File Type $D8 (216)
Auxiliary Type $8001

Full Name: HyperStudio Sampled Sound File
Short Name: HyperStudio sound

Written by Matt Deatherage (May 1990)

Files of this type and auxiliary type contain sampled sounds used by the HyperStudio(TM) multimedia package.


HyperStudio is a complete hypermedia authoring system, including sound hardware, sound and graphics tools that lets you create your own hypermedia applications.

For more information on HyperStudio, contact:

Roger Wagner Publishing, Inc.
1050 Pioneer Way, Suite P
El Cajon, CA 92020
Attention: HyperStudio Technical Support
Telephone: (619) 442-0522

File Structure

HyperStudio sound files contain sampled sound data prefaced by a special HyperStudio header. The header contains information about the file and the sound, including sampling and compression information and version numbers.

The File Format

Each HyperStudio file begins with this header information.

HFileID (+000): 4 Bytes
The ASCII characters "SSHS" ($53 $53 $48 $53). This identifies the file as a HyperStudio sound.
HDataOffset (+004): Long
Offset to the sound data from this field. For this version of the HyperStudio sound format, this value is always 56 ($38).
HVersID (+008): 4 Bytes
The version of HyperStudio that created this file. The current version is represented by the four ASCII characters "RWP " ($52 $57 $50 $20).
HDataID (+012): 4 Bytes
The ASCII characters "SSDK" ($53 $53 $44 $4B), identifying the creator of the data. Other applications wishing distinct creator IDs should contact Roger Wagner Publishing.
HLength2 (+016): Word
Sound sample length of channel one in 256-byte pages.
HPbRate2 (+018): Word
Playback rate for channel one. The value (HPbRate2+40) is the freqOffset for the FFStartSound toolbox call.
(HPbRate2+40) * 51.40625 is the sample's frequency in Hertz.
HVolume2 (+020): Word
Volume for channel one (0-15).
HEcho2 (+022): Word
Echo value for channel one (0-127).
HLength (+024): Word
Sound sample length of channel zero in 256-byte pages. All other channels should have the same length.
HAce (+026): Word
Bits 0 - 13 of this word contain the ACE nBlks parameter (the number of 512-byte blocks to compress or expand). Bits 14 and 15 indicate the type of ACE compression used:
%00xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - no compression
%01xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - ACE method 1 (2:1)
%10xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - ACE method 2 (8:3)
%11xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx - reserved
HPbRate (+028): Word
Playback rate for channel zero. The value (HPbRate+40) is the freqOffset for the FFStartSound toolbox call.
(HPbRate+40) * 51.40625 is the sample's frequency in Hertz.
HVolume (+030): Word
Volume for channel zero (0-15).
HStereo (+032): Word
Number of channels for this sound file (0 = monophonic, 1 = stereo).
HEcho (+034): Word
Echo value for channel zero (0-127).
HReserved (+036): Word
Reserved for future use; set to zero.
HRepeat (+038): Word
Repeat count for both channels. The maximum value is 20, which indicates the sound is to repeat continuously.
HOffset1 (+040): Long
Offset to the sampled data for channel zero. This should be the value (64+(HLength*256)).
HExtra (+044): Long
Reserved for future use, set to zero.
HFileName (+048): String
If the name of this file is 16 characters or less, you may optionally place it here as a String. If you do not place the file name here, fill these 16 bytes with zeroes.
Data (+064): Bytes
The start of the sampled sound data.

Further Reference


This and all of the other Apple II Technical Notes have been converted to HTML by Aaron Heiss as a public service to the Apple II community, with permission by Apple Computer, Inc. Any and all trademarks, registered and otherwise, are properties of their owners.

HyperStudio(TM) is a trademark of Roger Wagner Publishing, Inc.