Essentials Of Exporting And Importing; Exporting And Importing Sd2 Files - Alesis ADAT-HD24 FirePort 1394 Reference Manual

Essentials of Exporting and Importing

There are still some very important things to cover regarding
exporting and importing. They are mostly related to the differences
in the ways files are handled by PC and Macintosh computers. You
probably won't have to do anything special to WAV and AIFF files,
but the other two formats require a little more effort on your part.

Exporting and Importing SD2 files

Sound Designer II (SD2) files are used by many professional audio
applications such as Digidesign's Pro Tools. But an SD2 file taken
straight from one platform to the other generally won't be
recognized properly without a little bit of doctoring.
Flattened vs. un-flattened files
Generally, Macintosh files have two "forks": the resource fork and
the data fork. The resource fork contains "header" information
that tells the Macintosh about the contents of the data fork.
On the other hand, PC files have no resource fork. All the essential
information is there, but it is contained in a single stream of data.
This is what is known as a "flattened" file; i.e., it is all one file, laid
out in a row like dough "flattened" by a rolling pin. Conversely, a
dual-forked Macintosh file is known as an "un-flattened" file.
So in order for a PC to view a Mac file as "one of its own," so to
speak, the Mac file must be flattened. And in the case of a PC-
generated SD2 file, in order for the Mac to handle the PC file
properly the PC file must be un-flattened.
Exporting SD2 files to a Macintosh application
The first thing to do is use the Internet to locate a free software
utility called MacBinary II+. It is a Macintosh application that
alternately flattens and un-flattens files, depending on the initial
state of the file. As of this writing, MacBinary II+ is available at
http://www.mac.org/utilities/macbinary.
Once you have done that, follow this procedure to make the PC
file Mac-ready:
1. Export the file from the FST drive using FST/Connect. Make
sure the Format button is set to SD2.
2. Using a network connection or a form of storage medium
recognized by both the PC and the Mac, get the file into the
Macintosh.
3. Inside the Macintosh, drop the file onto the MacBinary II+
icon. An "un-flattened" file will be generated.
4. Open the un-flattened file inside the Macintosh's audio
editing application.
Operations
If the Macintosh audio editor
application will only open 16-bit
files, remember to select the 16-
bit Export option under the
Transfer pull-down menu. For
more information, see page 28.
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