contained in this sound bank.

Returns
  • an array of the Instruments in this SoundBank If the sound bank contains no instruments, returns an array of length 0.

public abstract String getName ()

Obtains the name of the sound bank.

Returns
  • a String naming the sound bank

public abstract SoundbankResource[] getResources ()

Extracts a list of non-Instrument resources contained in the sound bank.

Returns
  • an array of resources, exclusing instruments. If the sound bank contains no resources (other than instruments), returns an array of length 0.

public abstract String getVendor ()

Obtains a string naming the company that provides the sound bank

Returns
  • the vendor string

public abstract String getVersion ()

Obtains the version string for the sound bank.

Returns
  • a String that indicates the sound bank's version